The Creation of Hitler"s Dictatorship
Democracy in Weimar had already wobbled and fallen in the early 1930s when President Hindenburg was persuaded by ex-Chancellor Papen, his nationalist advisors, and others that a workable coalition could be formed from right wing parties if it was led by the head of the largest: that was the NSDAP, and he was Hitler. Papen believed Hitler could controlled, easily tamed, and so Hitler was appointed Chancellor.
Within months he would have seized full power in Germany and turned it into his dictatorship.
Origins of the NSDAP.
The coalition came into being on January 30th 1933, with a Nazi Chancellor that could be dismissed at any moment by the President, and two Nazi ministers: Wilhelm Frick and Goering. Hitler had power, but it was very unstable. On the other hand, he had the resources of a government to promote his party. Almost his first act was to call new Reichstag elections, which he believed would give a greater Nazi vote. He believed this because he was given millions in money by his new backers – wealthy elites – and could use the SA, the SS, and now the German police – whose numbers were swelled by brownshirts – to wage a campaign based around racism, hatred and terrifying voters. Goering passed the ‘Shooting Decree’ giving Nazi / government support to any ‘policeman’ who shot someone engaged in activity opposed to the Nazis. For many, it looked like Germany faced a choice between Hitler’s government, communism or civil war.
Weimar’s last election was propelled by violence and fear.
Then, in one of those strange historical oddities, something happened which seemed to make the dangers of communism stark: van der Lubbe, a Communist from Holland, was arrested for setting the Reichstag building on fire. Van der Lubbe acted alone, not as part of a Nazi plot, but the news allowed Hitler to spread further anti-communist terror, arrest 4000 communists, and suspend many civil liberties and the myth of democracy via the Decree for the Protection of People and State, which gave the government great powers, a continuous state of emergency and allowed Nazi opponents to be arrested or attacked in large numbers. But despite all this, the elections didn’t give the Nazis a majority, just 43.9% of the vote.
The election result might have been disappointing, and the violence at lower levels of the party was swiftly getting out of hand and scaring his well-heeled supporters, but Hitler moved on. He planned an Enabling Bill, which would give the Chancellor (i.e. him) full power and sideline the Reichstag for four years. He would not need the president. To pass this he needed a two thirds majority, and so Goebbels arranged a grand ceremony to reopen the Reichstag, with Hitler, Hindenburg, army leaders and Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son all aligning, giving the Nazis the appearance of being as one with the old regime, and legitimate heirs. Then another tactic was tried: the intimidation of the streets passed into the parliament. The communists were banned from entering, and the SA increased the pressure on those there. A further measure was needed to gain the support required, and Hitler now promised the Centre Party that Catholicism would be unhindered in a Nazi Germany. It was a lie, but it worked, and the Enabling Bill passed 444 votes to 94. Hitler was now the effective dictator of Germany; the Nazi era had begun, and Hitler would soon turn it into a one party state. From January 30th 1933 to May 1st the same year over one and a half million people joined the Nazi party.
The process by which the Nazi Party gradually took over almost every aspect of German life is called ‘Gleichschaltung’, or ‘co-ordination’. The aim of the Nazi Party was for Germany to run along the lines it wished, which meant organising everything from children’s groups – such as the Hitler Youth – to the highest reaches of government. It mean co-ordinating German life. A key way of carrying through the Gleichschaltung was to expand the power of Nazi Party organisations into these aspects of life. In 1933, with the Enabling Act just passed, Hitler focused on co-ordinating the power structures of Germany so as to gain maximum control.
The federal structure of Germany was bought into line by first sacking the regional Landtag parliaments, then re-creating them filled with Nazi supporters. Then the Nazi Party Gauleiters were promoted to Reich Governors to take control, and everything was fully centralized in 1934 when even the pro-Nazi parliaments were abolished. Central Nazi control dominated. The party political system in Germany followed a similar fate, with the communists and Social Democrats banned, and every other major party being persuaded, threatened and demoralized into disbanding, until only the Nazi Party existed. Trade Unions, once a bulwark against right wing action, were shattered through violence and arrests and their replacement with the Deutscher Arbeitsfront, the DAF or German Labour Front, a national union which was really a way to control workers. The spread of Nazi control would continue into all aspects of life.
By 1934, the Nazi’s army of brownshirts, the SA, numbered three million. Many new members had joined as the Nazi’s took power, and they were frequently unemployed working class men hungry for advancement and violence. The SA had played a major role in the rise of the Nazis, particularly when it came to intimidation and street fighting, but there was a problem. Hitler was increasingly losing control of the group, because he was trying to mollify the elites of Germany, who wanted to be protected, while the SA were veering to extreme politics: they were calling for a Second Revolution. SA violence didn’t stop when Hitler became Chancellor and dictator, and Ernst Röhm, their leader, continued to drift ever further from Hitler. Röhm feared his old colleague was about to betray the SA to keep power, and dreamed of merging the SA with the army into a new people’s force (with him in charge).
Hitler might have been able to rein in the landowners and industrialists who had bankrolled him, but when Röhm began to upset the military Hitler had a problem. The SA were three million strong, but the military was the force which Hitler needed if he was to conquer, and the only force which, at this stage, might have been able to eject him from power. As the Nazi co-ordination went on, and as more and more of German life came under their control, the SA were doing the opposite.
It might seem strange given the later image of Hitler, but in late 1933 and early 1934 he worked hard to agree a compromise with the SA and the SS, giving Röhm a cabinet seat and trying to negotiate a role for them all in the new Nazi state. But the military were growing colder with the news, and the SA were getting worse. When Hindenburg grew ill in 1934, Hitler planned to succeed him without the bother of an election, but he needed military support. Hitler had to regain control of the SA, and end the rounds of internal politicking that were creating power blocs within his cabinet. Meanwhile the link between the SA and police had been split
The trigger was Papen, still Vice-Chancellor, challenging Hitler in a speech in June to stop the SA. This caused the army to give Hitler an ultimatum: curb the SA, or we’ll take over. On June 30th 1934 members of the SS, armed and organised by members of the army, shattered the SA’s power and ended their independent role, by killing many of the key leaders. Röhm was shot, as were other threats to the Nazi state like Strasser, Schleicher and Papen’s allies (Papen being considered too dangerous to kill). The SA could put up little opposition, and they were effectively beheaded. Around two hundred people may have died. The extreme left of the Nazis were gone and the SA were simply a parade force for rallies, the right of Germany were impressed and scared, the army now backed Hitler entirely and took oaths of loyalty to him out of thanks, and the veneer of legality was stripped away and Germany and the SS were transformed: into a state were government murder was legal, where the SS were an instrument of terror and execution.
Hindenburg died on August 2nd 1934, and he was not replaced. Instead Hitler merged the presidential office with that of Chancellor, calling it Führer. He ruled a country with no organised political opposition, a paramilitary force he could use to murder who he wanted, and a country increasingly merged with Nazi party ideas. The Nazi state was in full effect.
Within months he would have seized full power in Germany and turned it into his dictatorship.
Origins of the NSDAP.
Adolf Hitler: Chancellor
The coalition came into being on January 30th 1933, with a Nazi Chancellor that could be dismissed at any moment by the President, and two Nazi ministers: Wilhelm Frick and Goering. Hitler had power, but it was very unstable. On the other hand, he had the resources of a government to promote his party. Almost his first act was to call new Reichstag elections, which he believed would give a greater Nazi vote. He believed this because he was given millions in money by his new backers – wealthy elites – and could use the SA, the SS, and now the German police – whose numbers were swelled by brownshirts – to wage a campaign based around racism, hatred and terrifying voters. Goering passed the ‘Shooting Decree’ giving Nazi / government support to any ‘policeman’ who shot someone engaged in activity opposed to the Nazis. For many, it looked like Germany faced a choice between Hitler’s government, communism or civil war.
Weimar’s last election was propelled by violence and fear.
Then, in one of those strange historical oddities, something happened which seemed to make the dangers of communism stark: van der Lubbe, a Communist from Holland, was arrested for setting the Reichstag building on fire. Van der Lubbe acted alone, not as part of a Nazi plot, but the news allowed Hitler to spread further anti-communist terror, arrest 4000 communists, and suspend many civil liberties and the myth of democracy via the Decree for the Protection of People and State, which gave the government great powers, a continuous state of emergency and allowed Nazi opponents to be arrested or attacked in large numbers. But despite all this, the elections didn’t give the Nazis a majority, just 43.9% of the vote.
The election result might have been disappointing, and the violence at lower levels of the party was swiftly getting out of hand and scaring his well-heeled supporters, but Hitler moved on. He planned an Enabling Bill, which would give the Chancellor (i.e. him) full power and sideline the Reichstag for four years. He would not need the president. To pass this he needed a two thirds majority, and so Goebbels arranged a grand ceremony to reopen the Reichstag, with Hitler, Hindenburg, army leaders and Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son all aligning, giving the Nazis the appearance of being as one with the old regime, and legitimate heirs. Then another tactic was tried: the intimidation of the streets passed into the parliament. The communists were banned from entering, and the SA increased the pressure on those there. A further measure was needed to gain the support required, and Hitler now promised the Centre Party that Catholicism would be unhindered in a Nazi Germany. It was a lie, but it worked, and the Enabling Bill passed 444 votes to 94. Hitler was now the effective dictator of Germany; the Nazi era had begun, and Hitler would soon turn it into a one party state. From January 30th 1933 to May 1st the same year over one and a half million people joined the Nazi party.
The Nazis Spread their Power: Gleichschaltung
The process by which the Nazi Party gradually took over almost every aspect of German life is called ‘Gleichschaltung’, or ‘co-ordination’. The aim of the Nazi Party was for Germany to run along the lines it wished, which meant organising everything from children’s groups – such as the Hitler Youth – to the highest reaches of government. It mean co-ordinating German life. A key way of carrying through the Gleichschaltung was to expand the power of Nazi Party organisations into these aspects of life. In 1933, with the Enabling Act just passed, Hitler focused on co-ordinating the power structures of Germany so as to gain maximum control.
The federal structure of Germany was bought into line by first sacking the regional Landtag parliaments, then re-creating them filled with Nazi supporters. Then the Nazi Party Gauleiters were promoted to Reich Governors to take control, and everything was fully centralized in 1934 when even the pro-Nazi parliaments were abolished. Central Nazi control dominated. The party political system in Germany followed a similar fate, with the communists and Social Democrats banned, and every other major party being persuaded, threatened and demoralized into disbanding, until only the Nazi Party existed. Trade Unions, once a bulwark against right wing action, were shattered through violence and arrests and their replacement with the Deutscher Arbeitsfront, the DAF or German Labour Front, a national union which was really a way to control workers. The spread of Nazi control would continue into all aspects of life.
The Night of the Long Knives: The SA are bought to Heel
By 1934, the Nazi’s army of brownshirts, the SA, numbered three million. Many new members had joined as the Nazi’s took power, and they were frequently unemployed working class men hungry for advancement and violence. The SA had played a major role in the rise of the Nazis, particularly when it came to intimidation and street fighting, but there was a problem. Hitler was increasingly losing control of the group, because he was trying to mollify the elites of Germany, who wanted to be protected, while the SA were veering to extreme politics: they were calling for a Second Revolution. SA violence didn’t stop when Hitler became Chancellor and dictator, and Ernst Röhm, their leader, continued to drift ever further from Hitler. Röhm feared his old colleague was about to betray the SA to keep power, and dreamed of merging the SA with the army into a new people’s force (with him in charge).
Hitler might have been able to rein in the landowners and industrialists who had bankrolled him, but when Röhm began to upset the military Hitler had a problem. The SA were three million strong, but the military was the force which Hitler needed if he was to conquer, and the only force which, at this stage, might have been able to eject him from power. As the Nazi co-ordination went on, and as more and more of German life came under their control, the SA were doing the opposite.
It might seem strange given the later image of Hitler, but in late 1933 and early 1934 he worked hard to agree a compromise with the SA and the SS, giving Röhm a cabinet seat and trying to negotiate a role for them all in the new Nazi state. But the military were growing colder with the news, and the SA were getting worse. When Hindenburg grew ill in 1934, Hitler planned to succeed him without the bother of an election, but he needed military support. Hitler had to regain control of the SA, and end the rounds of internal politicking that were creating power blocs within his cabinet. Meanwhile the link between the SA and police had been split
The trigger was Papen, still Vice-Chancellor, challenging Hitler in a speech in June to stop the SA. This caused the army to give Hitler an ultimatum: curb the SA, or we’ll take over. On June 30th 1934 members of the SS, armed and organised by members of the army, shattered the SA’s power and ended their independent role, by killing many of the key leaders. Röhm was shot, as were other threats to the Nazi state like Strasser, Schleicher and Papen’s allies (Papen being considered too dangerous to kill). The SA could put up little opposition, and they were effectively beheaded. Around two hundred people may have died. The extreme left of the Nazis were gone and the SA were simply a parade force for rallies, the right of Germany were impressed and scared, the army now backed Hitler entirely and took oaths of loyalty to him out of thanks, and the veneer of legality was stripped away and Germany and the SS were transformed: into a state were government murder was legal, where the SS were an instrument of terror and execution.
Adolf Hitler: Führer
Hindenburg died on August 2nd 1934, and he was not replaced. Instead Hitler merged the presidential office with that of Chancellor, calling it Führer. He ruled a country with no organised political opposition, a paramilitary force he could use to murder who he wanted, and a country increasingly merged with Nazi party ideas. The Nazi state was in full effect.
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