ABSTRACT
Many different things hold the key to the success of the Hitler movement and what first attracted people to it. For it was not a single force, but the combination of many factors that gave rise to the movement. The drawing power of National Socialist meetings provides an important clue to the factors which most effectively contributed to the growth of the movement. Since 1930 in particular workmen were driven onto the dole by the thousands; hundreds of peasants lost their land because of inability to pay interest on their mortgages; the middle class standard of living was rapidly declining; discontent and bitterness mounted to menacing proportions. Discontent therefore was the foundation upon which Hitler and his followers built their edifice. Important as this foundation was, however, it is not sufficient cause to account for the popularity of the Nazi movement.
