Establishing a dictatorship Flashcards
What was the ‘stab in the back’ theory?
After he was elected President of the Republic in 1925, Hindenburg was the first to voice the ‘stab in the back’ theory about the Treaty of Versailles, this theory, which he must have known to be false, was that the German army could have won the war, but they were stabbed in the back by the November Criminals.
List two reasons for the collapse of the Weimar government.
Public feelings about the Weimar government - the public had long disliked the association of the government with the Treaty of Versailles, this was only then fueled by Hindenburg’s ‘stab in the back’ theory.
Economic problems and the government’s failure to deal with them - Following the Great depression in the USA in 1929, Germany and other parts of Europe were called to repay their loans to the US. German prices rose rapidly as did unemployment and wages fell.
What did the Enabling Act of March 1933 dictate?
The act bestowed power of government in the chancellor and his coalition and gave Hitler the right to pass laws without the Reichstag for four years.
What was the Right for Hitler to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag called?
The Removal of the Distress of the People and the Reich.
List three important steps to Hitler’s rise to dictatorship.
the Reichstag fire - The Reichstag fire took place in February 1933. The Reichstag building was where Germany’s parliament sat and the fire that destroyed it is seen as one of the defining moments in the early days of Nazi Germany.
Establishment of a one-party state - On July 14 1933 all political parties except the Nazis are banned.
The night of the Long Knives - On June 1934, a number of senior SA officers were arrested and shot the following day. Over the next few days, several hundred people were murdered by the SS.
List three key features of the Nazi state
One nation - The Nazi’s wanted a centralized state, with a centralized administration and were against the division of Germany into Länder.
Control - The Nazi state established tight levels of control over ‘political’ matters by using the Gestapo. Control of its citizens was an important feature of the Nazi state.
Leadership - The whole Nazi state operated on the policy of the Führerprinzip, a strict hierarchical order, where every area of life had someone in charge to tell the people what to do.
Reichstag fire
On February 27, the Reichstag was deliberately burned down. A young Dutch Communist, was caught by the Nazis supposedly carrying evidence to suggest that he had set the fire
Führerprinzip
Meaning ‘leadership principle’. The idea was that, at each level of government from Hitler down , there was always one person in charge.
Volksgemeinschaft
Meaning the ‘people’s community’, the German nation as a racially united body working for the good of the nation.
