Notes for Hitler's Rise to Power

1. ^ The dates chosen for such periods can be somewhat arbitrary. It was starting with Hitler's decision in the Pomeranian hospital to enter politics, and only concluding with (for example) his removal of Röhm (1934) or his "bloodless" conquest of Czechoslovakia (1937) or even his military conquest of France (1940). The article simply uses Hitler's decision to join the party as the start date of the "rise" and the adoption of the Enabling Act as its completion. While that is not the only possible interpretation, it is certainly a reasonable one.
2. Jump up^ He could not, at this time, run for political office in Germany, as he was not then a German citizen.
3. Jump up^ Despite his receipt of several medals and decorations (including twice with the prestigiousIron Cross, both First and Second Class), Hitler was promoted in rank only once, to corporal (Gefreiter). Toland, pp. 84–88.
4. Jump up^ The Armistice, ceasing active hostilities, was signed and effective 11 November 1918. Hitler, in hospital at the time, was informed of the upcoming cease-fire and the other consequences of Germany's defeat and surrender in the field—including Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication, and arevolution leading to the proclamation of a republic in Berlin to replace the centuries-oldHohenzollern monarchy—on Sunday morning, 10 November, by a pastor attending to patients. Days after digesting this traumatic news, by his own account Hitler made his decision: "... my own fate became known to me ... I ... decided to go into politics." Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (vol. 1, chapter 7) ("MK").
5. Jump up^ Hitler, having been born in the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire to Austrian parents, was not a German citizen, but had managed to enlist in a Bavarian regiment, where he served on the front lines as a runner. He was wounded twice in action; at the time of the Armistice, he was recovering in a German hospital (in Pomerania northeast of Berlin) from temporary blindness that had resulted from a mid-October British gas attack at the last Battle of Ypres. William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster, 1959, pp. 28–30 ("Shirer").Toland, John (1976peace). Adolf Hitler. New York: Doubleday & Company. p. 1035. ISBN 0-385-03724-4., p. 86. ("Toland")
6. Jump up^ Guard duty at a POW camp to the East, near the Austrian border. Interestingly, the prisoners were Russian, and Hitler had volunteered for the posting. Shirer, p. 34. Toland, p. xx.
7. Jump up^ Shirer, p. 34. Toland suggests that Hitler's assignment to this department was partially a reward for his "exemplary" service in the front lines, and partially because the responsible officer felt sorry for Hitler as having no friends, but being very willing to do whatever the army required. Toland, p. xx.
8. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 72–74.
9. Jump up^ Shirer, p. 35. Apparently someone in an army "educational session" had made a remark that Hitler deemed "pro-Jewish" and Hitler reacted with characteristic ferocity. Toland states that Hitler had attracted the attention of a right-wing university professor who was engaged to educate enlisted men in "proper" political belief, and that the professor's recommendation to an officer resulted in Hitler's advancement.
10. Jump up^ "I was offered the opportunity of speaking before a larger audience and ... it was now corroborated: I could 'speak.' No task could make me happier than this ... I was able to perform useful services to ... the army ... in ... my lectures I led many hundreds ... of comrades back to their people and fatherland ..." MK, volume 1, chapter 8.
11. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 82.
12. Jump up^ Held, like so many meetings of the period, in a beer cellar, this time the Sterneckerbrau
13. Jump up^ Feder had formed the German Fighting League for the Breaking of Interest Slavery. The notion of "Breaking Interest Slavery" was, by Hitler's account, a "powerful slogan for this coming struggle. Shirer, p. 35; MK, vol. 1, chapter 8.
14. Jump up^ According to Shirer, the seemingly preposterous "South German nation" idea actually had some popularity in Munich in the politically raucous atmosphere of Bavaria following the war.Shirer, p. 36.
15. Jump up^ MK, volume 1, chapter 8.
16. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 75.
17. Jump up^ Stackelberg 2007, p. 9.
18. Jump up^ Mitcham 1996, p. 67.
19. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 75, 76.
20. Jump up^ MK, volume 1, chapter 8.
21. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 76.
22. Jump up^ Toland, p. 106.
23. Jump up^ The membership numbers were artificially started at 501 because the DAP wanted to make itself look larger than it actually was. The membership numbers were also apparently issued alphabetically, and not chronologically, so one cannot infer that Hitler was in fact the party's 55th member. Toland, p. 131. In a Hitler speech shown in Triumph of the Will, Hitler makes explicit reference to his being the seventh party member and he notes the same in MK, op. cit..
24. Jump up^ The word "Nazi" being a form of contraction for Nationalsozialistische, but this contraction was not used by the party itself.
25. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 88.
26. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 100, 101.
27. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 102.
28. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 103.
29. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 83, 103.
30. Jump up^ Toland, pp. 112–113.
31. Jump up^ Toland, p. 113.
32. Jump up^ Kershaw 2008, p. 131.
33. Jump up^ Shirer, p. xx
34. Jump up^ Kershaw 1999, p. 239.
35. Jump up^ Hess of course participated in the putsch, but escaped police custody following its abortive end. When he discovered that his leader had been captured by the Government, the loyal Hess turned himself in to the authorities.
36. Jump up^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
37. Jump up^ "1932: Chronik" [1932: Timeline] (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 2012-04-06. "13. 4. Auf Grundlage der von Hindenburg erlassenen Notverordnung "zur Sicherung der Staatsautorität" verbietet Brüning SA und Schutzstaffel (SS). Die Regierung befürchtet einen Putschversuch der rechtsradikalen Organisationen."
    "April 1932: SA and SS banned". Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation. Retrieved 2012-04-06. "Basing his actions on the 'Emergency Decree for the Preservation of State Authority', Reich Defence Minister Wilhelm Groener bans Hitler's Sturmabteilung (SA) as well as his Schutzstaffel (SS) on 13 April 1932."
38. Jump up^ Goldhagen, Daniel (1996). Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Knopf.
39. Jump up^ Time 1934.