Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The open violence of Kristallnacht was unpopular with the German people, even within Nazi circles. In 1936, the Gestapo criticized "Hitler's toleration of the corruption and luxury life-style of the Party big-wigs at a time when poor living standards still afflicted most ordinary Germans"
So how did Hitler win the support of the majority of the German people? He proved that he was the strong horse..
One day after this report was submitted, however, German troops marched into the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland. In a spectacular move that fully exposed the weakness of the western democracies, Hitler could celebrate his greatest triumph in foreign policy to date. The domestic problems of previous months — shortage of foodstuffs, high prices, low wages and, in Catholic areas, much antagonism towards the regime over the struggle between the church and state were temporarily forgotten in the euphoria.
