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Dictatorship ; Hitler and the Nazi Party in January 1933
Background of Party leader since 1921, very charistatics, captured the attention of large crowds. He
Hitler was jailed in 1923 for attempting to take power by force and he wrote Mein Kampf when
in jail.
Background of Goebbels : used simple bold messages through technology as propaganda, he started
Nazi Party the campaign ‘bread and work’, appealing to the basic demands of the population. His
propaganda emphasised Hitlers power, made this look god-like.
Himmler : leader of the SS (blackshirts), it started like the SA and provided security to
the Nazi leaders, they used their power into spying on people, killing, leading
concentration camps, etc.
Hees : another WW1 hero, he was deputy leader of the party and his job was to sign off
all new legislations to ensure they followed the Nazi ideology.
Goring : ex WW1 fighter pilot, he helped the party run smoothly, his government duties
included : controlling the police in Prussia, largest German region and he formed the
Gestapo in 1933.
Rohm : leader of SA who was killed in the Night Of Long Knives due to their growing
power, they were violent and intimidating voters and other political parties by
surrounding election buildings.
Development of The Nazis wanted to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles which was made in 1919, the
Nazi party treaty severely restricted German armed forces, they reduced German territories and
imposed a crippling bill of £6.6 billion that Germans owed to repair the damage they had
caused throughout the war.
Nazi ideology - Scrap the Treaty
- Bread and Work for all
- Destroy Marxism : type of communisms
- Subdue the Jews and ensure Aryan supremacy
- Fight for living space ; they believed Slavs wasted space and they should be able to
take their land.
- Build Nationalism : foreign influence as well as non-Aryan influence should be
removed from the country.
- Strengthen central government
- Nationalise important industries : supply of services, electricity, water and railway -
they should be provided by the government and not individual companies.
Improve education
Dictatorship ; Establishing the Dictatorship, January to July 1933
Reichstag fire and 27th February 1933 : The Reichstag government was burning. The building was
Decree completely ruined and a communist was imprisoned for it and shortly after he was
sentenced to death. Nazi party members emphasised that this was an act of the whole
Communist groups, Hindenburg had the power to pass laws without the Reichstag
without the Reichstag and Hitler contacted him, convincing him to pass an immediate
Reichstag Fire Decree. It consisted of 6 articles : restricted civil liberties, such as the
rights of a citizen when under arrest, increased the power of the central governments,
giving powers normally only held by local regional governments, established very harsh
punishments for certain crimes, and stated that the decree took effect on the day it was
announced. More than 4000 communists were arrested during the week and the Nazi
party was able to get rid of the communist party.
Enabling Act In February the Nazi party used SS members to intimidate other parties and they were
confident they’d be successful in the upcoming election in March. Despite this, they only
won 288 seats out of 64, but they did win 52 more and it allowed them to pass any
legislation they wished.
24th March 1933 :
Hitler gave a long speech introducing the Enabling Act, it gave the chancellor the power
to pass any law they wished without the consent or control of the Reichstag. The
debating chamber was surrounded with SA members to intimidate everyone and it led
to 444 members voting to pass it, this meant that democracy was disbanded in the
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German Reichstag. Hitler was legally made the dictator of Germany.
Civil Service Act Civil servants carry out duties of the government, both locally and nationally. As the
Nazis wanted all the power, they removed the Civil servants from the posts. He then
passed the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service which meant that
Jews and political opponents were not allowed to work in professions like teachers or
judges.
Encouragement of The Nazis always had anti-Semitic views, the Civil Service Act removed them from civil
anti- Semitism services and in April, further legislations were taken to remove Jews from schools, etc.
On 1st April 1933, Nazis organised a day boycott of all Jewish businesses, SA guards
were put in front of the stores scaring people away from entering.
Book Burning The Nazis wanted to control people's ideas, Goebbels Propaganda Ministry encouraged
Nazi students groups to burn books as they had ‘Un-German spirits’ Over 25,000 books
were burnt, these included any books which had communist or Jewish authors.
Terror against Historians believe that the Nazi party imprisoned 100,000 opponents and killed around
opponents 600, many were sent to concentration camps and the SA became increasingly violent,
killing and arresting many people.
Nazis arrested main Trade Unions leaders, these protected the rights of workers. They
were arrested as the Nazis were scared they’d strike again. Every Trade Union was
raided and leaders arrested, the was no more Trade Union and the Nazis made their
own Labour Front (DAF)
The SD became the next target, Nazis raided their offices, took their wealth and many
leaders escaped as a result to other countries. On June 21st Frick used the emergency
decree to ban the Social Democrats as a ‘dangerous enemy’, many were arrested and
tortured.
July 14th : Act to ban all other parties, Germany was becoming a one-party state.
Dictatorship ; Achieving Total Power, July 1933 to August 1934
Controlling local The 1934 Act for the Reconstruction of the State removed the power in every region of
Government Germany, Germany was no longer seen as a country with different regions - it was a
highly centralised state.
The people’s court Act to Set Up the People’s Court, this created a separate court outside the normal
justice system, it dealt with ‘political offences’ and ensured rapid decisions. The number
of death penalties rose rapidly.
The Night Of Long Hitler had 2 threats, Von Papen was apparently to become chancellor and SA became
Knives too much of a threat due to increased violence, size and difficulty to control. Rohm
wanted the SA to take over the army and Hitler refused, so Hitler needed something to
get rid of these threats. He asked the SS to create fake evidence of Rohm planning a
nation wide uprising and a list of ‘politically unreliable people was made’ On June 30th
1934, The Night of Long Knives happened. Many people from the list, including Rohm,
were imprisoned and killed. In Berlin, Goring who was in charge of TNOLK didn’t stop
the SA and he moved to kill many people, like ex-chancellors.
After this, SS and Himmler power rose Nazi regime gained a stronger grounding, a
culture of fear was created, power of SA reduced and the loyalty of the army was
secured.
Death of President Although Hitler was chancellor and could pass new laws, Hindenburg had the power to
Hindenburg ; block any and prevent them from happening so Hitler wanted him gone. Hindenburg
Hitler as Fuhrer died in August, and Hitler took the opportunity to pass the Head of State before he
passed, at the moment of his death, Hitler became the Fuhrer. Hitker was now the
dictator of Germany.
Control and Opposition 1933-19 ; Machinery of terror, SS, law courts, concentration camps and Gestapo
