Year 13 - the Nazi Dictatorship 1933-39 Flashcards
What was one of the final acts in Hitler’s consolidation of power in 1933-34?
the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ - wide-ranging purge of the SA that Hitler ordered
What had Hitler’s government been granted by the end of March 1933?
exceptional powers by the passing of the Enabling act
What were some of the political and constitutional limits to Hitler’s power in 1933-34?
- Hindenburg had the final say in constitutional matters and the army was loyal to Hindenburg, not to Hitler
- there were a number of political parties that were independent of the regime, some of which e.g. SPD, were prepared to openly voice their opposition
- although the Nazis effectively controlled the state government in Prussia, the largest of Germany’s federal states, elected governments in most other German states were under the control of other parties
What happened in the period between March 1933 and August 1934?
the Nazi’s removed the remaining obstacles to their exercise of dictatorial power
What did coming to power in January 1933 mean to Hitler and his Nazi party?
it was the beginning of a national socialist revolution
How did Hitler’s views on coming to power differ from many Nazis?
- for Hitler it meant the conquest of political power
- for Hitler the Nazi revolution began with acquiring dictatorial power, and then continuing with the elimination of non-Nazi political parties and other independent organisations, together with Nazi control over the institutions of the state at both central and local government level
Who did Hitler’s views on the Nazi revolution differ from in particular and why was this an issue?
the SA had a very different view of the Nazi revolution - caused continuing tensions between Hitler and the SA during the early months of the Nazi regime
How did Hitler view conventional political parties?
with contempt, seeing them as election machines, which represented narrow sectional interests rather than the interests of the nation as a whole
What did Hitler claim about the Nazi party?
it was the ‘racial core’ of the entire German people - although its members were a minority of the population, even after a surge in party membership in 1933, Hitler believed it was nevertheless made up of the superior Germans and was committed to fighting and sacrificing on behalf of the entire German people
Could there be other political parties in the Nazi Volksgemeinshaft?
no there could be no parties other than the Nazi party
What were the stages in which a one-party state were achieved?
1) the KPD was effectively banned after the Reichstag fire in February - most of the communists who had not been arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps had fled into exile
2) having stood up to Hitler in the Reichstag debate on the Enabling act in March, the SPD continued to voice its opposition to the regime until it was outlawed as a ‘party hostile to the nation and the state’ on 22 June 1933
3) realising that their days as a political parties were numbered, the DNVP and the Centre party on 5 July
4) on 14 July 1933, the Law against the Formation of New Parties outlawed all non-Nazi political parties
Why was Prussia so significant?
- the largest of the German states
- comprised 60% of the territory and 50% of the population
- so large its state government could operate largely independent of the central government
What happened to the Prussian State government in July 1932?
it was dismissed by Papen and a Reich Commissioner had been appointed to run the state
Who held the position of Reich Commissioner for Prussian state government in Hitler’s cabinet after 1933?
Goering
Why was Goering being Reich Commissioner for the Prussian State government significant?
paved the way for centralisation of power within the whole Reich
