history WA2

• Parties and personalities that opposed Hitler

  • SPD
  • KPD
• The Consolidation of Nazi Rule in Germany

  1. Heer became Chancellor in 1933

  2. Nazi Party sought to consolidate power

  3. Not a smooth process

  4. Hitler faced numerous challenges

  5. Within two years Hitler was able to consolidate power and establish an authoritarian dictatorship
• The socialist SPD and the communist KPD made it clear they would oppose anything Hitler tried to do
• Hitler did not have the majority of seats in the Reichstag which he needed to carry out his plans
• Various challenges Hitler faced when he first became Chancellor

  • Von Papen and the Elites
  • Von Schleicher and Army
  • President Hindenburg
• Von Papen planned to control Hitler and use his Nazi party and would even try to replace Hitler if he could. The powerful landowners and business owners supported von Papen
• Von Schleicher and most of the other Army commanders did not think much of Hitler. They were loyal to Hindenburg rather than Hitler
• Most of the German people held far more loyalty and respect for Hindenburg than for Hitler
• Hitler's plan to establish a dictatorship

  1. Called for another election in March 1933

  2. Nazis had control of the radio stations, most of the newspapers and the police

  3. Held massive rallies and spent a fortune on their campaign

  4. Opponents in the SPD and KPD found their meetings disrupted by the SA and the SS

  5. Police did nothing to stop the SA and SS and sometimes even supported their actions
• On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was burnt down
• Hitler immediately declared that the fire was the beginning of a communist uprising and persuaded Hindenburg to pass the Decree for the Protection of People and State, which gave Hitler sweeping emergency powers
• In the elections of 5 March the Nazis gained 288 seats with the support of the 52 delegates from the DNVP, they had 52 per cent of the seats
• The Enabling Act


  1. Hitler wanted to introduce a new measure called the Enabling Act, which would allow him to make and pass laws without consulting the Reichstag

  2. Only the SPD voted against him

  3. The communists were in prison

  4. Many Reichstag members did not vote as they were injured or intimidated by the SA and SS

  5. The Catholic Centre Party decided to co-operate with the Nazis

  6. The Enabling Act was passed on 24 March
• Hitler was now effectively a dictator. For the next four years, if he wanted a new law he could just pass it. There was nothing President Hindenburg or anyone else could do. Democracy in Germany had ended.
• Gleichschaltung (Co-ordination)


  1. Bringing all aspects of the state under Nazi control

  2. Banning Jews from the civil service

  3. Banning trade unions

  4. Forcing locally elected council members and mayors out of their positions

  5. Banning all other political parties, resulting in Germany being a one-party state
• Hitler was just as ruthless with his own party as he was towards his enemies outside the party
• The Night of the Long Knives

  1. Hitler saw the SA leader, Ernst Rohm, as a threat

  2. On the weekend of 29-30 June 1934, squads of SS men arrested Rohm and other leading figures in the SA

  3. Hitler accused Rohm of plotting to overthrow and murder him

  4. Rohm and possibly as many as 400 others were executed

  5. The SA lost much of its prestige and influence, with many of its members absorbed into the army and the SS

  6. Hitler also targeted his old rivals, such as von Papen
• Soon after the Night of the Long Knives, Hindenburg died. Hitler took over as Fuehrer (Supreme Leader) of Germany. On 2 August 1934, the entire army swore an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler.
• Nazi Economic Policies


  • Addressed the problems with the economy
  • Gained a lot of support
• Economic Recovery and Unemployment

  1. Organised finances to fund a huge programme of work creation projects

  2. Appointed Hjalmar Schacht as Economics Minister

  3. Used state regulations such as deficit financing to fund grand programmes
• Rearmament and the Move to a War Economy

  1. Reintroduced conscription for the German army in 1936

  2. Announced a Four-Year Plan under the control of Goering to get the German economy ready for war

  3. Implemented the policy of autarky to make Germany as self-sufficient as possible
• Autarky was the policy of obtaining economic self-sufficiency by a country, in which all its economic needs were provided for within. This meant that the country would not be dependent upon others.
• Besides bringing about economic recovery, these measures boosted Hitler's popularity because they renewed national pride. Germans began to feel that their country was finally emerging from the humiliation of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles.
• Living Standards in Nazi Germany


  • Big businesses and their managers benefited the most
  • Farmers - the Reich Hereditary Farm Law saved many from losing their farms, but they remained poor
  • Middle classes - owners of businesses connected to rearmament benefited, but many small businesses struggled
• The Strength Through Joy (KdF)

  Schemes that gave workers cheap theatre and cinema tickets, organised courses, trips and sports events, and even offered discounted holidays
• Propaganda praised the workers and tried to associate them with Hitler (often called Germany's "First Worker"). Hitler fulfilled his promise to lower unemployment, which helped to ensure Nazi popularity among industrial workers.
• Farmers who were in debt were forced out, which effectively saved many farmers from losing their farms
• The farms were now owned by the state and many farmers remained poor
• Groups that benefited from the crushing of communism

  • Middle class Germans
  • Owners of businesses connected to rearmament (e.g. engineering or textiles)
• Many small businesses, especially shops, found it difficult to do well in the prevailing economic conditions
• Strength Through Joy (KdF)

  Scheme that gave workers cheap theatre and cinema tickets, organised courses, trips and sports events, and even offered discounted cruises on luxury liners
• By 1939, over 50 million Germans had been on a KdF holiday
• Beauty of Labour (Schonheit der Arbeit)


  Movement that improved working conditions in factories, introducing features not seen in many workplaces before, like washing facilities and low-cost canteens
• A state scheme was introduced to help workers buy the Volkswagen Beetle, the people's car</b>
• The workers lost the main political party, the SPD, and the trade unions, which remained a source of bitter resentment
• All workers had to join the DAF run by Robert Ley, which kept strict control of the workers
• Workers were prevented from moving to better-paid jobs and wages remained comparatively low, though prices of goods were also rising
• By the late 1930s, many workers were grumbling that the standard of living was lower than it had been before the Depression
• Historians often have different interpretations of the same events due to the sources used, the particular areas they are interested in, and their personal views
• William Shirer: 'By the autumn of 1936 the problem of unemployment had been largely beaten. Almost everyone had a job again and one heard workers who had been deprived of their trade-union rights joking that at least under Hitler there was no more freedom to starve'