How did Hitler create a dictatorship?

Question 1

What was the cause of the Reichstag fire?

Answer 1

• When Hitler became Chancellor, there were only two other Nazis in the cabinet of twelve - Wilhelm Frick and Hermann Georing.
• Hitler’s position as Chancellor was not strong because the Nazis and his allies, the Nationalist Party, did not have a majority in the Reichstag. Furthermore, Hindenburg detested him.
• However, it was soon clear that Papen’s claim that he would be able to control Hitler was utterly wrong.

Question 2

How did the Reichstag fire happen?

Answer 2

• Hitler immediately called a general election for 5 March, hoping it would give him a clear majority in the Reichstag.
• If he controlled parliament then he would be able to make the laws that would be needed to tighten his grip on the nation.
• Violence and terror were again seen in this election campaign and there were about 70 deaths in the weeks leading up to voting day.
• One week before the election, on 27 February, the Reichstag building was set on fire.
• It is not known who started the fire, but Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist, was found at the scene of the fire and arrested.
• This was ideal opportunity for Hitler and Geobbels to exploit.
• They claimed that van der Lubbe had started the fire and that the Communists were about to stage a takeover.

Question 3

What were the consequences of the Reichstag fire?

Answer 3

• On the day following the fire, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to sign the ‘Decree for the Protection of People and State.’
• The decree replaced the constitutional government by a permanent state of emergency and suspended basic civil rights.
• It allowed the Nazis to imprison large numbers of their political opponents.
• In the week after the fire, 4,000 Communist Party members were arrested including the leader, Ernst Thalmann.
• In addition, the SA killed 51 Nazi opponents and injured several hundred. The police did nothing. Communist and socialist newspapers were banned.

Question 4

Why was an Enabling Act needed?

Answer 4

• In the election in March 1933 the Nazis won 288 seats.
• Despite the imprisoning of many of the Socialists and Communists and having all the advantages of media control, the Nazis did not win a majority of votes, even though they increased their vote by 5.5 million on the November election.
• Therefore, a coalition government was formed with the National Party, ensuring a majority in the Reichstag.
• Even having a majority, Hitler was disappointed because he needed two-thirds of the seats in order to be able to change the constitution.

Question 5

What was the Enabling Act?

Answer 5

• The Enabling Act would give him and his government full powers for the next four years and would mean that the Reichstag would become a rubber stamp for Nazi activities.
• As Chancellor, Hitler would have greater powers than the President.
• The Enabling Act was passed but by devious means.
• The Communist Party could not prevent the passing of the Act because its members were in jail and the Centre Party decided to support the Act because Hitler promised to respect the rights of the Catholic Church.
• The Enabling Act became law on 24 March and this signalled the end of the Weimar constitution and democracy.
• Hitler could now move to secure close control of the nation by means of this new law.

Question 6

What was Hitlers aim with the Enabling Act?

Answer 6

• With the new Enabling Act, Hitler was in a position to bring German society into line with Nazi philosophy.
• This policy was called Gleichschaltung.
• It would create a truly national socialist state and would mean that every aspect of the social, political and economic life of German citizen was controlled and monitored by the Nazis.

Question 7

When was the end of trade unions?

Answer 7

• On 2 May 1933, all trade unions were banned.
• The Nazis said that a national community had been created and therefore such organisations were no longer needed.
• The Nazi German Labour Front (DAF) were set up to replace not only trade unions but also employers’ groups.
• Wages were decided by the DAF and workers recieved workbooks, which recorded the record of employment.
• Employment depended on the ownership of a workbook.
• Strikes were outlawed and any dissenters would be sent to the new prisons - concentration camps - for political re-education.
• The first concentration camp opened at Dachau in March 1933.
• There could be no challenge to the Nazi state.

Question 8

When was there the banning of political parties?

Answer 8

• On 14th July 1933, the Law against the Formation of Parties was passed, which made the Nazi party the sole legal political party in Germany.
• However, before this law was passed, the existing parties had experienced some severe restrictions.
• The Communist Party members had not been allowed to take their seats in the Reichstag and property had been confiscated.
• On May 10th, the Socialist Party had its headquarters and other property seized.
• In June, the Socialists gave up their seats in the Reichstag and by the end of June, all the other parties had dissolved themselves.
• Germany was now a one party state.

Question 9

When was the abolition of the Lander?

Answer 9

• Hitler also broke down the federal structure of Germany.
• There were eighteen Lander (districts), and each had its own parliament.
• Ebert had issued more than 130 emergency decrees to overrule some of the Lander.
• Hitler decided that the Lander were to be run by Reich governors and their parliaments were abolished in January 1934.
• Thus he centralised Germany for the first time since its creation in 1871.

Question 10

What was the cause of the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 10

• The Night of the Long Knives was the purging of Hitler’s political and military rivals in the SA.
• One cause of the removal of the leaders of the SA was the need to win the support of the army.
• In addition, in the first moths of his Chancellorship, Hitler saw the SA as a major threat.

Question 11

Who was the SA?

Answer 11

• The SA had played a key part in the growth of the Nazis and by 1933 they were well known across Germany.
• Most of the SA were working-class men who favoured the socialist views of the Nazi programme.
• They were hoping that Hitler would introduce reforms to help the workers.

Question 12

How had the SA helped the Nazi programme and why did it cause tension?

Answer 12

• During the first months of 1933 the SA had helped to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation when GLEICHSCHALTUNG was introduced.
• Some leading Nazis, such as Wilhelm Frick and Hermann Georing felt that the activities of the SA might cause a backlash against Hitler and began to look for ways of controlling them.
• Georing was concerned that the army might step in.
• There was further tension because Ernst Rohm, leader of the SA, wanted to incorporate the army into the SA and was disappointed with Hitler’s close relations with industrialists and the army leaders.
• Rohm wanted more government interference in the running of the country in order to help ordinary citizens.
• He wanted to move away from Germany’s class structure and bring greater equality.
• In effect, Rohm wanted a social revolution.

Question 13

Why was there added tension?

Answer 13

• There was added tension for Hitler because his personal bodyguard, the SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, wished to break away from the SA.
• Goering (head of the GESTAPO) wanted to lead teh armed forces and he too saw an opponent in Rohm.

Question 14

What happened on the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 14

• Hitler took action in June, following information from Himmler that Rohm was about to seize power. On 30 June 1934, Rohm and the main leaders of the SA were shot by members of the SS.
• Hitler also took the opportunity to settle some old scores: former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher was murdered, as was Gregor Strasser, a key figure among the Nazis with socialist views similar to Rohm.
• Figures vary, but it is thought that about 400 people were murdered in the purge.

Question 15

What was the impact of the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 15

• The Night of the Long Knives is often seen as the turning point for Hitler’s rule in Germany.
• He eradicated would-be opponents and secured the support of the army.
• The SA was relegated to a minor role and if there was any doubt about Hitler’s rule, it was now clear that fear and terror would play significant roles.

Question 16

How did Hitler get the support of the army?

Answer 16

• Hitler had been keen to secure the support of the army since his appointment as Chancellor.
• He was aware that army officers did not like the SA and that they viewed its activities with distaste.
• He began to think that if he removed the SA, he could win the support of the army in his bid for the presidency because the army felt threatened by the SA and many of the army leaders did not like its socialist nature.
• Hindenburg was becoming very frail and Hitler sought to combine his own post and that of President.
• The Night of the Long Knives was important of Hitler because the army leaders offered their support after the leaders of the SA were assassinated.
• For Hitler, the purging of the SA was crucial because he had had his opponents murdered and there had been no opposition to his actions.
• As a result, he grew in confidence, especially when a law was passed on 3 July 1934 which stated that Hitler’s actions during the Night of the Long Knives were legal.

Question 17

What happened when Hindenburg died?

Answer 17

• On the death of Hindenburg in August 1934, the army swore allegiance to Hitler who, having combined the posts of Chancellor and President, was now their Fuhrer.
• Hitler decided he needed to seek the approval of the German people when he combined the posts.
• In the referendum that followed, more than 90 per cent of the voters agreed with his action. Only four and a half million voted against him.
• With his new title, the support of the army and the resounding vote in he referendum, Hitler and the Nazi Party were in an extremely secure position.