Both Germany and Austria had been crushed economically by both the Depression and the Versaille treaty's war reparations. Workers were paid on a daily basis because the Deutch Mark devalued hourly. Workers would stop work at lunch hour and demand payment in order to give the day's wage to their wives to buy dinner before the currency devalued further.

As sad as it sounds....Hitler offered hope to the German people. He was elected Chancellor in l933...soon there were a number of mysterious happenings such as the Reichstag Fire which were used to further panic the people...which were blamed upon a number of usual scapegoats....Soon democracy fell by the wayside in favor of law and order (regardless of what the law was)....human rights took a back seat....and they had a leader for life....not unlike Caesar.

If you are interested there is an excellent book on the subject entitled "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" written by William L. Shirer.