3.1 The creation of dictatorship 1933-34

Question 1

How was Hitler’s power as chancellor limited?

Answer 1

• Weimar constitution controlled what the chancellor could do
• Hindenburg retained all the powers of the president
• Hitler’s cabinet had 12 members - but only 2 were NSDAP members
• NSDAP members numbered only about a 1/3 of the Reichstag

Question 2

Who started the Reichstag fire?

Answer 2

Marinus van der Lubbe

Question 3

How many communists were arrested as a result of the Reichstag fire?

Answer 3

4000 communists

Question 4

What was the Decree for the protection of the People and the state?

Answer 4

a law that gave him the powers to imprison political opponents and ban opposition newspapers

Question 5

What law gave Hitler the powers to imprison political opponents and ban opposition newspapers?

Answer 5

the Decree for the protection of the People and the state

Question 6

How was Hitler able to control the police force?

Answer 6

By making Hermann Goering the new chief of the police

Question 7

Since Hitler controlled the police force, what was he able to do?

Answer 7

ensured that the police force turn a blind eye to the violent activities of the SA

Question 8

How were the Nazis able to secure two-thirds of the seats and what did this result in?

Answer 8

by using the emergency powers to prevent the communists from taking up their 81 seats

• Hitler had enough votes to change the constitution of the republic

Question 9

When was the Reichstag fire?

Answer 9

27th February 1933

Question 10

What year was the enabling act passed?

Answer 10

1933

Question 11

What were the features of the Enabling act?

Answer 11

• the Reich cabinet could pass new laws
• the laws could overrule the constitution
• Hitler would propose the law

Question 12

the vote for the enabling act was won by…

Answer 12

444 to 94

Question 13

How did Hitler deal with opposition towards the enabling act?

Answer 13

he intimidated his opponents with the SA

Question 14

The enabling act allowed Hitler to get rid of which 3 opposition to the Nazis?

Answer 14

• trade unions
• political parties
• local government

Question 15

Elaborate on trade unions being an opposition to the Nazis and what happened to them when Hitler started using his new powers gained through the enabling act.

Answer 15

• Hitler believed that if communists amongst working men were able to control trade unions, then these could be used to undermine the government (e.g.strikes)
• May 1933: Many union officials were arrested and Hitler used his new powers to ban trade unions and make strikes illegal
• these were replaced with German Labour front

Question 16

what happened to political parties when Hitler started using his new powers gained through the enabling act.

Answer 16

May 1933: SDP and communist Party offices and funds were taken by the Nazis

July 1933: Hitler made all political parties, apart from the NSDAP illegal

Question 17

Elaborate on the local government being an opposition to the Nazis and what happened to them when Hitler started using his new powers gained through the enabling act.

Answer 17

• By 1934 Hitler had control of the Reichstag- but could not control the 18 Lander parliaments
• January 1934: abolished the Lander Parliaments and declared instead governors appointed by him, would run every region in Germany.

Question 18

Why was Ernst Rohm and the SA a threat to Hitler?

Answer 18

• The SA was much bigger than the German army and they believed Rohm wanted the SA to replace the German army
• leaders of SS wanted to reduce the size of the SA in order to increase their own power
• By 1933, 60% of SA were permanently unemployed, moreover, they felt undervalued which made them bitter and loyal to Rohm
• Rohm opposed Hiler’s policies as he wanted more socialist policies, to tax the rich and help the working class

Question 19

How did Hitler arrange to remove the threat of Rohm and the SA?

Answer 19

by arranging a meeting with Rohm and 100 other SA leaders at a hotel in the town of Bad Wiessee on 30 June 1934

when they arrived, the leaders were arrested, imprisoned and shot

Question 20

What year was the night of the long knives?

Answer 20

1934

Question 21

When did Hindenburg die?

Answer 21

August 1934

Question 22

What did Hitler do when Hindenburg died?

Answer 22

He took over supreme power:

• He declared himself Germany’s Fuhrer and decreed that as Fuhrer he would add all of the Presidential powers to those he already held as Chancellor
• he forced an oath of loyalty to him from every soldier in the army

Question 23

when did the Weimar republic formally end and why?

Answer 23

19th August 1934 because Hitler had become furher

Question 24

How was Hitler able to merge the offices of the chancellor and President to create a new office of Fuhrer?

Answer 24

through a law concerning the head of state

Question 25

On the day that Hindenburg died who did the army swear their allegiance to?

Answer 25

Hitler, not Germany