Hitler Takes Political Control Flashcards
The reichstag fire.
February 27th the German governments Reichstag building was set on fire. Near the scene a Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found, apparently holding matches and firelighters.
How does the fire help Hitler?
Hitler used this fire to blame all communists of plotting against the German government and
attack the communists. 4,000 communists were arrested that night.
What did Hitler as Hindenburg to do?
He persuaded Hindenburg to declare a STATE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY - this would give Hitler the right to make decisions on his own and to also have another election.
What did Hitler do with his new emergency power?
Hitler issued a law called the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State.
• It gave him the right to imprison political opponents and ban communist newspapers. He made sure the police in Germany ignored the violence of the SA against the communists.
There were 70 deaths during the election.
•Hitler persuaded rich industrial leaders such as Gustav Krupp to donate money to the Nazi
campaign to stop communism. He made 3 million marks in just one night.
What was the election result and why is it important?
• The Nazis increased the number of politicians in the German government from 230 to 288.
• He also used his emergency powers to ban the Communist Party from using the 81 ‘seats’ they
had won.
•Now, Hitler had a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag. In other words, he had enough
politicians to support him that he could pass any law he wanted.
The enabling act.
Hitler wanted to be able to pass laws without the need for government. Hitler proposed a new law, The
Enabling Act, this Act would allow him to pass any law he pleased without approval from the Reichstag.
For a law like this, the German constitution needed to be changed and this needed 2/3’s majority to pass.
How did Hitler ensure the enabling act passed?
Hitler just made sure they wouldn’t be able to vote and that those who did, voted Nazi
• The Communists had been banned by the Decree for the Protection of People and State, that’s their 81 votes gone.
Now the Communists are gone, all he needs is the Centre Party/ZP a religious catholic party.
• Support of the ZP rounded the Nazis up to the 66% required.
• Hitler gained their support by cancelling the Decree for the Protection of People and State and agreeing to protect the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany
What could Hitler do with the enabling act?
With the Enabling Act now passed, Hitler and the Nazi party are free to enact any law they choose.
• They can now enact laws without the approval of both the parliament in the Reichstag and the President.
• The only person with a similar level of power to Hitler was Hindenburg who still had Article 48, but by now he was very old and fragile.
There wasn’t very much between Hitler and being absolute dictator.
Gleichschaltung
This means bringing into alignment, or in Hitler case, bringing everyone round to the Nazi way of thinking and nazifying all of Germany.
Gleichschaltung took the following forms:
March 1933 all German State Parliaments were closed down and replaced with Nazi majorities.
• April 1933 Jews and political opponents were removed from jobs in the legal profession and civil service.
• April 1933 key positions in the German state governments were given to Nazis.
• May 1933 all trade unions were abolished and replaced by a Nazi Trade Union, the German Labour Front (DAF)
• Youth Clubs and initiatives such as Strength Through Joy (KdF) and the Beauty of Labour (SdA) tried to make people think like the Nazis.
• July 1933 the ‘Law against the Establishment of Political Parties’ made the Nazis the only legal party.
• November 1933 new elections were held in which the Nazis won 92% of the vote.
• January 1934 Hitler introduced the Law for the Reconstruction of the State which abolished all state governments apart from Prussia which was ruled by Hermann Goring, one of Hitlers most loyal followers.
Why was Röhm a threat?
Röhm was more left leaning than the rest of the party, he believed that Hitlers coming to power would be followed by a ‘second revolution’ where the old economic powers would fall. The old system of factory owners and business men would fall and a new system for the people would rise. Along with a change in economics, Röhm believed the SA would replace the army as the defender of the people.
Hitler was concerned about Röhm because?
Röhm had believed the ‘Socialist’ part of the NSDAP and favoured workers
rights.
• Hitler wanted to suppress workers rights to aid the country’s preparations for
a future war – he needed left-wing members gone.
• Hitler also knew he needed these factories and businesses and their owners to
stay on his side while he was consolidating his power. Powerful business men
like Gustav Krupp disliked Röhm’s socialist leanings.
• Hitler still feared the army, they were still one of the few major parts of
German society not under his control.
• Hitler needed the army for his foreign policy aims and many within the army
supported these aims, unlink Röhm and the SA leadership.
Leading Nazis like Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler hated Röhm, he had grown much more powerful than them and they believed that his open homosexuality was not appropriate for a leading Nazi. They ‘uncovered’ a plot involving Röhm and France to overthrow Hitler.
What did Hitler do about Röhm?
To trick the SA leaders, Hitler arranged to meet them for a discussion at Bad Wiessee, in southern Bavaria on June 30th, 1934 in what became known as the Night of the Long Knives.
• Key leaders of the SA are arrested and executed.
• Röhm is arrested and placed in prison. Anyone thought to be a potential threat is arrested over the next two days and most are killed.
Röhm is placed in prison and is initially pardoned by Hitler for his role in building the Nazi party. After pressure from Göring and Himmler Hitler relents and a gun is left in his cell. Refusing to take his own life, on July 1st two SS guards enter the cell and kill him.
• Estimates vary, most place the total dead at around 100-200 while some go as high as 400.
The purge of the SA / Night of the long knives
The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Hitler on July 13.
• It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a
phrase from a popular Nazi song).
• Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had
committed suicide. Others have argued that as many as 400 people were killed during the
purge.
In his speech, Hitler explained why he had not relied on the courts to deal with the conspirators: “In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I become the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason.”
Röhm was replaced by Victor Lutze as head of the SA.
• Lutze was a weak man and the SA gradually lost its power in Hitler’s Germany.
• The Schutzstaffel (SS) under the leadership of Himmler grew rapidly during the next
few years, replacing the SA as the dominant force in Germany.
The death of von Hindenburg
With the SA dealt with, the only man in Germany who could rival Hitler was the president, Hindenburg and all Hitler needed to resolve this problem was time and a little luck.
• August 2nd, 1934 Hindenburg died of lung cancer.
The day before his death, a new law was passed merging the positions of Chancellor and President creating the new position of Führer and Reich Chancellor should Hindenburg die.
