In light of recent calls for violence against authorised targets, and increasing accusations that everyone is a Nazi, let’s have a look at how the NSDAP (Nazi Party) rose to power through decades of political violence. Skip to the bottom for the conclusion only.

We start this journey of course towards the end of WW1 in 1918. With peace on the horizon German sailors refused orders to prepare for one final grand battle and revolted. Through events such as the Kiel Mutiny they triggered a wave of revolutionary activity which abolished German monarchy in a few days.

On the 10th November 1918 (one day before armistice) the earliest form of stab-in-the-back mythology appeared in print, declaring:

The work fought for by our fathers with their precious blood – dismissed by betrayal in the ranks of our own people! Germany, yesterday still undefeated, left to the mercy of our enemies by men carrying the German name, by felony out of our own ranks broken down in guilt and shame.

The German Socialists knew that peace was at hand anyway and that it was only about holding out against the enemy for a few days or weeks in order to wrest bearable conditions from them. In this situation they raised the white flag.

This is a sin that can never be forgiven and never will be forgiven. This is treason not only against the monarchy and the army but also against the German people themselves who will have to bear the consequences in centuries of decline and of misery.

Years before the NSDAP even formed this solidified the notion that it was a political betrayal rather than military defeat which caused Germany to lose the war. An idea which would later evolve into a political weapon against those deemed responsible. The Jews, Marxists, cultural Bolsheviks, and numerous other groups which would be targeted in the 1933 National Revolution following Hitler's ascent to Fuhrer for the apparent crime of personally gaining from post-war treaties.

What followed this initial uprising was a series of power grabs, often through bloody means, with communist forces making repeated attempts to seize power (Spartacist uprising 1919, Bavarian Soviet Republic 1919, Rhur uprising 1920, etc...) under the pretense of establishing a Soviet-style communist system of governance. There were also right-wing attempts to establish autocracy like the Kapp Putsch of 1920, with the violence of each side directly feeding support for the other as people feared the rise of either Sovietism or Autocracy more than the other.

This kind of unrest didn’t help the already struggling German economy, and in 1923 the nation was simply unable to fulfil its reparation payments. During the crisis this caused France occupied the Ruhr in order to take raw materials as payment, and America became a strong investor in Germany causing their economies to be intricately tied. The Weimar Republic had already printed a vast amount of currency in order to devalue itself and pay off debt.

During this crisis Hitler attempted his first rise to power though the failed Beer Hall Putsch (1923) which got him shot and arrested. While in jail he wrote Mein Kampf and really refined his ideas into what would become the final form of the NSDAP.

As you probably know the next few years weren’t good for any economy, but the Great Depression was the worst thing that could happen to an already struggling Germany. Tied to America it once again fell into major economic issues. The Reichstag (the republic’s lower house filled by elected representatives) could not agree on anything to solve the matter largely because they were so ideologically opposed they would refuse to sign together on conditions which they publicly shared outside of the chamber. With no way to debate across the aisle and a public too scared of extremists on both sides to switch their allegiance, German government was effectively neutered while the country sank.

The fix to this was disastrous. Article 48 (1930) gave the President total authority to pass laws without requiring approval from the Reichstag under emergency conditions, but failed completely to define what could be called an emergency. - Political violence and inability to concede even minor points for the good of the nation made concentration of total authority an attractive option.

From there it was only a matter of time before either the newly freed NSDAP leadership or Communist/Soviet party took total power. The effectively limitless power of presidency which was used mostly for good reason under the non-partisan Paul von Hindenburg was effectively designed to be abused by the first radical to seize power.

With the stage set for dictatorship the country went to the polls, repeatedly. Aided by anti-versailles rhetoric (popular due to major economic problems), anti-foreign investment rhetoric (popular due to the effects of American involvement), and the fear of Sovietism (popular due to death squads, holodomor, and other Soviet shit) the NSDAP won repeatedly.

The rest isn’t really important to this point, but by 1933 Hitler was made chancellor, then when Paul von Hindenburg died he took over the rights and powers of President (combining the two titles into simply Fuhrer).

When the Reichstag burned it was the final act of political violence from the extreme-left. Faced by a government that opposed them ideologically and with total authority, and a public which was increasingly happy to relinquish personal freedoms for better quality of life/better safety, the Reichstag Fire Decree effectively obliterated freedoms to privacy, protest, free press, and free expression of ideas.

The later Enabling Act would further solidify Hitler’s power, but by then he had no political rivals because political rivalry was outlawed.

The point is, it wasn’t the far right which produced a situation whereby Hitler gained ultimate power. It was a combination of bipartisan violence in a setting where the social contract against political violence failed which triggered an inability to have civilised rational debate over policy, causing power to be centralised into smaller and smaller groups who could form and agree upon policy until that group was one many. It was feelings of betrayal and targeted victimhood on both sides that fed narratives about ‘enemies of the people’ (Novemberverbrecher or Bourgeoisie depending on personal alignment).

CONCLUSION:

While this isn’t a complete explanation of the events, I hope it is enough to realise the NSDAP didn’t gain power because nobody at the time would ‘punch a Nazi’, it rose because too many people would shoot a right-wing nationalist (or just a moderate in the wrong place) in order to establish a Soviet communism and too few people were willing to debate (or risk voting for) a more centrist solution without violence - Though the reverse also fueled many communist parties.

In short every extremist hates moderates, and every extremist breeds counter-extremists who are threatened by the initial extremist and can’t allow anything but their ‘side’ to win even if they didn’t initially agree with the extreme fringe by first choice.

DISCLAIMER: This is an explanation only, what happened under the NSDAP was horrific almost beyond words and only seriously in contention with the actions of Imperial Japan for the title of ‘closest thing to pure evil ever to exist in reality’.