The Third Reich 1933-34 Flashcards
Hindenburg passes decree to ensure free and peaceful elections (meetings had to be notified to police 48hrs before) - in fact opportunity for Nazis to break up opposition parties’ meetings (‘out of fear for public security’)
4 feb 1933
Goering (minister of interior in Prussia) orders Prussian police not to disrupt SA/nationalist meetings but suppress communist ones severely - said would cover for them if they use firearms despite illegal
17 feb 1933
Goering appoints SA members as auxiliary police officers with same rights - disrupted opposition meetings with violence
22 feb 1933
Reichstag fire - nazis blamed communists (Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe arrested from building) - had arrested 4000 communists by morning
27 feb 1933
Hitler persuades Hindenburg to pass decree for protection of people and state (reichstag fire decree) - granted using article 48 - suspended all civil rights (personal liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly)
- gov could arrest people without trial (could suppress KPD further before election) + search houses/confiscate property + detain people indefinitely without trial
- death penalty for wide range of crimes
- police could ban meetings/close newspapers/round up opponents and send them to makeshift concentration camps/detention centres
- Prussia goering seized radio station
- emergency decree formed legal basis for nazi control of gov for 12 yrs
28 feb 1933
Federal election to reichstag - nazis gained 288 seats (43.9% of vote) - not majority - with DVP (8% vote) still not 2/3 majority to change constitution
5 March 1933
New ministry for public enlightenment and propoganda created - hitler appoints josef goebbels as head - soon controls all media and dissemination of information
13 March 1933
First concentration camp opened at Dachau - detain political opponents - poorly organised + unsuitable sites (old warehouses etc) at first, but held thousands 1933-34
20 March 1933
Day of Potsdam - new reichstag opened - win over more conservative supporters (centre party/army) - many Catholics cooperated with them to retain control of catholic schools
21 March 1933
Enabling act passed - cabinet power to pass laws without reichstag’s permission
-hitler now essentially a dictator
24 March 1933
One day boycott of Jewish businesses/shops (organised by SA)
1 April 1933
Law for restoration of the professional civil service - admin/courts/schools/universities purged of ‘alien elements’ - Jews/nazi opponents/black people
7 April 1933
Hitler granted workers May Day holiday (turned into ‘day of national labour’)
- following day trade union offices seized + unions incorporated into nazi-dominated German Labour Front (DAF)
1-2 may 1933
Employment law - programme of public works (autobahns) to tackle unemployment
9 June 1933
SDP officially banned by state
22 June 1933
Law against the formation of new parties - Germany one party dictatorship - KPD and SPD already banned + other parties dissolved themselves
14 July 1933
Concordat between gov and Catholic Church - nazis would protect religious freedom + Catholic Church banned from political activity
20 July 1933
Reichstag dissolved and another election called
14 oct 1933
93% German voters approved decision to withdraw from LofN + 92.2% voted in support of national socialist candidates - no official opposition candidates but 3m submitted invalid ballots in protest - reichstag lost all political significance
12 nov 1933
Law for the reconstruction of state - elected state assemblies (local govs) dissolved and reichstag governors (often nazi Gauleiters) run states - March 1933 onwards many local govs overthrown by SA
30 jan 1934
Night of long knives - operation hummingbird launched - SS assassinate leading SA figures inc Rohm/political opponents deemed a threat (von Schleicher) - reassures army about hitler’s intentions - hitler claimed had ‘saved nation’ from attempted coup
30 June 1934
Hindenburg dies - hitler becomes head of state: the Fuhrer - German army forced to make an oath of loyalty to him personally - hitler now indispensable to gov
2 aug 1934
Hindenburg agrees to dissolve Reichstag + hold new elections - gives Hitler opportunity to win majority - election 5th March
1 feb 1933
