chapter thirteen

Question 1

on 30 June 1934 at the stadlehim prison in Munich the leader of the nazi SA , Ernst Rohm was

Answer 1

executed by two SS officers

Question 2

earlier that day the SS had arrested Rohm and other SA leaders at

Answer 2

lakeside hotel
- this was apart of a wide ranging purge on the SA that Hitler had ordered , as the organisation had outlived its usefulness and was becoming and embarrassment

Question 3

Hitler ordered that a revolver to be left in Rohms cell , however

Answer 3

Rohm refused to commit suicide
‘ If I am to be killed , let Adold do it himself ‘
he was shot at point blank range on the night of long knives

Question 4

the night of long knives was one of

Answer 4

the final acts in hitlers consolidation of power 1933-34

Question 5

At the end of march 1933 , hitlers government had been granted exceptional powers by the passing of

Answer 5

the enabling act

Question 6

however there were still some political and constitutional limits on hitlers power , Hindenberg as president had

Answer 6

final say in constitutional matters and the are was loyal to Hindenburg , not to hitler

Question 7

there were a number of political parties that were independent of the regime some of which , such as the SPD were prepared to

Answer 7

openly voice their opposition

Question 8

although the nazis effectively controlled the state government in Prussia , the largest of the germanys federal states , elected governments in most other German states were under

Answer 8

control of other parties

Question 9

the period between march 1933 and august 1934 saw the nazis remove

Answer 9

the remaining obstacles to their exercise of dictorial power

Question 10

for hitler and his Nazi Party , the coming to power in January 1933 was the beginning of a

Answer 10

national socialist revolution
- for hitler this meant the conquest of political power

Question 11

many nazis , however , especially the SA , had a very different view of the nazi revolution , this was to cause

Answer 11

continuing tensions between hitler and the SA during the early months of the regime.

Question 12

for hitler , the nazi revolution began with acquiring dictoral power and then continued with

Answer 12

the elimination of the non nazi political parties and other independent organisations , together with nazi control over the institutions of the state at both central and local government level.

Question 13

hitler viewed conventional political parties with contempt , seeing them as mere

Answer 13

election machines , which represented narrows , sectional interests rather than the interests of the nation as a whole

Question 14

hitler claimed that the Nazi Party was the ‘ racial core ‘ of the entire German people , although

Answer 14

its members were a minority of the population , even after a surge of membership in 1933
Hitler believed it was nevertheless made up of superior germans and was committed to fighting and sacrificing on behalf of the entire German people

Question 15

in the nazi volksgemeinschaft therefore, there could be no parties other than the

Answer 15

Nazi Party

Question 16

by the middle of July 1933 , this ambition had become a reality and had been achieved by a number of stages

Answer 16

• KPD was effectively banned after the reichstag fire in February , most of the communists who had not been arrested and impriosned into concentration camps had fled into exile
• having stood up to hitler in the reichstag debate on the enabling act in March , the SPD continued to voice its opposition to the regime until it was outlaws as a ‘ party hostile to the nation and the state ‘ on 22 June 1933.
• realising that their days as political parties were numbered , the DNVP and the centre party dissolved themselves , DNVP on 27 June and the centre party on 5th July
• on 14 July 1933 , the law against the formation of new parties outlawed all non-nazi political parties

Question 17

the Weimar Republic was a federal state in which a large number of powers were devolved to

Answer 17

state governments
- each state for example controlled its own police force

Question 18

Prussia , the largest of the German states , compromised 60% of territory and 50% of the population of the entire country , it was so large that its state government could

Answer 18

operate largely independent of the central government

Question 19

in July 1932 however the Prussian government was dismissed by

Answer 19

papen and a reich comisisoner had been appointed to run the state
- in hitlers cabinet after jan 1933 this position was held by Goering

Question 20

the dismissing of the Prussian government , paved the way for the

Answer 20

centralisation of power within the whole reich , which the nazis began in march 1933

Question 21

31st March 1933

Answer 21

first law for the co ordination of the federal states dissolved the existing state assemblies and replaced them with nazi dominated assemblies

Question 22

7 April 1933

Answer 22

the second law for the co ordination of the federal states created the new post of Reich governor to oversee the government of each state. These new RG’s were accountable to the minster of the interior and responsible for ensuring that the state governments followed the policies laid down by central government

Question 23

30 January 1934

Answer 23

the law for reconstruction of the reich took the centeralisation process a stage further . state assemblies were abolished and the governments of the states were formally subordinated to the government of the reich. This meant that the posts of RG’s had now become redundant but Hitler did not abolish the posts . Rivalry and tension between state government and RGs continued in the coming years.

Question 24

14 February 1934

Answer 24

the Reichstrat was abolished.This was the parliamentary assembly to which state assemblies sent delegates. Since the state assemblies no longer existed it was a logical next step to abolish the Reichstrat

Question 25

the nazi party had its own organisational structures at both

Answer 25

national and local level

Question 26

at state level the nazi leaders , known as Gauliters , wanted to control

Answer 26

local government and many of them took over the roles of the Reich Governors within their areas

Question 27

the nazis also instituted violent campaigns to oust political opponents from important local positions such as

Answer 27

town mayors and replace them with nazi nominees

Question 28

however the precise relationship between the party and the state at local level as at national level was

Answer 28

never clearly defined

Question 29

under the kaiser civil servants enjoyed a status almost on par with

Answer 29

soliders

Question 30

the higher ranks of the civil service were recruited almost exclusively from the aristocracy and civil servants closely identified wit

Answer 30

the authoritarian values of the second empire
- these conservative minded civil servants would not embrace the democratic values of Weimar and many welcomed to appointment of hitler in 1933

Question 31

their support for the regime however was based on a misunderstanding , they believed that the

Answer 31

conservative minster in hitlers cabinet would restrain the nazis and allow the civil service to continue serving the state in the same way as under the kaiser

Question 32

what civil servants had failed to understand was that the nazis had no intention of being bound by the rules and regulations that

Answer 32

civil servants had to follow

Question 33

the nazis regarded the civil service as an obstacle to

Answer 33

their exercise of dictatorial power

Question 34

many local officials were forced to resign and were replaced by nazi party appointees , most of whom had

Answer 34

no experience in government

Question 35

the nazi SA also began to place party officials in government offices to ensure that civil servants were

Answer 35

carrying out the orders of the regime.
All of this placed the nazis firmly in control

Question 36

in January 1933 the SA was the Nazis main instrument of

Answer 36

terror and violence

Question 37

one of the immediate results of the nazis coming to power was the

Answer 37

rapid exapinsion of the SA
- from a membership of 500,000 in January 1933 the organisation grew to about 3 million a year later

Question 38

another result of the nazis being in power was that the activities of the SA gained

Answer 38

legal authority

Question 39

in late February 1933 , the SA and the Stahlehm were merged and recognised as

Answer 39

auxiliary police
orders were issued to regular police forces forbidding them from interfering with SA activities

Question 40

Hitler benefitted from the violence of his supports , but he was not always in control of events , much of the SA violence agsint the nazis political opponents and jews was

Answer 40

unplanned , uncoordinated and piecemeal

Question 41

in the period from February to June 1933 , when the nazis were eliminating opposition and establishing undisputed control , Hitler was prepared to go

Answer 41

at the flow of SA violence
- he was careful to ensure that the SA did not attack the state itself

Question 42

assaults on the police and the army were avoided as Hitler was careful not to alienate those

Answer 42

conservative forces that had shoe-horned him into power

Question 43

violence was a vital tool in the hands of the nazi leadership but , in its uncontrolled form its usefulness was

Answer 43

limited and at some point Hitler was bound to call it to halt

Question 44

In July 1933 Hiter made a speech to the SA warning that , in the future the SA could become

Answer 44

the target for Nazi violence and terror.
However he did not act on this warning till 11 months later.

Question 45

in July 1933 , after passing the law against formation of new parties , Hitler was able to declare that

Answer 45

the Nazi revolution was over
- he had acquired dictatorial powers , all other parties had been banned or had voluntarily dissolved themselves and the process of Gleichschaltung had been complete.

Question 46

For Ernst Rohm the leader of the SA , however the Nazi revolution was far from complete and the SA was determined to

Answer 46

continue with their violence until they had achieved the second revoloution.

Question 47

chief among Rohms aims was for the SA to become the

Answer 47

nucleus of a new national militia that would eventually absorb and replace the existing army.

Question 48

With a combined SA and Stahlem membership of 4.5 million in January 1934 , Rohms forces already

Answer 48

vastly outnumbered the army

Question 49

However since the summer of 1933 the role and importance of the SA had declined , in august 1933 they had lost their

Answer 49

auxiliary police status and were subject to stricter regulations over their powers of arrest

Question 50

in the election campaign of November 1933 , there was only one party hence there was no longer a

Answer 50

need for SA violence and intimidation ,

Question 51

lacking an official outlet for their violence and feeling resentment at the way that former conservative opponents of the nazis were allowed to join the party and take important jobs in local government , SA members became

Answer 51

disillusioned and relentless as such drunken brawls became a feature of the SA and the police became targets of the SA when they tried to intervene

Question 52

the army remained the only institution with the power to

Answer 52

remove Hitler from office

Question 53

it was also loyal to Hindenburg , not hitler , despite the fact that Werner von Bromberg , the defence minster had brought it

Answer 53

closer to nazi ideology , the army was not a nazified institution and still retained some independence

Question 54

the ambitions of the SA and its leader Rohm were regarded as a serious threat by the army leaders , the more so when in the summer of 1934

Answer 54

SA units began stopping army convoys and confiscating weapons and supplies

Question 55

moreover the pressure on Hitler increased on 17th June when papen made a major speech at

Answer 55

Marburg university in which he criticised Nazi excesses .
Papen called for an end to terror and for Hitler to clamp down on the SA’s call for a second revolution.

Question 56

papers speech had Hindenburgs approval and despite goebbels efforts to censor it , it

Answer 56

was reported in the press

Question 57

When Blomberg again with Hindenbergs support , threatened to declare martial law and give

Answer 57

the army power to deal with the SA , matters came to a head.

Question 58

Hitler had dithered since the spring 1934 , delaying taking decisive action against the SA , but in June he knew he could not wait any longer and started

Answer 58

a ruthless purge on the SA , known as the night of the long knives launched on the 30th June 1934 , when the SS acting on Hitlers ordered eliminated the leadership of the SA and many other political opponents of the Nazis