In the early 1920s, the NSDAP was a small, far-right group. By proclaiming anti-Semitic slogans, she managed to win 3% of the votes in the elections to the Reichstag in 1924. Less than 10 years later, it became the most numerous party in the German parliament. The Nazi's rise to power was described in his diaries by the father of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.
April 29, 1924. Much pre-election work. On Saturday night, posters were put up all over the city. Almost captured. Yesterday evening a great pre-election meeting. The hall is bursting at the seams. Noisy communists. I happily lead the ship through all the reefs. Speakers a bit weak.
On the road for 14 days. However, it works. Almost complete success. We can be satisfied. The everyday life of the election fight is excruciatingly boring and burdensome . In the end, however, in the background remains the great idea of a Volkist Europe, with Volkist Germany at the forefront.
Fight for a new, clean homeland
How salutary it is to move from thought to action. I feel free. An act saves from doubt. We must do something for thought:[…] The Volkist movement creates a platform for a new worldview. Common good more important than individual good . In serviendo patriae consumor .
We do not waste time chanting slogans, we want a new, clean motherland. Challenge us to nationalists, and this is what we are, if this word means:love your homeland and your countrymen as yourself. Volkist thought leads inevitably to national internationalism.
German anti-Semitism was firmly entrenched in society long before the Nazis took power
Free yourself from the shallows of Jewish internationalism. Towards the European sense of Goethe's world. Goethe is still my greatest German master. Goethe would certainly be a National Socialist today as a young student.
Only enthusiasm can save us today. We must be love fanatics. The National Socialists are the Socialists of Christ. Work is calling. To new deeds! I don't get any messages from Else. Poor Else! I don't have a moment to think about her. […]
The last days before the election
May 1, 1924. [...] Pre-election work. Leaflet after leaflet. An atmosphere without a spirit. But someone has to do it. We hope for great successes of the Volkist-Social Bloc. We do what we can. […] We are looking for a Bismarck who will introduce our ideas to the world of facts.
The text is an excerpt from the book "Goebbels. Logs. Volume 1:1923-1939 ”edited by prof. Eugeniusz Cezary Król, which has just been released by the Bellona publishing house.
May 3, 1924. The last days before the elections. In the evening, before the invited group a lecture about our goals and the Semitic danger . This is the first time I am speaking openly. Big success. Our idea reaches everyone because it is a new world idea. We have to go through this! The whole city is drowning in our leaflets. We have courage and unpaid bills.
Tomorrow is May 4, election day. Then a big battle will start.
Who has a strong fist is right
May 5, 1924. One of our candidates joined the City Council. Yesterday I was sitting in the car all day. In the evening, anxious hours of waiting. Then the result. Loud jewel. Long live Hitler! Cheers and victory!
On Saturday, I spoke as a communist debutant. Welcomed with shouts of "yuck" and "exploiter", farewell with applause and shouts of "bravo". People were very nice to me. Our most fanatical followers are recruited from their ranks. […] Gentlemen, the Jews took me at gunpoint. First on the blacklist. It is a shame and a disgrace that a man in his own country cannot feel completely safe from this lousy rabble. That the fulfillment of an idea must always be done with a fist! Whoever has a strong fist is right in the end! […]
Over the years, the NSDAP has gradually pushed its way to seize power in Germany. In the picture. Hitler's cabinet after taking up the post of chancellor
May 7, 1924. We forced 32 deputies into the Reich. Great success! Jewry here in Rheydt uses slander to kill me socially, which it will never succeed. In these days of political tension, I have to be very careful. I'm reading Capital Karl Marx, the alpha and omega of today's decaying materialism. However, the book is too powerful and too fascinating to be dealt with in one fell swoop. […]
A new man, a better world
May 14, 1924. [...] In our Volkist circle there is a disgusting crowd of former prisoners, cocky men, cocksuckers and spies. This is the plight of a new movement. We are friends of barbers, pimps and spies. Thorough cleaning is essential. We still have a long way to go before we cleanse ourselves. But the good and noble [elements] will crystallize out on their own. […]
May 16, 1924. [...] Where am I now? My material prospects are worse than ever. My unconditional entry into the world of Volkist thought also closed my last path to the press or to the theater. However, I have already traveled quite a distance. Out of despair and the depressing skepticism of recent years, I have found faith again in the nation and in the German spirit. Now I am strong and I expect salvation more than ever. […]
One of the creators of the Nazi success was the future minister of propaganda, Josef Goebbels
May 19, 1924. [...] I intend to start work in the public forum in the fall. Until then, strengthening and gathering [strength]. It blooms without! Oh, this world is beautiful! I feel my strength and will to live awakening in me. We have a mission to fulfill in life. The road to salvation is long and arduous. However, we must either be saved or be saved. I want to be saved by my own strength and form new people in myself. A new man! A better world!
Source:
The text is an excerpt from the book "Goebbels. Logs. Volume 1:1923-1939 ”edited by prof. Eugeniusz Cezary Król, which has just been released by the Bellona publishing house.