Nazi Control & Dictatorship (1933-39)

• • In January 1930, Hitler was appointed Chancellor. However, his power was limited.  He still had to stick to the rules of the Weimar Consitution.
  • President Hindenburg remained the most powerful person and Hitler was only second in command.
  • Only around 1/3 of politicians in the Reichstag (German parliament) were members of the Nazi Party.
• There were five key events which allowed Hitler to declare himself the ultimate leader or Fuhrer of Germany.

  By August 1934, Hitler had created a dictatorship where no other person or political party had any power.
• The Reichstag Fire:

  • The German parliament building was destroyed by a massive fire in February 1933. 
  • A young communist was caught near the building with matches and firelighters by the police. 
  • He confessed and was found guilty of starting the fire. He was then executed in prison in January 1934.  
  • Hitler used the fire to make the German public and President Hindenburg believe that there was a bigger communist threat against Germany.
  • Now Hitler was in charge of the police, he ordered his newly appointed Chief of Police, Herman Goering to arrest 4,000 communists that same evening. 
• After the Reichstag fire, Hitler put pressure on Hindenburg to declare a state of emergency.  This meant that Hitler was able to make decisions by himself without a vote from the Reichstag.  
• What did Hitler do with his ‘State of Emergency’?

  • Hitler issued a Decree for the Protection of the People which gave him the legal power to imprison anyone he saw as opposition.  ​
  • He banned communist newspapers.  ​
  • He told the German police force to ignore the violence of the SA towards the communists.  ​
  • Hitler used the fear of the Communists to persuade a wealthy industry owner called Gustav Krupp to give the Nazi Party 3 million marks to fight against the Communist Party.
• • Now that many Communists had been banned or put under arrest, Hitler called for another election.
  • After a bloody and violent campaign, the Nazis increased their share of the vote dramatically.
  • Hitler now had enough members in parliament to vote for any laws he wanted and change the constitution of the Weimar Republic as he wanted.
• The Enabling Act was a law created by Hitler in March 1933.  If it was voted for, the Enabling Act would allow Hitler to make new laws without ever needing to get the support of other politicians in the Reichstag. Put simply, the Enabling Act would bring an end to democracy in Germany.
• Why did the Reichstag vote for the Enabling Act?

  • The Nazi Party used the SA and SS to intimidate politicians before the vote.  There were no longer any Communist politicians to oppose the Enabling Act because of the events of the Reichstag Fire.  The Nazi Party had a 2/3rds majority in the Reichstag anyway.​
  • The Enabling Act was voted for by 444 votes to 94.  Even though members of the Reichstag were threatened and intimidated during the vote, it was still achieved legally.
• In May 1933, Hitler sent the SS to the offices of other political parties, arrested their leaders, destroyed their newspapers and took their party funds. In July 1933, Hitler banned all other political parties in Germany.
• Removing Opposition (May-July 1933):

  • In May 1933, Hitler sent the SS to the offices of other political parties, arrested their leaders, destroyed their newspapers and took their party funds. In July 1933, Hitler banned all other political parties in Germany.
  • Trade Unions were organisations set up to support workers - they had the power to oppose the government. In May 1933, trade union leaders were arrested and trade unions were banned. Strikes by workers were also made illegal.
• Removing Opposition (January 1934):

  • In January 1934, Hitler then abolished the power of regional governments in Germany.  This meant that Hitler would control all regional governments in Germany from Berlin.
• The Night of the Long Knives was the name given to the night of 30th June 1934 when Hitler executed the leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm and around 100 other members of the SA.  More than 1,000 others were arrested.
• The Night of the Long Knives:

  • The SS leaders warned Hitler that Rohm was planning to seize power.  Hitler arranged to meet with Rohm and other leaders of the SA in a hotel on 30th June 1934. 
  • When they met, Rohm and other senior SA officers were shot and killed.
  • Hitler told the public that they had been monitoring Rohm for months and that he was planning a revolution. He therefore told the public that killing Rohm was in the best interests of Germany and the German people.
• Why did Hitler decide to take action against Ernst Rohm?​

  • Hitler wanted no rivals to his power but he began to think that the leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm was a threat to him. Rohm had been the SA leader from the start and had huge respect for them – maybe more than for Hitler.  
  • They numbered around 3 million and they would be able to give Rohm huge support if he ever wanted to challenge Hitler.
  • Many of the SA hated Hitler for forming another loyal group of Nazi troops, the SS.
  • Hitler was also under pressure from the leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler to reduce the power of the SA. 
• On 2nd August 1934, President Hindenburg died aged 87. This automatically meant that Hitler took over supreme power. He declared himself Germany’s Fuhrer and added all of the President’s powers to those he already had.  

  • Hitler forced an oath of loyalty to him from every soldier in the army.  ​
  • A public vote was held on 19th August to confirm Hitler as the Fuhrer.  Bombarded by Nazi propaganda, 90% of voters supported him. On 19th August The Weimar Republic formally ended and Hitler’s Third Reich had begun.
• • Nazi Germany was controlled by a ‘Police State’ where Nazis used the police to control what people did and what they said. 
  • Anyone who did or said anything to oppose the Nazi Party were punished. 
  • From 1933, Hitler made sure that the police were run by the Nazi Party to follow the instructions of Hitler. The fear this created among the German public was a powerful method of keeping control and to discourage any opposition.
  • The 3 main police units in Nazi Germany were the SS, SD and Gestapo. The Nazis also created Concentration Camps and had full control over the courts and judges.
• The SS – ‘Protection Squad’

  • The SS were a police organisation which controlled all other police units. They were led by Heinrich Himmler.
  • They were originally set up as elite bodyguards for Hitler to rival the SA. It was the SS who Hitler used to attack the SA leaders on the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. ​
  • The SS were given smart black uniforms as a way to make them stand out and to make them look intimidating. 
• The SS – ‘Protection Squad’

  • The SS had to be totally loyal to Hitler, and Himmler believed that the SS could use any methods they wanted to protect Hitler and the Nazis even if this meant acting violently. ​
  • Himmler was very careful about the men he recruited to the SS.  He looked for men who could prove they were from ‘racially pure’ Aryan families and expected his SS men to marry racially pure wives. 
• The Gestapo:

  • The Gestapo were a non-uniformed, undercover secret police force.  They were set up in 1933 by Goering but by 1936, Reinhard Heydrich became leader. ​
  • The main aim of the Gestapo was to identify anyone who opposed the Nazis.  They spied on people, tapped phones and used networks of informers to identify suspects. The Gestapo were also given permission to use methods of torture when questioning suspects to gain confessions.​
• The Gestapo were powerful as they were feared by everyone in Germany. 

  It was impossible to tell them apart from members of the public as their job was to blend in.

  In 1939, 160,000 people were arrested for opposing the Nazi regime.
• The Gestapo:

  • The Gestapo would often arrive in the early hours of the morning to arrest suspects who could be taken to prison without trial. This created more fear.
  • Those arrested might not be seen again as many were taken to concentration camps.
  • Occasionally, the Gestapo released prisoners from the concentration camps. The prisoners’ horrific accounts of what happened there created even more fear of the Gestapo. 
• Most historians agree that the fear of the Gestapo was more powerful than the power they actually had. 

  There were never any more than 30,000 Gestapo officers to watch over a population of over 80 million people.

  However, the public always believed that they were being watched by the Gestapo and so the fear of them was hugely significant.
• The SD – ‘Security Force’

  • The SD or Security Force was formed by Himmler in 1931. They were set up specifically to collect information about and watch any opposition to the Nazi Party and Hitler.  ​
  • They were led by Reinhard Heydrich. They were known for keeping highly organised fact files about anyone who they suspected as being opponents of the Nazi Party. They worked closely with the SS and the Gestapo.
• Concentration Camps:

  • Camps were often located in isolated areas, away from the view of the public. ​
  • They were large, inhumane and brutal prisons where anyone who was seen as an enemy of the Nazis could be sent.
  • Anyone who did or said anything that Nazis disapproved of could be sent to a camp, such as simply voicing negative opinions about Hitler or even telling anti-Nazi jokes.
  • By 1939, 150,000 people were ‘under protective arrest’ in these concentration camp prisons.
• Prisoners in the concentration camps were classed as: ​

  • ‘Undesirables’ such as prostitutes, criminals & homosexuals.  ​
  • Minority Racial groups such as Jews and Poles and Gypsies​.
  • Political prisoners who were seen as a threat to the Nazis.
• Carl Von Ossietzky was a journalist who spoke up against the Nazis and he was arrested after the Reichstag Fire.

  The next time he was seen by 1935 he was described as ‘a trembling, pale creature, one eye swollen, teeth knocked out, dragging a broken body’.

  He died, aged 48 in prison suffering from tuberculosis in 1938.
• Nazi Judges:

  • Another way that Hitler used the Police State was to control what happened in the legal system such as with courts and judges.  ​
  • Hitler controlled every judge in Germany by making sure that they were members of the Nazi Party.  If any judge refused to join the party, they would be banned from the profession. 
  • A brutal example of a Nazi Party judge was Roland Freisler.  He became well known for bullying those in court and not allowing defendants to speak.  90% of the defendants he dealt with were given the death penalty.
• Nazi Courts:

  • Hitler abolished trial by jury so it was just the Nazi judges who decided on someone’s guilt as well as the punishment.  ​
  • Hitler set up a new People’s Courts.  These courts were specifically used to deal with any opposition against the Nazi Party. Judges in this court were hand picked and trials were held in secret.
  • Hitler sometimes became involved in the trials himself and imposed his own punishments. There was no right to appeal against what the judge had decided.
• The ‘arts’ is a term which includes: literature, film, music, art, painting and architecture. 

  The Nazis disliked the new ‘modern’ types of culture which appeared during the Weimar Republic.

  Instead they wanted to return to more traditional German culture.
• • ​In 1933, the Reich Chamber of Culture was set up. This would control all of the arts in Germany. 
  • It was led by Joseph Goebbels as part of the Ministry of Propaganda. 
  • The Reich Chamber of Culture made sure that all of the arts and German culture was synchronised the ideas of the Nazi Party. 
  • This synchronising of ideas was known as Gleichschaltung. The Reich Chamber of Culture banned any type of culture which did not fit Nazi beliefs.
• What was censored?

  • All forms of art and culture had to be first approved by the Reich Chamber of Culture before it was made public. ​
  • The Reich Chamber of Culture banned any form of culture linked with other races such as the Jews and African Americans. 
  • This was to promote the arts of the ‘Aryan’ people of Germany. 
  • Many Jewish artists, musicians and writers fled the country.
  • ‘Negro’ music such as jazz, which had become popular during the Weimar Republic was also banned. 
• What was censored?

  • The Nazis banned anything which became ‘modern’ during the Weimar Republic. 
  • Any art or culture of this time was instantly associated with the failing Weimar Government. 
• • The Reich Chamber of Culture promoted any form of art or culture which saw Germany in a positive light. 
  • It promoted the ideas of a strong family and the traditional roles of men and women.
  • It promoted the ideas of hard work and discipline.
  • It promoted the ideas of strength and aggression.
  • It also promoted the ideas of loyalty to Hitler, self-sacrifice and fighting for the country. 
• Art in Nazi Germany:

  • Hitler had been an artist himself and so it was no surprise that he had very strict rules about the art that should be shown in Nazi Germany.
  • Approved styles of art included: anything traditional such as landscape art, classical art, military art or anything which showed the purity of the German race.
• Art in Nazi Germany:

  • Before being able to show their work, all artists had to become members of the Reich Chamber for Visual Arts. 
  • Any artist who was refused membership would be banned from showing and selling their art as well as teaching.
  • In total, 42,000 people were accepted as members.
  • The Gestapo made unannounced visits to artists’ studios to check they were creating the art they had promised.
• Art in Nazi Germany:

  • A famous art exhibition was opened in 1937 called the Degenerate Art Exhibition. 
  • Hitler wanted to shame the artists involved. Although it was never admitted by the Nazis at the time, the Degenerate Art Exhibition was more popular than the Nazi approved art exhibition that opened up at the same time.
  • In 1936, 12,000 paintings were removed from art galleries by the Nazis. This included work by famous artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh. Some were even destroyed or burned in public.
• Art in Nazi Germany:

  • Art which was disliked by the Nazis was called ‘degenerate’. 
  • Artists who created work in new styles from the Weimar Republic such as ‘expressionism’ were classed as degenerate. 
  • Other degenerate styles would include types of ‘ethnic’ art, abstract art or the art of Jews or Communists. ​
• Architecture in Nazi Germany:

  • The Nazis wanted to make new buildings that made Germany look strong and powerful.
  • Hitler’s favourite architect was a man named Albert Speer. He designed many of Nazi Germany’s major building projects.
  • These included the parade grounds for the Nazi rallies in Nuremberg and the new offices for the Nazis in Berlin.​
• Architecture in Nazi Germany:

  • Speer designed his buildings to symbolise what the Nazis wanted people to think about Germany and the Nazi Party. Buildings were built as tall as possible as size meant strength.​
  • He used features from the buildings of the ancient Greek and Roman Empires such as arches and pillars so the buildings looked grand and heroic. 
  • Nazi buildings were decorated with huge Nazi flags so the buildings would have a powerful impact on those who saw them. 
• Film in Nazi Germany:

  • Before every film there was a 45 minute newsreel. This made an even greater impact of propaganda.
  • All film plots had to be approved by the Nazis before they were created.
  • The Nazi Party itself made around 1,300 films.
  • In 1933, films had audiences over 250 million. Films were for entertainment but always had underlying political propaganda messages.
  • Goebbels created a propaganda cartoon aimed at children called Hansi. Hansi was a canary who often had to fight the evil black crows who had stereotypical Jewish features.