Nazi consolidation of power

• What did the Enabling Act give Hitler

  The power to pass any law without consulting the Reichstag and without the approval of president Hindenburg
• What happened to the Reichstag after March 1933

  The Reichstag only really met to hear speeches by Hitler as the authority of all political parties had been swept away
• What happened in the next elections after the Enabling Act

  The Nazis were the only party allowed to stand
• Why did delegates feel that they had to vote for the Enabling Act

  Because the stormtroopers were scaring them into voting for it
• What did he promise to do with the Enabling Act

  He promised to only use it in times of emergency
• Why did Hitler need a two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act

  Because the act altered the German constitution
• How did Hitler achieve the two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act

  He achieved it by convincing the Centre party to vote for it only if Hitler was to restore some of the basic rights already taken away by the decree
• What happened after the bill was passed

  Once it passed 441-81, the Nazis jumped to their feet clapping
• What was the effect of the Enabling Act on trade unions

  Trade unions were banned

  Their leaders were sent to concentration camps

  The organisations were put under Nazi control and renamed, 'The Labour Front'
• What was the effect of the Enabling Act on political parties

  The communists and SPD were banned, soon followed by the Centre party and the Nationalist party
• What was the effect of the Enabling Act on political activists

  150,000 political prisoners were sent to concentration camps

  This included the leaders of major parties and their supporters
• What was the effect of the Enabling Act on individuals

  Anyone deemed undesirable was put in prison, or killed

  This included people who couldn't work, beggars, alcoholics, prostitutes and homosexuals
• Who were Hitler's Barons

  His closest allies who ran the country for him day-today as he was too lazy to do it himself
• What did Ernst Rohm run

  He ran the SA
• What did Hermann Goring run

  He ran the police and the airforce
• What did Rudolf Hess run

  Hitler's deputy
• What did Albert Speer run

  Helped run the economy but was also Hitler's chief architect
• What did Josef Goebbels run

  He ran the ministry for propaganda
• What did Heinrich Himmler run

  He ran the SS
• How many people had the SA grown to by 1930

  2.5 million members
• Why was the SA important to Hitler

  He would've never gained power without them
• What happened on the 29th of June 1934

  SA leaders were summoned to a conference in Weisse, that night over 200 were arrested or killed by the SS, including Rohm
• What was the real reason behind the Night of the Long Knives

  So Hitler could gain absolute power without any dissidents around him
• What happened to Rohm on the Night of the Long Knives

  Rohm was arrested, he was handed a pistol and one bullet and told to kill himself

  When two SS officers found that he had not killed himself, they shot him dead
• What was the estimated death toll

  200-1000, however Hitler claimed that only 74 people died
• How did Hitler reward the SS

  He raised its status from being apart of the SA to its own group

  Now the SS would only answer to Hitler and answer to no one else
• What happened to the SA after the Night of the Long Knives

  The number of SA members gradually got lower until it disappeared
• When did president Hindenburg die

  2nd of August 1934 at the ages of 87
• What did Hitler immediately do after Hindenburgs death

  He declared that he was president, as well as being chancellor and head of the German military
• What did these three positions mean that Hitler could call himself

  He could call himself the Fuhrer