Nazi Control & Dictatorship 1933 -39 Flashcards
Election results leading to hitlers election
Nazi Party 196 seats in reichtag winning 33% of overall seats. Hitler was elected in January 1933
What was the reichtag fire
- 1933 27th February the reichtag building was lit on fire
-suspect was Dutch communist van er lubbe who the nazi government who said he was planning a communist take over
What was the impact of the reichtag fire
- the decree for the protection of people and state was passed
-replaced constitutional government and suspended basic civil rights
- it allowed the nazi party to imprison large numbers of their opponents
- 4000 communist party members were killed
-communist leader Ernst thallman was arrested
- communist and socialist newspapers were banned
What was the enabling act
- it would give the nazi party full control over the government for the next four years
- as chancellor hitler would have greater power than the president
When was the enabling act passed
March 24th 1933
Removal of opposition
-2nd of may 1933 all trade unions were banned and was replaced with German labour front DAF
-strikes were banned
-14th of July the law against the formation of political parties was passed meaning the nazi party was the only legally party
-the lander was abolished . The federal districts with their own government was gotten rid of
Night of the long knives
-the purpose of this was to purge hitters rivals in the SA . hitler saw the SA as a threat
-there was tension with the leader of the SA ernst rohm as he wanted complete social revolution with better equality
-hitlers personal bodyguards (SS) wished to break off SA
What actually happened during night of the long knives
- hitler heard that rohm was about to seize power so on 30th June 1934 Hitler had rohm and other main leaders of the SS murdered
- Kurt Vonnegut shleicher was killed
- in total about 400 people were killed
What is gleichaltung
-meant that all aspects of German life would be controlled by the Nazi party
Who was the SD (sichererheitsdienst)
-was the intelligence portion of the Nazi Party
-led by Heinrich himmler
- main aims was to identify potential enemies and to have them removed
Who were the gestapo
-was the secret state police
-set up in 1933 by goering and in 1936 it came under the control of himmler
-the destination for the suspects would be a concentration camp
- by 1939 there was an estimated 160000 people under arrest for political crimes
What were concentration camps
- prison camps to keep people who they deemed a threat to the Nazi agenda
-SS and SD ran the camps but only the gestapo had jurisdiction to arrest people
-the first of those camps was dachau near Munich
Nazi control of the legal system
-in 1934 the peoples court was established to try cases of treason
- the judges were loyal nazis and they knew that the minister of justice would check to see if they were lenient
Nazi attitudes towards the church
-Hitler was unable to persecute Christianity as Germany was a majority Christian country
- Hitler set up ministry of church affairs in 1935 to weaken the catholic and Protestant churches had on the population
-The German faith movement was encouraged buy the nazis to replace Christianity but ultimately it was a failure because only 5% of people joined
-the pope signed a concordat with Hitler to say that he would stay out the church
Gobbles and the ministry of propaganda
-newspapers:non nazi newspapers were closed down by 1935. Theirs reich law in 1933 removed Jewish newspapers
-rallies: annual mass rallies at nurenburg to advertise the nazi state . Local rallies were held by SA and hitler youth
-radio: cheap mass prroduced radios were sold and it meant that the nazi message was broadcast to as many people as possible
Goebbels and the ministry of propaganda pt2
-film : all film plots were shown to goebbles before production meaning that the only fils published would have a Nazi message .
-Posters: they contained a simple but effective message that the Nazi way was the only way to salvation
-literature: all literature was censored and controlled by the Nazi government . Students in Berlin burnt 20,000 books written by anyone who was deemed anti-Nazi . Up to 2000 writers left Germany in may 1939
Nazi control of arts
-Music & theatre: jazz was considered black music which was seen as racially inferior. Instead the Germans encouraged German folk music with classical music from Beethoven and Brahms
-arts & and architecture : hitler hated modern art and he wanted to reject the weak and ugly and artists were told to glorify workers peasants and women.
- paintings showed Nazi ideals of simple peasant life - hard work as heroic - the perfect aryan blonde hair white blue eyes -women should be housewives
Nazi control of sports
-Sport was encouraged in Nazi germany as hitler wanted a healthy population
- the 1936 olympics was staged in Berlin and this gave the nazis a chance to prove the greatness that their regime had brought . Everything had been staged and Jews not wanted signs were removed
- when Jesse Owen’s (a black athlete) won hither refused to present his gold medal and Hitler was displeased
Extent of support for Nazi regimes
-300,000 left Germany
-Hitler removed the army generals who critised his foreign policy aims
-in late 1938 some army general planed to overthrow Hitler , Same year he removed 16 generals therefore tightening his grip on the army
Opposition from young people
-edelweiss pirates : they listened to swing music and they graffitied anti Nazi slogans . The nazis considered their clothes outlandish , check shirts and dark shorts . The earlier groups had number of 2000
- the swing youth: they took part in non Nazi German ideals like girls wearing make up and using bright colours on their lips
Opposition from churches
- pastor martin neimoller opposed Nazi control of church . Many pastors were persecuted. Neimoller was arrested in 1937 and was released from concentration camps in 1945
-despite the concordat in 1933 there where further tensions bet=ween pope and Hitler trying to assume greater control of church
