Constitution: NAZI

What is the full name for Reichstag Fire Decree?

The Decree for the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State

What was the Reichstag Fire Decree?

Clause 1: lost right to free speech, assembly, protest → imprison without charge, confiscate property/ intercept post/calls

Clause 2: right to enforce law and order on all states → undermine opps

Who did the Nazis blame for the Reichstag and why?

Marinus van der Lubbe: Dutch communist to show G under attack from communist

What were the two steps Nazis took to crush communists in the Reichstag Fire?

1. police does late night raids of leading communists

2. AH + Goring convince Hindenburg to authorise Reichstag Fire Decree

What did Goring and AH argue the Reichstag Fire Decree would allow?

• protect live from very serious upcoming communist revolution → all kinds of terroism

• temporary (bruh? lasted all the way to ‘45)

Due to the March elections, how many people were killed due to political violence?

69

What tactics did AH employ for the March elections?

• SA + police terrorise

• SPD + KPD + Union leader imprisoned in ‘wild’ concentration camps (tortured even killed)

• Media: illusion of KPD revolution (patrol sent out to intimidate)

What is significant about the Day of Potsdam?

• shown AH + Hindenburg as partners in new gov

• respect to German war dead

What is significant about the Enabling Act?

Reichstag made redundant killing democracy

What is it actually meant by Gleichschaltung?

‘bringing into line’

Why was the word Gleichschaltung chosen?

• didn’t suggest rights were being taken away

• hid controversial aspects of regime

When was the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service passed?

April 1933

What was the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service?

anyone whose political/racial loyalty doubted could be fired

What was the point of Gleichschaltung?

• one party state

• volksgemeinschaft

• cultural conformity

What was the Fuhrer state?

• power flows form AH

• word/will above any law

What was the significance of the Fuhrer state?

• working towards fuhrer

• creates polycratic regime

• state functions of AH decree

What was the significance of creating a one-party state?

• 0 opps

• parliament rubber stamp 4 laws

Before being formally banned what happened to the KPD?

driven underground due to countless arrests and some murders

Why did the DNVP dissolve itself?

• SA, press attack pressurize

• After enabling act Nazi didn’t need their support

What was Rohm’s motivation?

• no respect for aristocracy whom failed WW1

• Front gen earned right to lead

How did Blomburg want the army to be?

represent trad values of Prussian aristocracy based off of discipline

Why was Hindenburg’s death causing tensions between the army and Nazis?

• as general would defend army from nazi radicalism

• loss of hidenburg = loss of most powerful ally

• army think of gov with Papen

Why was Himmler so keen on removing Rohm?

SS sub unit (1923) of SA want to be free and grow to be most important org

How does Justice Minister Hans Frank say about AH?

"The Fruhrer is the supreme judge of the nation"

What does Broszat say about AH?

"The authoritative Fuhrer's will was expressed only irregularly, unsystematically, and incoherently."

What did Kershaw comment about the Hitler Myth?

"The day on which Hitler started to believe his own myth marked in sense the begging of the end of the third reich"

What does prerogative state mean?

hitler had the right to rule as he represented the will of the people

What does Cumulative Radicalisation mean?

all the power came from hitler so to win AH favour other nazis tried to develop policies that would win his favour

What does Otto Dreitrich say about the confusion AH caused in government?

"In 12 years of his rule in Germany Hitler produced the biggest confusion in the government that has ever existed in a civilised state"

How did AH try to compromise with Rohm?

Dec 1933 gave position in G cabinet but Rohm refused

When was the Marburg Speech?

June 1934

What was the Marburg Speech?

• Von papen at Uni of Marburg

• very critical of SA + other nazi stuff

• clear challenge to AH

What exactly happened at the Rohm Purge?

• 80 targets list

• Hanselbaur Hotel (in Bad Wiesse) after SA conference

• SS/ army sent to kill AH supervises

What happened to Rohm?

offered chance of suicide said no so shot

What happened to the SS?

Given to Viktor Lutze

What happened to Von Papen?

• SS storm into cabinet shot two closets advisors

• imprisoned + intimidated

What did the Civil Service look like during the Nazi Regime?

• <5% purged via Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service

• 1939 compulsory to be nazi + uniforms

What type of dictatorship did AH adopt?

• non interventionist dictator: wait for problem to intervene

  thought people could solve problems themselves

What were the three overarching org AH had created?

1. Ministries: trad, inherited

2. Nazi Party Dep.: develop policies on national life

3. Supreme Reich authorities: special agency not in party / state

Apart of the Supreme Reich authorities what did the Todt Org. do?

1,000km of autobahn between 1935-36

Who was Himmler? Why was he so close to AH?

• head of the SS

• most powerful/feared man Nazi G

• oversaw concentration camps/ death squads/ Gestapo

What did SS membership start from in 1933?

52k

What was SS membership in 1939?

250k

What are the beliefs of the SS?

• superiority of the German race

  hatred of Untermensch (sub-humans)

What are % of denunciations from the people of Germany accusing others of crimes against the state from 1933-45?

57%

What was the Waffen-SS?

Dec 1940 branch of SS

In 6 months of the establishment of the Waffen-SS what was membership like?

150k men

From 1941, how was desperation of victory shown in the Waffen- SS?

subsidised by non-German volunteers restrictions realized

• indians/slavs accepted

What % of investigations were from voluntary denunciation?

80%

Why was it significant to have numerous different battling forces?

Preventing a Coup Against Hitler (deeply paranoid about being overthrown, particularly by the traditional German military)

Hitler intentionally created overlapping responsibilities (fighting each other for Hitler's approval, resources, and power, they were too busy rivaling one another to ever unite and pose a threat to Hitler himself)

Total Control and Terror

What was Goring’s policy of Aryanisation?

progessively stripped jews of wealth/ propety

When was Goring’s policy of Aryanisation established?

1937

How did Goring’s policy of Aryanisation progress in 1938?

stripped of all their money + property + SS forced Jews into ghettos