creation of a dictatorship 1933-34

• when was the reichstag fire

  27 february 1933
• why did hitler not have complete control of germany when he first became chancellor

  nsdap only controlled one-third of the reichstag

  hindenburg was president

  weimar constitution limited power of the chancellor
• what was the reichstag fire


  the reichstag building set on fire

  dutch communist, martin van der lubbe, arrested at the scene

  put on trial + executed
• 2 other nazis in cabinet

  wilhelm frick

  hermann goering
• wilhelm frick

  reich minister for the interior

  had power over government ministries and officials
• hermann goering

  minister without portfolio

  minister for prussia

  had control over nearly 2/3 of germany
• how did hitler use the reichstag fire

  blamed fire on communists

  gave hitler excuse to attack communists

  4,000 communists arrested on night of reichstag fire

  persuaded hindenburg to sign decree for the protection of people and state
• decree for the protection of the people and the state

  replaced constitutional government by permanent state of emergency

  suspended basic human rights

  suspend all civil rights for communists, socialists, liberals and trade unionists

  allowed nazis to imprison large numbers of political opponents

  communist and socialist newspapers were banned

  increasing nazi control in media

  new election called
• results of march 1933 election

  nsdap - 43.9% - 288 seats

  formed coalition with dnvp - 8%

  kpd - 12.3%

  needed 2/3 seats to change constitution had 2/3
• enabling act

  24th march 1933
• what was the enabling act

  act pushed through reichstag

  giving hitler and nazi party full power for next 4 years

  more powers than the president

  renewed in 37 and 41

  end to democracy in weimar

  allowed hitler to bring all of german society into line with nazi philosophy (gleichschaltung)
• parties regarding the enabling act

  kpd = couldn't prevent passing of act as many members in jail + not allowed to vote in the chamber

  zp = supported act as hitler promised to respect rights of the catholic church (no interference in catholic schools)

  absentees counted as present

  other parties intimidated by the sa as they entered the chamber
• gleichschaltung

  nazi philosophy/policy

  every aspect of social, political and economic life of german citizens was controlled and monitored by the nazis
• banning of trade unions

  2nd may 1933

  using enabling act

  nazis said they were no longer needed as there was a national community

  DAF (german labour front) set up to replace trade unions and employers' groups
• what were the daf able to do

  decide wages

  to be employed, all workers had to own a daf workbook (record of all details of employment)
• what was the punishment for anyone opposing the changes

  strikes were illegal

  anyone opposing new changes were sent to new prisons : concentration camps for political re-education

  no one allowed to oppose the nazi state
• first concentration camp

  dachau

  march 1933
• banning of political parties

  14th july 1933

  law against the formation of parties

  nazi party was the sole legal political party in germany

  BEFORE this law: communist party not allowed to take seats in reichstag and property taken away

  10th may - sdp had headquarters seized

  june - sdp gave up their seats in reichstag

  end of june - all other parties dissolved

  germany = one party state
• results of november 1933 elections

  nazis - 39,638,000 votes

  minor protest through 3 million spoilt ballots
• abolition of the lander

  hitler broke germany's federal structure

  previously 18 lander (districts) with a parliament each

  federalism

  lander = difficult for weimar republic by disagreeing with laws (ebert used over 130 decrees to overrule lander)

  january 1934

  decided lander should be run by reich governers + abolished all regional parliaments

  centralised germany for first time since 1871
• federalism

  where there is a central government and multiple regional governments that make their own laws
• night of the long knives

  30 june 1934
• events of the night of the long knives

  purging of hitler's political and military rivals

  himmler told hitler of rohm's plan to seize power so ss shot:

  rohm

  von schleicher

  von kahr

  strasser

  400 sa members
• cause of the night of long knives

  sa = major threat to hitler

  destroyed all opposition to hitler

  gave power to ss

  removed internal nazi party opposition to hitler

  turning point for hitler's rule in germany

  showed rest of the world how much of a tyrant hitler was
• threat of the sa/rohm to hitler

  rohm + some sa demanded nsdap carry out socialist agenda which contrasted hitler's want to help the rich

  rohm wanted sa to take over the army

  sa clashed with ss

  generals would complain to hindenburg about hitler not doing anything about rohm

  hitler did not want to annoy businessmen + army

  rohm led 3m sa members

  internal power struggle between rohm and hitler
• heinrich himmler

  leader of ss
• rohm, goering and frick's views of sa and nsdap

  goering and frick - thought sa actions would create backlash against hitler so wished to control sa

  rohm - wanted to incorporate the army into sa, wanted more interference in the government, and a social revolution
• ss views on sa

  wanted to break away from sa
• death of hindenburg

  2nd august 1934
• impact of death of hindenburg

  hitler combined roles of president and chancellor to become fuhrer

  but to legally achieve this he had to get public approval for combining so called a plebiscite

  over 90% of voters agreed he should be fuhrer
• support from army

  army did not like sa

  3rd july 1934 law = night of the long knives was legal = hitler had confidence

  19th august - hitler forced army to swear oath of allegiance to him

  neutralised any sources of opposition to hitler within army

  marked end of weimar republic and start of hitler's third reich