2: The Rise and Consolidation of Nazi Rule in Germany

Overview: Post–World War I Context

• Collapse of European monarchies after WWI → replacement with republics; optimism for democracy inspired by Wilson’s 14 Points.
• Russia turns to Bolshevik Communism (Lenin) → creation of the USSR by 1922; hallmarks: one-party rule & command economy.
• Common roots of inter-war authoritarianism (late 1920s{-}1930s):
  • Severe political/economic instability (esp. Germany, Italy, Japan).
  • Popular attraction to alternative ideologies promising order.
  • Intense nationalism & fear of Communism.

Germany Before & Immediately After WWI

• Imperial system: all power in Kaiser, ministers, General Staff; Reichstag had marginal influence.
• Military defeat ⇒ staggering casualties & economic ruin.
• October–November 1918: Generals invite Reichstag participation to share defeat-blame; mass unrest forces Kaiser’s abdication ( 9 Nov 1918).
• Friedrich Ebert (SPD) leads provisional gov’t; Armistice signed 11 Nov 1918.

The Weimar Republic (1919{-}1933)

Constitution (Aug 1919)

• Strengths:
  • Universal suffrage \ge 20 (incl. women).
  • Proportional representation (PR) – every vote counts.
  • Laws need Reichstag approval; Article 48 envisaged as emergency tool.
• Weaknesses:
  • PR ⇒ many splinter parties, weak coalitions.
  • Article 48 open to abuse – president can rule by decree, suspend civil liberties.

Early Political Challenges (1919{-}1923)

• “November Criminals” stigma; Treaty of Versailles (TOV) a “\textit{diktat},” fuels Dolchstoss myth.
• Left-wing threat: Spartacist Uprising (Jan 1919) crushed by Freikorps.
• Right-wing threat: Kapp Putsch (Mar 1920) fails after general strike; lenient sentences encourage future violence.

Economic Crises (1923)

• Reparations default ⇒ Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr (Jan).
• Gov’t orders passive resistance → production collapse.
• Hyperinflation: mark becomes worthless; savers wiped out.

Recovery (“Golden Age”, 1923{-}1929)

• Gustav Stresemann:
  • New currency (Rentenmark, Nov 1923).
  • Dawes Plan 1924 + Young Plan 1929 restructure reparations, usher US loans.
• Cultural vibrancy & relative stability, yet structural vulnerabilities persist.

Origins & Early Growth of the Nazi Party

• Adolf Hitler joins German Workers’ Party (DAP) Sept 1919 → renamed NSDAP (Nazi) Feb 1920.
• 25-Point Programme: annul TOV, Anschluss, anti-Semitism, strong central state, nationalisation, welfare for Aryans.
• Hitler assumes leadership by 1921; cultivates cult of personality & “iron discipline.”
• Creates SA (Brownshirts) under Hermann Goering – protect meetings, intimidate rivals.
• Membership ≈ 50{,}000 by Nov 1923.
• Munich Putsch (8–9 Nov 1923): failed coup; trial broadcasts Nazi ideas nationwide.
  • Sentence: 5 yrs, serves 9 months in Landsberg; writes \textit{Mein Kampf}.
  • Lesson: seize power legally, destroy democracy from within.

Rebuilding the Party (1924{-}1929)

• National network of local branches; Schutzstaffel (SS/Blackshirts) formed 1925 under Heinrich Himmler – elite, loyal solely to Hitler.
• Fund-raising from industrialists (anti-communist appeal).
• Electoral rehearsal: 32 seats (May 1924), but only 12 seats (May 1928) – prosperity blunts extremist allure.
• Rural focus: propaganda promises protection from communism, higher crop prices.

The Great Depression & Nazi Electoral Breakthrough

• US crash Oct 1929 → loan recall; German factories close, unemployment peaks at 6 million (by 1932).
• Coalition paralysis; Chancellors Brüning, von Papen, von Schleicher rely on Article 48 decrees.
• Rising KPD vote (≈ 15\%) terrifies elites.
• Nazi appeal:
  • “Hitler Myth” – charismatic saviour, promises jobs, end TOV, restore order.
  • Goebbels’ propaganda blames Versailles, Jews, Weimar politicians; offers rearmament.
  • SA/SS seen as disciplined bulwark vs communists.
• Reichstag seats: 107 (Sept 1930) → 230 (July 1932) – largest party.

Hitler’s Appointment as Chancellor (30 Jan 1933)

• President Paul von Hindenburg & Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen believe they can “box” Hitler in.
• Cabinet holds only 3 Nazis, but Hitler controls police & propaganda.

Steps to Dictatorship (1933{-}1934)

Reichstag Fire (27 Feb 1933)

• Arson blamed on Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe.
• Decree for the Protection of People & State: suspends civil rights, allows mass arrests (≈ 4{,}000 communists).

Elections 5 Mar 1933

• Nazis win 288 seats; with DNVP allies reach 52\%.

Enabling Act (24 Mar 1933)

• Needs 2/3 majority; communists jailed, SA intimidates SPD/Centre MPs.
• Act passes → cabinet (i.e., Hitler) can legislate for 4 yrs without Reichstag ⇒ legal dictatorship.

Gleichschaltung (Co-ordination)

• April 1933: Jews barred from civil service.
• May 1933: trade unions dissolved; DAF (Labour Front) under Robert Ley replaces them.
• June–July 1933: state parliaments Nazified; all other parties banned → one-party state.

Night of the Long Knives (29–30 Jun 1934)

• SA (≈ 3 million) + Ernst Röhm demand “2nd revolution,” integration into army.
• Hitler needs army support; SS executes Röhm & ≈ 400 rivals (inc. von Papen’s aides).
• SA subordinated; SS ascendant.

Death of Hindenburg (2 Aug 1934)

• Offices of President & Chancellor merged → Hitler becomes \textit{Führer}.
• Army swears personal oath to Hitler, rewarded with rearmament & political autonomy.

Nazi Economic Policies

• Hjalmar Schacht (Economics Minister): deficit financing → autobahns, housing, land reclamation; unemployment drops from 5 million (1933) to < 2 million (1936).
• Rearmament: conscription re-introduced 1935; Four-Year Plan 1936 (Goering) ↦ autarky & war readiness; heavy industry & Luftwaffe boom.
• Winners: big business (Siemens, Mercedes), skilled workers in armaments.
• Losers/Costs: wages capped; no strikes (DAF); consumer goods scarce; farmers mixed fortunes.
• KdF (Strength Through Joy) & Beauty of Labour programmes offer holidays, cultural events, Volkswagen savings scheme – morale tools.

Social Engineering & Volksgemeinschaft

Women

• Ideology: Kinder, Küche, Kirche.
• Incentives: marriage loans, Honour Cross of German Mother; disincentives: professional exclusion (later reversed slightly during war labour shortages).

Youth & Education

• National Socialist Teachers’ League mandatory; curriculum glorifies Aryans, militarism, racial “science.”
• Hitler Youth & League of German Girls (BDM) compulsory (post-1939); physical fitness, loyalty drills.

Racial Policy & Persecution

• Eugenics: compulsory sterilisation (from 1933) of “hereditary ill”; euthanasia programme T4 from 1939.
• Anti-Semitism escalates:
  • Boycott of Jewish shops (Apr 1933).
  • Nuremberg Laws (15 Sep 1935) strip citizenship, ban “mixed” marriages.
  • Kristallnacht (9{-}10 Nov 1938): synagogues burnt, ≈20{,}000 Jews to camps, businesses smashed.
  • Final Solution (1941{-}45): genocide of ≈6 million Jews via extermination camps.
• Other victims: Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, “asocials.”

Terror & Control Apparatus

• SS (Himmler): elite guard, racial policy executor, Waffen-SS military wing.
• SD: intelligence, ideological policing.
• Gestapo: secret police; arrest without trial, use of informants.
• Concentration Camps: Dachau (1933) onward – forced labour, “re-education”; distinct from later death camps (Auschwitz, Treblinka).
• Legal system Nazified:
  • Judges join National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law.
  • Jury trials abolished; People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof) handles “political” crimes (≈ 5{,}000 death sentences).

Propaganda & Censorship

• Joseph Goebbels’ Ministry of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda controls press, radio, literature, art, film.
• Techniques:
  • Mass rallies (Nuremberg), torchlight parades.
  • Cult of Führer imagery, posters, cheap radios (People’s Receiver) – 70\% households by 1939.
  • 1936 Berlin Olympics as showcase of Aryan vitality & modernity.
• Censorship: banned “degenerate” art/books; foreign broadcasts illegal.

Resistance & Opposition

• Left-wing parties (SPD, KPD) driven underground; leadership exiled or sent to camps.
• Churches: Catholic clergy (e.g., Bishop von Galen) & Confessing Protestants (Bonhoeffer) protest, face repression.
• Youth dissent: Edelweiss Pirates, Swing Youth, White Rose (Hans & Sophie Scholl executed 1943).
• Military/aristocratic plots: July 20 1944 Bomb Plot (Stauffenberg) fails; ≈5{,}000 executed.
• Limited mass opposition due to fear, economic improvements for “Aryans,” propaganda saturation, fragmented resistance networks.

Glossary (Selected Key Terms)

• Abdication – renunciation of throne (Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1918).
• Article 48 – emergency powers clause of Weimar Constitution.
• Autarky – economic self-sufficiency (vital in Four-Year Plan).
• Enabling Act – law (24 Mar 1933) granting Hitler legislative power.
• Gleichschaltung – systematic Nazification of state & society.
• Hyperinflation – runaway price rise in Germany, 1923.
• Night of the Long Knives – purge 29{-}30 Jun 1934 targeting SA.
• Volksgemeinschaft – ideal “people’s community” of racially pure Germans.
  (For full list, see transcript pages 9{-}12.)

Exam-Style Questions

Short-Answer Quiz (sample)

1. How did the TOV undermine Weimar legitimacy?
2. Describe the main weakness of proportional representation.
3. Significance of the Freikorps 1919{-}20?
4. What triggered the Ruhr occupation 1923?
5. How did Landsberg imprisonment aid Hitler?
6. Two Nazi methods for gaining post-1925 support?
7. Impact of the Great Depression on democratic faith?
8. Purpose & effect of Enabling Act?
9. Why was the SA seen as threat by 1934?
10. Give two propaganda techniques used by Nazis.
    (See transcript for model answers.)

Essay Prompts

• Evaluate whether economic crises were the paramount factor in the Nazi rise.
• Compare Hitler’s personal appeal with structural political/social conditions.
• Assess effectiveness of Nazi consolidation methods 1933{-}34.
• “Life under Nazis = control & fear with scant benefit.” Discuss using econ/social evidence.
• Analyse reasons for limited widespread opposition despite repression.