5.2B Hitler's style of government

• explain hitler's polycratic system in governing nazi germany

  • hitler often superimposed his party structure on top of the existing state structure, so creating a good deal of confusion between overlapping competing officials ad agencies. sometimes he even allowed different nazi ministers to compete with one another
  • he also preferred to leave others to fight about policies and take responsibility (and be criticised) for decisions, so that he need intervene only when it suited him
• three reasons why hitler was able to preside over a totalitarian regime

  hitler's power within the state was unfettered by a president or reichstag, his authority within the nazi party was unchallenged, and the role of lawmaker was effectively vested in him alone. he had a cabinet of loyal ministers to help in the formulation and execution of policy, while the party and state worked together in such a way that, in the lander, nazi-appointed reich governors ruled to hitler's command
• what was the internationalist school of thought about hitler's power in the third reich?

  • believe the overlapping 'empires' were deliberately set up so that hitler could act as a powerful unifying force, receiving praise when matters went well and ensuring others took the blame when they did not. this view suggests that hitler was a 'strong' dictator
  • internationalist historians argue that hitler was a very powerful ruler who operated in line with a 'master plan'. it was always his intention to start a war in Europe and exterminate European jews
• two ways hitler's personality affected the running of the German government

  • he was essentially lazy and uninterested in routine governmental business. he preferred to give speeches rather than listen to other. after 1934, he played little part in ministerial meetings and these gradually waned in favour of a more direct style of rule. in 1933 there were 72 cabinet meetings, but there were only six in 1937 and one in 1938, after which they ceased altogether
  • decisions were not, therefore, made by conventional discussion and hitler was rarely involved in the actual formulation of policy
• what was the structuralist school of thought about hitler's power in the third reich?

  'weak' dictator- although the personal authority of the fuhrer was never questioned, the formation of policy and decisions about its implementation were muddled and random
• three main nazi leaders:

  goering, himmler and goebbels
• goering's role


  created his own military-industrial complex around his roles as head of the air force and as Plenipotentiary of the four-year plan, forging close links with Germany's industrial giants such as the chemical firm I.G. Farben
• himmler's role


  his power bloc comprised the whole security apparatus and the face and settlement office, giving him the power and authority to re-shape German society and the occupied territories among racial-ideological lines
• goebbel's role


  he dominate the media and access to information through the ministry of oleic enlightenment and propaganda; next to hitler, he was the voice of the regime
• internationalist historian and his theory

  bracher describes the nazi leader as the 'master of the third reich'. though he acknowledges the nazi state was less organised than outward appearances suggest, brasher believes this was largely due to hitler, who intentionally created multiple departments and encouraged competing interests. he did this to 'divide and rule', enhancing his own power by distracting those who might covet it
• explain what 'working towards the fuhrer' meant

  nazi leaders/ministers carrying out policies that they believed hitler would favour
• two structuralist historians and their theory for hitler's power

  • kershaw 'lazy dictator' theory- much of the nazi transformation which occurred in germany in the mid and late-1930s was not the work of hitler, but of others 'working towards the fuhrer'- meaning, doing what they believed he would want to do
  • brozat has written of a 'confusing system of empires; and believes that policies grew increasingly extreme as leaders vied with one another to please and impress hitler- a press described by Mommsen as 'cumulative radicalism'
• what are the two theories to hitlers power in nazi germany?

  internationalist and structuralist
• intentionalist historian:

  bracher
• structuralist historians:

  kewshaw and brozat