history paper 2

• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany


  30 January 1933
• Hitler's power was limited
• Weimar constitution


  • Controlled what the Chancellor could do
• Hindenburg


  • Retained all the powers of the President
• Hitler's cabinet


  • 12 members
  • Only two were NSDAP members (Wilhelm Frick and Hermann Goering)

  
• NSDAP members numbered only about one-third of the Reichstag
• Most people thought other politicians would restrain Hitler
• The New York Times observed that 'the composition of the Cabinet leaves Herr Hitler no scope for his dictatorial ambition'
• But they were wrong. Hitler was looking for a chance to increase his own power
• On the evening of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was destroyed by a massive fire
• Marinus van der Lubbe

  A young Dutchman, a communist supporter, caught on the site with matches and firelighters
• Van der Lubbe confessed and was put on trial with four others, though he claimed that he had acted alone
• The other four were found not guilty and released; van der Lubbe was found guilty and executed
• The fire also had wider significance
• Hitler: 'Now we'll show them! The German people have been soft too long. Every Communist official must be shot. All Communist deputies must be hanged tonight. All friends of the Communists must be locked up. And that goes for the Social Democrats too.'
• Four thousand communists were arrested on the night of the Reichstag Fire
• Hitler used the fire to pressurise Hindenburg into declaring a state of emergency
• As long as Hindenburg supported him, Hitler could now use decrees to govern Germany
• Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to call an election for 5 March 1933

  
• Hitler issued the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State
• This gave him powers to imprison political opponents and ban communist newspapers
• Since he now controlled Germany's police force, Hitler could ensure that they turned a blind eye to the violent activities of the SA
• When the results were announced, the Nazis increased their Reichstag members to 288

  
• Hitler used his emergency powers to ban the Communist Party from taking up its 81 seats
• With the support of the other nationalist parties, this gave Hitler a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag
• This was crucial. Hitler now had enough votes to change the constitution of the Republic
• Hitler persuaded Gustav Krupp and other industrialists to bankroll the Nazi campaign
• Three million marks were donated in just one meeting
• It was a bloody election campaign; violent clashes led to 70 deaths
• On 24 March 1933, in the absence of any communist members, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act by 444 votes to 94

  
• It was supported by the Nazis, the National Party and the Centre Party
• In this sense, it was legal – even though Reichstag members were intimidated during the vote
• The Act was renewed in 1937
• In effect, therefore, the 1933 Enabling Act marked the end of democratic rule and the end of the Weimar constitution
• Wheeler-Bennet: 'There were nearly 300 Nazi deputies and 50 or so Nationalist. There was a marked absence of Communists. There were fewer Social Democrats than could have been present, because some were in hospital, the victims of electoral violence; some had fled the country – and who could blame them? Along the corridors, SS men, in their sinister black and silver uniforms, had been posted; their legs apart and arms crossed, their eyes fixed and cruel, looking like messengers of doom. Outside, a mob of SA chanted threatening slogans: 'Give us the Bill or else fire and murder'. Their clamour was clearly audible within the chamber.'

  
• Hitler abolished the Länder parliaments and declared instead that governors, appointed by him, would run every region of Germany
• In May 1933, Nazis broke into trade union offices all over Germany and arrested trade union officials
• Hitler used his new powers to ban trade unions and made strikes illegal
• In May 1933, Nazi stormtroopers entered the offices of the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party, destroyed their newspapers and confiscated all their funds
• Two months later, in July 1933, Hitler followed this up by issuing a decree to make all political parties in Germany illegal, except for the NSDAP