The Dusseldorf Speech of 1932

The so-called ‘Düsseldorf Speech’ was an attempt by Adolf Hitler to win over Germany’s industrialists so that they would support the Nazi Party in what proved to be the last year of Weimar Germany. The Düsseldorf Speech was made on January 27th 1932 in the heart of Germany’s industrial zone.

 

Hitler spoke at the Industry Club (Industrieklub) and addressed some of Germany’s wealthiest men.

 

Hitler had not had a positive relationship with many of Germany’s leading industrial magnates. Parts of the proper title of the Nazi Party were enough to concern them: ‘workers’ and ‘socialist’ did not, in their opinion, conjure up an image of a man who wanted to do business with the nation’s industrialists. Hence the importance of the ‘Düsseldorf Speech’ as it gave Hitler the chance to see himself to them.

 

The speech lasted for 2.5 hours and it became “one of the most important and effective speeches of the Fuhrer’s career” (Louis Snyder). Hitler explained to the assembled magnates that they had nothing to fear from the Nazi Party. He sold his dream of a Germany with the trade unions crushed and with the workers controlled by the state in co-operation with industrial owners. Hitler also attacked Communism and Socialism and those who supported both. By the end of the speech many in the audience were at the least prepared to go some way to accept Hitler as a viable alternate to the doomed Weimar government.

 

For the text of the speech – click here

 

July 2012

Related Posts