weimar general flashcards

the german revolution 1918-19

• on Nov 9, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated

• Philipp Schiedmann, part of the social democratic party, proclaimed that there was a new German Republic

• the office is handed over to Friedrich Ebert (leader of SPD)

• Ebert makes agreement with General Groener for the cooperation of the army to keep communists out of control

what and when was the armistice

• nov 11 1918

• formal agreement between germany and allies to end WW1

the weimar constitution (aug 1919)

• the head of state was the president

  • head of weimar republic

  • elected every 7 years

  • chooses the chancellor

• chancellor

  • head of gov

  • chose gov ministers

• cabinet

  • important ministers

  • main decision making body

• Reichstag

  • more powerful than reichstrat

  • controlled taxation

  • elected every 4 years

• reichstrat

  • elected every 4 years

  • represented regions of Germany

• electorate

  • all men and women over 21

strengths of the weimar constitution

Democracy

• democracy (article 1 of the constitution)

• women were able to vote

• younger voting age (from 25 → 21)

• reichstag elected under proportional representation

  • made sure that even smaller parties had a fair share of seats in the reichstag

  • one representative for each 60000 votes in its favour

checks and balances

• every 7 years the electorate would change the president

• laws only become official if the majority of reichstag and reichstrat vote for it

  • reichstrat could still delay any laws passed by the reichstag unless the reichstag overruled it by a 2/3 majority

• the central gov had more power than it did under the kaiser

  • controlled key services like the police and schools

weaknesses of the weimar constitution

coalition government

• 29 parties in the reichstag due to proportional representation

  • no single party had a clear majority

• the only way that govs could be formed was through coalitions

  • there is a lack of strong policies as the coalition partners have to compromise

  • arguments between partners

weakness in a crisis

• lack of single strong party = no swift clear decisions during a crisis

• article 48 - in a crisis, the chancellor could ask the president to pass a necessary law by decree without reichstag support

  • not really democratic

• Made constitution seem weak and encouraged people to think that a single all powerful leader was better

treaty of versailles (june 1919)

terms of peace which was signed in versailles on the 28 june 1919

* terms were extremely unpopular with the german public, made republic unpopular

diktat

• allies refused to allow any german representatives to join the tofv discussions

• the terms were imposed on germany

• germans bitterly opposed to the treaty terms and asked for concessions but got refused

terms of the tofv

war guilt

• Article 231 stated that Germany had caused the war and was to blame

Terms

• 1921, reparations were fixed at 136,000 million marks (£6.6 billion)

• Lost its colonies

  • The 11 German colonies in Africa and the Far East were given to victorious countries as mandates

• Army was limited to 100,000 men with no heavy artillery and can be only used within Germany

• Navy limited to 6 battleships, 6 cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats

  • No submarines

• No air force

• The Rhineland was demilitarised — German army was not allowed in

  • Allied troops were stationed there until 1930

• Germany lost lots of land

• Output of the Saar coalfields was also to go to France for 15 years

impacts of the tofv

Germany lost:

• 10% of its population

• 13% of its European territory

• All overseas properties and investments

• 50% of its iron and 15% of its coal reserves

Dolchstoss

• German people did not believe their army had been defeated in the war

• Betrayed by politicians

• Stabbed in the back — Dolchstoss

Impacts

• Damaged Germany’s economy

• Imposed heavy reparations

• Weimar politically weak

• People resented the people who signed it and called them the November Criminals

right wing in the wr

• wanted a strong gov with strong army and headed with a powerful leader

• capitalism

left wing in the wr

• wanted germany to be controlled by the people

• communists

spartacist revolt (left) (1919)

• the german communist party (KPD) was set up in dec 1918 and was backed by the SU and supported by the spartacist league (led by luxembourg and liebknecht)

• 4 jan 1919 ebert fired a police chief who was popular with workers

• thousands of workers protested and called for an uprising and general strike in berlin on jan 6

  • over 100000 workers took to the streets

• Ebert ordered the Reichswehr officers to organise the demobilised soldiers who were mainly right wing

  • They organised them into the Freikorps unit → 250000 men by March 1919

• The unarmed rioters were no match to the Freikorps

kapp putsch (right) (1920)

• In march 1920, Freikorps units near berlin were to be disbanded

  • They did not want to be unemployed so 5000 men marched on Berlin

• When Ebert ordered General Sekt, head of the Reichswehr, to resist

  • He said ‘Reichswehr does not fire upon Reichswehr’

• Controlled the city and put forward the nationalist politician, Wolfgang Kapp, as the figurehead leader

• Declared new gov and even invited Kaiser to come back

• Gov urged people to strike and many workers obliged therefore essential services were stopped

• After 4 days Kapp realised he could not govern due to the strikes

french occupation of the ruhr (1923)

• German gov went bankrupt – had no gold reserves + falling income

• 1923 could not pay reparations

• Dec 1922, Germany failed to send coal to France from the Ruhr coalfields — under reparations

• In retaliation, French sent troops into the Ruhr in Jan 1923

  • Confiscated raw materials, manufactured goods and industrial machinery

  • Tried to go on strike but the French just arrested them

• Crippled Germany

  • ruhr contained many factories

  • 80% of German coal, iron and steel reserves

  • Increased Germany’s debts, unemployment and worsened shortage of goods

hyperinflation (1923)

• Shortages from the occupation of the ruhr meant that price of things went up — inflation

• Gov printed more money to pay debts

  • Unemployment and failing factories mean they got less tax

  • Gov income was only ¼ of what was required

• Printing extra money made it easier for the government to pay reparations

  • Made inflation worse

  • The more prices rose; the more money was printed; made prices rise again

• By 1923 prices reached a spectacular high and became hyperinflation

impacts of hyperinflation

1. Absurd amounts of money that was worth little to none

   • Printing presses could not print enough currency

   • They carried bundles of baskets and wheelbarrows to carry money

   • Many workers were paid twice a day so they could rush out and buy goods before they rose again

2. Shortages

   • German marks became worthless for importing goods

   • Foreign suppliers refused to accept German marks for goods

   • Imports dried up and shortages of food and other goods got worse

3. People with savings

   • Their saved money became worthless

consequences of hyperinflation

• People who had loans found that the value of the money they owed went down

• Other people hoarded goods and then sold them for high prices

• Foreign visitor’s currency rose against the German marks, so they could buy much more with their money

• WR shown as weak

• All Germans had suffered and blamed the WR

• Extremist parties gained in strength

stresemann and currency (1923-24)

• State-owned bank – Rentenbank

• New currency Rentenmark

• Supply of notes

• Tied to the price of gold and backed by German industrial plants and agricultural land

  • Currency had real value

• Aug 1924, a newly independent national bank – Reichsbank

  • Given control of Rentenmark later renamed Reichsmark

  • Backed by Germany’s gold reserves

  • Hyperinflation ended

dawes plan (1924)

April 1924 Stresemann agreed to this plan:

• Reparations temporarily reduced to £50 million per year

• US banks agreed to give loans to German industry

  • Loaned $25b between 1924 and 1930

impacts:

• Reassured allies that they would get reparation payments

• French agreed to leave the Ruhr

• Industrial output doubled between 1923 and 1928

• Employment, trade and income from taxation increased

consequences:

• Extreme political parties were furious that Germany still had to pay reparations

• Germany’s economy now depended on America

locarno pact (1925)

• Dec 1 1925 — Locarno pact signed

• Treaty between Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and Italy

• Agreed by Germany not imposed

impacts:

• New 1919 border with France and France promised peace with Germany

• Rhineland permanently demilitarized

• Five powers agreed to open talks about German membership of the League of Nations

• Germany was being treated as an equal

league of nations after stresemann (1926)

• Allies founded the league of nations

  • Powerful countries discussed ways of solving world’s problems without war

• Germany was excluded but Stresemann persuaded them and became a member on sep 1926

• Boosted confidence in German to the WR

kellogg-briand pact (1928)

• Aug 1928 — Germany and 61 other countries signed the KB pact

• Promised that states would not use war to achieve foreign policy aims

• USA was not in the LoN and saw this as a way that the country could assist peace

impacts:

• Showed Germany was now included amongst the main powers

• Sign that the WR was a respected and stable state

• Confidence increase

cons:

• Did nothing to remove the hated terms of the TofV

young plan (1929)

• Reduced total reparations debt from £6.6b to £2

• Given a further 59 years to pay

cons:

• Hitler said that extending the length of payments was ‘passing on the penalty to the unborn’

• Annual payments were still £50m per year

• Stretched out until 1988

pros:

• Lower reparations = lower taxes

  • Released spending power

• Boosted German industry and created more jobs

• Jobs boosted spending power; this boosted industry and employment

  • Virtuous cycle of economic growth

• French agreed to leave the Rhineland

• Confidence increased

• 35m in favour of the Young plan

stresemann’s impact on domestic politics

• Support for moderate parties increased

• 1929 WR was a more secure and stable state

fyi

• Friedrich Ebert died 1925 and was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg

• 3 oct 1929, Stresemann had a heart attack and died

unemployment in wr

• In 1924, over 4% of the total possible workforce was unemployed

• The unemployment insurance act of 1927 charged 3% of their wages and in return, if they were sick or they fell out of work, they would get on average 60 marks per week

work and wages in wr

• Working hours decreased from 50 hrs per week in 1925 to 46 hrs per week in 1927

• Real wages rose by 25% from 1925 to 1928

housing in the wr

• In 1923, there was a shortage of 1m homes in Germany

• From 1925 to 1929, private companies built 37000 new homes, while the new building associations built 64000 homes

pensions in the wr

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* Under the 1920 Reich Pension Law, pensions were paid to 750000 war veterans, 400000 war widows and 200000 parents of dead servicemen

education in wr

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* Number of students in higher education rose from 70000 before ww1 to 110000 in 1928

women in politics in wr

• Nov 1918, women were given the right to vote and the right to stand for elections

• By 1932, 112 women had been elected to the Reichstag (10% of the members)

• Article 109 of the new constitution said that:

  • Women had equal rights with men

  • Marriage was an equal partnership

  • Women should be able to enter all professions on an equal basis with men

women at work in wr

• During ww1 so many men were fighting, so women went into paid work

  • By 1918, 75% of women were in work

• Women were treated differently in work compared to men

  • If they had the same jobs, women were paid 33% less than men

  • Few women entered high-status occupations — only 36 female judges

• Women were expected to quit work after marriage

• However, in more liberal jobs, like education and medicine, women made more progress

  • Female doctors rose from 2500 in 1925 to 5000 in 1932

Trade unions, which were male-dominated, opposed equal pay and conditions.

women at leisure in wr

• New women brought more clothes and went out ore

• Expressed independence through their behaviour

  • Short hair

  • More make-up

  • Jewellry

  • Revealing clothes

  • Smoke and drank

  • Went out unaccompanied

• Some people believed the growing equality and independence of women threatened to change traditional aspects of society, like motherhood

  • The birth rate was falling from 128 births per 1000 women each year in 1913 to 80 in 1925

  • The divorce rate was rising, it went from 27 per 100000 people to 60

societal division about women in wr

• Some women felt liberated by new opportunities but other women found it a daunting challenge

• Some men accepted the change but some thought it was inappropriate and challenging the role of men in society

• Conservatives and traditionalists complained that women should keep being mothers and wives and that they should not challenge a male-dominated society

*Factors that caused the surge of artistic and cultural energy*

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• Restriction of the old imperial regime was thrown off

• The New Weimar Constitution enshrined freedoms

• Economic recovery after 1924 created wealth to finance the arts

different directions to art in wr

• New objectivism

  • Should not show a romantic view of the world but should show life as it really is

• Modernism

  • Should not always hark back to the past and should embrace the future

• Expressionism

  • Should reflect the thought and feelings of the artists rather than showing things exactly as they look

spreading of art in the wr

• The Bauhaus movement

  • Gropius, the head of the Bauhaus, which is a design college in Berlin

  • The college developed a style of design which influenced all areas of the arts

• Government support

  • The WR gave grants to support galleries, theatres, orchestras, museums…

opposition to cultural changes in the wr

opposition to Cultural changes

• Left-wing said the funding money was spent on extravagance and not the working people who need help

• Right-wing said the changes undermined traditional German culture

hitler’s early career in politics

• Corporal Hitler recovered from gas poisoning

• After recovery, the army put him to work keeping an eye on local political activities

• Began to attend the meetings of the German workers’ party (DAP)

  • DAP (German worker’s party)  was founded by Anton Drexler on feb 1919

• Hitler was attracted to the party’s ideas and on 19 sep 1919 he joined

party policy of the dap (1920)

Party of protest, strongly opposed to:

• Weimar politicians who made peace and accepted TofV and deposed the Kaiser

• Democracy

• Jews blamed for undermining the German economy

• Drexler + Hitler wrote the 25 point programme

hitler’s personal appeal

• Hitler speeches usually began quietly and slowly building the tension towards an impassioned rant

  • Persuasive

• Gestures — lean forward to fix his eyes on audience, end of speeches he would wave his hands vigorously in the air

• He had publicity photos and paintings produced showing him as an orator

• Hitler helped grow the DAP to 3000 by the end of 1920

party organisation (1920)

• Party’s meeting were now more organised and better advertised — due to Schüssler

• Party membership and funds increased

• New name — NSDAP

• Swastika logo adapted

• Dec 1920, bought a newspaper — the Volkischer Beobachter (the people’s observer)

  • Within a year it reached 17000 copies

  • Voice of NSDAP was now widely heard

party leadership (1921)

In July 1921, Hitler forced a leadership contest in the party

• Hitler defeated Drexler and became the leader

Notable Supporters and Helpers:

• Rudolf Hess – hitler’s deputy

• Hermann Goering — WW1 fighter pilot

• Julius Streicher — publisher who founded another Nazi Nespaper, Der Sturmer (The Stormer)

• Ernest Rohm — ex army officer who was popular amongst ex soldier – in charge of the SA

SA (Stormtroopers) (1921)

• Formed aug 1921

• Paramilitary force

• Often ex soldiers, demobilised from the army, or students

• Known as the Brownshirts

• SA paraded the streets as a show of force

• Impressed people with a sense of power + organisation

• Subdued and opposition to Hitler

• Sent to disrupt opposition meetings

long term reasons for the munich putsch

• Stab in the back

• Reparations

• Loss of German colonies

• Deep resentment of the WR – created support for the nationalist parties like the NSDAP

• Bavarian state gov leaders were not fans of the WR and turned a blind eye to the SA violence

• NSDAP had 50000 members by the 1923

medium term reasons for the munich putsch

• Heavily influenced by right wing Italian party called the Fascists

• In 1922 Mussolini led his paramilitary forces in a ‘march of Rome’ forcing the dem gov of Italy to accept him as their new leader

short term reasons for the munich putsch

• Hyperinflation

• Occupation of the Ruhr

• The WR seemed weak and unable to solve the people’s problems

the munich putsch

• Nov 8 1923, Bavarian gov officials were meeting in a beer hall

Von Kahr – leader of the state gov of Bavaria

Von Seisser – head of Bavarian police

Von Lossow - head of German army in Bavaria

• Hilter bursted in, with a revolver he shot into the ceiling and declared that he was taking over the state of Bavaria and would then march on Berlin to overthrow the WR

• Ludendorff would become the leader of the German army

• At gunpoint, Hitler demanded that Kahr, Seisser and Lossow to support him – they reluctantly agreed

• Rohm and his SA took over the local police and army headquarters

  • However main army barracks remained in the hands of army officers loyal to the gov

• Ludendorff released Kahr, Seisser and Lossow

• 9 Nov, Hitler and his supporters gathered but the 3 bavarian leaders had withdrawn their support

  • However he continued with the revolt but most of the townspeople remained indifferent and the army stayed loyal to the state gov

• Hitler + Ludendorff led a group of Hitler’s shock troop to the main square where they were meant by the state police

• They started to fire at each other

• Hitler was protected by his bodyguard and fled the scene in a car

  • Hid at a friend’s house but was later found and arrested on 11 Nov

consequences of the munich putsch

• Ludendorff was the only one that was found not guilty

• Hitler sentenced to 5 years in jail

  • Hitler was released after 9 months

• NSDAP banned

• Hitler realised he needed a new strategy

• Ban on NSDAP was lifted feb 1925

• Used trial to get national publicity

• Wrote Mein Kampf (my struggles) in jail

mein kampf views

• Believe the German/Aryan race was to rule the world

• There was Jewish conspiracy to undermine Aryan rule

  • Jews planned to weaken the aryan race

• Nationalism — reviving the power of Germany

• Socialism – using wealth of industry and land to benefit german working people

• Totalitarianism — one leader

• Traditional German values

party reorganisation (1924)

• hitler was released only 9 months into his 5-year sentence (20 dec 1924)

• ban on nsdap was lifted on 16 feb 1925

• relaunch nsdap on 27 fen 1925

creation of a national nazi party

• Germany divided into 35 regions or Gaue, one for each constituency

• Each Gau had a leader or Gauleiter, the local leader of the Nazi Party

  • Gauleiters were rarely appointed — forced their way to the top

• Hitler raised money from wealthy industrialists who shared the same views

the ss

• Hitler did not fully trust the SA

  • They were violent thugs who were difficult to control

  • Became loyal to Rohm

• He replaced Rohm

• Set up the SS – had selected members and was a smaller group who could be trusted

• Run by Himmler

• Black uniform + 3000 members (1930)

bamberg conference

• Nazi party split in 2

  • Nationalists that wanted Jews gone

  • Socialists that wanted more benefits for workers

• Leaders were allowed to put views forward

• However, hitler put his views forward and spoke for 5 hours

  • Making the socialist side seem more like communist

• Hitler won Goebbels over and abandoned Strasser

  • Strasser called Goebbels a ‘scheming dwarf’

• Hitler’s control was clear

• Socialist principle of the Nazi party were weakened

  • More freedom to adopt any policies he liked

• Goebbels promoted to Gauleiter of Berlin

reasons for limited support for nazis (1923 - 29)

1. stresemann’s new currrency and the dawes and young plans restored economic stability

• the public were better off as inflation eased and employment increased - not as much support for extremist parties

2. locarno pact, league of nations and kellogg briand pat all gave germany more status in the world

• cut support for nationalist parties

3. Hindenburg, the president, was a hero as he was an ex marshal

• increased support for the wr and cut support for parties who wanted the wr to fail

4. no support from german working class, while the economy was strong, nobody would vote for nsdap

wall street crash

• Share prices began to all on the Wall Street stock exchange in NY

  • People’s investments fell in value

  • Rushed to sell shares

• Black Thursday, 24 oct 1929

  • 13m shares were sold — prices went even lower

• Within a week investors had lost $4000m

economic effects in germany due to wall street crash

• Caused banking crisis – German banks were major investors in shares

• German banks lost so much money that German people feared they wouldn’t have access to the money in their bank accounts

• People rushed to get money out that some banks ran out of cash

• Some German banks went bust meaning people lost their savings

• Economic collapse in the German industry

unemployment after wall street crash

• To pay money demanded by acc holders, US and German banks needed money they had lent out to businesses

• Deprived of this money, German industries and farms had to cut back production or even close

  • Made workers unemployed

• Economic crisis was worldwide — sales fell abroad too

• Unemployed workers became poorer

  • Could not afford to spend as much — sales fell even more

the economic crisis on different people

Unemployed

• Gov became unable to pay unemployment benefits

• Taxes were raised and unemployment benefits cut

Savers

• Savings invested in shared – no savings

• Nothing to fall back on

Workers

• Taxes went up

• Cut wages

  • Real wages in 1932 were 70% of 1928 levels

Homeless

• Many people could not afford and became homeless

• Boredom turned into violence

• Increase of 24% in arrests for theft in berlin

Failure to deal with unemployment

• Bruning (Chancellor 1930-32) proposed higher taxes to pay for unemployment benefits

• Fixed time limits on unemployment benefits

• Nobody was happy, rich people (left) did not want to pay higher taxes

• SPD did not support Bruning

  • Reichstag powerless to make policies

• He used article 48 very often

• Resigned in may 1932

rise in support for kpd

• Many working class people saw the communists as the only party who could defend their jobs and their wages

1. Growing unemployment - 5m in 1932

2. Falling wages - 15% lower than in 1928

appeal of hitler + SA after reorganisation

• Hitler was seen as a strong leader who promised

  • To restore law and order

  • To force other countries to scrap the TofV and treat germany fairly

• Had support of wealthy businessman provided them with funding

  • Posters, radio, campaigns, broadcasts, aeroplanes

• Uniformed SA made party seem organised, disciplined and reliable

• SA looked strong enough to stand against foreign powers

• SA used to disrupt opposition parties and intimidated their candidates

why big business liked the nazi party

• Protection from communists

• Wealthy businessmen poured money into the NSDAP

• Newspaper tycoon let Goebbels to use his newspaper for Nazi propaganda

why the working class liked the nazi party

• Tried to look like the party of German working classes

• Policies that appealed to workers like traditional German values

• Work on bread on posters

why the middle class liked the nazis

• Lost companies, pensions and savings

• Saw Hitler as a strong leader who could help the country recover

• Afraid of communists

• Moral decline in WR – liked German traditional values

why farmers liked the nazis

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* Protection from communists as they said they would take their land
* Nazi would only do that if they were Jews

why young people liked the nazis

• Exciting

• Rallies were colourful and full of atmosphere

• Promised more than traditional parties

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March 1932 (presidential elections)

• Hindenburg was 82 but persuaded for re-election, got 18m votes

• Hitler - 11m votes

April 1932 (presidential elections)

• No candidate 50 % so election repeated

• Hindenburg won presidential election (19m)

• Hitler - 13m votes

may 1932 (what bruning did)

• Chancellor Bruning in April took 2 steps and lost hope

• Banned SA and SS

• Plan to buy up land from the large landowners and use it to house the unemployed

• Other paramilitary groups feared banning

• Landowning class furious about plan to buy up land

• Hindenburg was a landowning conservative was also furious

Bruning resigned 30 May 1932

new chancellor after bruning

• Army general von Schleicher had suggested ex general Von Papen as Chancellor

• Organising coalition of right wing supporters

• Ruled using article 48, presidential decrees

• So undemocratic it was called the ‘Cabinet of Barons’

• Hitler agreed to support the coalition if the ban on SA was removed

30 may 1932 (new chancellor)

• As soon as Bruning resigned and von Papen became chancellor

• Hitler and Nazi party were part of the gov

july 1932 (reichstag elections)

• Violence in the streets between communists and NSDAP

  • 100 ppl killed and 7000 wounded

• Nazi party won 230 seats (38%) biggest party in Reichstag

• Hitler demanded hindenburg to sack von Papen and make him Chancellor, he refused

nov 1932 (von Papen sacked)

• Von Schleicher abandoned von Papen and told Hindenburg if Papen stayed the country would descend into civil war

• Reluctantly, Hindenburg sacked von Papen

dec 1932 (new chancellor again)

von Schleicher becomes chancellor

jan 1933 (hitler chancellor)

• Von Schleicher had no real political support

• Schleicher asked Hindenburg to suspend the constitution and make him head of a military dictatorship, refused

• Schleicher plans about an army coup – Papen told Hindenburg ‘if a new gov is not formed by 11, the army will march. A military dictatorship under Schleicher looms’

• Von papen gave him solution to make Hitler chancellor and him vice chancellor

  • Thought they could use Hitler and push him into a corner

• 30 Jan 1933, Hitler was legally appointed the Chancellor of the WR

why was hitler’s power as a chancellor limited?

• The Weimar Constitution controlled what the chancellor could do

• Hindenburg retained presidential power

• Hitler’s cabinet of 12 only had 2 nsdap members

• Nsdap members were only ⅓ of the Reichstag

the reichstag fire

• Reichstag was destroyed by a fire

• Communist supporter Marinus van der Lubbe was found with matches

  • He confessed and was put on trial and found guilty and was executed

• Hitler and Goering used this incident to attack the communists

  • They claimed that this was a communist conspiracy against the gov

• 4000 communists were arrested on the night of the Reichstag fire

• Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to call an election for 5 March 1933 as he hoped for more nazi seats in the Reichstag

before the march 1933 reichstag elections

1. Hitler issued the Decree for the Protection of the People and the state

   • Gave him the power to imprison political opponents and ban communist newspapers

2. Hitler ensured that the police turned a blind eye to the violent activities of the SA as he was in control of the police force

3. Persuaded Krupp and other industrialists to bankroll the Nazi campaigns

70 deaths caused by this election campaign

results of march 1933 elections

• Nazis increased their members to 288

• Used emergency powers to ban the communist party from taking up its 81 seats

• Gave Hitler a ⅔ majority in the Reichstag

• Hitler now had enough votes to change the constitution of the Republic

enabling act (march 1933)

• Reich cabinet could pass new laws

• Laws could overrule the constitution of the wr

• Laws would be proposed by the chancellor

Could change the constitution, Hitler has the right to make laws for 4 years without the consent of the Reichstag.

March 24 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act (With the absence of communist members) by 444 votes to 94 votes.

• It was legal but there was some intimidation (supported by nazis, the centre party and the national party)

Marked the end of democratic rule and the end of the Weimar Constitution!

removing trade unions (may 1933)

• There could be communists among working men and could undermine the gov

• Nazis broke into TUs and arrest TU officials

• Banned TUs and made strikes illegal

removing political parties (may - july 1933)

• Nazi SA entered the SPD and CP offices and destroyed their newspapers and confiscated all their funds

• Issued a decree to make all political parties in Germany illegal, except nsdap

removing local govs (jan 1934)

• Abolished Lander parliaments which ran the local gov in the area

  • Hitler could not control the 18 Lander Parliaments

• Governors appointed by Hitler would run every region

reason for the night of the long knives

Ernest Rohm as a threat to Hitler

• Rohm had merged an army veterans group with the SA

  • SA numbers were now at 3m

• Most of the SA were unemployed and Hitler did not value them, so they were more loyal to Rohm

  • Could challenge Hitler

• Rohm opposed Hitler’s policies

  • Criticised links with rich industrialists and army generals

  • Wanted more socialist policies, tax the rich and help the working class

• German army officers did not like Rohm as well as they only had 100000 troops whilst the SA has 3m

  • Rohm wanted to replace the German army?

• Leaders of the SS did not like him as well as they wanted to reduce the power of the SA to increase the power and status of the SS

the night of the long knives

As a result, Hitler arranged a meeting with Rohm and 100 other SA leaders at a hotel in Bavaria.

• The leaders and Rohm were arrested, imprisoned then shot

• At a press conference on 2 July 1934, Goering announced that Rohm had been planning a second revolution, so the killings were in the best interests of Germany

SA continued after 1934 but was only limited to giving muscle to the Nazi party and under the complete control of Hitler.

death of hindenburg

• Hitler took over and declared himself Fuhrer (Chancellor + President power)

• Forced an oath of loyalty to him from every soldier in the army

• 19 Aug, 90% of the public vote, voted in favour of Hitler becoming the Fuhrer

Third Reich began!

a police state

• Nazi gov used the police to control what people did and said

• People who said or did anything to harm the state would be punished

The SS (police state)

• Led by Heinrich Himmler

• Black uniforms

• Controlled all Germany’s police and security forces

• Nazi’s own private police force

• 240000 men

• Himmler did not believe that they needed to act within the law

• Expected to marry racially pure wives

the SD

• Led by Reinhard Heydrich

• Spied on all known opponents and critics of the gov and nazis

• Kept a card index with the details of everyone suspected of opposing the Nazi Party

the gestapo

• Set up by Hermann Goering but Heydrich became the leader

• No uniforms

• Prosecuted anyone that said or did anything against Nazis or the government

• Feared by the general public

  • Could not tell them apart from normal members of the public

• Spied on people, taped their phones and used networks of informants to identify suspects

• In 1939 alone, 160000 were arrested

• Given permission to use torture when questioning suspects or gaining confessions

concentration camps

• To cope with the large number of people under protective arrest in prisons (150000), new prisons were created

  • Run by SA + SS

• First concentration camp in Dachau in 1933

• Located in isolated areas, away from cities and the public’s gaze

Inmates were:

• Undesirables

• Minority groups that nazi did not approve of

• Political prisoners

controlling judges

• Set up the National socialist league for the Maintenance of Law

  • All judges had to be members of this league

  • Ensured that all judges would support nazi ideas

• Interests of the nazi party were more important than the law

controlling law courts

• Abolished trial by jury – judges decided everything

• Set up a new People’s court

  • All cases of treason offences were heard there, judges were hand-picked and trials would be held secretly

  • No right to appeal

controlling catholic church

Catholic Church (⅓ of Germany’s Christians were Catholic)

• Catholics owed their allegiance to the Pope not hitler

• Catholics had their own schools with different values from the nazi schools

In July 1933, Hitler reached a concordat with the pope

• Freedom of worship for Catholics and will not interfere with catholic schools

• Priests would not interfere in politics and ordered German bishops to swear loyalty to the National Socialist Regime

nazi treatment of catholics

Hitler did not keep his promise of the concordat (obviously)

• Catholic priests were arrested and most were in concentration camps

• Catholic schools were brought in line with state schools or closed

• Catholic youth activities were banned

controlling the protestant church

• Protestant churches favoured working with Hitler as they had protected them from anti-christian communists

• Protestants + Nazis formed a church together called the Reich Church

  • Leader was muller

  • Pastors who supported Hitler were allowed to continue to provide services

  • Some pastors allowed the Nazi swastika to be displayed in churches

  • Jews should not be baptised and the Jewish teachings from Old Testaments should be excluded

• Some protestants were not happy e.g. Niemoller, who set up the Pastors’ emergency league to campaign against nazi actions

  • Niemoller was later sent to a concentration camp and PEL was banned

goebbels and propaganda

• Appointed the Minister of People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda

• Goebbels wanted Nazi attitudes so deeply buried in his propaganda that people did not even know that their attitudes were being changed

controlling media

• Journalists were sometimes told what they could not publish

  • Given regular briefings, containing info the gov was willing to release (propaganda)

• Any newspaper which opposed nazi views was closed down

  • No real free press, every newspaper was a nazi newspaper

  • 1600 newspapers were shut down in 1935 alone

controlling radio

• After 1933, radio was censored and was used to broadcast nazi propaganda

• Hitler + nazi officials made frequent broadcasts

• Cheap mass-produced radios were sold to the public and put everywhere

  • By 1939, 70% of German homes had a radio

  • All radios had to be designed to have a short range, so no foreign stations

rallies + propaganda

• Goebbels made nazi rallies and parades bigger and more frequent

  • To create a sense of German unity and advertise the strength of the Nazi party and Nazi Germany

• A mass rally was held at Nuremberg every year