In a campaign dominated by the deteriorating economy, Hitler appealed across class lines, promising to reunite the nation, rebuild its prosperity, restore its position in the world, and purge the country of profiteers. He put a lid on some of his more extreme anti-Jewish rhetoric. Speaking at giant open-air rallies, many in sports stadiums lit by arrays of blazing torches, he mesmerized the tens of thousands who attended these events with his oratory. Meanwhile in the streets, his jack-booted paramilitary thugs, armed with truncheons and knuckledusters, clashed violently with Communists and
...more
