THE NAZI DICTATORSHIP
WINNING OVER THE CONSERVATIVE FORCES
There were three conservative forces in Germany which shared Hitler’s anti-democratic values,
but did not full agree with Nazi ideology. These were:
1. The army
2. The civil service
3. The leaders of big businesses and enterprises
• Hitler could not a ord to alienate these conservative forces, he needed to reassure them whilst
at the same time taking steps to ensure their support and loyalty.
• In order to create Gleichschaltung he had to tread carefully — compromise and concessions
were necessary in order to avoid any opposition from these groups.
Winning over the Army:
• The German military had traditionally functioned as ‘a state within a state,’ and despite their
sympathy and approval of the Nazi regime, they were determined to defend their position of
independence.
• In January 1934, (when the army commander, Kurt von Hammerstein, resigned), Hitlers choice
for his successor was vetoed by the army o cer corps and Hindenburg. This shown Hitler that
the army had still not been won over, and prompted him to make steps in order to gain their
support.
• In June 1934, Hitler removed the threat of the SA.
• Following the death of President Hindenburg, the German army swore an oath of loyalty to
Hitler.
• In order to persuade Hitler that state intervention in the army would not be necessary, the
army generals adopted a policy of ‘self Gleichschaltung’ — this was manifested in the
dismissal of all Jews serving the army, which was decided by the Defence Minister
Blomberg in February 1934.
• By may 1934, the army incorporated Nazi symbols into their uniforms — this was by choice, not
Hitlers decision, therefore is evidence that Hitler had won the army over.
The creation of the Wehrmacht…
• Hitler united the army, navy and airforce in 1935, creating what became known as the
‘Wehrmacht.’
• This action was a manifestation of the e orts of the Nazi regime to rearm Germany to a
greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted, which was the function of the Wehrmacht
itself.
Winning over Big Businesses:
• On 20th February 1933, Hitler met a group of leading industrialists and secured donations of 3
million Reichsmarks to go towards the Nazi party.
• He stopped Nazi attacks on large capitalist enterprises.
• He appointed Dr Kurt Schmitt (the managing director of Germany’s largest insurance company
and well known man within the big businesses) as the new economics minister.
• Individual businesses were left to manage thrown a airs with limited state intervention.
• Hitler’s aim to rearm Germany o ered huge bene ts to big businesses — once rearmament
began in 1934, unemployment began to decline rapidly (inextricable link).
• The law to reduce unemployment - June 1933: provided work for the unemployed where
subsides were given to private construction projects and tax rebates and loans were given to
companies to encourage them to increase production.
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, Winning over the Civil Service:
• Cicvil servants enjoyed a status that was almost on par with that of soldiers. The higher ranks of
the civil services were recruited almost exclusively from the aristocracy and were traditional,
conservative minded, and identi ed with the authoritarian values of the Nazi regime.
• The law for the re-establishment of a professional civil service - April 1933: removed Jews,
communists and socialists or anyone who was considered an ‘asocial’ or objected to Hitler and
the Nazi ideals from the civil service.
• Mostly, the civil service remained largely untouched by Gleichschaltung, the civil service was
kept separate from politics, but some civil servants who quickly understood the bene ts of Nazi
party membership.
NAZI POLICIES TOWARDS THE MITTLESTAND
- The Mittlestand found itself squeezed between the big businesses and the working classes.
- 250,000 retail businesses had closed by 1943, and they could not compete with large scale
traders and department stores.
- They also could not compete with the wages o ered to workers in industry. This meant that
apprentices were attracted to large factories, so that the number of artisans decreased.
- The Nazi regime was more concerned with protecting big businesses and was not prepared to
regulate against the interests of such big companies. This meant that the position of middle
classes continued to decline under the Nazis.
So why did they remain loyal to the Nazi cause…
1. The law for the protection of the retail trade (1933): prevented department stores from
providing services such as hairdressing/show repairs that small businesses owners also
provided in order to protect them. However, this law was ine ective because stores that
already provided these services did not shut them down, they just didn’t expand them. The
turnover of the 5 leading department stores in Nazi Germany increased by 10% in the
years 1936-1939.
2. The law for the provisional construction of German craft trades (1933): meant that anyone
who was wishing to set up a business had to hold a master quali cation in a registered trade.
This bene tted quali ed tradesmen and artisans, but not those who did not have a
quali cation.
3. Public work schemes: bene tted independent tradesmen who worked on public buildings. A
500 mark subsidy was available to homeowners to install toilets and bathrooms who
employed these tradesmen to carry out work — this attracted people to support these
independent tradesmen.
4. 1937 decree: decreed that no individual could set up their own business unless they had
capital of at least 200,000 dollars. At the same time, any company with capital under 400,000
dollars were faced out of business! This resulted in 20% of small enterprises closing down.
5. Price undercutting by large stores was banned: low interest rates and the destruction of
trade unions also bene tted the middle classes.
- In comparison, the professional middle class enjoyed a more comfortable life in Nazi Germany.
- Many gained employment within the party or state structure and the expulsion of the Jews from
their professions o ered more employment opportunities.
• Lower middle class (mittlestand) = small business owners, shop keepers, small traders, artisans,
self employed skilled tradesmen
• The professional class = teachers, lawyers, doctors
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, NAZISM AND RELGION
Co-ordinating the churches into Volksgemeinschaft posed challenges to the Nazi regimes as
Germans were initially divided by faith.
PROTESTANTISM
Context:
• North of Germany —> predominantly Protestant
• The main Protestant church In Germany was the German Evangelical church that was divided
into 28 separate state churches
• Evangelicals were poetically very conservative and staunch nationalists, regarding Germany as a
Protestant state
• Many Protestants were also anti-Semitic and vigorously anti-communist — therefore
identi ed with Nazi ideology
• In 1933, the Nazis turned the 450th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther into a major national
celebration
• The Protestant church was praised in Hitler’s rst speech as chancellor
The German Christians:
• The German Christians (Deutsche Christen) were a pressure group of Nazi supporters who
operated within the German Evangelical church
• The movement grew rapidly, being rst established in May 1932, it had 600,000 supporters by
the mid-1930’s
• They described themselves as the ‘SA of the church’ — pastors who belonged to the German
Christians wore SA or SS uniforms whilst conducting their services and hung swastika ags in
their churches
• They fused Nazi racial ideology with their own religious faith and advocated a militant,
aggressive and crusading form of Christianity
• Hitler was portrayed as the national messiah
• Essentially, it combined Protestantism with Nazi ideology
The Reich Church:
• The Reich church occurred when the Nazi regime began to ‘co-ordinate’ the 28 separate
state churches in the Evangelical church into a single, centralised Reich church under
Nazi control
• In July 1933, (with the help of Gobbels Propaganda Ministry), the German Christians won a
sweeping victory that put them in the position to ‘Nazify’ the church
• In November 1933, the German Christians celebrated their triumph in taking over the Reich
church by holding a mass rally at the ‘Sports Palace’ in Berlin where they demanded the
dismissal of those pastors who had not declared alliance with the new regime alongside all non-
Aryans
• As a state institution, the Reich church was forced to adopt an ‘Aryan paragraph,’ where 18
pastors, (mostly men who had concerted to Christianity from Judaism) were dismissed
• By the end of 1933, it appeared that the Reich church had successfully been ‘co-ordinated’ into
Volksgemeinschaft
The Confessional Church:
• In September 1933, a group of dissident pastors, who were unwilling to support the
developments within the church, established a Pastors’ Emergency League
• This evolved a breakaway church that became known as the ‘Confessional church’
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