1. Heberle, Rudolf, From Democracy to Nazism: A Regional Study on Political Parties in Germany (1945; reprint, New York, 1970), p. 22.Google Scholar As early as 1936, Holt, John Bradshaw had argued that “a study of the growth of National Socialism shows it to have been to a significant extent an agricultural revolt,” German Agricultural Policy 1918–1934 (Chapel Hill, 1936), p. 215.Google Scholar

2. Loomis, Charles P. and Beegle, J. Allen, “The Spread of German Nazism in Rural Areas,” American Sociological Review 11 (1946): 724–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nilson, Sten S., “Wahlsoziologische Probleme des Nationalsozialismus,” Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft 110 (1954)Google Scholar; Weber, Alexander, “Soziale Merkmale der NSDAP-Wähler: Eine Zusam-menfassung bisheriger empirischer Untersuchungen und eine Analyse in den Gemeinden der Länder Baden und Hessen” (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Freiburg, 1969)Google Scholar; Heberle, pp. 90–120.

3. For a review of the literature see Linz, Juan J., “Some Notes Toward a Comparative Study of Fascism in Sociological Historical Perspective,” in Laqueur, Walter, ed., Fascism: A Reader's Guide (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1976), p. 119.Google Scholar For the role of antimodernism in Germany before the Nazi seizure of power see Stern, Fritz, The Politics of Cultural Despair (Garden City, N.Y., 1965)Google Scholar; and Hornigsheim, Paul, “The Roots of the Nazi Concept of the Ideal German Peasant,” Rural Sociology 12 (1947): 3–21.Google Scholar For the party's romantic ruralism see the journal Odal, Monatsschrift für Blut und Boden.

4. Noakes, Jeremy, The Nazi Party in Lower Saxony, 1921–1933 (London, 1971), pp. 106, 121Google Scholar; Pridham, Geoffrey, Hitler's Rise to Power: The Nazi Movement in Bavaria, 1923–1933 (New York, 1973), pp. 114–17Google Scholar; Levine, Herbert, Hitler's Free City: A History of the Nazi Party in Danzig, 1925–39 (Chicago, 1973), pp. 20–21, 34–35Google Scholar; Farquharson, John, “The NSDAP in Hanover and Lower Saxony, 1921–26,” Journal of Contemporary History 8 (1973): 103–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tracey, Donald R., “The Development of the National Socialist Party in Thuringia, 1924–30,” Central European History 8 (1975): 38–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Orlow, Dietrich, The History of the Nazi Party: 1919–1933 (Pittsburgh, 1969), pp. 88–90, 113–18, 131–32.Google Scholar

6. For Orlow's supporters see n. 4 above. Farquharson, John E. notes that “it seems ironic in retrospect that a party so urban-oriented to begin with should have achieved so sudden a breakthrough on the land,” The Plough and the Swastika: The NSDAP and Agriculture in Germany 1928–45 (London and Beverly Hills, 1976), p. 12.Google Scholar The argument that the real turning point in the Nazi party's rural drive came in 1930 with the emergence of Darré and the establishment of the party's Agrarían Department is made by Gies, Horst, “NSDAP und landwirtschaftliche Organisationen in der Endphase der Wei-marer Republik,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 15 (1967): 341–42Google Scholar; Bergmann, Klaus, Agrarromantik und Grossstadtfeindschaft (Meisenheim am Glan, 1970), pp. 311–14Google Scholar; and by Gessner, Dieter, who concludes that “before 1930 the NSDAP had concentrated its efforts primarily in urban areas,” in “Agrarian Protectionism in the Weimar Republic,” Journal of Contemporary History 12 (1977): 771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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8. For reports on rural radicalism see Mitteilungen aus dem Verein zur Abwehr des Anti-semitismus, vol. 29 (May. 14, Sept. 18, 1919). For the case of a Baden Landbund leader who joined the Orgesch in order to protect rural communities from communists see Pol. Oberwachtmeister, Heidelberg, “Meldung,” Oct. 21, 1921, GLA/309/1164.

9. Lebovic, Hermann, Social Conservatism and the Middle Classes in Germany 1914–1933 (Princeton, N.J., 1969), p. 21CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gessner, Dieter, Die Agrarverbände in der Weimarer Republik (Düsseldorf, 1976), pp. 37–38.Google Scholar

10. Völkischer Beobachter, Jan. 16, 1921; Jung, Rudolf, Der nationale Sozialismus, 3rd ed. (Munich, 1923).Google Scholar

11. Völkischer Beobachter, Apr. 2, 1921.

12. Ibid., May 22, 1923; police report on DAP, Munich, “Grosse Parteiversammlung 16.1.1920 im Gasthaus zum Deutschen Reich,” HA/3/61.

13. For Dingfelder's speeches and publications see “Werke des Germanus Agricola,” HA/52/1201; “Rede des Dr. Dingfelder bei der Bauernversammlung in Winterhausen,” and “Die Arbeit als Grundpfeiler des Dritten Reiches,” May 1, 1936, both in HA/52/1214.

14. Völkischer Beobachter, Jan. 3, 1920; “‘Was uns Not tut,’ Rede 24.11.1920 in erster öffentlichen Versammlung der D.A.P. in München, von Dr. med. Johannes Dingfelder,” HA/52/1214.

15. Germanus Agricola to Hitler, June 3, 1923, IfZ/Microfilm 144/3, frames 5025–28 “Arbeitsplan des Ausschusses für Volksernährung der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung—in vierzehn Thesen,” June 25, 1923, HA/52/1201; Völkischer Beobachter (Beilage), July 14, 1923. According to Dingfelder there was little cooperation between his movement and the Nazis after 1923; see “Germanus Agricola” to NSDAP, Hauptarchiv, Aug. 17, 1938, HA/52/1201.

16. DrGrandel, Gottfried (Augsburg), “Binnenwirtschaft—was kann jetzt sofort ge-schehen?” Sept. 10, 1920, HA/4/108;Google ScholarMitteilungsblatt (NSDAP), June 3, 1922; Völkischer Beobachter, Feb. 13, 1921; Franz-Willing, Georg, Ursprung der Hitlerbewegung, 1919–1922, 2nd ed. (Preussisch Oldendorf, 1974), pp. 129–35, 203.Google Scholar

17. For Hitler's speeches see the following: Mitteilungsblatt, Sept. 17 and Oct. 1, 1921, Apr. 25, 1922, HA/4/95; Hitler, “Rathenau und Sancho Pansa,” and “Dummheit und Verbrechen,” HA/2/46; various police reports on NSDAP rallies in Munich between Aug. and Oct. 1920, in HA/3/62 and 82; Hitler's speeches on July 28, 1922 and Apr. 27, 1923, cited by Baynes, Norman H., ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, 1 (1942; reprint, New York, 1969): 22–26, 64–65.Google Scholar For general reviews of Hitler's ideology during these years see Weinberg, Gerhard L., The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany: Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933–36 (Chicago, 1970), p. 5Google Scholar, and Auerbach, Hellmuth, “Hitlers Politische Lehrjahre und die Münchner Gesellschaft, 1919–1923,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 25 (1977): 1–45.Google Scholar

18. NSDAP Program, Feb. 27, 1920, in Noakes, Jeremy and Pridham, Geoffrey, eds., Documents on Nazism, 1919–1945 (New York, 1975), pp. 38–39Google Scholar; Mitteilungsblatt, June 3, 1922, HA/4/95.

19. Bericht des Bayerischen M.d.I., “Weitere Zusammenstellung über die national-sozialistische Arbeiterpartei,” Dec. 13, 1922, IfZ/Fa. 85/Fasz. 99.

20. Damaschke, Adolf, Aus meinem Leben (Berlin, 1928), pp. 249–312Google Scholar; Bodenreform, vol. 37 (Aug. 8, 1926) and vol. 39 (Feb. 19, 1928); Mosse, George L., The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (New York, 1971), pp. 109–10.Google ScholarRoth, Alfred, the leader of the Schutz- und Trutzbund, considered the Bund Deutscher Boden-reformer a völkischGoogle Scholar league, see DeutschVölkisches Jahrbuch, 1920 (Weimar, 1920), p. 235.Google Scholar

21. Bodenreform, vol. 34 (Apr. 8, 1923). For reports on the anti-Bodenreform attitudes of rural journals see Bodenreform, vol. 34 (Apr. 22, 1923).

22. Völkischer Beobochter, Jan. 20, 1923; Shellman, Gareth Allen, “Land and Politics in Weimar Germany (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Iowa, 1975), p. 281.Google Scholar

23. Emil Korbisch to Hitler, May 9, 1923, T-84/6/5057.

24. Edmund Fürholzer to Hitler, June 12, 1923, IfZ/Microfilm 144/3, frame 5069; Fürholzer, “Lebenskuf,” n.d., T–81/188/337988.

25. Wilhelm Zimmermann to Amann, Oct. 19, 1923, T-84/5/42431.

26. Hans Mend to Hitler, June 19, 1923, IfZ/Microfilm 144/3. frame 5108; Georg Seifert to Hitler, Mar. 18, 1922, and Seifert, Georg, “Bericht über die Reichslandbundtagung in Hannover” (1922?), both in HA/6/141.Google Scholar

27. Grill, Johnpeter H., The Nazi Movement in Baden, 1920–1945 (Chapel Hill, 1983), pp. 67–68.Google Scholar

28. Ibid., pp. 68–70.

29. Polizei Inspektor Bayer and Oberwachtmeister, “Meldung,” July 23, 1923, GLA/234/5738.

30. This information is based on the Berlin Document Center files of a list of 108 names published in Der Führer, Sept. 22, 1933.

31. Kater argues that rural artisans, craftsmen, and peasants provided 52% of the new members who joined the party in the autumn of 1923, see “Zur Soziographie der früheren NSDAP,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 19 (1971): 138, 159.Google Scholar

32. NS Deutsche Freiheitsbewegung, Gotha, Kreis, “Aufruf” (1924)Google Scholar, T-81/116/136495; Block, Völkisch-Sozialer, Weser-Ems, , “Forderungen” (1924), HA/6/141Google Scholar; Sicherheits-Kommissar, “Öffentliche Wahlversammlung des Völkischen Blocks am 23. April 1924 im Schaffbräukeller (Ingolstadt),” HA/8/169; Das Deutsche Tageblatt, July 19, 1924; Völkischer Herold, July 25, 1924; Reichswart, May 31, 1924. For election results Bracher, Karl Dietrich, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik, 4th ed. (Villingen, 1964), p. 647Google Scholar. The party exceeded its national average of 6.5% in the following states or provinces: Lower Bavaria, Weser-Ems, Franconia, Mecklenburg, East-Prussia, East-Hanover, Pomerania, and Schleswig-Holstein.

33. Das Deutsche Tageblatt, Aug. 15 and Sept. 18, 1924; Bracher, Auflösung, p. 647. By 1924, Heinrich Himmler was actively engaged in rural campaigns in Lower Bavaria; see Smith, Bradley F., Heinrich Himmler: A Nazi in the Making, 1900–1926 (Stanford, 1971), pp. 152–58.Google Scholar

34. Das Deutsche Tageblatt, Oct. 7, 1925. In Baden the Landbund and the DNVP formed a Rechtsblock in 1925, and in Bavaria the Landbund supported the DNVP between 1924 and 1928, see Frankfurter Zeitung (Morgenblatt), Oct. 26, 1925; Thränhardt, Dietrich, Wahlen und politische Strukturen in Bayern 1848–1953 (Düsseldorf, 1973), pp. 139–42.Google Scholar

35. Meyer, Lothar, Die deutsche Landwirtschaft während der Inflation und zu Beginn der Deflation (Tübingen, 1924), pp. 30–32.Google Scholar For example, in 1924 the price index for meats was only 101.8 (1913 = 100), Gessner, Agrarverbände, p. 86.

36. Farquharson, The Plough and the Swastika, pp. 26–27; Gessner, Agrarverbände, pp. 23, 92. The plight of the small farmer in western Germany is treated in “Denkschrift über die Verschuldung der badischen Landwirtschaft im Jahre 1928,” 11 6, 1929, GLA/380/7270.

37. Badisches Landwirtschaftliches Wochenblatt, Jan. 2 and Feb. 1, 1926, Jan. 21 and 28, 1928; Gessner, Agrarverbände, pp. 102–3.

38. Farquharson, The Plough and the Swastika, p. 3; Gies, “NSDAP und landwirt-schaftliche Organisationen,” p. 375; Bergmann, Agrarromantik, pp. 311–14; Haus-hofer, Heinz, Ideengeschichte der Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarpolitik im Deutschen Sprachgebiet, 2 (Munich, 1958): 158–62.Google Scholar

39. See the discussion in Völkische Bauernschaft, Oct. 10, 1926.

40. Jäckel, Eberhard, “The Evolution of Hitler's Foreign Policy Aims,” in Turner, Henry A. Jr., ed., Nazism and the Third Reich (New York, 1972), pp. 206–8Google Scholar; Turner, , “Fascism and Modernization,” World Politics 24 (1972): 547–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Turner, , “Hitlers Einstel-lung zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft vor 1933,” Geschichte und Gesellschaft 2 (1976): 93–94.Google Scholar

41. Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, trans. Johnson, Alvin et al. (Boston, 1939), pp. 315–16Google Scholar; Weinberg, Gerhard, ed., Hitlers Zweites Buck—Ein Dokument aus dem Jahr 1928 (Stuttgart, 1961), pp. 54–55, 120–23.Google Scholar

42. For some of Hitler's speeches see Völkische Bauernschaft, Jan 30, 1927; Hitler's speech in Ansbach cited by Fränkische Zeitung, Mar. 28, 1927, in HA/5/134; Hitler's speech in Landshut, June 17, 1927, T-580/685/572; Hitler's speech in Hamburg cited by Der Bundschuh, Mar. 11, 1928, and Der Führer, Apr. 21, 1928; Hitler's speech in Munich, Feb. 16, 1932, cited by Domarus, Max, ed., Hitler—Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945: Kommentiert von einem deutschen Zeitgenossen (Neustadt a.d. Aisch, 1962), 1:93–94. In a confidential circular in 1930, Darré informed his subordinates that the real aim of National Socialism was to return the German people to the soil through “Raumgewinnung” in the east, “Rundschreiben,” Nov. 18, 1930, HA/4/951.Google Scholar

43. Orlow, History, 1:88–90, 113–18; Stachura, Peter D., “Der Kritische Wende-punkt? Die NSDAP und die Reichstagswahlen vom 20. Mai 1928,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 26 (1978): 76Google Scholar; Gau Mecklenburg-Lübeck, “Sonderrundschreiben,” May 18, 1927, T-580/689/578.

44. Hitler's speech Apr. 13, 1928, cited by Baynes, , ed., The Speeches of Hitler, 1:105.Google Scholar Stachura argues that the real turning point away from the urban plan came after the election of 1928, “Der Kritische Wendepunkt?” p. 93.

45. Lane, Barbara M., “Nazi Ideology: Some Unfinished Business,” Central European History 7 (1914): 20–22Google Scholar; Kühnl, Reinhard, Die nationalsozialistische Linke, 1925–1930 (Mei-senheim am Glan, 1966), pp. 23–24, 79–81Google Scholar; Turner, “Fascism and Modernization,” p. 551; Hoeft, Klaus-Dieter, “Die Agrarpolitik des deutschen Faschismus als Mittel zur Vorbereitung des zweiten Weltkrieges,” Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 7 (1959): 1205–50.Google Scholar

46. G. Strasser to Hauptgeschäftsstelle Munich, Dec. 30, 1925, T-580/22/203; Stras-ser, G., “Die Weltherrschaft des Finanzkapitals,” Der Weltkampf 2 (1925): 625–44Google Scholar; Krebs, Albert, Tendenzen und Gestalten der N.S.D.A.P.: Erinnerungen an die Frühzeit der Partei (Stuttgart, 1959), pp. 187–88.Google Scholar

47. Strasser, Otto, “Fortschritte in der Bauernsiedlung,” Völkische Bauernschaft, 08 15, 1926.Google Scholar The Völkische Bauernschaft appeared as a supplement to the Berliner Arbeiter-Zeitung and Der Nationale Sozialist für Sachsen (both available at the IfZ/Microfilm file 6/2).

48. Frederick, “Zucht, Eine Forderung zum Programm,” Weihnachten, 1925, HA/46/960.

49. Völkische Bauernschaft, June 13, 1926. In 1926, Strasser, G. listed in the Völkischer Beobachter (11 17, 1926) five leaflets which he recommended for propaganda. One was entitled “Bauer wach auf.”Google Scholar

50. Der Bundschuh (supplement to Berliner Arbeiter-Zeitung and Der Nationale Sozialist für Sachsen), Mar. 11, 1928; Himmler to Strasser, May 16, 1928, T-580/686/572. A few examples of the dual appeal to workers and farmers in late 1926 are provided by the following Nazi speeches cited in “Aus der Bewegung,” in Völkischer Beobachter, Nov. 17, 1926: “Bauernnot, Arbeiternot, Volksnot”; “Arbeiter und Bauern als Bundesgenossen”; “Warum könnten Bauern und Arbeiter nicht zusammen kommen?”

51. For example, see Farquharson, The Plough and the Swastika.

52. Rosikat's file and Gaukarte, BDC; Das Deutsche Tageblatt, Nov. 7, 1924.

53. Goebbels, “Rosikat,” NS Briefe, June 15, 1926. On the local level Rosikat was also praised as the party's most effective rural spokesman. In fact, one Silesian Nazi wanted Rosikat to stop “wasting” his time on urban campaigns and focus only on rural propaganda, see Burghardt (Ohlau, Silesia) to Himmler, Dec. 8, 1926, T-580/689/592.

54. Rosikat, , “Die Vernichtung des Bauerntums durch den jüdischen Händlergeist,” Der Weltkampf 3 (1926): 49–65.Google Scholar

55. Schriftleitung, , “Nachwort,” Der Weltkampf 3 (1926): 65–68.Google Scholar

56. Bouhler to Gauleitung Rheinland, Apr. 14, 1927, T-580/22/203; Himmler, Heinrich, “Die Lage der Landwirtschaft,” NS Briefe, 04 1, 1926Google Scholar; Backe, Herbert, “Vom Völkischen Blutsadel,” NS Briefe, 10 15, 1926.Google Scholar

57. Rosikat, “Zum Landvolkprogramm,” NS Briefe, Apr. 15, 1926.

58. Völkische Bauernschaft, Apr. 4, Apr. 18, May 2, and June 27, 1926; Bodenreform 37 (1926): 411.Google Scholar

59. Völkische Bauernschaft, May 9 and Aug. 29, 1926, May 29, 1927.

60. Gauleiter of Silesia to Kanzlei Adolf Hitler, Oct. 5, 1928, Rosikat file, BDC; Rosikat's Gaukarte, BDC; Gau Ruhr to Himmler, Apr. 21, 1927, T-580/698/592. In July 1927 Rosikat's articles were still appearing in the NS Briefe, Bouhler to G. Strasser, July 14, 1927, T-580/690/579. As late as Nov. 5, 1927, Rosikat's articles continued to appear in Der Führer.

61. Rosikat, , Die Lehren der Maiwahlen, 1928 (Breslau, 1928) in Rosikat file, BDC.Google Scholar

62. Heberle, From Democracy to Nazism, p. 71; Farquharson, The Plough and the Swastika, pp. 5–9; Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, pp. 211–12; von Schirach, Baldur, Die Pioniere des Dritten Reiches (Essen, 1933), pp. 156–57.Google Scholar

63. Lohse to Hitler, Mar. 3, 1925; Lohse to Munich, Dec. 3, 1925, both in T-580/25/2081. For other urban locals that were trying to win converts “auf dem Lande” see Landesverband Hamburg to Parteileitung Munich, June 5, 1925, T-580/21/201.

64. Lohse to Bouhler, Apr. 9, 1926, T-580/25/2081; Völkischer Beobachter, May 7 and July 3, 1926; Stoltenberg, Gerhard, Politische Strömungen im schleswig-holsteinischen Land-volk, 1918–1933: Ein Beitrag zur politischen Meinungsbildung in der Weimarer Republik (Düs-seldorf, 1962), pp. 141–47. Hitler came to Eutin, an exclave of Oldenburg, because he had received permission from the city council to speak in public. There is no evidence that Hitler appealed to farmers.Google Scholar

65. Völkischer Beobachter, July 3, 1926; Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbuch, 1927 (Munich, 1927), PP. 140–45.Google Scholar

66. Der Bundschuh, Feb. 5, 1928; Himmler to Lohse, Feb. 28, 1928, and Lohse to Bouhler, Apr. 5, 1928, T-580/25/2081. In 1928, the party won 4% of the vote in Schleswig-Holstein as a whole; it won 5.4% in the rural areas, Heberle, From Democracy to Nazism, p. 94.

67. Lohse to Hitler, Feb. 5, 1929, in Jochmann, Werner, ed., Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der N.S.D.A.P. in Hamburg 1922–1933, Dokumente (Frankfurt a.M., 1963), p. 277.Google Scholar

68. See Pridham, Hitler's Rise to Power, p. 57.

69. Preiss, Heinz, ed., Julius Streicher, Kampf dem Weltfeind—Reden aus der Kampfzeit (Nuremberg, 1938), pp. 13–16Google Scholar; Enzer, Hans, “Meine Kampferlebnisse,” 04 30, 1937, HA/28/532.Google Scholar

70. Gendarmeriestation Uehlfeld to Bezirksamt Neustadt, Sept. 15, 1924, HA/17A/1733; Stadtkommissär, Bamberg to Regierungspräsidium, Bayreuth, Jan. 21, 1924, HA/33A/1788; Sekretär, Kriminal, Ansbach, , “Versammlungsbericht,” 10 10, 1927, HA/5/134.Google Scholar

71. Sekretär, Kriminal, “Vesammlungsbericht der N.S.D.A.P., Ortsgruppe Ansbach am 28. Januar 1927,” 01 30, 1927Google Scholar; and Fränkische Zeitung, Jan. 29, 1927, both in HA/5/134.

72. For Himmler's early rural career and propaganda see Fabriken, Vereinigte, Ingolstadt, , “Zeugnis,” 10 15, 1921Google Scholar, and Forster, Direktor, Schleissheim, , “Zeugnis,” 08 30, 1923, both in HA/98/1Google Scholar; Smith, Bradley F., Heinrich Himmler, pp. 68, 137, 152.Google Scholar

73. Himmler, “Völkische Bauernpolitik,” and Himmler, “Völkische Agrarpolitik,” both in HA/98/1.

74. Himmler, “Die Lage der Landwirtschaft,” in NS Briefe, Apr. 1, 1926; Himmler, “Bauer wach auf,” in Völkische Bauernschaft, Aug. 1, 1926.

75. Himmler to Hauptgeschäftsstelle, Munich, Sept. 10, 1925, and Himmler to Bouhler, Sept. 29, 1925, both in T-580/19/199. The Kurier was devoted to “national and social politics.” Strasser used the paper to appeal to all segments of society, and to warn them of imminent disaster; see for example Kurier für Niederbayern, Jan. 5, 1926, in Ruge Nachlass, GLA/69N/129.

76. Himmler to Wilhelm Reuter, Apr. 22, 1926, HA/98/1.

77. For the routing of letters from “rural Nazis” to the propaganda department see RL, Munich to Burghardt, Ohlau, Silesia, Aug. 10, 1926, T-580/698/692. For Himmler's role in the rural propaganda in late 1927 and early 1928 see the voluminous correspondence between Himmler and local and regional Nazi leaders in T-580/685/572, T-580/686/573, and T–580/689/577; see also Röver to Himmler, Feb. 16, 1928, and “Schrift-leitung,” Völkischer Beobachter, to Himmler, Feb. 17, 1928, both in HA/98/1.

78. Himmler to Gauleiter Fritz Reinhardt, Apr. 5, 1929, T-580/24/206; Himmler to Gauleiter Erich Koch, Mar. 18, 1929, T–580/24/207.

79. For local and regional demands for rural propaganda see Karl Kaufmann to Himmler, Dec. 14, 1926, T-580/698/592; Burghardt to Himmler, Dec. 8, 1926, T-580/689/592; Himmler to Fritz Tittmann, Zwickau, Saxony, Sept. 13, 1926, T–580/698/592. See also Backe, Herbert, “Vom völkischen Blutsadel,” NS Briefe, Oct. 15, 1926;Google ScholarSchneider, Hugo, “Bemerkungen zur Siedlungsfrage,” NS Briefe, 12 15, 1926;Google ScholarVölkische Bauernschaft, Feb. 27, 1927; Völkischer Beobachter, Jan. 9, 1926; Die Flamme (Bamberg), July 1926, in HA/17A/1923.

80. Völkischer Beobachter, Jan. 20, 1923; “Forderungen des Völkisch-Sozialen Blocks,” Weser-Ems (1924), HA/6/141; Ingolstadt police report, “Öffentliche Wahlversammlung des völkischen Blocks am 23.4.24,” HA/8/169. On the opposition of the Bauernbund of Württemberg and the Landbund see Völkischer Herald, July 18, 1924, and Das Deutsche Tageblatt, July 19, 1924.

81. Bodenreform 35 (1924): 43–44.Google Scholar In Vienna the Bund Deutscher Bodenreformer had a reprepresentative who participated in Austrian Nazi party conferences, see Bodenreform 36 (1925): 327–28.Google Scholar

82. Bodenreform 36 (1925): 25–26, and 37 (1926): 153–54, 190Google Scholar; Reichswart, May 1, 1926. According to the Bodenreform, Strasser, Feder, Frick, and Dietrich voted for the bill which was also supported by the Socialists, Communists, Democrats, and Center Party.

83. H. Richter to Darré, Aug. 10, 1931, HA/46/949, In one propaganda pamphlet the DNVP declared that the Nazi party was a socialist party since it supported Damaschke's land reform plans, see DNVP Schriftenvertriebsstelle (Berlin), “Vortragsentwurf Nr. 19,” n.d., in Ruge Nachlass, GLA/69N/56.

84. Das Deutsche Tageblatt, July 20, 1924; Bodenreform 35 (1924): 187–88Google Scholar; Reichswart, Nov. 29, 1924.

85. NS Briefe, Oct. 15, 1926; Völkische Bauernschaft, May. 4, 1926; Müller, Walter, Der Gutsherr und seine Mitarbeiter vom Standpunkt der Volksgemeinschaft—eine nationalsozialistische Betrachtung (Rostock, 1924), in HA/11A/1250.Google Scholar

86. Schlange, “Bodenreform,” in NS Briefe, June 1, 1926; editor, “Bodenreform,” in NS Briefe, July 1, 1926.

87. Bodenreform 36 (1926): 34, 411Google Scholar; Völkische Bauernschaft, Dec. 12, 1926, and Jan. 30, 1927. Rosikat noted that “Bauernpolitik ist Eigentumspolitik,” NS Briefe, Apr. 15, 1926.

88. For a case involving Nazi representatives in Brunswick see Schoenbaum, David, Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933–1939 (New York, 1967) P. 32.Google Scholar

89. Stachura, “Der Kritische Wendepunkt?” p. 74. G. Strasser supported the expropriation of princely properties, see Schoenbaum, Hitler's Social Revolution, p. 23.

90. Der Führer, May 5, 1928; Der Bundschuh, May 6, 1928; Bodenreform 39 (1928): 314.Google Scholar

91. Darré “Damaschke und der Marxismus-Bodenreform,” HA/46/949; Völkischer Beobachter, Aug. 31, 1931.

92. For opposition to Darré's anti-Damaschke publications see Friedrich Cornelius to Hitler, Aug. 5, 1931; Hans Rietschel to Hitler, July 17, 1931; and H. Richter to Darré Aug. 10, 1931, all in HA/46/949. In late 1930 Darré ordered rural Nazis to join the Landbund to capture it from within, Darré, “Rundschreiben,” Dec. 16, 1930, HA/46/951. This policy had been advocated by some local rural Nazis as early as 1927; see Der Führer, Dec. 31, 1927.

93. For the best treatment see Kater, Michael H., “Die Artamanen—völkische Jugend in der Weimarer Republik,” Historische Zeitschrift 213 (1971): 577–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also the reports in Völkische Bauernschaft, Apr. 4, May 2, and Aug. 15, 1926.

94. Bouhler to Gauleiter Vahlen, Jan. 14, 1927, T–580/24/207; Völkische Bauernschaft, Jan. 9, 1927; Der Bundschuh, June 30, 1928.

95. Himmler to Franz Wilke, Jan. 30, 1928, T-580/23/205.

96. Vertrauensmann der N.S.D.A.P. innerhalb des Bundes Artam to Hitler, June 22, 1927, HA/53/1285; Kater, “Die Artamanen,” pp. 578, 627–36. Kater cites the Völkischer Beobachter (June 22, 1927) which claimed that 80% of all Artamanen were Nazi party members, “Die Artamanen,” p. 613.

97. See n. 79 above and Völkischer Beobachter, Dec. 24, 1925, Nov. 17, 1926, and Apr. 3/4, 1927. For Hesse see Schön, Eberhart, Die Enstehung des Nationalsozialismus in Hessen (Meisenheim am Glan, 1972), pp. 87–89Google Scholar; for Baden see Grill, The Nazi Movement, pp. 144–50.

98. Walter Kleunig, Gauführer of Potsdam to Bouhler, Apr. 23, 1926, T-580/22/205; Stendal, Kreis, “Einheitsliste der N.S.D.A.P. und D.V.F.B.,” Nov., 1925, T–580/22/204.Google Scholar

99. Seibert, Heinz, “Norddeutsche Siedlung und wir,” in NS Briefe, Nov. 1, 1926.Google Scholar

100. Müller, Hermann, “Wehr dich Bauer,” in T–580/24/207Google Scholar; Kohler, Eric D., “Revolutionary Pomerania 1919–1920: A Study in Majority Socialist Agricultural Policy and Civil-Military Relations,” Central European History 9 (1976): 291–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

101. Wilhelm Stich, Königsberg, to Parteileitung Munich, July 15, 1925, T-580/24/207; Hertz-Eichenröde, Dieter, Politik und Landwirtschaft in Ostpreussen, 1919–1930 (Cologne, 1969), pp. 67–69, 101–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

102. Gau Ostpreussen to Hauptgeschäftsstelle Munich, Nov. 18, 1926, and “Mitglieder-stand Gau Ostpreussen,” June 31, 1926, both in T–580/24/207. Gau Ostpreussen urged Munich to use the Völkischer Beobachter of Nov. 17, 1926 for rural propaganda. It contained an article by Hermann Müller (“Wehr dich Bauer”) which attacked international capitalism for “controlling German industry and reducing German tariffs.” Müller warned German farmers that international capitalism was planning the destruction of German agriculture by keeping tariffs low. Without tariffs, he warned, German farmers were doomed.

103. Müller, Walter, Der Gutsherr, in HA/11A/1250Google Scholar; Burkhardt, Jürgen, Bauern gegen Junker und Pastoren: Feudalreste in der mecklenburgischen Landwirtschaft nach 1918 (Berlin, 1963), pp. 60–62, 71, 86.Google Scholar

104. Hildebrandt to Hauptgeschäftsstelle Munich, June 18, 1926, T–580/23/205; Hüttenberger, Peter, Die Gauleiter: Studie zum Wandel des Machtgefüges in der N.S.D.A.P. (Stuttgart, 1969), p. 214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

105. “Bericht des Gauführers Hildebrandt,” Nov. 3, 1926, T–580/23/205.

106. Bouhler to Gau Mecklenburg, May 18, 1926, T–580/23/205; Bouhler to Himmler, May 18, 1926, T–580/19/199; Hildebrandt to Himmler, Apr. 13, 1927, T-580/689/578.

107. Siegfried Kasche to Parteiarchiv, Nov. 1, 1934, HA/10/209.

108. Kasche to Goebbels, Nov. 19, 1926; NSDAP, local Sorau, “Arbeitsplan für September-Oktober 1927”; and Kasche to Gauleitung Brandenburg, Dec. 30, 1927, all in HA/10/209; Kerlen to Jungbauer Alfred Schulz, Mar. 4, 1927, HA/10/205.

109. Kasche, “Tätigkeitsbericht,” Apr. 23, 1929; and Ostmark, Gau, “Juli Rundschrei-ben,” 07 1, 1929, both in HA/10/203Google Scholar; Kasche to Pfarrer Münchmeyer, Aug. 9, 1929, HA/10/204.

110. Der Führer, Nov. 12, 1927; Landespolizeiamt, Abt. N, “Rechtsbewegung,” Jan. 15, 1927 and Jan. 15, 1928, SAF/317/1257d. See also Roth's interesting letter to Himmler in which he argues for a “rural salvation” for Germany, May 1, 1929, T-580/688/576.

111. Sicherheits Kommissär, “Wahlversammlung des Bauern- u. Mittelstandsbundes am 16. Mai 1928 im Schaffbräu Keller Ingolstadt,” HA/8/169; “Kampferlebnisse des Pg. Philipp Hering, Steinbach i./Odenwald,” Sept. 7, 1937, HA/26/R514; Schön, Die Enstehung des Nationalsozialismus in Hessen, pp. 87–92. See also the work by Zofka, Zdenek, Die Ausbreitung des Nationalsozialismus auf dem Lande: Eine regionale Fallstudie zur politischen Einstellung der Landbevölkerung in der Zeit des Aufstiegs und der Machtergreifung der NSDAP 1928–1936 (Munich, 1979), pp. 343–46,Google Scholar on the conversion of “Meinungs-führen” to National Socialism after 1928.

112. Gauführer Otto Telschow to Parteileitung Munich, Feb. 14, 1927, and “An-schriften der Ortsgruppenführer oder Vertrauensmänner,” c. Feb. 1928, both in T-580/21/2021.

113. To name only a few: Albert Roth in Baden; Jakob Sprenger in Hesse; Werner Willikens in Gotha; Hinrich Lohse in Schleswig-Holstein; Julius Streicher in Franconia; Heinrich Himmler in Bavaria; and Hildebrandt in Mecklenburg.

114. The party did best in rural areas in western Germany (from Schleswig-Holstein to Baden), see Bracher, Auflösung, p. 647. In Baden, for example, the party won only 2.9% of the total vote but it attracted between 8 and 17% of the vote in several rural districts. In 1928, 34.5% of the Baden party's new votes came from five rural (and mostly Protestant) districts where only 6.2% of the state's votes were cast, Grill, The Nazi Movement, p. 166.

115. Gauführer von Corswart to Wilhelm Kube, Mar. 23, 1928, T-580/24/207.

116. Hildebrandt to Frick, Apr. 4, 1928, and Bouhler to Hildebrandt, Apr. 11, 1928, both in T-580/23/205.

117. Rust to Bouhler, Mar. 22, 1928, T-580/21/2011; Völkische Bauernschaft, May 29, 1927; Noakes, The Nazi Party, pp. 105–6.

118. “Landtag Wahlbezirk 16,” Apr. 1928, and “Reichstag Wahlbezirk 16,” both in T-580/21/2021; Gies, “N.S.D.A.P. und landwirtschaftliche Organisationen,” p. 369.

119. Himmler to Major a. D. E. von Kreller, Weinschlitz, Saxony, Sept. 25, 1927, T-580/685/572.

120. Between Jan. and Mar., 1928, local and regional Nazi leaders from all over Germany requested Hitler's presence at party rallies and meetings which appealed to the farmers; see the voluminous correspondence between Himmler and various party leaders in T–580/686/573 and T-580/689/577.

121. Himmler to Karl Weinrich, Mar. 16, 1928, T-580/689/577; Himmler to Karl Weinrich, Mar. 30, 1928, T-580/686/573; Himmler to Gauleitung Hanover, Mar. 8, 1928, T–580/687/574.

122. Noakes, The Nazi Party in Lower Saxony, p. 124.

123. For the rural appeals of the German Democratic Party see the journal Der Demokrat. For example, one article in 1925 demanded an end to land speculation, emphasized the need for tax and tariff reforms, and appealed for rural settlements, Der Demokrat 6 (1925): 442–45.Google Scholar For the DNVP see Materialien für deutschnationale Wahlredner (Freiburg, 1928).Google Scholar For the Communists see Arbeiter Zeitung (Lörrach), Sept. 22, 1926, in SAF/361/289, and NSDAP, local Eutin to Altona, Jan. 1, 1932, T-81/176/317592. As early as Feb. 1927 the Baden Communists urged the penetration of rural areas by finding rural party members and converting small farmers, see KPD, Baden, leadership report found by the Baden Landespolizei, Abt. N, “Bericht,” Mar. 27, 1927, in SAF/317/1257d.

124. For example, see the report of the secretary of the Bayerische Christliche Bauernverein on the Nazi party's agrarian program in Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, Mar. 11, 1930; and Bayerische Bauernblatt, Aug. 5, 1930, both in HA/70/1512.

125. See the report in the C. V. Zeitung, Mar. 23, 1928, on the farmer's loss of faith in the Landbund. One must also remember that while the DNVP participated in national governments before 1928, the farmer's economic position continued to deteriorate.

126. Farquharson, The Plough and the Swastika, p. 41. Linz (“Some Notes Toward a Comparative Study of Fascism,” p. 120) notes that the “question of the extent to which the voters in rural areas and small towns moved between 1928 and 1930 toward the NSDAP in response to the economic crisis rather than the party appealing to them effectively and the influence of activist nuclei—Ortsgruppen and Stützpunkte—would deserve more research.” I believe it would be more fruitful to focus on the party's local rural efforts between 1925 and 1930.