Creation of Dictatorship 1933-34

• • In January 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany but his real aim was to become a dictator 
  • Before he could realise his ambition, he needed to gain enough seats to be in a position strong enough to allow him to make the changes that would lead to his goal 
  • He convinced President Hindenburg to call a new Reichstag election for March 1933 
  • This set off a series of events that ended with Hitler becoming Führer
• What events led to Hitler gaining total control over Germany?

  • Reichstag Fire 27th February 1933
  • Enabling Act 23rd March 1933 
  • Political Parties banned 14th July 1933 
  • Night of Long Knives 30th June 1934 
  • Hindenburg dies / Hitler creates role of Führer 19th August 1934
• What happened in the events and aftermath of the Reichstag Fire?

  • On 27th February 1933  ,the Reichstag building was set on fire 
  • A Dutch communist, van der Lubbe, was caught red-handed in the burning building 
  • Days later in the election 44% of the population voted for the Nazis, who won 288 seats in the Reichstag – still not an overall majority 
  • Hitler had to join with the nationalists to form a majority
• How did the Reichstag Fire allow Hitler to gain power?

  • Hitler used the fire to persuade Hindenburg to pass an emergency law restricting personal liberty 
  • This enabled him to imprison many communist leaders, which stopped them campaigning during the election 
  • Although the Nazis the did not gain the overall majority that Hitler had hoped for in the Reichstag, it gave them enough seats - after Hitler had arrested all the communist deputies and the other parties had been intimidated by the SA - to pass the Enabling Act
• What was the Enabling Act?

  • The communist deputies were banned and the SA had intimidated all the remaining non-Nazi deputies
  • So the Reichstag voted by the required two-thirds majority to give Hitler the right to make laws without the Reichstag’s approval for four years
• How did Hitler use the Enabling Act to gain power?

  
  

  • Arguably this was the critical event during this period
  • It gave Hitler absolute power to make laws, which enabled him to destroy all opposition to his rule
  • This removed the Reichstag as a source of opposition
• Banning of other political parties?

  Political parties were banned: only the Nazi party was allowed to exist
• How did Hitler use the banning of other political parties to gain power?

  Banning political parties made Germany a one-party state and destroyed democracy in the country - This removed other parties as a source of opposition
• What happened in the events of the Night of the Long Knives?

  • Many members of the SA, including its leader Ernst Röhm, were demanding that the Nazi party carry out its socialist agenda and that the SA take over the army
  • Hitler could not afford to annoy businessmen or the army, so the SS (Hitler's personal bodyguards) murdered around 400 members of the SA, including Röhm, along with a number of Hitler's other opponents like the previous Chancellor, von Schleicher
• How did Hitler use the Night of Long Knives to gain power?

  • This destroyed all opposition to Hitler within the Nazi Party and gave power to the brutal SS
  • It also showed the rest of the world what a tyrant Hitler was. This removed any internal Nazi Party opposition to Hitler
• What happened in the aftermath of Hindenburg's death?

  • When Hindenburg died, Hitler declared himself jointly president, chancellor and head of the army - Hitler became Führer
  • Members of the armed forces had to swear a personal oath of allegiance not to Germany, but to Hitler
• How did Hitler use Hindenburg's death and the title of Führer to gain power?

  • This formally made Hitler the absolute ruler of Germany
  • This neutralised any sources of opposition to Hitler within the army
• Hitler extended his powers in other ways?

  • Local government was reorganised – with Nazi Party officials put in charge of each area of Germany.
  • Trade unions were abolished and their leaders arrested.
  • A Concordat (agreement) was signed with the Pope, which allowed Hitler to increase his power in Germany without opposition from the Catholic Church, as long as he left the Church alone.
  • People's courts: Hitler set up the Nazi people's courts where judges had to swear an oath of loyalty to the Nazis
• By the autumn of 1934 Hitler was in complete control of Germany