3. creation of a dictatorship 1933-34

• creation of a dictatorshiop

  these key events lead to hitler becoming a dictator

  1. reichstag fire - 27 feb 1933
  2. enabling act - 23 march 1933
  3. political parties banned - 14 july 1933
  4. night of long knives - 30 june 1934

  all this lead to hitler becoming fuhrer - 19 august 1934
• reichstag fire

  • 27 February: Reichstag building was set on fire.
  • A Dutch communist, van der Lubbe, was caught red-handed and blamed.
  • in the election 44% voted for the Nazis (288 seats)
  • not a majority
  • Hitler had to join with the nationalists to form a majority.

  how this helped hitler

  • used the fire to persuade Hindenburg to pass an emergency law restricting personal liberty ---> enabled him to imprison many communist leaders ---> couldn't campaigning
  • although they hadn't got the majority they had enough seats to pass enabling law (after arrests and SA intimidation)
• enabling act

  • 23 march 1933
  • with the communist deputies banned and the SA intimidation, the Reichstag (required 2/3s) to give Hitler the right to make laws without the Reichstag’s approval for 4 years

  how this helped hitler:

  • gave Hitler absolute power to make laws ---> enabled him to destroy all opposition to his rule.
  • This removed the Reichstag as a source of opposition
• nazi officials put in charge of local governments

  • Nazi officials were put in charge of all local government.
  • ‘Alien elements’ (people from other countries) in the civil service, courts and education were removed from their positions.

  how this helped hitler:

  • The Nazis got rid of any potential opposition in positions that could prove influential, eg judges.
  • They also got rid of people they thought were ‘undesirables’ – like the Jews.
• trade unions banned

  • 2 may 1933
  • trade unions were banned
  • workers were now expected to join the new German Labour Front (DAF).

  how this helped hitler:

  • Trade unions could unite people to protest – therefore the Nazis had got rid of a potential form of opposition.
  • They also destroyed a possible form of sympathy and support for their arch-enemies, the communists.
• political parties banned

  • 14 july 1933
  • Political parties were banned: only the Nazi party was allowed to exist

  how this helped hitler:

  • made Germany a one-party state and destroyed democracy in the country.
  • This removed other parties as a source of opposition.
• night of long knives

  • Many members of the SA were demanding that the Nazi party carry out its socialist agenda and that the SA take over the army.
  • Hitler couldn't afford to annoy businessmen or the army
  • so the SS (Hitler's personal bodyguards) murdered around 400 members of the SA along with a number of Hitler's other opponents (ie: previous Chancellor, von Schleicher)

  how this helped hitler:

  • destroyed all opposition to Hitler within the Nazi Party
  • gave power to brutal SS.
  • showed the world what a tyrant Hitler was.
  • removed internal Nazi Party opposition
• 19 august 1934

  hitler becomes fuhrer

  Members of the armed forces had to swear a personal oath of allegiance not to Germany, but to Hitler

  > eliminated any uprisings or opposition in the army
• other ways hitler extended his power

  • Local government was reorganised – with Nazi Party officials put in charge of each area of Germany.
  • Trade unions were abolished and their leaders arrested.
  • A Concordat (agreement) was signed with the Pope, which allowed Hitler to increase his power in Germany without opposition from the Catholic Church, as long as he left the Church alone.
  • People's courts: Hitler set up the Nazi people's courts where judges had to swear an oath of loyalty to the Nazis
• the police state

  Schutzstaffel (SS)

  • led by Heinrich Himmler
  • the SS was the most important of these organisations and oversaw the others.
  • Initially set up as Hitler’s personal bodyguard service, the SS was fanatically loyal to the Führer.
  • It later set up concentration camps where ‘enemies of the state’ were sent
• the police state

  the gestapo

  • this was the Nazis’ secret police force.
  • Its job was to monitor the German population for signs of opposition or resistance to Nazi rule.
  • It was greatly helped by ordinary German people informing on their fellow citizens
• the police state

  the SD

  • this was the intelligence gathering agency of the SS.
  • It was responsible for the security of Hitler and other top Nazis
  • led by Himmler’s right hand man, Reinhard Heydrich
• nazi control of the legal system

  the party’s control of the legal system made opposition to the regime very difficult indeed:

  • Judges had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler and were expected to act always in the interests of the Nazi state.
  • All lawyers had to join the Nazi Lawyers' Association, which meant they could be controlled.
  • The role of defence lawyers in criminal trials was weakened.
  • Standard punishment for crimes were abolished and so local prosecutors could decide what penalties to impose on those found guilty.
• nazi control of the legal system

  >These changes more than halved the number of criminal offences between 1933 and 1939,

  > the number of crimes that carried the death penalty increased from 3 ---> 46.

  > Many convicted criminals were not released at the end of their sentences but instead were moved to the growing number of concentration camps being established by the SS
• nazi control of the chruches - motif/context

  There were approximately 45 million Protestants and 22 million Catholic Christians in Germany in 1933.

  Hitler saw Christianity as a threat and a potential source of opposition to Nazism because it emphasised peace.

  > The Nazis tried to control the Churches with policies and bargaining
• nazi control of the churches

  A state Reich Church under the leadership of the Nazi Bishop Ludwig Müller was established to unify the different branches of Protestantism.

  > enabled the Nazis to use a group called the ‘German Christians’ within the Reich Church to promote Nazi ideas.

  In 1933 Hitler agreed a Concordat with the Pope,

  > said that he would not interfere in the running of the Catholic Church if it stayed out of political matters.

  Hitler didn’t keep his side of the bargain, however, as the Nazis attempted to infiltrate the Church and spread their propaganda.
• Nazi attempts to supress the Churches

  • The Reich Church attempted to ban the use of the Old Testament it was considered a ‘Jewish book’.
  • 800 Pastors of the Confessional Church, a non-conforming Protestant group, were arrested ---> concentration camps.
  • The Nazis attempted to stop Catholics using the crucifix (not successful).
  • Catholic schools and youth organisations were supressed, German children educated in state schools, taught a Nazi curriculum, and expected to join the Hitler Youth.
  • Catholic newspapers were banned
  • 400 Catholic priests were sent to Dachau camp
• impact of the nazis supressing the church

  1937: Hitler was forced to return control of the Church to the old Protestant leadership, in return for a promise that the Church would stay out of politics.

  Attendance at Catholic churches increased substantially under the Nazis, especially during World War Two, showing that Hitler’s attempts to reduce the influence of religion in Germany was ultimately unsuccessful.

  Both Protestant and Catholic clergy played a large role in opposing Hitler and the Nazis, for which they often paid a high price
• Hitler and the Nazi Party were a constant presence in the life of the German people, with:

  • the infamous Swastika symbol appearing on every government uniform and public building
  • pictures of Hitler displayed everywhere
  • Germans having to greet each other with a ‘Heil Hitler’ raised arm salute

  The government department responsible for all of this was the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda, headed by Dr Joseph Goebbels.

  >aim: brainwash people into obeying the Nazis and idolising Hitler
• controlling and influincing attitudes - methods

  methods included:

  • Censorship of the press. All newspapers were controlled by the government and could only print stories favourable to the Nazi regime.
  • Control of radio broadcasts. People's radios were sold very cheaply so that most Germans could afford one. All radio output was controlled by Goebbels’ ministry through the Reich Broadcasting Corporation.
• controlling and influencing attitudes - methods

  • Mass rallies. These public displays of support for Nazism involved music, speeches and demonstrations of German strength. the biggest was held in august at nuremburg yearly
  • Use of sports events. Berlin hosted the Olympics of 1936, which the Nazis used as an opportunity to showcase the success of the regime and to demonstrate the superiority of the Aryan race. The victories of the African-American athlete Jesse Owens for the USA infuriated the Nazi leadership.
  • Loudspeakers in public places also blared out Nazi propaganda.
• nazi control of culture and arts - art

  • The Weimar period had seen a flourishing of German art, much of which was abstract.
  • Hitler saw this modern art as ‘degenerate’
  • over 6500 works of art were removed from display
  • Hitler encouraged ‘Aryan art’ instead, which showed the physical and military power of Germany and the Aryan race.
• nazi control of culture and arts - architecture

  • Hitler was very interested in architecture and believed it could be used to project the power of the Nazi regime.
  • The most important architect of the period was Albert Speer, who redesigned Berlin, as well as designing the stadium in Nuremberg where annual rallies were held
• nazi control of culture and arts - literature

  1933: organised mass book burnings, which saw mostly Jewish authors’ works ceremonially destroyed
• nazi control of culture and arts - theatre

  Works by certain playwrights were banned.

  Nazi-produced political plays and musicals were not very popular

  >allowed classic plays by the likes of Shakespeare to be performed
• nazi control of culture and arts - film

  Films were popular forms of entertainment but Goebbels saw them as a form of escapism for Germans.

  Directors such as Leni Riefenstahl created patriotic films such as Triumph of the Will
• nazi conrtol of culture and arts - music

  In classical music, works by Jewish composers like Mendelssohn and Mahler were banned and the works of the German composer Wagner were promoted, gaining huge popularity
• the xtent of support for the anzi regime

  it is clear that the Nazis were incredibly popular when they came to power

  >many Germans welcomed the stability and economic growth an authoritarian regime brought (weimar didn't have).

  • The Nazi regime restored Germany’s international prestige through rearmament and the dismantling of the Treaty of Versailles.
  • The sheer scale of propaganda - especially that directed towards German children - meant that many more Germans became active Nazi Party members and were convinced of Hitler’s greatness
• opposition against the nazis - protestantism

  • Many Protestant pastors, led by Martin Niemöller, formed the Confessional Church in opposition to Hitler's Reich Church.
  • Niemöller was held in a concentration camp during the period 1937-1945
  • total of 800 clergy were sent to camps.
  • Protestant pastor and member of the Confessional Church, Dietrich Bonhöffer, was linked to the 1944 bomb plot and was executed.
  • In 1937 Hitler restored the Protestant church’s independence in return for a guarantee that it would not interfere in politics, an agreement similar to his Concordat with the Pope.
• opposition against the nazis - catholicism

  • Despite the Concordat, some Catholic priests opposed Hitler.
  • 1937: the Pope's message 'With Burning Concern' attacked Hitler as 'a mad prophet with repulsive arrogance'
  • this speech was read in every Catholic Church.
  • 400 German Catholic priests were imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp by the regime
• opposition from the young - the edelweiss pirates

  • The main youth opposition group was the Edelweiss Pirates, based in the Rhineland.
  • They reacted to the discipline of the Hitler Youth by daubing anti-Nazi slogans and singing pre-1933 folk songs.
  • In 1942 over 700 of them were arrested
  • 1944, the Pirates in Cologne killed the Gestapo chief, so the Nazis publicly hanged 12 of them
• opposition from the young - the swing youth and jazz youth

  • During the war, ‘Swing Youth’ and ‘Jazz Youth’ groups were formed.
  • These were young people who rejected Nazi values, drank alcohol and danced to jazz.
  • The Nazis rejected jazz music as degenerate and called it Negro music, using their racial ideas against this cultural development.
  • These youths were closely monitored by the Gestapo, who regularly raided illegal jazz clubs
• other sources of opposition and resistance

  1944,

  a group of army officers tried to assassinate Hitler.

  A bomb was planted by Colonel Stauffenberg at a meeting attended by Hitler.

  It exploded, but Hitler survived.

  In retaliation, Stauffenberg was shot the same day and 5,000 people were executed in the crackdown on opposition that followed