The Nazi dictatorship 1933-39

The Nazi dictatorship 1933-39

1. The Reichstag Fire and March election, 1933

   • Events
     • 27 Feb 1933: Reichstag burns down
     • Marinus van der Lubbe (Dutch Communist) arrested
     • 5 Mar 1933: election held - Nazis 288 seats
   • Results
     • Communist party banned
     • Introduction of laws restricting personal liberty
     • Nazis formed a coalition with nationalists
     • Hitler increased votes - no arch-rival

2. The Enabling Act

   • Followed policy of Gleichschaltung "forcible coordination"
   • Passed under intimidation in Mar 1933
   • Gave Hitler right to rule for 4 years without Reichstag
   • Lander destroyed and Germany centralised
   • All other parties banned - one-party dictatorship
   • Trade unions banned

3. Night of the Long Knives, 1934

   • Causes
     • Army rivalled with SA
     • SA pro-socialist - would lead to loss of support of industrialists
     • Rohm threat to power + against Nazi traditions (openly homosexual)
   • Events
     • Deal reached with army
     • 30 Jun 1934 - SS assassinated 400 SA rivals
   • Results
     • Internal opposition removed
     • When Hindenburg died, Hitler could become Fuhrer
     • Army + SS swore personal allegiance to Hitler

4. Police state

   • SS (Schutzstaffel) - Hitler's personal bodyguard
   • Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) - secret police
   • Use of terror tactics - torture, intimidation + arrest
   • Concentration camps for political prisoners - Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Bergen-Belsen
   • Strict identification systems in concentration camps

5. Methods of control

   • Legal system
     • Trial by jury abolished
     • All judges + lawyers pro-Nazi
     • People's Court set up to try cases of treason
     • Hitler made sentences harsher
   • Christianity
     • Ideals significantly different
     • Difficult to abolish due to widespread nature
     • 1933: Concordat signed with Pope - no persecution of Catholics (overturned by 1937)
     • Nazi Reich Church to replace Protestantism led by Bishop Muller
     • Pastor Niemoller - Confessional Church, sent to concentration camp

6. Censorship and propaganda

   • Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Josef Goebbels
   • Newspapers censored by government
   • Cheap radios manufactured for Germans to listen to radio speeches
   • Films pro-Nazi dealing with Aryan themes
   • Mass rallies held in Nuremberg
   • Art, music, architecture and theatre defined as pro-Nazi
   • 1936 Berlin Olympics propaganda event promoting Aryanism