'Hitler was a dictator who did not dictate' how far do you agree with this?

Question 1

Agree- Hitlers approach to government

Answer 1

Kershaw(dictator who did not dictate)

• Hitler favoured power centred around himself but control of policies were delegated to his many ministers such as Gobbels minister of propaganda
• Hitler hated Berlin and spent most of his time in his Bavaria retreat in the alps (berghof)
• he hated bureaucracy and instead his system of handing out jobs to other members allowed him to put all his focus into rearmament and the war preparation
• the fact so much decision making power was left to minsters suggests despite his title of dictator, he was not fulfilling it as such
• -Ministers with similar jobs and roles introduced to keep them concerned with their own position rather than challenging Hitlers; ie non nazi Schact was economics minster but Göring made plenipotentiary of four year plan

Question 2

Agree- system of government

Answer 2

Reactionary

• many of his actions and procedures were more reactionary and pragmatic rather than planned; Nuremberg laws of 1935 were drafted over night and replaced a foreign policy speech (firstly shows how other people put pressure on him, secondly how he had not distinctly planned how he would deal with the jews)
• a lot of his work was reactionary, including his night of the long knives on 30thJune 1933, which was in response to the growing power of Roëhm and his SA members which outnumbered the Rechswehr of Germany
• chaotic legal system included ‘Peoples courts’ to prosecute ‘enemies’ of the Nazi state, parallel to criminal courts (16,000 peoples courts trials)
• -He also used Gauleiter to influence socio-political problems on a state level from January 1934 when SA violence was used to overthrow state leaders

Question 3

Disagree-

hitlers consolidation

Answer 3

Bullock (intentionalist)
consolidation
-Hitler was pursuing ‘Furherprinzip’ and opposed anyone who he thought threatened this ie Roehm in the night of the long knives, Röehm too powerful with the SA
-the enabling act march 24th 1933 allowed Hitler to pass laws without consulting parliament, which eventually became a one party state anyway
-law against the formation of new parties July 14th
-Control of march 5th elections
-the day after Hindenburg on 2nd August 1934, Hitler makes all army members swear allegiance to him; reinforcing the idea of him being a dictator as he had complete control over one of the most important aspects of the country
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Question 4

Disagree- system of government

Answer 4

Lammers
-Reich chancellery provided a direct link between Hitler and the rest of the ministers, suggesting Hitler did still have a good amount of clout over ministers and was still overseeing their actions
Cabinet
-met 72 times in 1933 and only 12 in 1935, suggests he was pursuing an increasingly dictatorship style of government and he ran the cabinet from above without interference
-only met Darre twice suggesting he was only concerning himself with stuff that he was very interested in
-Removed Blomberg and Fritsch as head of the army in 1937 for disagreeing with his foreign policy
-His seemingly relaxed style of leader and disconnection to a lot of the nazi regime may be indicative of how strong and self assured he felt about his position as leader
-banning the KPD sent out a message to other parties such as the DNVP who dissolved themselves before July 14th 1933 when parties were banned and Germany became a one party state

Question 5

Criteria and judgement

Answer 5

Perhaps it could be best concluded that Hitler was most dictator-like about things he was more concerned about ie the war and the army, this explains why he carried out night of the long knives and made army swear allegiance to him. where there was no clear leadership eg agriculture, where Darre met hitler only twice in 13 years.
-Burleigh suggests it was a mixture of the two, as he dictated where he needed to get things done and created confusion other times