How did Hitler consolidate his power in 1933?

1. How did Hitler consolidate his power in 1933?

2. What were the limitations to power? • Hitler was chancellor and leader of a cross party cabinet that included only 3 Nazi’s. • The most important politician in Germany in 1933, was President Hindenburg. Behind his power was not just prestige but also the army. • Hitler was also constrained by the power of institutions from the Reichstag to local government. The civil service, churches, and the press all stood as potential barriers to the Nazification of the political system. • The Socialists wielded power through the trade unions. In some places such as Berlin, the Nazi vote was only 22.5%. • Hitler’s government would be judged on how they dealt with the economy, this was a big problem. The Nazi party had risen to power on the back of considerable discontent, with the political systems inability to deal with the economic problems. • For many of the middle class, the violence and thuggery of the parts of the Nazi movement were a great concern. To get broad political support Hitler had to be seen as law abiding and respectable.

3. How had the Nazi party consolidated power by the end of 1933? • There were high levels of collaboration of individuals and institutions with the regime, as there were aspects of the government they supported. • The Nazi’s also used propaganda effectively as a means of deceiving the political nation of their real intentions and the significance of their actions. • The Nazi party used terror and violence with ruthlessness. • The use of violence by the Nazi party, was balanced by an attempt to ensure that the consolidation of power had the veneer of legality.

4. Were the Communists really a threat? • The SA began to wreck revenge on National Socialism. • A decree in Prussia in February resulted in the police being reinforced by ‘volunteers’ -the SA. • The widely perceived threat of a communist seizure of power, is the crucial factor in explaining how the Nazi’s were able to undermine the constitution of the Weimar Republic. • It explains why many non-Nazi groups were willing to go along with the initial phase of the Gleichschaltung(coordination). • The strength of the communist movement in Germany and its potential to challenge the Nazis was real. • In the two elections of 1932, the Communist party KPD had seen its share of the vote increase from 14.3% in July to 16.9% in November. • The socialists paramilitary wing ,dominated the streets in a number of towns and cities in Germany. In the election of November 1932, the Socialist party got 20.4% of the vote.

5. Why did the Communist not challenge Hitler? • The Communists misread the situation, the Communists believed that Hitler’s government would not last. • The Communists saw Hitler’s election as a crisis in the capitalist system, that would lead to political and economic collapse, and the victory of Communism. The best tactic in their eyes was to do nothing. • The Communists were provoked by:- appointment of 50,000 SA, SS and Stahlhelm (nationalist paramilitary) members as auxiliary policemen. On the 22nd of February there was a wave of violence against Communists and Socialists. • On the 24th of February the police raided and ransacked the head office of the KPD. Evidence was discovered in the raid that pointed to a Communist plot to seize power.

6. Why was the left so weak? • The SPD leadership were unsure how to respond, to react violently would play into the hands of the Nazi leadership. • The Nazi leadership were clearly trying to undermine the ability of the Socialists to function effectively as a political movement. The Nazis had tried to close down Socialist newspapers, and SA members frequently disrupted political meetings. • Another problems of the left was the split between the Communist and Socialist parties. The Communists hated the Socialist as much as the Fascists.

7. Who set the Reichstag on fire? • Hitler believed his own propaganda that the Communists aimed to stage a take over of power. • On the night of the 27th of February, Marinus Van der Lubbe set fire to the Reichstag at a protest at the repression of the working class. • Hitler and the Nazi’s said that the fire, was the first act in the long awaited Communist backlash. • It was an opportunity to crush the Communists and suspend large parts of the Weimar Constitution. • The Nazi could use legal means to begin the seizure of power. The Nazi issued an Emergency Decree.

8. What did the Emergency decree really mean? • The Emergency Decree ended the rights to freedom of speech, free press, and freedom of assembly. The police were given powers to detain suspects indefinitely without reference to the courts. • The Emergency Decree allowed the cabinet, to intervene in the government of the states that together formed Germany. This was previously the prerogative of the president, and it marked a significant change in power. • Goebbels made sure the Nazi propaganda machine, portrayed the Emergency Decree as a necessary step in the battle against Communists.

9. Was this the end of democracy? • The decree was a key example of the Nazi’s putting a legal front on their activities, but in reality the Emergency Decree signalled the collapse of the rule of law. • Hitler even said in a meeting on the 28th of February that the struggle against Communists must ‘not be dependent on judicial considerations’. • The Emergency Decree was used to justify the arrest and torture of thousand of political opponents. • The leader of the KPD Ernst Thalmann was arrested on the 3rd of March, and 25,000 political prisoners were in custody in Prussia alone by April.

10. What happened in the March 1933 elections? • Despite the intimidation of rivals, the Nazi’s managed to get only 43.9% of the votes giving them 288 seats, which even with the 52 seats of their nationalist allies, was way short of the 2/3 of seats needed to alter the constitution. • All KPD deputies were barred from the Reichstag (despite gaining 4.8 million votes), the result gave Hitler a distinct political advantage. • The Nazi began the process of destroying political opposition in Germany. In Bavaria on the 22 March, Heinrich Himmler set up a concentration camp at Dachau to house political opponents.

11. What was Potsdam day? • The opening of the Reichstag on the 21st of March atPotsdam was turned into a propaganda triumph, and was used to show the Nazi’s as respectable. It was attended by President Hindenburg, the son of the Kaiser, and many leading generals. • Hitler wore morning dress instead of party uniform. He bowed deeply in front of Hindenburg and made a moderate speech. It reassured many. • Hitler was keen to show he could control the more radical parts of the Nazi movement. • On the same day the Nazi’s passed The Malicious Practises Law which banned criticism of the regime and the policies.

12. What was the Enabling Act of 1933? • On the 23rd of March Hitler presented the Enabling Law before an intimidated Reichstag. • Brown shirted SA men, milled around the chamber and packed the public gallery. • The Enabling Act gave the government the power to pass laws to the cabinet and allowed the government to alter the constitution as it saw fit. It granted Hitler 4 years of power as a dictator. • Hitler needed 2/3 majority vote in favour in the Reichstag and a 2/3 attendance. • The Communist deputies were banned (illegal) from the Reichstag, and Goring the speaker simply reduced the required number of votes needed from 432 to 378. • The Nazi’s needed the support of the Catholic group in the Reichstag the Centre party. • Some in the Nazi movement disliked organised religion, In February 1933 there had been a number of attacks against churches. Hitler assured Ludwig Cass that the Enabling law would not effect the church.

13. Why did the Centre party support the Enabling act? • Von Papen was a leading member of the Centre party and Vice Chancellor, and his influence was reassuring. • Hitler promised he would not restrict Catholic influence in education. • Many Catholic deputies were intimidated by threats of the SA, and did not wish to share the same fate as the Communists. • The only party to oppose the bill was the Socialist SPD. • The act was passed by 444 votes to 94, democracy in Germany had been killed off. Support for the bill came from a wide cross section of the countries political elite, who had helped in the downfall of the Weimar republic. • The Weimar constitution was dead.

14. What was Gleichschaltung? • Hitler tried to coordinate all aspects of Germans political; and social life under Nazi control. • After the Enabling law, the Nazi targeted local state government. • Every German region (Bavaria) had its own state government. • On the 31st of March these were all dissolved. They were reconvened, but with a membership that reflected the recent elections from which communist had been barred. • New state governors (Reichsstatthaulter) were appointed with full powers to introduce Nazi policies. • Law for the restoration of the Professional Civil Service of the 7th of April 1933, Jews and political opponents of the Nazi’s were thrown out of the Civil Service. • Law to Ensure the Unity of Party and State in December 1933-it brought the party and state close together.

15. What other laws were brought in to extend Nazi control? • On the 2nd of May, the offices of the huge Socialist trade union organisation the ADGB was stormed by SA members, the organisation was disbanded and assets seized. Other trade unions voluntarily disbanded. • Professional groups lost their independent organisations and were forced to join Nazi bodies. • The violence and intimidation led many leaders of the Socialist SPD to flee abroad, and on 22nd of June the party was officially banned and its assets seized. 3,000 prominent Socialists who remained in Germany were arrested and a number killed. Some resisted arrest and so were murdered. • On there 14th of July the Nazi party were declared the only political party in Germany. • In January 1934, the Upper house of the Reichstag was abolished. All the local governments were subordinate to the central government.

16. What agreement did the Nazi party make with the Catholic Church? • The last party to voluntarily disband was the Centre party on the 4th July. • Although a number of church people had been intimidated by the SA, the churches posed a threat to the acquisition of absolute power. • In June 1933 a number of prominent members of the Bavarian Centre party were arrested on the orders of Himmler. • Hitler wanted to eliminate the political role of the Church, he would compromise on its social functions for a short time. • The Concordat was signed on the 20th of July, between the Catholic state and the Nazi party. It said that the Catholic church agreed to give up all political activity, but their right to congregate and worship was guaranteed.