ABSTRACT
Hitler perceived that he and the Nazis would have to seek power by legal or pseudolegal means, within the framework of the Weimar political system. Once in power, the Nazis could dismantle the republic by using the agencies of the state itself. In Mein Kampf, Hitler discussed the roles of theoretician and politician in the creation of a significant political movement. On December 20, 1924, after serving only nine months of his five-year sentence, Hitler was released from prison. He found the Nazi Party in a state of disorder. As an extremist party, the Nazis faced their most serious challenge in the late 1920s with the return of political and economic stability to Germany. In 1928, the Nazis began a shift in strategy, one that was accentuated after their failure in the Reichstag elections in May of that year. Between 1925 and 1930, the Nazi Party continued to attract elements of every important social group in Germany.
