Nazi Gov in Wartime 1939-45

• Relations between the Nazi Party, the ministries and the Supreme Reich authorities remained complex and poorly defined. The growing power of the SS added to the complexity of government. All groups had to fight for scare resources, including labour.
• Throughout the war, Hitler became increasingly remote from government, meaning there was no one with the authority to resolve the tensions between the different factions. Consequently, chaos and infighting intensified.
• Hitler was preoccupied with military strategy for much of the war and therefore played an even smaller role in day to day government. In spite of this, he was unwilling to delegate a co-ordination role to any of his lieutenants as he feared this would threaten his own authority. Without a functioning cabinet, and without Hitler's leadership, government co-ordination broke down.
• Senior Nazis' attempts to impose order on the government were unsuccessful. For example, the Committee of Three brought together senior figures from the government, army and Nazi Party. The committee met 11 times during 1943. However, Hitler deliberately limited its power and ministers and other officials refused to collaborate with it. Goebbels and Goering, who were excluded from the committee, deliberately undermined it.
• Faction fighting continued during the war as Nazi leaders tried to secure their influence over Hitler. Bormann (Hitler's secretary) used his power to deny Goebbels and Goering access to Hitler.
• Even in the last days of the war, when Germany's defeat was inevitable, Bormann and Goebbels used their influence to ensure that Hitler turned against Goering and Himmler.
• The lawlessness of Nazi government intensified. The country being at war was used to justify all kinds of decisions that had no legal basis. Nazi leaders also used the war as a pretext to increase secrecy. As part of this, Nazi racial policy radicalised, as seen with the Final Solution.
• The role of the Gauleiter grew during the war. Gauleiters were given a new role of Reich defence commissars, with extensive powers to control the people in their region. However this conflicted with existing authorities, such as the central ministries and the Supreme Reich Authorities. Therefore, increasing the powers of Gauleiters was self-defeating as it added further complications to the already chaotic nature of Nazi government.
• The power of Himmler and the SS grew significantly during WW2. Between 1934 and 1939 the SS had become an important part of the regime, running concentration camps designed to remove 'asocials' and the 'racially impure' from German society.
• From the outbreak of war, the SS became one of the most powerful organisations in Europe. The Waffen SS, the SS army, grew from 100000 men in 1942 to more than 900000 by 1944. The SS also built and ran a series of death camps in the occupied territories. These included Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
• The SS took over the administration of the Nazi occupied territories in Poland, Eastern Europe, the Ukraine and Russia. Their rule was similar to the rule of the German Empire over their African colonies. Poles and Ukrainians were considered to be 'Helotenvolk' - to provide cheap labour. They even reduced their education to a very basic level, just enough for them to carry out the work the Nazis required.
• The SS was responsible for extracting raw materials and resources from the occupied regions to send back to Germany.
• In the Ukraine, SS soldiers were ordered to 'clean the territory'. In practice this meant killing and driving out the Ukrainian population. This was part of the plan for Germans to colonise the Ukraine after the war.
• Nazi government became more fragmented during 1945 as Russian, American and British troops invaded Germany. Bombing raids led to central ministries evacuating the capital, disrupting their administrative efforts. Local Gauleiters kept essential services going and factories operating, but by the end of war government administration had all but broken down.
• In April and May 1945 destruction of roads and intermittent power supplies meant it was often difficult for different parts of the government to communicate to each other. As the Allies advanced, the Nazis' control of Germany shrank.
• In the last week of his government, Hitler retained the respect and obedience of his subordinates.
• Many senior Nazis refused to believe that Germany was utterly defeated. Himmler, for example, believed that the Nazis could make an alliance with Britain and the USA against Russia. Others believed Hitler had even developing secret weapons that would force the Allies to accept a negotiated peace.
• During the last weeks of war, Hitler reached the conclusion that the German people had failed, that they were weak and deserved to be crushed. He committed suicide in his bunker on the 30th April 1945.
• Hitler's successor, Karl Donitz, attempted to negotiate peace with Britain and America. However, the Allies continued fighting demanding an unconditional surrender. Russian troops had control of Berlin soon after Hitler's death, which meant the Nazi regime had effectively been destroyed. Unconditional surrender was agreed on the 7th May 1945.