Nazi Germany (1933-1939)

Dictatorship Established January-March 1933

January 1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor
February there was a Nazi reign of terror in run-up to the elections
Also – anti-left campaign to weaken opposition
Reichstag Fire destroyed the parliament building
March 1933 election Nazis gained more seats in parliament (Reichstag)
Main opposition parties were banned and Communists expelled from Reichstag
23rd March Enabling Act gave Hitler power to rule for 4 years without consultation

The video provides an overview into the events of 1933 and 1934 that took Germany from a democracy into a dictatorship.

June – August 1934: Sturmabteilung ("Storm Battalion") SA and Army

SA leader Ernst Röhm wanted a socialist policy
Also wanted SA and army merged under his control
Hitler feared Röhm as an opponent within the Nazi Party
Also feared the power of the Army general Staff who disliked Röhm
30th June 1934 SA Purge: “The Night of the Long Knives” in which Röhm was murdered
August – President Hindenburg died
The Army Oath – army swore oath of loyalty to Hitler
Hitler now merged the role of President and Chancellor (prime minister)
He took this role and the title of Fuhrer
This made him Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces

Important Nazi Ministers

Hermann Göring

Minister of the Interior in Prussia – most important state in Germany
Founded the Gestapo (secret police)
He organised the reign of terror against Nazi opponents 1932-3
Led the anti-left campaign after Reichstag Fire
One of main organisers of SA Purge
1934 in charge of industrial development and 4 Year Plan
Later became head of the Luftwaffe (air force) until 1945

Joseph Goebbels

Nazi Party head of propaganda
1926 became Gauleiter (Party leader) in Berlin
1927 founded Der Angriff (a Berlin daily newspaper)
1928 elected to the Reichstag
1929 became Nazi propaganda chief
1933 appointed Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment in Nazi state

Heinrich Himmler

1929 Hitler made him leader of the Schutzstaffel (SS)
Later succeeded Göring as head of the Gestapo
He was responsible for –

a) The SA Purge 1934

b) Crushing opposition to Hitler

c) Anti-Jewish campaigns

d) Running concentration camps

Hjalmar Schacht

1918 he was a partner in a Bremen bank
1924 devised plan to restore stable currency after 1933 inflation collapse
Issued new currency called the Rentenmark
1924 while head of the Reichsbank involved in securing the Dawes Plan
1933 supported Hitler’s rise to power
1933-7 Nazi Economics Minister
As Economics Minister he –

a) Devised a scheme to re-arm Germany

b) Supported public spending to reduce unemployment

c) Arranged trade and currency deals with other states to enhance trade

2^nd January as Reichsbank President he wanted to reduce arms spending to stop inflation and balance the budget so –
Hitler sacked him

The video below highlights prominent Nazi’s and their roles within the evil regime.

Nazi Organisations

Hitler Youth

Formed 1920s
Nazis won the support of the young by it
Boys sent to camps and wore uniforms at weekends
Similar organisation for girls: The League of German Maidens

Sturmabteilung (SA)

This was Hitler’s private army
Commanded by Captain Ernst Röhm
Industrialists provided the finance for the SA being afraid of communism
The SA fought the communists on the streets in the late 1920s
They wore a brown uniform hence the nickname “Brown Shirts”
1930 they numbered 2 million
They disrupted the meetings of other political parties opposed to the Nazis
January-March 1933 terrorised the opposition helping Hitler establish dictatorship
They were purged by Hitler in 1934 using the SS

Schutzstaffel (SS)

These “Black Shirts” (after their uniform) were set up in 1928
They were Hitler’s bodyguard originally, and rivalled the SA
SS = Protection Squads
SS had a military organisation like SA but also had artillery
There were full-time members (like in SA) but many were part time
SS had 500,000 members
1929 Hitler appointed Himmler leader of the SS
They were used in the Night of the Long Knives or SA Purge

Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei)

1933 Hitler set up the Gestapo as his secret police
Himmler replaced Göring as its leader
So now the SS and Gestapo were under Himmler’s control
Gestapo infiltrated every ant-Nazi organisation
Used terror to wipe out anti-Nazi opposition
Compiled secret files on every important German including Nazis
Himmler used these to blackmail people and gain more power
Himmler organised the anti-Jewish campaigns
They ran the concentration camps and “Final Solution” (Jewish extermination)

The Labour Front

All workers were members
Trade unions were abolished – it was claimed they were socialist/communist organisations
Srikes were banned as anti-state activities

Opposition to the Nazis

State parliaments were abolished in 1934
The Reichsrat or 2^nd House of Parliament went with the abolition of separate states
This gave power to the Reichstag
This gave Hitler dictatorial powers for 4 years
All political parties except the Nazis were abolished
Included Nationalists, Catholics, Conservatives
Trade Unions were also illegal

The Catholic Church

Hitler said a German could not be a good German and a Christian
1933 he made a Concordat with the Pope
This allowed Catholic Church to have schools and newspapers
Many Catholics saw this as Papal approval of Nazism
Persecution of the Jews caused a rift though
1937 Pope issued an Encyclical (papal letter) called ‘Mit Brenneder Sorge’ (With Burning Anxiety) – condemning Nazi race theories and practices
Some Church leaders wrote and preached against Nazism
The majority of Catholics went along with Nazi policy because it seemed to work

The Protestant (Lutheran) Church

Many Protestants supported Hitler who gave hope and pride
Opposition was led by Pastor Niemöller
He, along with many others, were sent to concentration camps

Support for the Nazis

The Army

The officer corps helped their rise to power
Ludendorff took part in the Munch Putsch of 1923
Schleicher used his influence politically during 1932-3 but was killed during the SA Purge
The officer corps supported the post 1933 rearmament programme
Also supported Hitler’s demands for the end to the Versailles Treaty
Hoped to have the same control in Nazi Germany as the army leaders had under Bismarck and when Kaiser Wilhelm II let Schlieffen and the army to determine foreign policy
1934 they swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler
Hitler knew they might oppose him because –

a) He was Austrian – most of them were Prussian Junkers

b) He had only been a corporal in World War I

c) They hated the Brown Shirts (SA) and terrorist tactics – saw them as gangsters

d) Opposed his expansionary foreign policy but –

Success of Hitler’s foreign policy 1935-40 made their opposition unlikely

Industrialists

Stresemann had presided over Germany’s recovery
So by 1930 their economy was the second most powerful industrial country
Provided finance for the Nazis e.g. Thyssen and Krupp
Supported the Nazis in the newspapers they owned
After 1933 they prospered from rearmament i.e. –

a) Large numbers of tanks built

b) ½ million men called up into the armed forces

c) Luftwaffe (air force) ordered large numbers of aircraft

d) German navy expanded – both surface ships and u-boats

e) Rearmament led to expansion of iron and steel, coal and engineering

Also the development of public works –

a) Roads (autobahns)

b) Houses

c) Hospitals

d) Schools

Middle Class

Feared repeat of inflation and chaos of 1923
1931 feared more of the same
Provided leadership for SA
Welcomed strong government provided by the Nazis

Working Class

Hitler inherited 6 million unemployed 1933; it was zero by 1939
Provided jobs by –

a) Conscription into the armed forces

b) Rearmament and industrial expansion e.g. 4 Year Plans

c) Public works e.g. roads

d) Helped agriculture

e) Promoted industrial development e.g. cars (Volkswagen), radios, etc.

Anti-communists

Hitler had a fanatical hatred of communism
Signed Anti-Comintern Pact (anti-communist) with Japan and Italy
This was liked by -

a) Industrialists feared loss of property

b) Churches feared atheistic Marxism

c) Middle classes

Nationalists

Nationalists from all classes liked the growing strength of Germany
Also regaining of provinces lost at Versailles e.g. Saar 1935
New confidence as German economy boomed

Propaganda

In Mein Kampf Hitler writes at length about the importance of propaganda
1922 onwards Goebbels was in charge of propaganda
Hitler used it against –

a) Communists

b) Jews

c) Socialists e.g. Stresemann

d) The Treaty of Versailles

He promised –

a) To crush Bolshevik (communist unrest)

b) ‘Work and bread’ instead of unemployment

c) A ‘Greater Germany’ instead of the Weimar Republic

Goebbels was a brilliant orator whose speeches aimed to rouse the masses
He also used the following –

a) Radio (government controlled) to send out propaganda in plays, stories and news broadcasts

b) The Press (government controlled) to push the Nazi point of view

c) Demonstrations, rallies and marches in which thousands sang songs and chanted slogans while carrying Nazi banners

d) Sports events and individuals e.g. the 1936 Olympics in Berlin

Education

Teachers had to teach what they were told
Textbooks fitted Nazi views on history and race
Children were recruited into various organisations:

a) The Little Fellows at age of 6

b) The Jungvolk at 10

c) Hitler Youth at 14

All swore an oath to Hitler as ‘the saviour of Germany’
Girls joined the League of German Maidens
Teachers who didn’t measure up to Nazi ideological demands were sacked
Books unacceptable to the Nazis were burned
All was enforced by the Gestapo and the concentration camps

The Jews and Anti-Semitism

Hitler said that the Jews were responsible for the defeat of 1918
They were also blamed for the economic collapse of 1923
They were also blamed for the economic crisis of 1929-32
They were the bankers who caused the Wall Street Crash
Der Sturmer was a Nazi newspaper specialising in anti-Jewish propaganda
1^st April 1933 Hitler declared boycott of Jewish shops, businesses, doctors and lawyers
SA put notices on Jewish shops telling the public not to enter
Guards were posted outside to enforce this order
1933 Jews banned from universities
Later they were banned from certain professions

1935 Nuremberg Laws

Germans of Jewish blood lost citizenship
People with even one Jewish grandparent were classed as Jewish
Marriage between Jews and Aryans were banned
Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David badge for identification
Concentration camps were built to house Jews and opponents of the Nazis
First was near Munich and held 5,000 people
Many Jews fled abroad e.g. Albert Einstein

Crystal Night 1938

7^th November German Jewish refugee killed a member of the German embassy in Paris
In reprisal the Nazis launched an attack on Jews in Germany
Synagogues, homes and businesses were destroyed
Name Crystal Night comes from the broken glass of the thousands of broken windows
200 synagogues were destroyed
35 Jews were killed
20,000 were arrested for ‘resistance’
Afterwards all male Jews aged 16 and over were sent to concentration camps

The Final Solution

This was ordered in 1942 and involved the extermination of Europe’s Jews
They were killed in gas chambers in the concentration camps
6 million died by 1945

Summary of the developments that led to Nazi control:

An overview of the social and economic policies of the Nazis:

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