The Nazi Dictatorship 1933-39 Flashcards
When was the Reichstag Fire?
27th February 1933
What happened at the Reichstag Fire
Marinus van der Lubbe was found at the sight with firelighters and matches. He confessed and five were arrested
Lubbe was executed and the other four were found not guilty
What did hitler do after the Reichstag fire
He made goering the chief of police and they claimed Lubbe was part of a communist conspiracy theory and communism was a huge threat
He made Hindenburg declare a state of emergency which meant another election was called in March and hitler hoped he would get a majority
He issued the decree for the protection of the people and state which meant he could imprison political opponents
Also he persuade Krupp and big insutrialists to support him even more because of the communist attacks and he received 3 million marks
What happened at the March 1933 election
Hitler won but still didn’t have the majority so he banned the communist party, taking their 81 seats and then he had the support of the nationalist party and persuaded the centre party to join him which meant he now had a 2/3 majority in the Reichstag
What was the Enabling Act?
It changed the constitution of the Weimar Republic
It gave hitler the right to make laws every four years without the consent of the Reichstag
How were trade unions affected during the enabling act?
Hitler banned trade unions and made strikes illegal
How did the enabling act affect political parties
All political parties were illegal apart from the Nazi party
How was the local government affected by the enabling act?
He abolished local governments (Länder governments) and declared that governors appointed by him would run every region of Germany
Why did the night of the long knives happen?
Hitler feared Ernst Röhm because he was the leader of the SA which had 3 million members which could easily challenge Hitler. Röhm also disagreed with hitler sometimes and wanted more socialist reforms
Röhm also wanted the SA to overrule the German army which only had 100,000 members
What happened at the night of the long knives?
In 1934 leaders of the SS and the army warned hitter that Röhm was planning to seize power.
So on the 30th June 1934, hitler arranged for Röhm and several other senior officers of the SA to be arrested imprisoned and shot
Röhm was left in a prison cell with a pistol to convince him to commit suicide. After fifteen minutes the SS brigade leader shot him
Six other SA leaders were shot from hitlers orders
Von papens house was surrounded and his staff was arrested and his secretary was shot
Von Schleicher and his wife were shot and so was Strasser who had views like Röhm
When did Hindenburg die and what did hitler do when he died?
2nd August 1934
Hitler declared himself Führer
He would be president and chancellor
He forced an oath of loyalty to him from every soldier
He made another public vote to confirm hitler as leader and with a bombardment of pro Nazi propaganda, hitler won 90% of the vote
Why would the German people by worried about the SS?
It was the nazis private police force and they were totally loyal to hitler and they would punish anyone who spoke against hitler or Nazi values.
They also heavily believed in racial purification so didn’t like anyone who was not fully German and could send people like Jews or non Germans to concentration camps
What was the Gastapo? Why did Germans fear them?
The Gastapo was Hitler’s non-uniformed secret police force set up in 1933 ran by Heydrich
Germans could not tell them apart from the rest of the public and the gestapo could arrest anyone who spoke against Nazi ideas and they would be imprisoned without trial
How many people were arrested by 1939 for speaking against nazis and not actually committing a criminal act?
150,000 people
Why did Germans fear concentration camps?
If you went to a concentration camp you were extremely unlikely to get out. You’d be isolated from all your family. You were forced to do labour and after 1939 they were used for mass murder.
