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The NSDAP ‘Wilderness Years’ - 1924-29

How did Hitler ‘develop’ the Nazi Party after the failed Putsch?

1923
  • November 8–9: Beer Hall Putsch (Munich Putsch)
  • Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP attempt to overthrow the Weimar government in Munich.
  • The coup fails; 16 Nazis and 4 police officers are killed.
  • Hitler is arrested and charged with treason.
1924
  • February–April: Hitler’s Trial
  • Gains national attention; Hitler uses the trial as a propaganda platform.
  • Sentenced to 5 years in Landsberg Prison, but serves only about 9 months.
  • December: Hitler Released from Prison
  • While imprisoned, Hitler writes “Mein Kampf” (published in two volumes: 1925 and 1926).
  • During this time, the NSDAP is banned, and many leaders are imprisoned or go underground.
1925
  • February 27: NSDAP Re-founded
  • After the ban is lifted, Hitler re-establishes the NSDAP in Munich.
  • Hitler asserts sole leadership and reorganizes the party around the Führerprinzip (leader principle).
  • Creation of the SS (Schutzstaffel) as Hitler’s personal bodyguard unit.
  • Begins building a national organization, rather than focusing only on Bavaria.
1926
  • Bamberg Conference (February)
  • Consolidates Hitler’s leadership and resolves internal divisions.
  • Northern socialists (e.g., Gregor Strasser) are brought in line with Hitler’s vision.
  • Continued development of the Hitler Youth and the SA (Sturmabteilung).
1927
  • The NSDAP organizes large-scale propaganda events, including rallies in Nuremberg.
  • Membership begins to increase slowly, but the party remains marginal in national politics.
1928
  • Reichstag Elections (May)
  • The NSDAP receives only 2.6% of the vote (12 seats in the Reichstag).
  • Shows limited national appeal; many Germans still support moderate or left-wing parties.
  • Party shifts strategy to target middle-class voters, peasants, and nationalists.
1929
  • Propaganda Efforts Intensify - Goebbels assumes control of all propaganda 
  • Joseph Goebbels expands the use of media, newspapers, and speeches.
  • Global Great Depression begins (October: Wall Street Crash).
  • Although effects in Germany are not immediate, economic anxiety sets the stage for the NSDAP’s rise in the early 1930s.
Summary of NSDAP’s Status by 1929:
  • Still a fringe party, but well-organized, ideologically unified, and led by a strong figurehead in Hitler.
  • Had limited electoral success but laid the groundwork for mass mobilization as economic conditions worsened.