Hitler's dictatorship

• The start of Hitler's dictatorship

  • Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, but he was not in complete control
  • For a start, Hitler owed his job to President Hindenburg, who could easily replace him
  • Also, Germany was a democracy, so Hitler could only make laws if the Reichstag agreed to them, but more than half the Reichstag politicians didn't belong to the Nazi Party
  • In just 18 months, however, Hitler was a dictator with total power to take any new laws he liked
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - February 1933


  • Hitler arranged a new election for March 1933
  • He hoped he'd win a huge victory and get the majority he wanted in the Reichstag
  • As Chancellor, Hitler now had greater influence over many newspapers and radio stations
  • He also controlled the police, who he could use to intimidate voters and beat up opponent
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 27 February 1933


  • A week before voting day, the Reichstag burned down
  • Although the evidence was unclear, a young communist, Marinus Van der Lubbe, was arrested and blamed for the fire
  • Hitler said the fire was part of a communist plot to take over the country
  • He siad he knew how to deal with the plot
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 28 February 1933


  • Hitler asked Hindenburg to pass a special emergency 'Protection Law', giving Hitler the power to deal with Germany's problems
  • Because of the Reichstag fire and the appearance of a communist plot, Hindenburg agreed
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - March 1933


  • The new decree, for the 'Protection of the People and State', banned leading communists from taking part in the election campaign
  • Four thousand communists were thrown into prison and all their newspapers were shut down
  • In the election on 5 March, due to the way Hitler dealt with the communists, the Nazis got more votes than ever before
  • But Hitler still didn't get the majority he wanted
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 23 March 1933


  • Hitler had stirred up enough fear of communism to persuade politicians in another political party, the Centre Party, to join the Nazis
  • Hitler now had the majority he wanted
  • Hitler forced the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act
  • This gave him the power to make laws without asking the rest of the politicians in the Reichstag if they agreed
  • Now Hitler didn't even have to worry about what Hindenburg or the Reichstag thought of him
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 7 April 1933


  • Hitler immediately began to use his new powers
  • Nazis were put in charge of all local government, councils and the police
  • The Gestapo (secret police) was formed
  • The first concentration camp for political prisoners opened in Dachau, southern Germany
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 2 May 1933


  • Hitler banned all trade unions
  • He took away their money and threw their leaders in jail
  • By removing trade unions, Hitler had taken away a worker's way of complaining about pay and conditions
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 14 July 1933


  • Hitler banned all political parties in Germany, except the Nazis
  • The 'Law Against the Formation of New Parties' stated that anyone trying to set up or run another party would go to prison for three years
  • Germany was now a one-party state
• How did Hitler begin to eliminate his opposition? - 2 August 1934


  • By this time, Hitler had murdered his opponents in the SA and brought them under control with the Night of the Long Knives
  • When President Hindenburg died, Hitler immediately took over the President's job as well as remaining Chancellor
  • In addition, he made the army swear an oath of loyalty to him, and not to the country
  • Hitler decided on giving himself the simple title of Der Fuhrer - the leader
• The Night of the Long Knives

  • Shortly before dawn on 30 June 1934, Hitler and a group of his elite personal bodyguards, the black-uniformed Schutzstaffel (SS), stormed into a hotel, armed with machine guns
  • Staying at the hotel were many important members of the SA, Hitler's private army
  • The SA leader Ernst Rohm and others were arrested and later shot dead
  • This event became known as the Night of the Long Knives
  • Over the next few days around 400 people were executed in this way, including a former Chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher, who wasn't even a Nazi
  • Hitler proudly publicised this event and rewarded the SS
• Why did the Night of the Long Knives happen?

  • As Chancellor, Hitler still felt threatened by the power of two groups - the army and the SA - so he decided to take action
  • The SA had been a real asset to Hitler in the beginning
  • They had guarded Hitler from harm and had beaten up political opponents, but now they wanted well-paid jobs as a reward for their loyalty
  • Rohm, their leader, wanted to merge his 400,000 Stormtroopers with the German army (100,000) and take charge
  • This alarmed Hitler, as well as the army leaders
  • A merger of the two would make Rohm incredibly powerful
  • Hitler really needed to keep the army leaders happy too: he would need their skills if he were to get back the land Germany had lost through the Treaty of Versailles
  • On top of this, there were rumours that Rohm was about to seize power and take over from Hitler
• Impact of the Night of the Long Knives

  • Many of the people close to Hitler who were regarded as a threat to him were now dead - and not just Rohm, but all the leading Nazis who didn't agree with Hitler
  • The SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, emerged as the group now responsible for Hitler's security, not the SA. The SS would grow in importance after this. They, along with the Gestapo, now formed the basis of the 'police state' that Germany had become. The SA itself was not abolished, but was never again a major force in Germany
  • The fact that Hitler was very open about what he had done meant that he had quite literally got away with murder. Hitler had now established murder as part of what the Nazi government did
• After the Night of the Long Knives

  • President Hindenburg died soon after
  • A new President wasn't appointed
  • Instead, the powers of the President were joined with those of the Chancellor
  • Hitler was now Fuhrer; the army swore a personal oath of loyalty to him
  • The army leaders agreed to stay out of politics and serve Hitler
  • In return, Hitler promised to spend large sums of money to make Germany a strong military power once more