Background to Hitler’s Rise to Power

1. 1923-1933 Background to Hitler’s Rise to Power

2. Solving the 1923 Economic Problems • The crisis caused in Germany by hyperinflation was eventually brought under control by the new Chancellor Gustav Stresseman. • He ended the strike in the Ruhr and got production going again. • All the old currency was collected and burned and a new, strong currency was brought in called the Rentenmark. The German main bank was also reformed to prevent the problem happening again.

3. This was only possible with financial support from the USA. A committee was put together under the leadership of the American Charles Dawes. Huge American loans were organised that helped bring economic stability to Germany and encouraged foreign investment. As a result the economy started to recover, jobs were created and people now had wages to spend. In 1929 Stresemann reached another agreement with the USA called the Young Plan which reduced reparation payments further. American Aid- The Dawes Plan and the Young Plan

4. The Dawes Plan- Ruhr & Reparations • In addition, it was agreed that France and Belgium were to leave the Ruhr and reparation payments were to be scaled down to more manageable levels.

5. The Golden Years 1924-29 • Stresemann later became foreign minister and under his leadership Germany began to regain international respect again. • In the Treaty of Locarno he agreed to accept the terms of Versailles regarding Germany’s Western border (ie: the Rhineland should be demilitarised). • Germany then joined the League of Nations in 1926.

6. What happened to the Nazis? • During the Golden Years there was widespread prosperity. Unemployment was low and people were content with the Weimar government. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQ-Eu93Zss • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=vW53_bUhgOI&NR=1 • As a result, support for extremist political groups like the Nazis and the Communists fell. • At the end of 1924 the Nazis won just 13 seats in the Reichstag elections and by 1928 this had fallen to just 12!

7. Wall Street Crash • It looked as if Germany had recovered from the disaster of WWI and the bitterness of the Treaty of Versailles. • But at the end of 1929 disaster struck: • Stresemann dies • The US economy collapsed following the collapse of its stock market. This was known as the Wall Street Crash. • As a result loans from the USA dried up.

8. What happened next? • The economic collapse of the USA had worldwide consequences. • By 1932 6 million Germans were unemployed and Germany, again, was deep in Depression. • In desperation Germans again turned to extremist parties who promised they could make Germany strong again. • The main extremist groups were the Nazis and the Communists.

9. The Reichstag Fire The Enabling Act The Night of the Long Knives The death of Hindenburg Hitler’s Consolidation of Power

10. How did Hitler become Chancellor? • Alfred Hugenberg Big Business Hitler General Kurt von Schleicher President Hindenburg Franz von Papen

11. Alfred Hugenberg & Big Business • In 1929 Alfred Hugenberg offered his support to Hitler. • This was very useful because he owned most of Germany’s cinema industry and many local newspapers. • Through his media empire Hugenberg could make sure Hitler gained national publicity. • Hugenberg also had rich friends in Big Business who believed the Nazis would be useful allies in the fight against communism. • As a result the Nazis gained respectability and financial support from a number of Germany’s wealth businessmen.

12. January 1932 Elections • Hitler used brutal methods to put down opposition parties in the January election. • In one incident in Silesia, a young member of the KPD had his eyes poked out with a billiard cue and was then stabbed to death in front of his mother. Four members of the SA were convicted of the crime but Hitler sent a letter of support for the four men and promised to help get them released. • However despite his dislike of Hitler, Hindenburg eventually offered Hitler the job of Chancellor in January 1933. • He couldn’t ignore the Nazis had won 230 seats out of a possible 608.

13. Hindeburg, von Papen, von Schleicher • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSjkpaXlXIE (start at 2:01:00- 2:11:00) • By using the system effectively and taking advantage of political disputes between other parties, Hitler was able to become Chancellor legally. • However his position was weak. He needed to consolidate his power.

14. Definition of ‘Consolidation’ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnqZl_blT7E&feature=related • To consolidate something means to make it stronger. • Hitler consolidated his position by making it stronger. • When he become Chancellor in January 1933 his position was weak. However by consolidating his position by 1934 he had become dictator of Germany with no one to challenge him. • How did he manage this?

15. A weak position to begin! • After being invited to become Chancellor in January 1933 Hitler initially found himself in a weak position. • President Hindenburg did not trust Hitler and only offered him the job of Chancellor due to von Papen’s persuasion. • Von Papen commented "Within two months we will have pushed Hitler so far in the corner that he'll squeak." • Only 2 out of 9 cabinet members were Nazis. • The Nazis lacked a majority in the Reichstag.

16. Hitler’s Consolidation of Power- the 3Ps • Hitler had 3 problems to overcome before he had absolute power in Germany: PARTY The Night of the Long Knives PRESIDENT Declares himself Fuhrer PARLIAMENT Reichstag Fire Enabling Act

17. Hitler’s Consolidation of Power • Once Fuhrer, he quickly established a Totalitarian State FEAR & INTIMIDATION PROPAGANDA & CENSORSHIP TERROR INDOCTRINATION

18. Reichstag Fire Decree Enabling Act Parliament

19. The Reichstag Fire • An election was called for March 1933 to give Hitler an overall majority in the Reichstag. • However on February 27th 1933 The Reichstag (German Parliament) burnt down. • A young Communist named van derLubbe was caught red-handed with matches and fire-lighting materials. He was arrested and Hitler declared a state of emergency.

20. The Reichstag Fire- The Communists are coming! • Hitler convinced Hindenburg and the German people that a Communist (KPD) Revolution was imminent and that he need to be granted emergency powers to deal with the threat. • He was granted new powers under Article 48 to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree. • KPD candidates in the election were arrested and Hermann Goering announced that the Nazi Party planned "to exterminate" German communists.

21. Reichstag Fire Decree • The decree suspended most of the freedoms set out in the Weimar Constitution. • This included freedom of expression, freedom of the press, the right of free association and public assembly, secrecy of the post and telephone, and the protection of property and the home.

22. Impact of the Reichstag Fire Decree • This meant the Nazis could now legally arrest anyone who disagreed with them, ban any opposition parties (particularly the Communists), and shut down any newspapers who spoke out against them. • Public meetings were broken up • Local police worked with the SA. • After the Reichstag fire 4000 Communists were arrested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcr3upKXl8I

23. March 1933 Election Results

24. March 1933 Election Results During this election the Communist and the Social Democrat Parties had been banned. It’s therefore pretty amazing that 12 million people voted for what were effectively two outlawed parties when the intimidation of voters is taken into account.

25. March 1933 Election Results • The Nazis made it very difficult for the opposition parties to campaign properly. The SA broke up meetings and many leaders of opposition parties were arrested or had gone into exile. • However the Nazi Party still failed to win an overall victory in the election on 5th March, 1933. • The NSDAP (Nazis) only received 44% of the vote and only 288 seats out of the available 647. • This meant under the Proportional Representation (PR) system the Nazis would have to work with another party to govern Germany. • Hitler was not prepared to do this so...

26. The Enabling Act • ...The Nazis passed the Enabling Act. • This allowed Hitler to pass laws without consulting parliament. • To get the law passed the SA stopped opposition deputies going in, and beat up anyone who dared to speak against it. • The Communist Party was banned, followed quickly by Trade Unions. • All other political parties were also now banned.

27. The Enabling Act • Hitler no longer needed anyone else’s support. He was a dictator and had achieved it by legal means. • He now had to ensure no one in his own party could challenge him.

28. Hitler’s Consolidation of Power PARTY The Night of the Long Knives PRESIDENT Declares himself Fuhrer PARLIAMENT Reichstag Fire Enabling Act

29. Night of the Long Knives Party

30. What was The Night of the Long Knives? • The Night of the Long Knives, in June 1934, saw the wiping out of the SA's leadership and others who had angered Hitler in the recent past in Nazi Germany. After this date, the SS (which the Gestapo was part of) lead by Heinrich Himmler was to become far more powerful in Nazi Germany.

31. Who was Ernst Röhm? • Ernst Röhm was the leader of the SA and had been a loyal follower of Hitler since the early days of the Nazi Party. • By 1934 the SA had grown to around 3 million men. • The SA had been the muscle the Nazis used to disrupt other political parties meetings before January 1933. • The SA was also used to enforce law after Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933.

32. Who were Röhm’s three enemies? • Firstly, Röhm had made enemies within the Nazi Party – Himmler, Goering and Goebbels were angered by the power he had gained and convinced Hitler that this was a threat to his position.

33. Who were Röhm’s three enemies? • Secondly Röhm had made enemies among the rich industrialists who funded the Nazi Party. • They were afraid that Röhm was actually a socialist and would threaten their wealth. • They included men like Gustav Krupp who owned huge steel factories later involved in building tanks and during WWII used forced labour from concentration camps such as Auschwitz.

34. Who were Röhm’s three enemies? • Finally, the regular army leaders saw the SA as a threat to their authority. • The SA outnumbered the army by 1934, and Röhm had openly spoken about taking over the regular army by absorbing it into the SA. Such talk alarmed the army's leaders.  • Hitler therefore made a pact with the army. If Röhm and the other SA leaders were removed, the rank and file SA men would come under the control of the army but the army would have to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. The army agreed and Röhm's fate was sealed.

35. What happened? • Goering and Himmler asked Reinhard Heydrich (head of the Gestapo) to put together a dossier on Röhm. Heydrich, put together false evidence that suggested that Röhm had been paid 12 million marks by the French to overthrow Hitler. • Lists of potential enemies outside the SA were also drawn up. • On 30th June 1934 Hitler then ordered Röhm and his key officers to attend a meeting with him at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee near Munich.

36. Describe the Night of the Long Knives • On the night of June 29th - June 30th 1934, units of the SS arrested Röhm, other leaders of the SA and other political opponents. • Hitler personally arrested Röhm. • Men such as Gregor Strasser (a former Nazi), von Schleicher (the Chancellor before Hitler) and von Kahr were arrested even though none of them had any connection with Röhm. • The arrests carried on for 2 more nights.

37. How many were killed? • Seventy seven men were executed on charges of treason though historians tend to think the figure is higher. • Von Kahr's fate was especially gruesome. His body was found in a wood outside Munich; he had been hacked to death, apparently with pickaxes.

38. What happened to Röhm? • SS officers went in Röhm's cell, handed him a loaded Browning pistol, and told him that he had ten minutes to kill himself, or else they would do it for him. • Röhm answered, "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself.“ • Having heard nothing, they returned to Röhm's cell to find him standing, with his bare chest puffed out in a gesture of defiance. • He was then shot dead at point-blank range.

41. Death of Hindenburg President

42. Death of President Hindenburg • The only block to Hitler’s absolute control of Germany was now President Hindenburg. • However Hindenburg was by now a very old man and died in August 1934 aged 87. • Hitler used the opportunity to give him a state funeral. • He made the army swear an oath of personal loyalty to him. • He also dropped the title president and adopted the title Fuhrer (leader). • He was now an absolute dictator- there was no one able or willing to challenge his power.

43. Hitler’s Consolidation of Power Complete Power! PARTY The Night of the Long Knives PRESIDENT Declares himself Fuhrer PARLIAMENT Reichstag Fire Enabling Act

44. Useful websites • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vPH4VHo_ig&feature=related (20th Century History) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcr3upKXl8I (Firestarter) • http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Nazi_Germany_dictatorship.htm • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPoqgdCha7M (Hitler The Rise of Evil)