(Topic 2) Nazi Germany: Estalishing a Dictatorship (1933-1945)

The Reichstag Fire:

(27th February 1933)

• Marinus Van De Lube (acted alone & not as a collective with communist party) is thought to have set fire to the Reichstag building.

• Hitler saw this an opportunity to start a widespread Communist conspiracy…

Decree for the Protection of People and the State:

• suspended civil rights of the constitution

• police had the right to arrest people- mass arrests of Communists & Socialists (often for no particular reason)

(1933) establishing a dictatorship:

Elections (March 1933):

• conducted in an atmosphere of intimidation

• Rise in Nazi votes (43.5%) → largest in Reichstag

• SA harassed/attacked KPD&SPD- many arrested (as a deterrence)

Potsdam Day (21st March 1933):

• A ‘Day of Unity’ - Hindenburg&Hitler spread messages of Nazism&Conservative Unity in front of mass audiences

The Enabling Act (24th March 1933):

• Moved to take dictatorial powers, asked Reichstag to pass laws that gave him power to rule by decree.

• Act passed 444:99- only SPD opposing

• KPD banned

• SPD banned (June)

• Trade Unions banned (May)

• All other political parties banned after July (alongside left-wing newspapers)

Factors enabling Nazi consolidation of power:

Terror:

• 100,000 political opponents imprisoned between 1933-34

• Concentration Camps (eg Dachau March 1933)

• Hundreds of opposing Socialists killed in Berlin after resisting arrest

Night of the Long Knives:

• murder of political opponents (Kahr, Schleicher, Rohm etc → Papen on house arrest)

• Hitler feared the SA becoming too powerful, organised a ‘meeting’ and instead had the leader (Rohm) & around 150 SA (400 in total) → publicised that only 85 were purged, but was more (silencing truths)

Support of the Conservative Elites:

• had support in Reichstag- many industrialists & upper class had financially supported NSPD during March elections

Propaganda:

• Goebbels portrayed gov actions as necessary to deal with a ‘national emergency’ (eg Potsdam Day) and Hitler as the leader to get Germany through it

Illusion of moderation:

• Reichstag Fire Decree & Enabling Act created a (false) impression of legality.

• Concordat signed with Catholic Church (July 1933) which said that he would not interfere in the running of the Catholic Church if it stayed out of political matters

Gleichschaltung: co-ordination

• Laws came into place in April that removed Jews/political opponents from civil service, schools, courts, professional jobs (Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service)

• German Labour Front (DAF) established as a labour organisation to replace trade unions. They controlled all aspects of work (eg wages, working conditions etc) → membership was mandatory for all German workers

Death of President Hindenburg:

• (2nd August 1934) Hitler legally combines the roles of Chancellor & President = Fuhrer

• Legitimises it after through a plebiscite- 90% voted for him

• Demonstrated popular support but also criticised for lack of democracy - did fear also influence the vote?

The Nature of the Nazi Government:

A totalitarian state or chaotic state?

• Nazi image=efficient & organised

• Run on monolithic ideals with central focus on Hitler (strict hierarchical structure) → Third Reich

• Viewed as totalitarian- all aspects of society=controlled (eg army now had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler

• All decisions meant to emanate from Hitler; chaotic state said otherwise- very few orders came from him (only issued 84 decrees in 12 years)

• Hitler steered away from guidance → rejected terms of TofV & remilitarised the Rhineland (1936)

‘Working Towards the Führer:’

• Many within the state (& gov alone) made decisions on this policy- thinking it was the right thing to do

• EG Goebbels orchestrated ‘Kristallnacht’ on the basis of favouring Hitler’s appeal

Support to the regime:

A Consensus Dictatorship: based on genuine/popular support OR support induced by repression/terror?

Evidence of popularity:

• No significant attempts to overthrow & underground opposition had little support (due to fear)?

• Series of plebiscites held BUT results aren’t always reliable (repression)

• 1934: Whether Hitler should take over Hindenburgs power, as Fuhrer = 90%

• Support for remilitarisation for the Rhineland = 99% / Anschluss = 99%

Reasons for support?

• Negative perceptions of Weimar gov → Nazi regime image would give Germany greater stability

• Some policies proven to be popular → unemployment fell, free health care for non-Jewish pregnant women

• Propaganda: subjective & effective (eg annual Nuremberg rallies) → Cult of personality. Nazis took over most newspapers. 1936 Olympics

• Censorship: stopped public hearing anti-Nazi ideas

Support during the war:

• Rations: in excess of the minimum calories required, extras given at Christmas - up until 1944

• Early winnings of Norway, Poland, Denmark, France gave Germans confidence

• Hitler resisted Speer’s later calls to mobilise women → boosted morale

Declining support:

1942 onwards, evidence suggested that people became critical of Hitler’s ways → non-conformity & cynicism

• Working conditions: poor (rearmament)→ increased working hours

• Hitler Youth: people began questioning the militarisation of the group after 1939 (some against going to war)

• 1942-43 Defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad: Soviet Union launched an offensive that circled the Germans → losses were great/couldn’t be covered up

• Allied bombings: killed 300,000+ & destroyed 2million homes

• 1943 Soviet advance: continued to worry public (threat of Communism)

• 1944 Rocket campaign: (of South Eastern English Ports) failed to have a decisive impact on the course of war = weakened morale

However… there was still little to none widespread opposition forces against the regime

Opposition & Dissent:

Types of Opposition, Non-conformity, Resistance:

• Active resistance: physical attempts to overthrow regime (very little activity due to fear)

• Protesting: criticism of aspects of Nazi policy (limited due to fear)

• Non-conformity: failure to adhere to Nazi ideals/policies (eg listening to banned music) → people weren’t always pulling together in unity- the way the Nazis wanted (‘Volksgemeinschaft’)

Anti-Nazi Campaigns:

• KPD, SPD, Trade Unions printed opposition leaflets & literature

• 1933: SPD Red Shock Troop published a newspaper → leaders promptly arrested & newspaper banned

Sabotage:

• Lightening Strikes by industry workers (only lasted few hours)

• 1936: Autobahm workers strikes

• Industrial workers sabotaged production/machinery

• War years: workers desperately needed & many actions were overlooked

Assassination attempts:

• 1921-44: 15 known attempts on Hitler’s life (some made by army members) → quickly dealt with

Opposition Groups:

• The Edelweiss Pirates: youth group, explicitly anti-Nazi, wore banned uniforms, attacked Hitler Youth members, held activities for young opposers, engaged in illegal movements (eg actions of sabotage in war years)

• The Swing Youth: non-conformists, listened to jazz music, dressed in unconventional clothes

• Catholic Church: continued to speak out about concerns (esp after Hitler went against the Concordat), 1937 Pope Pius’ speech ‘With Burning Concern,’ Bishop Galen attacked ‘T4 Programme’ → placed under house arrest. People were also turning against The Peoples Church (set up after Concordat) as Nazis demanded for removal of the Old Testament, claiming it was ‘too Jewish’

• The White Rose: 1942 student formed, attempted to expose Nazis → many killed or escaped to different groups

• Left-wing resistance: communist groups (eg 1942 Red Patrol) spread anti-Nazi leaflets → Nazis discovered networks & destroyed them

• Conservative resistance: formed to seek restoration of the Rule of Law

• Army resistance: post-Stalingrad, many soldiers rejected the regime/sought to overthrow it → assassination attempts (22 generals executed for their attempts)

Terror & repression:

Concentration Camps:

• 100,000s people held in undesirable conditions

• 1936: Himmler became head of security network (SS, Gestapo, Police)

• 1934 Peoples Court: courts used to suppress opposition (trialled/imprisoned those accused of being traitors of the Third Reich)

• Few civil rights/freedom: (Reichstag Fire Decree removed protection of the constitution) Gestapo could arrest for no reason, laws passed to make killing the penalty for those attempting to reduce Hitler’s power

• Party Officials & Block Wardens monitored local areas

• Denunciations encouraged (90% public denunciations : 10% Gestapo filings)

• Gleichschaltung: Nazis had control over all aspects of the state

= Complex image of the Nazi state; levels of support varied throughout & non-conformity was difficult to interpret

Nazi Racial Policies:

Origins: Europe had a long history of anti-semitic views (prejudices against jews fused with Pseudo-Scientific Racial Ideas (“inferior”)

Nazi Racial Policies: Aimed to create a ‘master race’ → racial strength of Aryan Germans viewed as establishing a strong Germany

• 1st April 1933: Boycott of Jewish Shops

• 1933: Restoration of the Civil Service → removing all Jews from civil service

• September 1935: Nuremberg Laws → banned ‘inter-marriage’ & removed citizenship

• March 1938: (following Anchluss) violence to property → 45,000 Austrian Jews forced to emigrate

• November 1938: Kristallnacht → attacks on Jewish property/synagogues → 25,000 to camps

(Beginning of ‘Aryanisation’ → seizing of property, banned from economic life (££)

• January 1939: Reich Central Office for Emigration → promoted getting Jews out of Europe

Policies towards other minorities:

• Roma/Sinti: didn’t pay tax, seen as free loaners → first to be murdered

• Disabled: weren’t ‘racially fit’ → 1939 Euthanasia Programme (T4) & 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases Offspring (compulsory sterilisation)

• Homosexuals: 1936 Reich central Office for the combatting of homosexuality established → around 15,000 men imprisoneD

Policies on women:

Nazi ideal about women:

• ‘Kinder Kuche Kirche’ → believed women should remain in the home & raise a family

• Desired a healthy master race, wanted to increase birth rate & decease amount of women in the workforce (to create space for unemployed men)

• Goebbels: ‘goal is…racially worthy…German families’

Nazi Policies: (promoting of marriage, births)

• loans given to married couples- converted to gifts (25% off of the loan for each child)

• Maternity benefits & family allowances (taxes reduce for those with children)

• Contraception restricted & anti-abortion laws enforced

• Lebensborn Programme: SS and ‘Aryan women’ had aim to produce ‘pure’ children (would then be taken away and given to family’s/Germans that couldn’t produce)

• Propaganda of an idyllic motherhood- Honoury crosses given for each child (Gold- 8 children)

• Women banned from working in professional industries & women who left work to get married were given loans

• Restricted to 10% of university’s (limited education)

• Nazi Women’s Organisations: National Socialist Womanhood (NSF) & German Women’s Enterprise (DFW) → promoted women’s roles in society

= Birth Rate rose by 6% (1933-39), % of women in labour force decrease (until rearmament)

However…

• % of women in workforce increased (Rearmament)

• Liberalised divorce laws (so infertile partners could remarry)

• Supported unmarried mothers

Education:

Aims:

• Produce new German citizens of obedience/dedication to the Fuhrer

• Boys: future soldiers of the Reich

• Girls: future mothers

• Indoctrinate Children with Nazi ideals

Education:

• Nazis were anti-intellectual- more emphasis towards physical fitness & indoctrination

• 1935: all text books had to be approved (Berlin book burning 1933)

• 1936: 2 hours of PE day

• Girls education: languages, history, biology, fitness (domestic activities of cooking/cleaning)

• 1933: NAPOLAs/‘Hitler School:’ leadership school for boys to prepare them for future as soldiers

Teachers:

• 1933: Jewish teachers removed

• Had to join National Socialist Teachers’ League → 97% joined by 1937

• 1935: all higher education teachers had to sign declaration in support of the Nazis

Youth Groups:

(Groups for a range of ages)

• League of German Maidens: future homemakers, later involved with anti-aircraft activities, volunteered with charities & hospitals during the war

• Hitler Youth (1926): military training (sport, camping etc) → made compulsory in 1936

• 1936: all other youth organisations abolished

= war led the Hitler Youth to a massive opposition movement of German Youth

Culture:

Wanted arts to be traditional, not the ‘degenerate’ style popular in the Weimar Republic

• 1933: Reich Chamber of Culture set up to monitor art/culture

Buildings:

• wanted architecture to reflect power (inspired by Ancient Romans&Greeks)

• Had to be built from traditional materials

• Speer was Hitler’s preferred architect (eg built buildings for rallies)

Music:

• wanted more traditional music → ‘degenerate’ jazz was banned

• Music written by Jews = forbidden

• Beethoven = encouraged

Art:

• meant to glorify the Aryan Race & traditional folk values

• Used for propaganda

Literature:

• needed to fit Nazi message → many books banned / burned to spread message

• Had to be approved by Chamber of Culture

Cinema:

• modern way to send strong propagandistic messages of Nazism

• All scripts had to be approved by Goebbels

• Compulsory for cinemas to show short Nazi propaganda films before the actual film

Economic Recovery:

Aims:

• cut employment, increase demand, avoid inflation, reduce trade deficit

1933-39

• industrial production rose (107%)

• Unemployment fell (5.6mn→1.6mn) BUT some groups were removed from statistics

• Wages rose (7.5%)

• Public spending rose

• Investment in economy rose (largest being rearmament)

• Tax concessions & gov grants to encourage consumer spending

• Wage & price controls

• Subsidies for private sectors hiring workers

Reducing Unemployment:

• Public work schemes: created jobs (eg Autobahms, housing)

• Married women & Jews in public sectors made to quit

• Armed forces: 1933: 100,000 → 1939: 1,400,000

• Invisible unemployment: groups of opposition, married women not included in stats

• 1935 (RAD) Reich Labour Service: males 18-25 MUST serve 6 months working for community (regimented, away from home)

• → 1939: RAD extended to women

Creating a Command Economy:

Goering & The Four Year Plan:

• Prep for war: top priorities were rearmament & autarky in food & industrial production → emphasis on developing raw materials & machinery (‘total war’)

• Regulations on foreign exchange: (imports) raw materials, labour etc → set targets for specific industries

Economic Targets:

1939: imported 1/3rd of raw materials, was self sufficient in grain/food BUT imported 40% of fats

1942: only brown coal target met, oil hadn’t met ½ of target

Impact on consumers:

• maintaining levels of consumer demand was necessary for morale

• Schacht/military/industrialists: wanted more stress on consumer goods

Degree of Recovery (1939):

• unemployment: less than 0.2 million

• Wages: 7% higher than in 1936

• Industrial production increased

• Military expenditure increased

• Prices: higher than pre-war years

• Gov expenditure increased

• Reich Food Estate: allocated subsidies & imports (only for arable farmers)

Winners?

• the unemployed

• Armed forces

• Families (marriage loans, payments for having children)

• Large industry/armament factories (eg IG Farben)

• Large arable farms

Losers?

• small businesses went bankrupt

• Working class families (with food)

• Livestock farmers (faced shortages & economic hardship)

• Small farmers (didnt get loans to improve farms) → rural population fell

• Women (lost jobs)

• Priv steel companies

Government during the war:

• Lack of clarity: no clear decision making process/structure (difficult to hold individuals to account)

Hitler’s role:

• determined to command war effort → gave himself greater authority over course of war

• 1941: became commander in chief of army

• Didn’t trust many of his leading military experts

• Lacked military expertise & relied on instinct (could be very inaccurate)

• Delayed difficult decisions & later hindered decision making

• Retreat from public eye: after invasion of Soviet Union, morale fell → 1943 onwards: withdrew and Goebbels had a much more prominent position

SS role:

• entrusted with running occupied territories (alongside death squads (einstatzgruppen)

• Systematic killings of those in camps

Wartime Economy (1939-42):

Poor Organisation:

• Economy=chaotic & inefficient

• Shortages & waste of duplicates (Britain produce more but spent less)

• Non-standardised weapons

• Labour not effectively used (factories not running to full potential & Nazis were slow to exploit women in war related work)

• Hitler wanted to maintain morale but eventually had to introduce rationing

• 1942: conscription (shortages of skilled workers)

Operation Barbarossa:

(Invasion of Soviet Union 1941)

• turning point for German economy→high casualties meant more men were drafted & had to replace ammunition/equiptment

Wartime Economy (1942-45):

Speer appointed to run war economy in 1942:

• improved efficiency: increased ammunition, rationalised transport & coordinated supplies for war

• Sent more women to work in war related industries

• Increased the use of camps & foreign labour

• Corrupt arms manufactures punished

Problems under Speer:

• production was disrupted by allied bombing campaigns (targeted German production sites) → 1.5 million without homes

• Shortages of raw materials

• Slow to mobilise women

• Poor working conditions

1944 = ammunition & tank output: 6 x greater

The Final Solution:

(Before FS, there was no uniform policy for dealing with the Jews)

Ghettos:

• overcrowded, short of food/water

• Disease, starvation

Wannasee Conference:

• January 1942: developed a systematic approach to exterminating Jews (as opposed to mass shootings)

The ‘Final Solution:’

• death camps created in occupied territories

• Einstatzgruppen had previously used gas in T4 programme → gas chambers & transportation links were built

• Over 6 million Jews killed