● The “German Revolution” described as peaceful by the Nazis who compared it to the

bloody Russian one.

● This frame is untrue. Violence was used by Nazis, it was at the heart of their ideology
and was also supported publicly by Hitler.
● After Hitler came to power, political parties took to the streets. Nazis and allies in support
and communists and other opponents in protest. Jan 31 - Breslau, Communists tried to
protest, 500 stormtroopers came. Police came and prevented them from accessing the
space and when they finally did, intervened to stop it. Violence happened and
communist activity in Breslau was banned. - Signifies the ineffectiveness of strike action
by Communists in challenging the Nazis and also the fact that the police were
instrumental in controlling the left.
● Social Democrats did not immediately take to the streets. They thought it was a legal
govt and additionally did not want their activities to be banned. Nazis organised a 50,000
large rally in celebration. - Shows lack of willingness by Social Democrats to commit
their forces to the struggle.
● Feb - Creation of “auxilliary police” - mixture of SA, SS and Stahlhelm. Made it difficult to
challenge stormtroopers who were now associated with the state. Also prevented the
police from controlling them.
● Left-wing politicians arrested, media repressed and rallies prevented from happening.
● Trade unions in particular attacked. Carried out in March and April. These attacks were
carried out in instalments, wasn’t a uniform wholescale national attack. Destroyed roots
of social democracy.
● Two-pronged attack against the left. Both by the state and outside of it. Made the attacks
difficult to resist.
● Left was disunited, but that does not mean that a unified left would have won the
struggle. Massive unemployment meant that strike action would just not work. And there
were actual ideological differences between the two parties, this wasn’t just a result of
politicians fighting each other.
● These differences included differences in attitudes towards Russia, social bases
(unemployed and employed, young and old), Social Democrats’ use of violence against
Communists in Prussia.
● Violence therefore, wasn’t necessarily used to win decisive battles but to show that no
decisive battles needed to be won. - The left inevitably lost its ability to associate with
and organise the working class.
● Attacks on Jews started afterwards. That started in mid-March. Nazis initially did not
overtly support it - because the retail industry was important to economic recovery (Bata
etc were major employers) but did not stop or condemn it either - it was part of their
ideology.
● Unable to stop such actions, the Nazi party announced a one-day national boycott of
Jewish businesses. Boycott day passed of peacefully, some people actually bought
goods from the businesses in days prior to show support for the victims. This did help in
reducing unplanned and spontaneous attacks or boycotts on Jewish businesses.
● Nazi activists/members directed protests and boycotts against capitalist enterprises that
they could point towards and say were harming their interests. This is where the SA was
 becoming a problem for the Nazis and this led to the 1934 purge. This and the fact that
the SA’s leader wanted to make it the new Nazi People’s Army and the army was not
okay with it.
● SA ballooned in numbers because it was a means of secure employment and was
opened up to non-party members later on.
● Nazi members were young, largely workers and male. Nazism should not be seen as a
deviant culture but an expression of traditional masculine values. Mass unemployment,
breakdown of social allegiances made during the Weimar Republic and a cultural shift
that embraced violence led to the unique actions conducted by the SA.
● Should not exaggerate role of violence tho. The old guard gave Hitler access to power to
prevent a shift back to the Weimar Republic. There were also limits to Nazi violence.
Actors like the state were not strategically attacked. Weird thing was that the Nazis
promised radical change and a protection of the social order.