1933-1934 THE CREATION OF DICTATORSHIP

• The Creation of a Dictatorship 1933-34

  1. The Reichstag Fire, 27th February 1933

  2. The Enabling Act 24, March 1933

  3. The Night of the Long Knives 29-30 June 1934

  4. The army and the oath of allegiance
• Reichstag Fire


  Reichstag building burnt down, Hitler claimed it was the start of a communist uprising and got Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree giving Hitler sweeping powers
• Enabling Act


  Enabled Hitler to make laws without consulting the Reichstag, making him virtually a dictator and marking the end of democracy in Germany
• Night of the Long Knives

  Rohm and other leading figures in the SA were arrested and around 400 were executed, as the SA was now around 3 million and loyal to Rohm, Hitler had to make the choice between the SA and the army, he chose the army
• The army and the oath of allegiance

  Hindenburg died, Hitler took over as supreme leader (Fuhrer) of Germany, the army swore an oath of loyalty, Hitler spent lots of money on rearmament and brought back conscription
• Nazi Police State


  • The SS
  • The SD
  • The Gestapo
  • Concentration camps
• The SS


  Established in 1925, led by Heinrich Himmler, 24,000 by 1939, responsible for destroying opposition
• The SD


  SS's security service, formed in 1931, led by Reinhard Heydrich, aim to 'bring every individual under continuous supervision'
• The Gestapo


  Secret state police, also under Heydrich, had sweeping powers e.g. arrest and send to concentration camp without trial
• Concentration camps


  Run by special units of the SS called 'Death's Head Units', hard labour/limited food/harsh discipline/random executions
• In 1936 Hitler issued a decree making Himmler chief of all police in Germany which made the normal police part of the SS
• The Nazis controlled magistrates, judges and the courts, Hitler got rid of trial by jury which meant that opponents rarely got a fair trial
• Nazi Propaganda


  • Newspapers
  • Posters
  • Radio
  • Film
  • Art
  • Architecture
• Dr Joseph Goebbels


  Reich Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda
• Propaganda events


  • Nuremberg Rallies
  • Berlin Olympics 1936
• The Nazis and the Churches

  • The Catholic Church
  • The Protestant Churches
• Concordat


  Hitler said he would leave the Catholic Church alone in return the church was allowed to keep its schools and youth organisations but keep out of politics
• Hitler did not like the idea that Germans were more loyal to their church; clergy were arrested and imprisoned and youth groups and schools were closed down
• The Nazis tried to bring the Protestant churches together in one official Reich Church in 1936, headed by Bishop Ludwig Muller, a member of the Nazi Party
• Opposition to the Nazis

  • Political opposition
  • Social opposition
  • Catholic priests
  • Protestant pastors
  • Swing Youth movement
  • Edelweiss Pirates
• 400 Catholic priests were sent to the clergy block of Dachau concentration camp
• In September 1933 Protestant pastors led by Martin Niemoller set up the Pastors Emergency League and the Confessional Church as rivals to the Reich Church, about 800 Protestant pastors ended up in concentration camps
• Swing Youth movement


  Listened to banned American jazz and swing music, dressed in English clothes, read English books, welcomed Jewish people and other individuals who the Nazis disapproved of
• Edelweiss Pirates


  Working class teenagers who went hiking and camping to get away from Nazi officials, sometimes attacked Nazi Youth members