Hitler's rule

• Why did Hitler not have full control of Germany in January 1933?


  - He only had 33% of votes (196 seats) and therefore no Reichstag majority

  - Hindenburg was still President - ultimately could dismiss the Chancellor if he wished.

  - Nazis only had 2 other members in cabinet: Wilhelm Frick was Minister of the Interior and Hermann Goering was Minister without Portfolio
• What did Hitler do about this weakness?

  Called an election immediately - set for March 1933. Propaganda was used to emphasize Nazi respectability, Hindenburg's support of Hitler, and promises to fix the economy. He was hoping for a majority of two thirds so that he would be able to change the constitution and establish a dictatorship.
• The Reichstag Fire: 27th February 1933


  - One week before the election, the Reichstag building was set on fire.

  - Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist, was found at the scene of the fire and arrested. This was an ideal opportunity for Hitler and Goebbels to exploit. They claimed that van der Lubbe had started the fire and that communists were about to stage a takeover.

  - On the day following the fire, 28th February, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to sign the 'Decree for the Protection of People and State' (The Emergency Decree).
• What did the emergency decree allow Hitler to do?

  It allowed the Nazis declare a state of permanent emergency, suspend the constitution and basic civil rights (e.g. freedom of speech, of press)

  - They could also imprison large numbers of their political opponents. In the week after the fire, 4000 Communist Party members were arrested including the leader, Ernst Thälmann.

  - In addition, the SA killed 51 Nazi opponents and injured several hundred. The police did nothing.
• How important was the Reichstag Fire/Emergency Decree in establishing the dictatorship?


  Important because...

  - Created a climate of fear which Hitler could build upon

  - Although the Act was a temporary measure in the context of the March elections, it gave Hitler the confidence that he could circumvent democracy and President Hindenburg in future.
• March 1933 Elections


  - In context of media control, Reichstag Fire and Emergency Decree, the Nazis polled 43.9% of the vote and 288 seats

  - Not the magic 51% for a majority government nor the 2/3 needed for Hitler to legally change the constitution...
• The Enabling Act


  - Hitler's next step was to pass the Enabling Act.

  - This would give him and his government full powers for the next four years and would mean that the Reichstag would become a rubber stamp for Nazi activities. As Chancellor, Hitler would have greater powers than the President.

  - Became law on 24th March and this signalled the end of the Weimar constitution and democracy.

  - Hitler could now move to secure closer control of the nation by means of this new law and introduce Gleichschaltung.

  - The Enabling Act was renewed in 1937 and 1941.
• How did Hitler pass the Enabling Act?

  - The SA intimidated members as they entered the voting chamber: Had SA thugs chanting 'Give us the bill, or else fire and murder' outside

  - Communist Party were not counted, thus reducing the overall total and number of votes needed by the Nazis

  - Promises to the Catholic Centre Party won their vote (e.g. Hitler promised to leave Catholic schools alone)
• Why was the Enabling Act so important?

  - Gave Hitler greater power than the President and made a rubber stamp of the Reichstag

  - It allowed Hitler to remove opposition . He was now in a position to bring German society in line with Nazi philosophy: Gleichschaltung (Indoctrination/Nazification)
• Gleichschaltung of Government: Banning of Trade Unions

  - On 2nd May, all trade unions were banned.

  - The Nazis said that a national community had been created and therefore such organizations were no longer needed. The Nazi Germany Labour Front (DAF) was set up to replace trade unions. Wages were decided by the DAF and workers received workbooks, which recorded the record of employment.Employment depended on the ownership of a workbook.

  - Strikes were outlawed and any dissenters would be sent to the new prisons - concentration camps - for political re-education. The first concentration camp opened at Dachau in March 1933.
• Gleichschaltung of Government: Banning of other political parties


  - On 14th July, the Law against the Formation of Parties was passed, which made the Nazi Party the sole legal political party in Germany. -- However, before this law was passed, the existing parties experienced severe restrictions. The Communist Party members had not been allowed to take their seats in the Reichstag and property had been confiscated.

  - On 10th May, the Socialist Party had its headquarters and other property seized. In June, the Socialists gave up their seats in the Reichstag and by the end of June, all the other parties had dissolved themselves. Germany was now a one party state.
• Gleichschaltung of Government: Abolition of the Lander


  - Hitler also broke down the traditional system of regional government (The Länder). There had been eighteen Länder (regions), and each had its own parliament.

  - On occasions, the Länder had caused problems for Weimar: President Ebert had issued more than 130 emergency decrees to overrule them.

  - Hitler decided that the Länder needed to be run by Gauleiter and so he abolished their parliaments in January 1934. Thus he centralized Germany for the first time since its creation in 1871.
• What was the Night of the Long Knives?


  The Night of the Long Knives was the purging of approximately 400 of Hitler's political and military rivals in the SA (alongside some rivals external to the Nazi party) in order to win the support of the army.
• Who were the SA and what were they used for?


  Led by Ernst Röhm from 1931

  A private army of almost 4 million created from Freikorps and working class thugs

  Used to intimidate opposition and attack communists, but also protect Nazi meetings

  Shown as disciplined, organised and powerful: reminiscent of Germany's militaristic past.
• How and why did Hitler turn on the SA?


  - In early 1934, Hitler had been warned by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, and also Goering about the SA 'threat': it was thought that they had grown too powerful .

  - Too much power referred both to Röhm personally who wanted a socialist revolution, but also due to the size of this thuggish organisation who were seen to pose a threat to the Reichswehr (army) who Hitler needed to win the support of.
• Events of NoLK


  - Hitler look action in June, following information from Himmler than Röhm was about to seize power.

  - On 30th June 1934, Röhm and the main leaders of the SA were murdered by the SS. Hitler also took the opportunity to settle some old scores: formed Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher was murdered, as was Gregor Strasser, a key figure among those socialist views similar to Röhm.

  - Figures vary, but it is thought that about 400 people were murdered in the purge.
• Why was NoLK so important?

  - The Night of the Long Knives is often seen as the turning point for Hitler's rule in Germany.

  - He eradicated would-be-opponents and secured the support of the army. The SA was now relegated to a minor role and if there were any doubts about Hitler's rule, it was now clear that fear and terror would play a significant role.

  
  

  (Set a legal precedent for murder, led to the rise of the SS, purged opponents and won the support of the army)
• The Death of Hindenburg


  On 2nd August 1934, President Hindenburg died, aged 87. Within hours of Hindenburg's death, Hitler combined the role of President with Chancellor to create a new title: 'Führer'

  The same day, Hitler forced a new oath of loyalty from the army where they pledged before God, unconditional loyalty to Adolf Hitler.
• Why was Hindenburg's death and the Oath so important?


  - Merging of Chancellorship and Presidency to become der Fuhrer meant that Hitler controlled the army anyway (as President under Weimar Constitution had controlled the army)

  - Oath meant that the army now owed their loyalty to one man, rather than protecting the state/constitution, and could be used for Hitler's political agenda...
• Legalising his position


  On 19th August, a plebiscite (public vote) was held to confirm Hitler as 'Führer', 90% voted yes.
• Why did the Nazis need a police state?


  - The Nazis wanted to control all aspects of German life and used Gleichschaltung in order to achieve this.

  - When indoctrination did not work, force and terror were used.

  - The Nazi police state were at the heart of the Third Reich: they were used to remove opposition and help Hitler to gain total control.

  - The Nazis used their own organisations, and in 1936 all were brought under the control of Himmler.
• Why did the Nazis not use the pre-existing police force?


  - Did not inspire enough terror in the population

  - Hitler wanted to make sure organisations used were utterly loyal to him

  - Hitler liked the Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest: wanted multiple institutions to compete with one another and prove themselves as most loyal.
• Who were the SS?


  - The SS had been formed in 1925 to act as a bodyguard unit for Hitler and was led by Himmler after 1929. Himmler built up the SS until it had established a clear visible identity - members wore black.

  - They showed complete obedience to the Fuhrer. By 1934 the SS had more than 50,000 members who were to be fine examples of the Aryan race and were expected to marry racially pure wives. Membership of the SS and its various bodies had grown to 250,000 by 1939.

  - After the Night of the Long Knives, the SS became responsible for the removal of all opposition in Germany.
• Who were the Gestapo?


  - The Gestapo, set up in 1933 were the Nazi secret police.

  - They were set up in 1933 by Goering and in 1936 came under the control of Himmler and the SS.

  - By 1939 the Gestapo was the most important police section of the Nazi state. It could arrest and imprison those suspected of opposing the state.

  - It has been estimated that, by 1939, there were about 160,000 people under arrest for political crimes.
• Who were the SD?


  - The SD (Security Force) was created by Himmler in 1931, and placed under the control of Reinhard Heydrich .

  - The main aim of the SD was to discover potential and actual Nazi enemies, and remove them. They kept files on everyone suspected of opposing the Nazi party or Hitler, in and outside of Germany.

  - Members of the SD were employed by the Nazi Party, which paid their salaries. The SD attracted many professional and highly educated people such as lawyers, economists and professors of politics.
• Police State: Concentration Camps


  - As soon as the Enabling Act had been passed, the Nazis established concentration camps to confine those whom they deemed to be their political, ideological and racial opponents.

  - In 1939 there were more than 150,000 people under arrest for political offences. The SD and SS ran the concentration camps though only the Gestapo had the authority to carry out arrest or interrogations and send people there. The earliest of these camps was in Dachau.
• How were prisoners treated and classified?


  - Prisoners were classified into different categories, each denoted by a different-coloured triangle which had to be worn. For example, those who wore black triangles were vagrants and 'work-shy', pink triangles denoted homosexual people.

  - Initially, work in the camps was hard and pointless, like breaking stones, but gradually the prisoners were used as forced workers in quarries, construction, coal mines and armament factories.

  - The camp inmates were underfed and treated with great brutality and mortality rates were very high.

  - If someone was killed at a concentration camp family members would receive a note saying that the inmate had died of a disease or been shot trying to escape.
• Gleichschaltung: The Legal System


  Even though the Nazis controlled the Reichstag and could make laws, Hitler wanted to ensure that all laws were interpreted in a Nazi fashion. The law courts therefore had to experience Gleichschaltung.
• Changes to the German Legal System: German Lawyers Front


  - October 1933: the German Lawyers Front was established and there were more than 10,000 members by the end of the year.

  
  

  - From 1936, judges had to wear the swastika and Nazi eagle on their robes.
• Changes to the German Legal System:: People's Court


  - 1934: A new People's Court was established to try cases of treason. The judges were loyal Nazis, and there was often no jury. Judges knew that the Minister of Defence would check to see if they had been lenient and sometimes Hitler would alter sentences if he felt that they were too soft.

  Between 1933-39, 534 Germans were executed by these courts.
• Nazi control of the Church


  - Nazi and Christian ideals sat in diametric opposition to one another. e.g. Nazism glorified strength and violence whilst Christianity teaches love and forgiveness

  - However, the Hitler could not immediately persecute Christianity as Germany was a Christian country: 2/3 of the population were Protestant and lived in the North, while 1/3 were Catholic and lived in the South.

  - In 1935, Hitler set up a Ministry of Church Affairs in order to weaken the Church's hold on people. He also set up the German Faith Movement, but only 5% of the population joined.
• Why did Hitler see Catholics as a threat?


  - Catholics owed their first allegiance not to Hitler, but to the Pope (divided loyalties) and Hitler thought you could not be Christian AND German.

  - Catholic schools and youth organisations gave out a message in opposition to the Nazi message

  - Catholics consistently supported the Centre Party (dissolved in July 1933)
• Hitler and the Concordat


  Concordat = Agreement between pope and government concerning the church's role within government

  - Hitler initially cooperated with the Catholic Church and signed a concordat with Pope Pius XI in July 1933 where the Pope agreed to stay out of politics if Hitler left the Church alone.

  - Within months, Hitler broke this agreement by harassing priests, putting any who criticized the Nazis in Concentration Camps.

  - He also disrupted and abolished Catholic schools and youth movements.
• Hitler and the Protestant Church


  - Some Protestants admired Hitler and called themselves 'German Christians' - they were led by Ludwig Muller who was a member of the NSDAP.

  - Protestant pastors claimed that the Third Reich had saved them from communism and that Hitler should therefore be supported.

  - However, many Protestants opposed Nazism, which they believed conflicted greatly with their own Christian beliefs. They were led by Pastor Martin Niemoller. He established the Pastors' Emergency League in December 1933.
• Did the Nazis destroy the Church?


  Never destroyed established Churches, but made Christian worship difficult. Hitler simply succeeded in weakening the Churches as a source of resistance to his policies.
• Aims of the Ministry of Propaganda


  Goebbels used his Ministry of Propaganda and the Reich Chamber of Culture to control the thoughts, beliefs and opinions of the German people.

  It was important for the long-term future of the Third-Reich that the majority of the population believed in the ideals of the Nazi Party.
• Methods of Nazi Propaganda: Newspapers


  - Non-Nazi newspaper and magazines were closed down. By 1935, the Nazis had closed down more than 1,600 newspapers.

  - The Third Reich Press Law was passed in October 1933 and it resulted in the removal of Jewish and left-wing journalists.

  - Editors were told by the Propaganda Ministry what could be printed and any foreign news which was published had to be taken from the Nazi-controlled German Press Agency.
• Methods of Nazi Propaganda: Film


  - Goebbels was one of the first to realise film's potential for propaganda.

  - All film plots were shown to Goebbels before going into production. He realised that many Germans were bored by overtly political films. Instead love stories and thrillers were given pro-Nazi slants. One of the best known was Hitlerjunge Quex (1933), which tells the story of a boy who broke away from a Communist family to join the Hitler Youth, only to be murdered by Communists.

  - All film performances were accompanied by a 45 minute official newsreel which glorified Hitler and Germany and publicized Nazi achievements.
• Methods of Nazi Propaganda: Rallies


  - An annual mass rally was held at Nuremburg to advertise the power of the Nazi state and spectacular parades were held on other special occasions, such as Hitler's birthday (20th April).

  - Local rallies and marches were led by the SA and the Hitler Youth.

  - The Nuremburg rallies would last for several days and attracted almost one million people each year after the Nazis came to power.
• Methods of Nazi Propaganda: Radio


  All radio stations were placed under Nazi control. Cheap mass-produced radios were sold and could be bought on instalments. By 1939, about 70 percent of German families owned a radio. Sets could be installed in cafes, factories, schools and offices and loudspeakers were placed in streets. It was important that the Nazi message was heard by as many people as possible, as much as was possible. Importantly, the People's Radio lacked shortwave reception, making it difficult for Germans to listen to foreign broadcasts.