Nazi Germany

• The Nazis were founded in 1919 by Anton Drexler as a small right-wing political party with nationalist views
• Adolf Hitler joined the Nazi party in 1921 and became its chairman, later taking over as its leader
• In 1923, the Nazis attempted to seize power by force in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, which failed, leading to Hitler's arrest and imprisonment for five years
• While in prison, Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf," outlining his political ideas and gaining support for the Nazi party
• The Nazi party was relaunched in 1925, with Hitler retaining control after an internal power struggle
• The Nazis shifted to legal methods to take power, aiming to win votes democratically to undermine the Weimar Republic government
• Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, by President Hindenburg, with only two other Nazis in his first cabinet out of 12 members
• President Hindenburg, although not a fan of Hitler, appointed him as Chancellor due to the belief that he could be controlled
• Despite becoming Chancellor, Hitler faced limits to his power, as Hindenburg could still dismiss him, and other political entities could restrict his authority
• Paul Von Hindenburg, the president of Germany since 1925, was an 85-year-old war hero in 1933 who reluctantly appointed Hitler as Chancellor on January 3rd, 1933
• Politicians like Franz von Papen convinced Hindenburg that Hitler would be easy to control when he became Chancellor
• Alfred Hugenberg, a media tycoon and politician, supported Hitler and was a member of his first cabinet along with Franz Von Papen
• Hitler's dictatorship setup involved key events like the Reichstag fire, March 1933 elections, the Enabling Act, the elimination of trade unions, banning political parties, and the Night of the Long Knives
• The Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933, was blamed on a Dutch communist, Marinus Van Der Lubbe, allowing the Nazis to destroy opposition and arrest thousands of Communists
• Hitler used the Reichstag fire to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, restricting civil liberties and enabling the arrest of Communists, including the leader of the Communist party, Ernst Thälmann
• In the March 1933 election, despite voter intimidation, the Nazis didn't secure an overall majority, but Hitler passed the Enabling Act on March 24, 1933, giving him dictatorial powers
• The Enabling Act allowed Hitler to rule as a dictator by passing any law he wanted, severely reducing the power of the German Parliament
• Hitler used the Enabling Act to bring Germany into line through measures like the Civil Service Act, book burnings, anti-Semitism, and the removal of opposition, including trade unions and political parties
• The power of the trade unions was dismantled by the Nazis in 1933, leading to the control and shutdown of these organizations, leaving workers with no means to protest for better rights and conditions
• The Social Democrats, the largest party, faced suppression and arrests, with the banning of the Social Democratic Party in June 1933, leading to the elimination of political opposition in Germany
• Wilhelm Frick used an emergency decree to ban the SDS as a "dangerous enemy," leading to the arrest of 3,000 social Democrats and the disbandment of many political parties
• The ACT to ban new parties effectively turned Germany into a one-party state by July 1933
• Hitler had increased his power by July 1933, but President Hindenburg could still veto his laws
• The SA, Hitler's personal army led by Ernst Rome, posed a threat to Hitler's leadership
• Conservative politicians like Von Papen and Von Pappen, not Nazis, remained in the government, and Hitler needed their loyalty and support to stay in power
• Hitler did not yet have complete control of the justice system or the system of local government, known as the Lander
• Local government was organized into regions called Lambda, each with its own assembly or Parliament to manage local affairs
• In January 1934, the act for the Reconstruction of the state removed the power of the Lambda completely, reducing states to provinces known as GAO, each run by a Gauleiter elected by the party and answerable to the central government
• The People's Court, established in April 1934, was a separate court outside the normal justice system to deal with political offenses, leading to many political opponents being sent to concentration camps
• The Night of the Long Knives in June 1934 saw Hitler eliminate the threat of the SA by arresting and executing Ernst Rome and other SA leaders, solidifying his power and becoming a dictator
• The Night of the Long Knives led to a reduction in SA power, the rise of the SS and Heinrich Himmler, and the establishment of a culture of fear and terror in Germany
• After President Hindenburg's death in August 1934, Hitler became the dictator of Germany, with the Army taking an oath of allegiance to him personally
• The SS, crucial in the Machinery of Terror, began as an offshoot of the SA with around 250 members, acting as Hitler's personal bodyguard
• Heinrich Himmler became the leader of the SS in 1929, focusing on men of pure German blood and the Aryan group of people
• The SS grew significantly after its role in the Night of the Long Knives, where the SA leadership was removed, and it took control of spies, police, courts, and concentration camps
• The Gestapo, the secret police, spied on the public to remove opposition, initially focusing on political opposition but later targeting Jews, gay people, and religious dissenters
• The SD, the Secret Service, focused on opposition to the Nazi party, led by Reinhard Heydrich with only a few hundred full-time agents
• The Gestapo, greatly feared in Nazi Germany, could arrest and imprison any person suspected of opposing the Nazi state, using techniques like tapping phone lines and relying heavily on informers
• Informants, crucial for intelligence gathering, were mainly ordinary German people who informed the SS of potential enemies, with most intelligence gathered through them
• Block leaders, informants in the Nazi system, were essential for the Gestapo's operations, gathering information and ensuring the Machinery of Terror worked effectively