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Five Tricks a Demagogue Employs to Incite the Public

Thursday, February 6th, 2020

What is a demagogue? According to Merriam-Webster “a demagogue is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain power.” The art of inflaming peoples’ passions has been practiced since democracy was invented. One of the first known demagogues was the Athenian Kleon in ancient Greece. Modern-time practitioners include Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump.

Adolf Hitler was a demagogue who incited the public by employing a number of tricks that are still used today. www.walled-in-berlin.com

An orator puts to use a number of tricks to incite his/her audience. Adolf Hitler was a master in this art. By the time he came to power in 1933 he knew how to rouse the public’s emotions, prejudices and ignorances. Below are five of the many methods Hitler employed to achieve his goal. Many of the same tactics are still used by current politicians. Next time you catch some demagoguery, pay close attention to see if you recognize the ploys.

Rule 1 – A Demagogue Tells People What They Want to Hear

Following World War I, Germany was a defeated nation. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles the victors had deeply humiliated the country. The Weimar Republic and ist political system were broken. The economy lay in shambles. The chances for recovery in the foreseeable future were zero. Along came Adolf Hitler. He promised to “Make Germany Great Again.” That’s what people wanted to hear and believe. He played to their desires and fears.

Rule 2 – A Manipulator Communicates Directly With his Audience

In 1933, the Volksempfaenger (People’s Receiver) was invented. At the time, it was a brand-new way of communicating. The Nazis immediately recognized the radio’s propaganda potential and held the purchase price down to the equivalent of two weeks average salary. Everyone could afford one. Of course, the Nazis did not mention that the set’s sensitivity was so limited that it could receive only the Nazi propaganda channel. Hitler then used the new media platform to establish and maintain a direct and unfiltered line of communication with the public. Back then, the newly invented radio was the equivalent of today’s social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. The one-channel radio allowed Adolf Hitler to bypass the standard news media and disseminate half-truths, outright lies, innuendos and racist and religious bigotry.

Rule 3 – A Demagogue Delegitimizes the Mainstream Press

Simultaneously, Hitler began to delegitimize the mainstream press. He regularly accused his opponents of spreading false information. It was Adolf Hitler who coined the word Luegenpresse (press of lies) to vilify the mainstream press. Today we call it “fake news.”

Rule 4 – An Agitator Tries to Demonize his Opponents

Hitler demonized his political opponents by calling them vicious names, such as parasites, criminals, cockroaches and scum. He blamed Jews and other racial and religious scapegoats for all of Germany’s ills, banned non-Aryan migration into Germany and embraced mass detention and deportations.

Rule 5 – A Demagogue Uses Coercion Rather than Cooperation

Adolf Hitler rejected international cooperation in favor of military and economic coercion and did not pay any attention to expert advice. Instead, he kept his own counsel. At the end of the war, when his plans for Germania fell apart, he ordered Germany’s destruction. Then he took the cowardly way out by committing suicide while the German people paid the price for Hitler’s ill-conceived ideas for the next 45 years.

These are just five of the many tricks a demagogue employs to mislead the public to gain power. He feeds the populace a steady diet of what it wants to hear and the people fail to demand the evidence behind the allegations and promises. British politician, Geoffrey Van Orden recently called this type of behavior on the part of the public “falling into the trap of an echo chamber of self-delusion.”

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Tags: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Donald Trump, echo chamber of self-delusion, fake news, Geoffrey Van Orden, Joseph Mc Carthy, Kleon, Luegenpress, Treaty of Versailles, Volksempfaenger, Weimar Republic
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War Guilt Clause in the Treaty of Versailles

Monday, July 23rd, 2018

The War Guilt Clause in Article 231 in Part 8 in the Treaty of Versailles, was by far the most controversial section of the peace agreement. The article demanded that Germany alone accept full responsibility for the losses and damages the Allied nations had sustained during World War I. In 1921, the total cost of the reparations was assessed at $33 billion (equivalent to about US $442 billion in 2018). Furthermore, the Allies insisted that the treaty permit them to take punitive actions if Germany fell behind in its payments.

German reaction to the War Guilt Clause

The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles fostered deep resentment in Germany. In October 1918, when the German Government had asked U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to arrange a general armistice, it had also agreed to the Fourteen Points of the postwar peace settlement as formulated by Wilson. However, when the Treaty of Versailles was ready for signature, Germany was shocked to find that the terms of reparation were much harsher than Wilson’s Fourteen Points. In particular, Germans took offense to the provision that blamed their country for starting the war. They considered the latter an insult to their nation’s honor. German Chancellor Philipp Scheidemann even resigned rather than sign the Treaty of Versailles. After much consideration, German Foreign Minister Hermann Mueller and Colonial Minister Johannes Bell travelled to Versailles to sign the postwar agreement on behalf of Germany.

Historians on the Treaty of Versailles

British economist John Maynard Keynes referred to the Treaty of Versailles as a Carthaginian peace (a very brutal peace achieved by completely crushing the enemy) in an attempt to destroy Germany rather than to adhere to the more reasonable principles set out in U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Keynes believed the sums being asked for reparations were many times more than what Germany could pay. Other historians, chiefly German historian Detlev Peukert, French historian Raymond Cartier and British historian Richard J. Evans disagree with Keynes’ position.

Tags: Article 231, Detlef Peukert, Hermann Mueller, Johannes Bell, John Maynard Keynes, Philipp Scheidemann, Raymond Cartier, Richard J. Evans, Treaty of Versailles, War Guilt Clause, Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
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Treaty of Versailles ended World War I

Monday, July 16th, 2018

The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I. It took six months of Allied negotiations before the treaty was signed on 28 June 1919. The defeated nations (Germany, Austria and Hungary) were excluded from the negotiations. Russia, which had negotiated a separate peace with Germany the year before, was also excluded.

The conditions of the Treaty of Versailles were determined at meetings between the leaders of Great Britain (Prime Minister David Lloyd George), France (Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau), the United States (President Woodrow Wilson) and Italy (Prime Mister Vittorio Orlando). During the negotiations, French delegates sought to annex both the Saar Valley and the colonial German empire and to dismember Germany to prevent her from starting future wars. Although British and American negotiators also advocated stiff reparations, they did not want to totally cripple the German economy and thereby forego the possibility of a viable future trading partner.

The Treaty of Versailles was strictly enforced for five years, then modified mostly in Germany’s favor. In 1932, the depression led to the indefinite postponement of reparation payments, and by 1938 only the territorial settlement articles remained.

The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Conditions of the Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles consisted of 15 parts and 440 articles.

Part 1 – Created a new League of Nations, which Germany was not allowed to join until 1926.
Part 2 – Specified Germany’s new boundaries with Eupen-Malmady going to Belgium, Alsace-Lorraine to France, West Prussia, Posen and Upper Silesia to Poland, Memel to Lithuania, and large portions of Schleswig Holstein to Denmark.
Part 3 – Stipulated a demilitarized zone and a separation of the Saarland from Germany for 15 years.
Part 4 – Stripped Germany of all its colonies.
Part 5 – Reduced Germany’s military forces to very low levels, prohibited Germany from possessing certain classes of weapons and committed the Allies to eventual disarmament.
Part 6 – Determined terms for the return of prisoners of war and for the treatment of the graves of fallen soldiers.
Part 7 – Created terms for the trials of those accused of war crimes against the Allied Powers.
Part 8 – Established Germany’s responsibility for reparations without stating a specific figure and forced Germany to accept full responsibility for World War I.
Part 9 – Imposed numerous other financial obligations on Germany.
Part 10 – Addressed shipping and unfair competition.
Part 11 – Gave Allied and Associated Powers full passage and landing rights over and in the territory and in the territorial waters of Germany.
Part 12 – Established terms regarding German ports, waterways and railroads.
Part 13 – Established terms regarding labor.
Part 14 – Established guarantees for Western and Eastern Europe regarding the evacuation of Allied Powers.
Part 15 – Miscellaneous provisions.

By far the most controversial section of the Treaty of Versailles was Article 231 in Part 8 of the agreement, known as the War Guilt Clause, which was partly responsible for the rise of the Nazis in Germany.

Tags: British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando, Treaty of Versailles, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, War Guilt Clause
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Berlin’s former Nazi Prison Papestrasse

Monday, July 9th, 2018

The existence of Berlin’s former Nazi Prison Papestrasse is not well known, yet it is the only surviving historical site of early Nazi terror in the city. The former prison is located in General-Pape-Strasse in the Tempelhof district of the city. Between March 1933 and December 1933, shortly after Hitler had come to power, 100 such prisons were established throughout Germany. They were known as detention centers and were forerunners of the heinous Nazi concentration camps that followed.

Former Nazi Prison Papestrasse in Berlin – now a Memorial. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com

In the Nazi Prison Papestrasse, the Field Police division of the Nazi Sturm Abteilung (Storm Troopers) – the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party – interrogated and tortured political opponents, Jews and other groups persecuted by the Nazi regime. Over the course of the nine months that the center was in operation, over 2000 people were imprisoned in its cellars. At least 30 lost their lives.

Following World War II, the role the building had played during the war fell into oblivion. It was not until 1981 that area residents began to recall its function during contemporary eyewitness interviews. Following much research, the building, which had largely been spared from the destruction of the war, became a Memorial site in 2003 and opened to the public in 2011.

Conditions in the Nazi Prison Papestrasse

The Field Police utilized the building’s gloomy basement rooms as prison cells and the upper floors as offices and interrogation rooms. Sanitary conditions in the prison were poor. The supply of food and water was inadequate and irregular. The cells were unheated. The floor was partly covered with straw. Prisoners either had to stand or sit on the floor because cots were reserved for seriously injured prisoners. Brutal interrogations were a regular part of detention. Detainees were beaten, tortured and raped. Detentions lasted anywhere from a few days to several weeks or months.

Prison cell in the former Nazi Prison Papestrasse, Berlin. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Use of the building prior to becoming the Nazi Prison Papestrasse

In the year 1841, the railway line between Berlin and Jueterbog, a small town south of Berlin, had opened. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871, railways became important to Prussian Railway Regiments because they could transport soldiers and supplies much faster and more efficiently. That prompted the Prussian military to build two new complexes of barracks along General-Pape-Strasse to be used as utility buildings. But because of Germany’s defeat in World War I and the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, the regiments were soon dissolved. Although the buildings remained in state hands, public and private tenants moved in. Then, in 1933, about 180 Field Police moved into one of the former barracks to transform the building into the Nazi Prison Papestrasse.

Papestrasse Memorial

The Papestrasse Memorial is open to the public free of charge. For the most part, the prison cells are still in their original condition. Panels on the walls of the Nazi Prison Papestrasse document the history of the Nazi party. Wall graffiti created by the prisoners is still visible today.

Tags: Adolf Hitler, Berlin, Nazi concentration camps, Nazi Prison Papestrasse Memorial, Nazi Storm Troopers, Treaty of Versailles
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How Adolf Hitler came to power

Monday, July 2nd, 2018

Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany during the Nazi period, came to power by bullying his way into office. He intimidated his opponents and promised the populace to make Germany powerful and proud again. The key government leaders already in office were accustomed to the democratic procedures of the Weimar Republic and unable to stand up to Hitler’s confrontational style. They meekly acquiesced while the majority of the population chose to look past some of Hitler’s misguided policies because he also promised to turn around the country’s dismal economic conditions, a result of the harsh peace terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. They focused on Hitler’s immediate promises rather than his long-term agenda.

Adolf Hitler came to power by bullying his way into office. www.walled-in-berlin.com

How Adolf Hitler eliminated political opponents

The appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of the German Reich on 30 January 1933 marked the end of the Weimar Republic and of democracy in Germany. Since the Nazis had achieved only below average results in the 1932 elections in Berlin – the capital of Germany and center of German political power – it was of utmost importance to Adolf Hitler to gain full control in the city. While his people had pursued their aims primarily by means of rowdy propaganda and street violence prior to his appointment, as Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler took full advantage of all means of state power he had at his disposal. His aim was to eliminate political opponents and establish himself as a dictator.

Only two days after Adolf Hitler had been appointed Chancellor, the elderly Reich President Paul von Hindenburg was persuaded to dissolve the Reichstag (Parliament). In protest, the Communist Party called for a general strike. Upon Hitler’s urging, Hindenburg signed an emergency decree, which stipulated that demonstrations and pamphlets of political opponents would be forbidden. A rapid extension of the state police followed. Their purpose was to take action against “enemies of the state” with firearms.

With the Reichstag Fire Decree Adolf Hitler suspended civil liberties

On 27 February 1933, barely a month after Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor, the Reichstag chambers went up in flames. The Nazi government quickly blamed the fire on a communist coup and authorized another emergency law. It was called the Reichstag Fire Decree and was enacted the very next day for “the protection of the people and state.” The emergency decree suspended most of the civil liberties set forth in the Weimar Constitution, such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right of public assembly, the secrecy of the post and telephone service, and it removed all restraints on police investigations. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007888 In other words, the decree provided the legal basis for the persecution of opponents of the regime. No warrant or judicial order was required, there was no right of appeal, and the arrests went into effect for an indefinite period of time. The number of people arrested rose abruptly after the Reichstag fire. Detention centers, such as the Nazi Prison Papestrasse were installed throughout the city and the country.

With the Enabling Act Adolf Hitler became a dictator

Less than a month later, on the heels of the Reichstag Fire Decree, Adolf Hitler passed another emergency law: the “Enabling Act” (Ermaechtigungsgesetz). It gave Hitler the power to enact laws without the involvement of the Reichstag. Together the two emergency laws abolished most civil liberties and transformed Hitler’s government into a legal dictatorship. The state of emergency remained in force until the end of the war in 1945. The climate of fear that spread throughout the country thwarted many potential attempts at resistance.

Tags: Adolf Hitler, Berlin, Enabling Act, Ermaechtigungsgesetz, Nazi Prison Papestrasse, Paul von Hindenburg, Reichstag, Reichstag Fire Decree, Treaty of Versailles, Weimar Republic
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Weimar Republic – Can Democracy be too Democratic?

Monday, March 12th, 2018

The Weimarer Republik (Weimar Republic) was Germany’s genuine attempt at creating its first-ever democracy. Trying to make it the perfect democracy, its leaders tried to build it on the principal of political and social equality for all. But the Weimar Republic lasted only 14 years before it collapsed. What happened? Was it not democratic enough? Was it too democratic? Let’s take a look.

“Weimar Republic” – an unofficial Designation

Between 1919 and 1933 – after Emperor Wilhelm II had abdicated and before the Nazi regime assumed power – the German state is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic. That is an unofficial designation, however, because officially, Germany continued to be called Deutsches Reich, (German Empire), Deutscher Volksstaat (German People’s State) or Deutsche Republik (German Republic). The term “Weimar Republic” is based solely on the fact that the German state’s constitution was adopted in the city of Weimar. It was not until the 1930s that the term became mainstream.

Conditions preceding the Weimar Republic

In its fourteen years of existence, the Weimar Republic faced copious problems. They included hyperinflation, political extremism with right- and left-wing paramilitaries, attempted revolutions, public discontent and antagonistic relationships with the victors of World War I. Hyperinflation was such that in 1919, one loaf of bread cost 1 Mark; by 1923, the same loaf of bread cost 100 billion Marks. The value of the paper Mark had declined from 4.2 Marks per U.S. dollar in 1914 to one million Marks per dollar by August 1923. The German people blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their wartime leaders for the country’s defeat and for the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Banknote from the hyperinflationary period of the Weimar Republic – a 1923 banknote in the amount of 20,000 Mark, worth barely the paper it was printed on. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Why did the Weimar Republic last only 14 years?

The constitution of the Weimar Republic contained many features that were to insure a perfect democracy, such as a Bill of Rights that guaranteed the freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equality under the law. But the constitution also had two great weaknesses. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/germany/weimarstrengthweakrev3.shtml One of those weaknesses was something called “proportional representation.” It meant that each party was allocated the number of seats in the Reichstag (Parliament) that was proportional to the number of people who had voted for the party. But no minimum number of votes was required to get into the Reichstag. As a result, dozens of tiny parties ended up sitting in the Reichstag. When none could garner enough seats to represent a majority, the government could not get any laws passed.

The other serious built-in weakness in the constitution of the Weimar Republic was Article 48. That article stated that in an emergency the president could issue decrees without the agreement of the Reichstag. But the article failed to define what would represent an “emergency.” It was under Article 48, the Enabling Act of 1933, that Adolf Hitler assumed power.

These two major flaws in the constitution, albeit democratic and well-intended, made it impossible for the Weimar Republic to survive.

Tags: democracy, democratic, Emperor Wilhelm II, Enabling Act of 1933, Germany, hyperinflation, Reichstag, Treaty of Versailles, Weimar Republic, Weimarer Republik
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