13 - Hitler's consolidation of power, March 1933-August 1934 Flashcards
1
Q
Creation of a one-party state
A
- Hitler saw conventional political parties as election machines, which represented narrow, sectional interests.
- Claimed that the Nazi Party was the ‘racial core’ of the entire German people.
- In the Nazi ‘Volksgemeinshaft’ there could be no other parties.
2
Q
Volksgemeinshaft
A
- Significant to the Nazi ideology
- Hitler advocated a state based on a racial community where only Aryans could be citizens.
3
Q
The KPD
A
- Effectively banned after the Reichstag fire.
- Most of the communists who had not been arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps had fled into exile.
4
Q
The SPD
A
- Continued to voice its opposition to the regime until it was outlawed as a ‘party hostile to the nation and the state’ on 22 June 1933.
5
Q
DNVP and the Centre Party
A
- Realised their days as political parties were numbered.
- DNVP dissolved on 27 June and the Centre Party on 5 July.
6
Q
Law against the Formation of New Parties
A
On 14 July 1933, the Law against the Formation of New Parties outlawed all non-Nazi political parties.
7
Q
Centralisation of power and control over local government
A
- Weimar Republic was a federal state in which a large number of powers were devolved to state governments.
- Each state, for example, controlled its own police force.
8
Q
Prussia
A
- Largest of the German states.
- Compromised 60% of the territory and 50% of the population.
- So large that its state government could operate largely independently of the central government.
9
Q
July 1932
A
- July 1932 the Prussian state government dismissed by Papen and a Reich Commissioner appointed to run the state.
- In Hitler’s cabinet this position was held by Goering.
- Paved the way for the centralisation of power within the whole Reich.
10
Q
Laws passed to centralise power in 1933-34
A
11
Q
First Law for the Coordination of the Federal States
A
- 31 March 1933
- Dissolved the existing state assemblies and replaced them with Nazi-dominated assemblies.
12
Q
Second Law for the Coordination of the Federal States
A
- 7 April 1933
- Created the new post of Reich Governor to oversee the government of each state.
- Accountable to the Minister of the Interior and responsible for ensuring state governments followed the policies of the central government.
13
Q
Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich
A
- 30 January 1934
- State assemblies were abolished and the governments of state were formally subordinated to the government of the Reich.
14
Q
Reichsrat abolished
A
- 14 February 1934
- Reichsrat was abolished (parliamentary assembly to which the state assemblies sent delegates).
15
Q
Organisational structures
A
- Nazi Party had its own organisational structures at both national and local level.
- At state level the Nazi leaders wanted to control local government and many took over the roles of Reich Governors within their areas.
- Nazis also instituted violent campaigns to oust political opponents from important local positions and replace them with Nazi Party nominees.
16
Q
Control over the Civil Service
A
- The higher ranks of the Civil Service were recruited almost exclusively from the aristocracy and closely identified with authoritarian values.
- Many welcomed Hitler’s appointment in 1933.
- Believed the conservative ministers in Hitler’s cabinet would restrain the Nazis and allow the Civil Service to continue in the same way.
17
Q
Nazi intention
A
- Nazis had no intention of being bound by the rules and regulations that civil servants had to follow.
- Nazis regarded the Civil Service as an obstacle to their exercised of dictatorial power.
- Many local officials were forced to resign and replaced by Nazi Party appointees.
- SA also began to place Party officials in government offices to ensure that civil servants were carrying out the orders of the regime.
18
Q
SA’s position before June 1934
A
- In January 1933 the SA were the Nazis’ main instrument of terror and violence.
- Membership of around 500,000 in January 1933 grew to around 3 million a year later.
- Activities of the SA had gained legal authority.
19
Q
Hitler and the SA
A
- Hitler benefited from the violence of his supporters, but was not always in control.
- Much of the violence of the SA against political opponents and the Jews was unplanned, uncoordinated and piecemeal.
- From February-June 1933 Hitler was prepared to go with the flow of the SA violence.
- He was careful to ensure that the SA did not attack the State itself.
- In July 1933 Hitler declared that the Nazi revolution was over.
20
Q
Ernst Rohm
A
- Leader of the SA.
- Turned the SA into a formidable fighting force.
- His radical views and lifestlye (drank heavily and was homosexual) proved a source of embarrassment to Hitler.
21
Q
Second Revolution
A
- For Ernst Rohm the Nazi Revolution was far from over and the SA were determined to continue with their violence until they had achieved the Second Revolution.
- Rohm’s forces vastly outnumbered the army but since the summer of 1933 the role and importance of the SA had declined.
- August 1933 they lost their ‘auxiliary police’ status and were subject to stricter regulations over their powers of arrest.
- Lacking an ‘official’ outlet for their violence SA members became disillusioned and restless and drunken brawls became increasingly common.
22
Q
The army
A
- Remained the only institution with the power to remove Hitler from office.
- Was loyal to Hindenburg not Hitler.
- The ambitions of the SA and Rohm were regarded as a serious threat by the army leaders.
- Summer of 1934 SA began stopping army convoys and confiscating weapons and supplies.
- Blomberg, with Hindenburg’s support, threatened to declare martial law and give the army power to deal with the SA.
23
Q
The Night of the Long Knives, June 1934
A
- Hitler had dithered since the spring of 1934 but in June he knew he could wait no longer.
- A ruthless purge of the SA was launched on 30 June 1934 when the SS eliminated the leadership of the SA and many other political opponents of the Nazis.
24
Q
Victims of the Night of the Long Knives
A
- At least 84 were executed and another 1000 or more were arrested.
- Included Rohm and other leaders of the SA but also other opponents.
25
Q
Hitler’s reaction
A
- Hitler accepted full responsibility for the executions.
- He said he was acting as the ‘supreme judge’ of the German people and acted to save the country from the SA.
- This secured the army’s support.
- SA declined sharply after the purge and without Rohm as its leader, its political power was destroyed.
26
Q
Question of succession
A
- Hindenburg had drawn up a political will in which he expressed his preference for a restoration of the monarchy.
- Hitler aimed to merge the offices of Chancellor and President.
- The army owed allegiance to the President and that President, with the support of the army, could removed Hitler from power.
- Hindenburg had considered handing power to the army and dismissing Hitler.
- With the threat of the SA removed, Blomberg and the army leaders had no further objection to Hitler succeeding Hindenburg as President.
27
Q
President Hindenburg’s death
A
- Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934.
- The announcement that the office of President would be merged with that of Chancellor was made within an hour of his death.
- On the same day the officers and soldiers of the army took an oath of allegiance to Hitler.
28
Q
Plebiscite
A
- A direct vote on an important political or constitutional issue, similar to a referendum.
- 19 August 1934 a plebiscite was held to get the German people’s seal of approval on Hitler’s appointment as Fuhrer.
- 89.9% of the voters approved.
- This was the final act in the Nazi consolidation of power.
