Nazi Seizure of Power

In The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen, the author is able to show the reader the support building strategy used by the Nazi party in Northeim and surrounding areas. Allen’s thesis is that Nazi party was able to succeed the village of Northeim and else where because they were able to reach out the lower and middle class. Since these classes held the majority of the population, the Nazi party discovered what they wanted from government officials and then used that to persuade these classes to vote for them. To give you a background of the village of Northeim is vital to the understanding of how this party could have come in and take over the political scene so quickly.

Northeim was a small town that was placed in the valley of the Leine River. The concept that you could stand at one end of town and see the other side of town gave the citizens a sense of protection and security. It was a semi-medieval town with actual walls still surrounding the inner core of the city. The dominate religion in the city was Lutheran but the Catholics would begin to emerge in the late 1800s. The city was made up of people from mostly the working class. Because of the emergence of more technical academies and college preparatory schools there was the arrival of teachers, artisans, more government officials, and railroad personnel.

The class structure is built around four different categories of citizens. The lower class, which is made up of the unskilled and semiskilled workers, made up for one-third of the population. The lower middle class, who were the skilled workers, white-collar workers, farmers, and pensioners, made up another third of the Northeim population. The upper middle class that included the craft masters, civil servants, and businessmen made up a little over a fourth of the population. Finally the upper class, which was made up of businessmen, self-employed, and professionals made up barely four percent of the population. Though there was not much difference in the sizes of three of the classes, there were still large differences in the incomes of these classes. From the class breakdown you could see how the Nazi party could be so successful. With the classes set you then begin to see the emergence of the political parties.

Many Northeimers of the working class, usually the lower class and lower middle class, were members’ Social Democratic party, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutchlands, or the SPD. The party and its members were Leftist in every way you can think. This party was made up of people from all different working class organizations. Some examples of these organizations were the Workers’ Funeral Savings Association or the Householders Consumers’ Cooperative. This ideology gave Northeim training for a democracy and became a way of life for the working class. If you were not apart of the Socialist then you were a Rightist. It was this small group of people that, at the close of the 1920’s, would give the Nazi and Nationalist party its greatest support.

Throughout the