Establishing a one-party state

• Nazi 'co-ordination' also extended to political parties. Rival political parties were a threat to the Nazis, as they could organise in opposition to the new government. Between March and July the Nazis used a variety of tactics to ensure that other political parties ceased to exist.
• The KPD ceased to be an effective campaigning organisation by mid-March 1933. SA violence and intimidation, as well as the arrest and in some cases murder of KPD members, meant that the party was driven underground by the time of the March election. The KPD was formally banned in mid-July 1933.
• The Nazis banned the SPD in July 1933, claiming that it was hostile to the German state and people.
• After the passage of the Enabling Act the Nazis no longer needed the support of the DNVP. Major German newspapers began attacking the DNVP's leader, demanding he resign from the government. In June, the DNVP dissolved itself. Some senior members of the party stayed in the government or retained their roles as Reichstag deputies, while remaining outside the Nazi Party. Other members of the DNVP joined the Nazis.
• The DVP and DDP, 2 small liberal parties, dissolved after performing poorly in the March election and because of Nazi intimidation.
• By early June the Centre Party was the only major party that remained active in Germany, other than the Nazis. The Nazi government put pressure on senior Catholic politicians to follow the nationalist parties and dissolve the party voluntarily as an expression of national unity. Nazis also promised that they would respect and protect the traditional rights of the Catholic Church. On the 6th July the Centre Party capitulated and formally dissolved itself.
• Following the dissolution of the Centre Party the Nazis were the only major party in existence. The Law Against the Establishment of Political Parties, of 14th July, outlawed the formation of new parties and secured the Nazis' position as the sole legal party in Germany.