The Nazi State 1. Elections
Hitler had come to power due to an underestimation on the old guard's behalf.
Hitler's first act as chancellor was to call for elections in 1933.
The NSDAP had spent 3 million marks to finance its campaign.
Communist meetings were banned and rallies by the Social Democrats were broken up by the SA.
The Reichstag Fire Decree jailed all communist party leaders and introduced a state of martial law.

Suspended individual and civil liberties,
Assumed complete control of the individual state governments
Placed all political opponents in protective custody

After the election the NSDAP held a majority in the Reichstag with 16 seats.

2. Gleichschaltung
Trying to bring the nation under Nazi Control:

Trade unions were banned
The Social Democratic Party voluntarily dissolved
Catholic bavarian People's Party disbanded
Catholic Centre Party dissolved

NSDAP was the only party left.
Big Businesses, the President, the army and the old aristocracy were still intact.
Rohm wanted to merge to SA, the SS and the army in a People's Army seeking to curb monopolies and nationalise land.
During the Night of the Long Knives (1934) a blood purge of the SA commenced after Hindenburg told Hitler to either deal strongly with the radical SA or the army wold take power. This increased the power of the SS.
After Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler became president. Only 10% of German voters went against the idea of Hitler becoming an absolute dictator.

3. The State Government
The Nazi government's constitution orbited around "The Will of the Fuhrer". It was a personal dictatorship, Hitler was a source of all power. Hitler's authority was enhanced from the support of the popular mass as a vital factor.
The government was structured through a hierarchy in which ministers would carry out the Fuhrer's bidding which was open to wide interpretation. This lead to various interpretations of his wishes, thus creating various policies being implemented.
Ministers were mainly in charge of social policies where as Hitler played a decisive role in major policy decisions such as foreign and military.
The hierarchy consisted of Hitler at the top, then ministers each in charge of a distinct department of the government.
Each minister had built up an empire for personal gain and profit.
Cabinet government gradually disappeared.
The Reich Chancellery was the power broker between each minister and Hitler.
Specialist rival agencies were set up, about 42 agencies with executive power to implement policies existed in the central government. Hitler blocked initiatives to make a structured system of central governing.
On top of this there were personal rivalries and overlapping party and state institutions.

Local governments were brought under central direction. A Gauleiter (Reich governor) was appointed as a representative for each land area. However Hitler added the post of Minister President for each region which added confusion. Then in 1935 the post of Delegate of the NSDAP in the municipality was added.

The party ruled in coalition with the old elites, there was no clarity of who was the superior and inferior.
The legislative body had no legislative role, Hitler would sign off on all orders.
The Party was mostly in charge of indoctrination. It mostly ensured Nazi policies were carried out at the regional level. Organising propaganda and popular displays of public support was their forte.

4. Economy
The Nazi economy was a mixture of capitalist free enterprise and state-sponsored spending on public works to reduce unemployment.
The concept of autarchy was implemented.
Germany sought to cut itself off from international trading system, so industry and agriculture would bring self-sufficiency.
This idea of self-sufficiency went hand in hand with Wehrwirtschaft.
The flaw in the Nazi economy was the inability to incorporate all these ideas into one system. Thus the regime pursued different strategies that were often contradictory.

Schacht developed the New Plan which set priorities for imports specifically from the Balkans and South America, enabling negotiating bilateral trade agreements. The Plan also focused on military rather than consumer goods in correspondence to the Wehrwirtschaft. In 1937 consumer goods production shrank to 17%.

The unemployment in Germany shrank from 6 (in 1933) to 1 million in 1938. This recovery was due to state aided job creation - Tax relief was given to companies to take on extra workers. The main factor to a decrease in unemployment was the rapid growth in arms spending, not an improved economic plan.
The 4 year plan introduced by Goring was to make Germany self-sufficient in food and raw materials for economic self-sufficiency. It was not very prominent, by 1939 Germany still imported 20% of its food needs and 33% of raw materials. With this Germany never reach the goal of Wehrwirtschaft, mainly because Hitler could never allow a major cut in German living standards. Hence the German economy was never fully prepared for a lengthy war.

Cooperation of Big Businesses was vital to economic recovery and for rearmament. by 1937 monopolies controlled over 70% of all production. Companies involved in the rearmament program gained massive profit.
Small businesses were not closed down although they were prevented from engaging in further expansion.
Agricultural prices increased by 20% and wages of agricultural labourers increased faster than those in industry. The Hereditary Farm Law (1933) ensured all farms up to 308 acres became the hereditary estates of the families who owned them and could not be sold. Only those with pure Aryan blood dating back to 1800 were allowed to own land.

All trade union rights were removed ad substituted by Nazi organizations (Labour Front; Deutches Arbeitsfront; DAF). The new industrial system was built on the 'master' and 'follower' (employer/employee) hierarchy. It was a means of controlling employees and ensuring they did not make demands. There were leisure benefits offered, however workers were indifferent to Nazi Propaganda about the labour front being for the benefit of workers. Hourly wages for skilled workers fell by 1% for skilled workers and 3% for unskilled workers in 1939. There was performance related pay introduced. Thus the industrial worker's wage fell further because of increased tax and health insurance deductions. The average worker put in 47.8 hours per week - increasing work related accidents.

5. Living Standards
There were some economic improvements compared to the Weimar Republic's struggled in the Great Depression and the Market clash.

Food consumption increased by 18%
clothing sales increased by 25%
furniture sales increased by 50%

However this was not a great achievement on the global standard, the standard of living was still lower than that of Britain's and the USA. Propaganda gave off the wrong perspective of the Nazi state to its citizens.

	Created by Sonja Lundin about 9 years ago

High school (IB Program) History (Nazi Germany) Note on The Nazi State, created by Sonja Lundin on 14/04/2015.