Germany the nazi dictatorship 1933-39

Events leading to Hitler becoming Fuhrer

1933

30th January- Hitler is appointed chancellor

1st February- Hitler dissolves Reichstag & calls election

27th February- Reichstag fire

28th February- decree for the protection of the people and the state

5th March- Elections, Nazi’s get 44%

8 March- first concentration camp established

13 March- ministry for public enlightenment & propaganda established

24 March- enabling act

31 March- 1st law for the coordination of the federal services

7 April- law for restoration of a professional civil service

2nd law for the coordination of the federal states

22nd June- SPD outlawed as a ‘party hostile to the nation and the state’

5th July- centre party voluntarily disbands

14th July- Law against formation of New Parties: Germany now a one-party state

12th November- Reichstag elections, Nazis win 92%

1934

30th January- Law for the reconstruction of the Reich

14th February- Reichsrat abolished

30th June- Night of the Long Knives

2nd August- Hindenburg dies, Hitler became president & chancellor, army swore oath of allegiance to him

19th August- Hitler takes title of Fuhrer

The Hitler cabinet

After being appointed on 30th January, Hitler held his first cabinet meeting.

Just 3 out of 12 members were Nazis, though many of the rest were old aristocratic elite

Papen was vice chancellor and had the right to be out all meetings with Hitler, strengthening his belief that Hitler could be controlled

Goebbels organised a big celebration for the appointment of Hitler, showing to the people this was no ordinary appointment

Nazi violence against political opponents

during the parade on 30th January, people witnessed SA members attacking people, but they were still overcome with pride for their country as people chanted ‘We want to die for the flag’

The violence of the SA played a key role in Hitler’s rise

Membership in January 1933 was 500,000

It was 3 million, a year later

The violent nature of the SA gained legal authority with Nazis in power

Frick & Goering occupied key positions in cabinet allowing Nazis to control the police

Sustained assault was carried out on trade unions, KPD offices & left wing politicians houses

An SPD mayor was shot dead by a Nazi and when written about in an SPD newspaper, the paper was banned

Centre party also condemned Nazis, their newspapers were banned and their meetings were attacked

Thousands of political opposition were placed in temporary concentration camps until Dachau was established (8 March)

By July 1933, 27,000 political prisoners had been arrested and imprisoned in 70 camps

The Reichstag fire

Reichstag was resolved & new elections called in March

Hitler intensified violence as part of the parties campaign

Key part of the campaign was the fire on 27th Feb

Dutch communist Van der Lubbe was arrested and ‘caught red handed’ but there were suspicions the Nazis had framed him

Nazis claimed it was part of a communist plot to start a revolution in Germany

Terror now became a legal means to crush opposition

the decree for the protection of the people and the state

After the Reichstag fire, Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to give him ‘emergency’ powers.

Police were given increased powers to arrest and detain without charge

Power to censor publications

Decree was designed to legalise an assault on communism

10,000 communists were arrested in 2 weeks

Judges & police were nationalist so didn’t care

march 1933 election

SPD and KPD were unable to campaign as their buildings had been smashed up and posters and pamphlets were confiscated

Nazi propaganda flooded the country

Nazis only won 44% of the vote

Nazis did have a majority with the support of the DNVP

Enabling Act

passed by the Reichstag on 24 March 1933

armed SA and SS men stood outside where the meeting was held chanting ‘we want the enabling act’ while political opposition entered

Enabling act allowed Hitler to make laws without the approval of the Reichstag

Only the SPD deputies voted against the bill, the KPD were unable to attend

final piece needed to legalise Nazi dictatorship

The creation of a one party state

Volksgemeinschaft allowed no room for other political parties, as Hitler viewed the Nazi party as the ‘racial core’ of German people

4 stages to achieving this:

• KPD was effectively banned after the Reichstag fire, members were either in concentration camps or fled

• the SPD stood up against Hitler so were outlawed as a ‘party hostile to the nation and state’ in June 1933

• DNVP and Centre party dissolved themselves in June and July

• 14 July- law against the formation of new parties outlawed any opposition

centralisation of power and control over local government

Goering took the position of Reich Commissioner to run Prussia ( the largest German state)

31st march 1933- First Law for the coordination of Federal States dissolved existing state assemblies and replaced them with Nazi-dominated assemblies

7th April 1933- Second Law for the coordination of Federal States- created position Reich Governor, in charge of ensuring state government follow central government policies

30th January 1934- Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich- State assemblies abolished, state governments fully subordinate to central government

14th February 1934- Reichsrat abolished

SA before June 1934

SA had 3 million members and their activities now had legal authority

SA were attacking political opposition & Jews without Hitler knowing

Hitler was fine with this in early 1933 as he was trying to create the one party state

However, still after this goal has been achieved, Rohm wanted to continue violence, with the aim of the SA replacing the army

SA’s power decreased after 1933 summer and they became restless, getting in to drunken brawls and fighting the police

The Night of the Long Knives

30th June 1934-

death of Hindenburg

2nd August 1934

As long as he was alive, Hindenburg had the support of the army, through their oath of allegiance

Hindenburg hated the SA, one of the main reasons for the Night of the Long Knives

Army approved of Hitler succeeding Hindenburg and within an hour of his death the positions of chancellor and president were merged

On the same day army took an oath of allegiance to Hitler

19th August- a plebiscite was held confirming Hitler’s position of Fuhrer, with 90% voting in favour, surprisingly 10% had the courage to vote against him

The police system in the Third Reich

Nazis created a system of party-controlled, political forces answerable to Hitler, which gradually gained control over the police system

There was competition between the numerous forces:

the SS controlled by Himmler

the SD intelligence gathering branch of SS

the SA controlled by Rohm. Acquired powers to arrest political prisoners

the gestapo the scret police force under control of Goering

Rivalry between Goering, Himmler and Rohm for control of the police

Heinrich Himmler

Reichsfuhrer of the SS, took over leadership in 1929.

Gained more power, as Hitler did and gradually took over police forces (chief of German police) and took control of concentration camps

SS established military units under his control (Waffen SS)

used the SS to round up and kill Jews in occupied territories

near end of war, he was appointed military commander to organise right against red army, his lack of military experience meant he was removed from this position

Betrayed Hitler to negotiate with allies Hitler found out & captured him, causing Himmler to commit suicide

SS

Hitler’s private bodyguards

main organisation involved in identifying & arresting political prisoners

controlled the entire police system & concentration camps by 1936

key values were loyalty & value- determined in terms of adherence to Nazi ideology

SS operated in a more systematically violent way than SA

concentration camps

prisons where inmates were forced to work

first permanent camp established in 1933 in Dachau, after 70 temporary camps

prisoners in the early months were communists, socialists, trade unionists

temporary camps closed down and by may 1934 there were only ¼ of the prisoners a year prior

after 1936, political opposition had been crushed and concentration camps dealt with the ‘undesirables’

camp guards were immune from prosecution

the SD

established in 1931

after 1933, role was intelligence gathering, including monitoring those who opposed the Nazis and reporting to Hitler

led by Reinhard Heydrich

by 1939, had 50,000 members

Nazi organisation that worked independently of the gestapo, causing some overlap and confusion

the gestapo

secret state police

developed a reputation for being all knowing, as Germans believed they were everywhere

However, actually a small organisation with 20,000 members in 1939, most office based rather than field based

Generally, not members of the Nazi party, instead professional police officers tasked with serving the state

depended on information from informers, Nazi party activists would spy on their neighbours & workmates + ordinary Germans did the same, motivated by personal grudges

Gestapo received such a large amount of info. they could not investigate it all

Successful in instilling fear in to the German people

The use of torture

One communist revealed he was tortured by the gestapo

he was beaten and whipped, chained to a cot and not allowed to wash

after still not providing information, they arrested his wife and threatened to torture her

the courts and the justice system

judges and lawyers were usually nationalists but not Nazi members in 1933

Lawyers remained intent on upholding law & what the SA and SS were doing was illegal

Hitler also angered that most of the Reichstag fire defendants were found not guilty

to deal with this:

various professional associations of judges & lawyers merged in April 1933. It was clear that their careers depended on them supporting the regime

& new courts were introduced, people’s courts in April 1934 set up to deal with political crimes. 3 Nazi judges and 2 professional judges. No juries and defendants could not appeal

between 1934 and 1939, 3400 people were tried by the peoples court, many given the death penalty

number of people given death penalty for political crimes increased year on year 1933-39 ( almost 150 people in 1939)

political resistance to the Nazis

SPD-

the only party to vote against the enabling act

By the end of 1933 thousands of activists had been murdered, arrested, or fled (the leaders fled)

the party had small groups of supporters

propaganda pamphlets were smuggled across the Czechoslovakia border but they were too fearful of the gestapo that their pan was to wait for the regime to collapse

KPD-

much better prepared than the SPD

however, 10% of KPD membership was killed by the end of 1933

underground networks, and revolutionary unions were set up but broken up by the Gestapo

Not all secret community was broken up but still the main aim of the party was survival

resistance by workers

German workers were most unionised in Europe and were mostly linked to SPD, opposing the Nazis

trade unions were absorbed into the DAF

in 1937, there were 250 strikes opposing poor working conditions and low wages

significant strikes in 1935-36 due to rising food prices

25,000 strikers in 1935, 4000 spent time in prison

absenteeism was often a reaction to the long working hours, regime was concerned and introduced harsh punishments against ‘slackers’

Another tactic was to deliberately damage machinery, Nazis were concerned enough to make ‘sabotage’ a criminal offence

resistance by the protestant church

establishment of the pastors’ emergency league - led to the development of the confessional church in 1934- refused to be a part of the Reich church because:

- trying to protect independence of the protestant church

- did not want to impose the Aryan paragraph which would remove church pastors who had converted from Judaism

- trying to defend Lutheran ideology

confessional church spoke out against ‘Nazified Christ’ & many refused to display Swastikas

Nazi regime responded by stopping dissenting pastors salaries & arresting them, 700 imprisoned by end of 1937

Martin Niemoller- co-founder of the confessional church. he was a nationalist & anti-Semitic but believed Jews should be welcomed into Christian church

‘ They came for the communists, I didn’t speak up I,m not a communist

They came for the unionists “ “

They came for the Jews “ “

Then they came for me and by thst time there was no one left to speak up’

resistance from the catholic church

in 1937, pope issued the papal encyclical ‘ with Burning Grief’ which condemned Nazi hatred upon the church, it was smuggled into Germany, printed & distributed, led to repression from regime

charges against priests became more common, some but limited resistance

resistance by young people

membership became compulsory in 1936

children opted out by letting their membership lapse or not attending the weekly parade

Mueter gangs- communist youths flourished

Gleichshaltung meant youth had less free time, meaning more opposition

opposing youth groups:

eidelweiss pirates

roving dudes

swing youth

resistance by elites

some elites viewed Hitler as a threat to old Germany planned coup to stop war with Chechosolvakia

many had strong tradition of serving the state

believed Hitler was sending unprepared Germany to war

conservative elites comprised by dealings with Hitler

Nazi control over teachers

Law for the re-establishment of a professional civil service (1933)- number of teachers dismissed for political beliefs or being Jewish

teachers pressurised to join National Socialist Teachers’ League

vetting of textbooks in 1933 & in 1935 Ministry of Education directed what would be taught

control over curriculum

more P.E. lessons featuring military style drills

study of traditional stories promoted a ‘consciousness of being German’

in biology, there was a stress on race & heredity & a strong emphasis on evolution & survival of the fittest

Geography made people aware of lebensraum

Nazi universities

the number of people attending universities (1933-39) declined as there was less stress on academia

Access to higher education was based on political reliability

women were restricted to 10% of places, Jews 1.5%

Coordination of universities:

• 1200 staff dismissed on racial or political grouds

• November 1933- all teachers signed declaration to support Hitler

• students had to join German Students’ League (25% managed to not)

• students forced to do 4 months in labour service and 2 months in SA camp

  Nazi’s received little resistance as universities under Weimar already dominated by anti-democratic ideas

The Hitler Youth

created in 1926 but originally unsuccessful

In 1933, all other youth groups (except ones associated with the church) were taken over and/or banned

in 1936, Hitler youth was given the status of an official education movement, on par with a school & catholic youth organisations were banned

1939- membership made compulsory

activities emphasised political indoctrination and physical activity, preparing students to be Nazi soldiers

students had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Fuhrer

The organisation was attractive to many youngsters due to the opportunities, such as camping trips away from home

By the late 1930s there was less enthusiasm as things became attendance

Jan 1933- 50,000 members

December 1933- 2,000,000

1939- 8,000,000

the League of German Girls

motto- ‘Be faithful, be pure, be German’

Prepared women for their role as housewives and mothers

membership compulsory in 1939

sport was important for girls to as they were taught their body needed to be fit for child-bearing

instructed in matters of hygiene, cleanliness & healthy eating

taught handicrafts, sewing & cooking

young girls found it liberating as they could do things their mothers had not allowed them to

no class divide, everyone working for same goal

instructed on their future partners, should be the best Aryan soldiers

In 1939, it was compulsory for all young women to do a year’s unpaid work to get them used to their role in society

success of Nazi youth policies

successful in bringing schools and universities under their control

1939, Hitler youth & BDM were the only allowed youth organisations & membership had grown

attendance at HJ parades was dwindling in 1939, and Nazis were worried about independent youth cliques

Nazi policies towards women

declining birth rate in the 1920s was alarming, main priority in 1933 was to increase birth rate

& wanted to restrict the employment of married women

marriage loans introduced for women who left work & married an Aryan man

medals were awarded for having children bronze for 4 silver for 6 gold for 8

birth control discouraged, abortion restricted

women encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle

The German Women’s league, similar to the BDM, 6 million members in 1939

success of Nazi’s policies towards women

birth rate did increase but could have been due to other factors, such as the improved economic state

number of women in workforce increased between 1933 & 1939

After 1936, there was a growing labour shortage with pace of rearmament increasing meaning the regime had to let ideology give way for the economic needs of the country