Topic 3 Nazi control and dictatorship 1933-39

How did the Nazis use dirty tricks to win in 1933?

Hitler needed to increase the Nazi Party’s seats in the Reichstag to get a majority and be able to pass new laws

1) Hitler used the SA to terrorise opponents - in Feb 1933, the SA raided the Communist Party headquarters in Berlin and claimed to have found evidence that the communists were planning an uprising

2) Hilter tried to stop other political parties from carrying out effective campaigns - Nazis controlled the news media and opposition meetings were banned in the March election

Reichstag fire

• In Feb 1933, 6 days beofre the elections, a fire broke out in the Reichstag

• Hitler blamed the communist party and used the event to express his anti-communist feelings

• He used the fire to claim that communists were a threat to the country and were part of a plot to overthrow the governement

• Nazi newspapers used the event to publish anti-communist conspiracy theories

• President Hindenburg issued the ‘Reichstag fire decree’ giving Hitler emergency powers to deal with supposed communist threat

• The decree enable Hitler to suspend many basic rights given to the German People under the Weimar Constitution e.g freedom of speech

• The emergency powers were also the first step into making germany into a dictatoship - used these powers to intimidate communist voters

• Decree enabled the SA to imprison 4,000 communist members, kill 51 Nazi opponents and injur several hundred

The Enabling Act

• In March 1933 the Nazis won 288 seats but lacked majority so The Enabling Act became a law on 24 March and signalled the end of the Weimar constitution and democracy

• It allowed Hitler to pass controversial laws without Parliament for 4 years

• With the Enabling Act, Hitler was in the position to bring German society in line with Nazi philosophy. This was called Gleichschaltung

• It would create a truly national socialist state and would mean that every aspect of social, political and economic life of German citizens was controlled and monitored by Nazis

Features of the Enabling Act

The end of trade unions:

• In May 1933, all trade Union were banned

• Hitler saw trade unions as a threat because they had influence over the working class

• Workers had to join the German Labour Front (DAF) to replace trade unions and employers’ groups

Banning of political parties:

• In July 1933, all parties apart from the Nazi Party were banned and Germany was a one-party state

• In the Nov 1933 general election, 95.2% of the electorate voted and the Nazis won 39,638,000 votes

The abolition of the Länder:

• Hitler broke down the federal stucture in Germany

• There were 18 Länder (districts), and each had its own parliament, some of the districts had caused problems for the President because their political make-up differed and they refused to accept decisions made by the Reichstag

• Hitler decided that Länder would be run by Reich governors and their paliaments were abolished

Why was the SA a threat to Hitler?

• They had helped him come into power

• Now Hilter saw the SA as a threat because its members were loyal to Ernst Röhm, the SA’s leader

• SA were also very unpopular with leaders of the German army and some ordinary Germans

Night of the Long Knives

• On 30 June 1934, Röhm and the main leaders of the SA were shot by members of the SS

• Hitler also took this opportunity to kill politicians including Gregor Strasser and von Schleicher

• Overall 400 people were murdered in the purge

• Hitler claimed that those who had been killed had been plotting to overthrow the government, so he declared the murders legal

• ‘Night of the long knives’ was a triumph for Hitler

• Potential opposition was removed, sent a powerful message about Hitler’s ruthlessness and brutality

• Hitler won support from the army by doing this

How did Hitler take control of the National and Local government?

• In August 1934, Hindenburg died

• Hitler made himself Chancellor, President and Commander-in-Chief of the army

• Called himself Der Führer - dictatorship

• The army had to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler, instead of pledging to support Germany

• Some workers were also forced to take an oath of obediance, promising loyalty to Hitler - those who didn’t lost their jobs

Role of the SS

• SS had been formed in 1925 to act as a bodyguard unit for Hitler and was led by Himmler after 1929

• By 1934, the SS had more than 50,000 members who were examples of the Aryan race

• Membership of the SS had grown to 250,000 by 1939

• The SS would arrest people without trial, search houses and terrorise Germans

• By 1939, 162,000 people were put in prison without trial - people are scared

Role of the Gestapo

• Gestapo were the secret state police, set up in 1933 and under the control of Himmler in 1936

• Would phone tap and had a network of spiers in the street, workplaces and classrooms

• Local people were informers

• Anyone against the Nazis would be imprisoned

Role of wardens

• Local wardens were employed to make sure Germans were loyal to the Nazis

• Would monitor everyone, wrote reports on independent thinking and people who were not enthusiastic enough

Role of the SD

• Set up in 1931 as the intelligence body of the Nazi Party and ran by Heydrich

• Heydrich aimed to bring every German under continual supervision

• Members of the SD were empolyed by the Nazi Party which had salaries

• The SD attracted many professional and highly educated people such as lawyers, economists and professors of politics

Role of concentration camps

• First used to detain political opponents including Communists, Socialists and trade unionists

• Became used for forced labor and slave labour

• People were in fear and accepted the new regime

How did the Nazis gain control of the legal system?

• The Nazis brought the legal system under their control to ensure courts supported Nazi ideology rather than justice

• Judges were expected to interpret laws according to Nazi beliefs

• In 1934, the People’s Court was created to try political crimes such as treason; it was controlled by the Nazis and had almost no fair trials, with many defendants executed

• Judges who opposed Nazi ideas were removed, and many lawyers and judges had to join Nazi organisations to keep their jobs

• This meant the legal system protected the Nazi state instead of citizens’ rights

• From 1936 judges had to wear the swatstika and Nazi eagle on their robes

What was the Concordat (1933)?

• The Concordat was an agreement between Nazi Germany and the Catholic Church

• The Church agreed to stay out of politics, and in return the Nazis promised not to interfere with the Church or Catholic schools

• However, the Nazis later broke the agreement by closing Catholic organisations and harassing priests

How did Hitler break the Concordat?

• Within a few months, Hitler broke the agreement

He did this by:

• Closing Catholic organisations - Catholic youth movements were closed down

• Catholic schools were disrupted then abolished

• Harassing and arresting priests

• Monstaries were closed

What was the Reich Church?

• In 1933 (after the Concordat), Hitler tried to unite all Protestant churches into one Nazi-controlled church called the Reich Church, led by Ludwig Müller

• It aimed to combine Christianity with Nazi ideas and make the Church support Hitler

• However, many Protestants opposed Nazism, which they believed conflicted greatly with their own Christian beliefs

• In Dec 1933 they set up the Pastors’ Emergency League for those who opposed Hitler

How successful were Nazi attempts to control the churches?

• The Nazis had limited success

• They pressured churches and arrested some clergy, but many Christians resisted, including the Confessing Church, which opposed Nazi control of religion

Who was Joseph Goebbels?

Hitler’s Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda (1933) who controlled propaganda and censorship in Nazi Germany

Nazi Propaganda of Newspapers

• Non-Nazi newspapers were closed down

• By 1935, the Nazis had closed down more than 1,600 newspapers and thousands of magazines

• The Reich Press Law was pressed in October 1933 and it resulted in the removal of Jewish and left-wing journalists

• Editors were told by the Propaganda Minstry what could be printed and any foreign news which was published had to be taken from the Nazi- controlled German Press Agency

Nazi Propaganda of Rallies

• An annual mass rally was held at Nuremberg to advertise the power of the Nazi state

• Spectacular parades were held on other special occasions like Hitler’s birthday

• Local rallies and marches were led by the SA and the Hitler Youth

• The Nuremberg rallies would last several days and attracted almost one million people each year after the Nazis came to power

Nazi Propaganda of Radio

• All radio stations were placed under Nazi control

• Cheap mass-produced radios were sold and could be bought on instalments

• By 1939, about 70% of German families owned a radio

• Sets were installed in cafes, factories, schools and offices and loudspeakers were placed on streets

• The People’s Radio lacked shortwave reception, making it difficult for germans to listen to foreign broadcasts

Nazi Propaganda of Film

• Goebeels realised the popularity of cinema with over 100 films made each year and audiences exceeding over 250 million in 1933

• Germans were bored of overtly political films so instead Goebells made sure that love stories and thrillers were given pro-nazi slants

• One of the best known was Hitlerjunge Quex (1933) which tells the story of a boy who broke away from a Communist family to join the Hitler Youth, only to be murdered by Communists

• All film performances were accompanied by a 45-minute official newsreel which glorified Hitler and Germany and published Nazi achievements

• One Nazi film director was Riefenstahl - she produced a documentary called the ‘Triumph of the Will’ about the Nazi Party Conference, Rally of 1934 and also one about the 1936 Berlin Olympics

• Hitler ordered Goebells to make anti-Semitic films but these were not always popular with audiences

Nazi Propaganda of Posters

• Posters were used to put across the Nazi message, with young people particulary targeted

• They were seen everywhere and the messages they contained were simple and direct

• They often showed the evil of Germany’s enemies and the power of Hitler

Nazi Propaganda of Literature

• All books, plays and poems were carefully censored and controlled to put across the Nazi message

• Encouraged by Goebells, students in Berlin burnt 20,000 books written by Jewish people, communsits and anti-Nazi university professors in a massive bonfire in Berlin in May 1933

• Many writers were persuaded or forced to write books, plays and poems on Hitler’s achievements

• About 2,500 writers left Germany in the years up to 1939

Nazi control of Music and theatre

• Hitler hated modern music

• Jazz was seen as racially inferior and was banned

• Instead the Nazis encouraged traditional German folk music together with the classical music of Brahms, Beethoven and Wagner who was Hitler’s favourite composer

• Theatre was to concentrate on German History and political drama

• Cheap theatre tickets were available to encourage people to see plays, often with a Nazi political or racial theme

Nazi control of Art and architecture

• Hitler had earned a living as an artist and believed he was an expert in this area

• He hated modern art, which he believed was ‘degenerate’. This was banned

• He then encouraged art which highlighted Germany’s greatness and the strength of the Third Reich

• Paintings showed - the Nazi idea of the simple peasant life, the perfect Aryan and women in their preferred role as housewives and mothers

• After 1933, it was decided that all new public buildings had to have sculptures which demonstrated Nazi ideals

• Hitler took a particular interest in architecture that had a ‘monumental style’ as he believed that Jewish people had not ‘contaminated it’

Nazi control of Sport

• Hitler wanted a healthy and fit nation - the boys were to be soliders and the girls of the future to produce as many children as possible

• Hitler wanted to impress the outside world and show that Aryans were superior

• The major sporting showcase was the 1936 Berlin Olympics

• The stadium was the largest in the world and could hold 110,000 spectators

• Signs delcaring ‘Jews not wanted’ were removed so that foreign visitors got a positive image of Germany

• Germany won more medals than any other nation - 33 gold, 26 silver and 30 bronze

• All filming was under the direction of Riefenstahl and all camera crews had to be approved by her

• However, there was success of non-Aryan athletes like Jesse Owens who undermined Hitler’s message

The extend of support for the Nazi regime

• In the years 1933-39, there were about 1.3 million people sent to concentration camps which created opposition to the Nazi regime

• Esitmated 300,000 left Germany to live in other countries showing the dissatisfaction with the Nazi lifestyle

• However, many Germans still supported Hitler as there was economic success which erased the Depression

• Some Germans were happy to see the Communists, Socialists and SA leaders removed

The extend of support for the Nazi regime - army

• In 1938, Hitler removed certian generals who had criticised his foregin policy aims

• During 1938, Hitler removed 16 generals and so tightened his grip on the army

The extend of support for the Nazi regime - assasination attempts

• There were three attempts to assassinate Hitler before 1939

• A number of Jewish people had plotted but the plans came to nothing

• Bavaud, a student tried to shoot Hitler at the annual Nazi parade in Munich but failed to take a shot as he did not want to injure any other Nazi leaders

• In Nov 1939, Elser planted a bomb in the Beer Hall where Hitler was speaking, but Hitler left early. The bomb exploded and killed several people

Opposition from young people to the Nazis - The Edelweiss Pirates

• They were a youth group who rejected Nazi values and opposed the Hitler Youth - had a membership of 2,000

• The Edelweiss Pirates would listen to forbidden swing music and daubed wall with anti-Nazi graffiti

• They could be recognised by their badges - the edelweiss flower or skull and crossbones

• They wore clothes which were considered outlandish by the Nazis - check skirts, dark short trousers and white socks

• Despite their activites, the Nazi authorities did not see them as a threat

Opposition from young people to the Nazis - The Swing Youth

• Other young people who challenged the Nazis became known as the ‘swing groups’ and tended to come from the middle classes

• They took part in activities that frownded on by the Nazis - loved swing music which was hated by the Nazi governement

• They rebelled against the order and disipline of the Nazis

• Swing boys often grew their hair long and girls wore make-up, using bright colours on their lips and fingernails

• Some members were arrested and even sent to concentration camps

Opposition from the churches - The Protestant Church

• Pastor Niemöller opposed Nazi control of the church and became leader of the Confessional Church which followed traditional German Protestantism

• He established the Pastors’ Emergency League which opposed Nazi attempts to control the Protestant Church and saw membership rise to 7,000 by 1934

• However, many pastors left when they were persecuted by the Nazis

• Niemöller was arrested in 1937 after having preached that people must obey God and not man

• He was tried and kept in prison and concentration camps until 1945

Opposition from the churches - The Catholic Church

• Despite the Concordat with the Catholic Church there was tension after 1933 because the Nazis censored Catholic press and harassed some of the priests

• In 1937, Pope Pius XI issued a special letter to Catholic Priests in Germany

• He attacked the Nazi system

• Priests read their letters to their congregations, clearly showing they were trying to resist the Nazi attempts to control the Church

• However, the Nazis closed Catholic groups and prevented them from joining the Nazi Party

• Symbols such as the cross and the crucifix were removed from Catholic schools

• By 1939, Catholic education was destroyed