Consolidation of Power

• The Reichstag Fire:

  • 27th February 1933 --> Dutch Communist Van der Lubbe was caught with fire starting material nearby
  • Lubbe denies having worked for a Communist group, however Hitler used this as an opportunity to blame this on a communist coup
  • this allowed him to justify repression of the Communist parties
  • 28th February: Wilhelm Frick ,minister of interior, created the Decree for the Protection of People and State, which Hindenburg signed using Article 48
  • Der Lubbe, was believed to have been mentally unwell
  • Nazis could have started the fire -> Goerings office was near
• Decree for the Protection of People and State:

  Suspended most civil liberties, restricted political rights, and strengthened the power of the central government over state/regional ones. This was done due to the communist 'threat'
• The Reichstag Elections 5th March 1933:

  • violence and terror dominated, an atmosphere of tension
  • In Prussia, Goring used his authority to hire an extra 50 000 men for the police, 69 people killed on the street from SS and SA
  • Hitler spent alot of money on the campaign as seen with him being promised 3 million RM
  • 88% turnout to vote, 43.9% of seats were won by the Nazis --> 288 seats
  • needed the support of the DNVP's 52 seats
• The Enabling Acts:

  • transfer powers to the chancellorship for 4 years
  • fear that there would be a revolution from the SA as there was an increase in violence in places such as the Rhineland
  • Day of Potsdam
  • 23rd March, he appealed to the Catholic party
  • 444 votes to 94
  • legally dismantled the constitution
• Gleichschaltung: bringing into line
• Lander (the regional states): gleichschaltung

  • regions have strong traditions, this obstructed nazi ideas of volksgemeinschaft
  • 31st March 1933 --> dissolved regional parliaments and reformed them -> Nazi majority
  • 7th April 1933 --> Reich governors who were mostly the local parties Gauleiter
  • January 1934 --> regional state parliaments were abolished
  • to execute the will of the supreme leadership
• the trade unions: gleichschaltung

  • the trade unions were powerful, and had socialist and communist connotations
  • industrial muscle
  • deceived by the nazis --> declared 1st May a holiday (labour day)
  • the next day, offices were overrun with nazis, union funds confiscated
  • replaced with the DAF --> led by Robert Ley and became the largest organisation with 22 million people
  • didn't help workers
• the army: gleichschaltung

  • retain traditions
  • conscription
  • prospect of rearmament
• political parties: gleichschaltung

  • nazism openly rejected democracy and any concessions to alternative opinions
  • authoritarian rule --> 1 party
  • communists outlawed since Reichstag fire, and soon after the destruction of the trade unions were banned so were the Social Democrats (22nd June)
  • DDP and DVP willingly dissolved in June 1933
  • Catholic Party was dissolved after the signing of the concordant 5th July 1933
• business and industry: gleichschaltung

  • employers, business associations and agriculture were forced into a single organisation
  • reich chamber of German industry
  • 1st June 1933 ->> industrialists gave Adolf Hitlers Donations
• 14th July 1933 --> the law against the establishment of parties
• education, media and culture: gleichschaltung

  • little difficulty
  • Goebbels --> Minister of Propaganda
  • favourable to government
  • ministry of interior --> new syllabuses
  • Nazi views spread
• Success of Gleichschaltung:

  • end of 1933, process was well advanced
  • limited impression on the influence and role of churches, army and industries
  • civil service only partly coordinated
  • internal party conflicts
• Death of Hindenburg:

  • died 2nd August 1934
  • 1934 Hitler became Fuhrer --> chancellor and president were merged
• The position of the SA:

  • SA wanted a second revolution
  • 1934 - 3 million members
  • radical left wing of the Nazi Party
  • vital role for winning politically
  • Ernst Rohm was the epitome of the SA and socialist beliefs
  • wanted to join the military and SA together
• Ernst Rohm 1887-1934:

  • Himmler and Goring used the Gestapo to find out that Rohm was a homosexual --> perhaps fabricated
  • had more socialist ideals than Hitlers
  • early NSDAP leader
  • favoured more social radical nazis
• The Power Struggle between the SA and the army:

  • SA was far larger than the army
  • Army possessed the power and knowledge for Hitler to achieve foreign policy aims
  • SA was not disciplined
  • Rohm and the SA hated that Hitler was choosing the army over them --> accepted the privileged army
• The Night of the Long Knives:

  • on the battleship (Deutschland) Hitler and 2 generals (Blomberg and Fritsch) came to an agreement against the SA and Rohm
  • Goring and Himmler were also moving to get rid of Rohm
  • Papen gave a speech to stop the SA
  • Rohm was arrested for Homosexual activities
  • at a dinner party, Hitler gave the command for the Night of Long Knives
  • the SS killed 200, such as Rohm and Schleicher
• Significance of the Night of Long Knives:

  • German army endorsed the Nazi Regime
  • SA was virtually disarmed and played no further political role
  • Emergence of the SS as a superpower of terror
  • Hitler secured his own personal political supremacy --> personal dictatorship
• the church: gleichschaltung

  • Catholic ==> concordant signed, freedom temporary
  • Protestant ==> forced to Nazism, opposition