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NS Consolidation and Terror

This lecture explores the events leading to the Nazi Party's rise to absolute power in Germany, including their economic and social policies, the use of terror and resistance against the regime, and controversies surrounding the Reichstag fire. Topics discussed include the propaganda poster "The Reichstag in Flames," the fight for Germany booklet, key figures such as Marinus van der Lubbe and Georgi Dimitrov, and the Enabling Act of 1933.

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NS Consolidation and Terror

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  1. NS Consolidation and Terror History of Germany Lecture 9

  2. Schedule • The Road to Absolute Power: 1933-1934 • Economy and Social Policy • NS Terror • Resistance • Controversies

  3. Reichstag fire

  4. Nazi propaganda poster “The Reichstag in flames” (March elections 1933) Fight for Germany Booklet on German politics before 1933 München, 1933

  5. Marinus van der Lubbe (1909 – 1934) Georgi Dimitrov (1882 – 1948)

  6. Elections to the Reichstag, March 5, 1933

  7. "At this historic hour, we German Social Democrats pledge ourselves to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and Socialism. No Enabling Law can give you the power to destroy ideas which are eternal and indestructible ... From this new persecution too Germany Social Democracy can draw new strength. We send greetings to the persecuted and oppressed. We greet our friends in the Reich. Their steadfastness and loyalty deserve admiration. The courage with which they maintain their convictions and their unbroken confidence guarantee a brighter future." Otto Wels "You can take our lives and our freedom, but you cannot take our honour". "Wir sind wehrlos aber nicht ehrlos." - "We are defenceless but not honorless."

  8. Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich - Law to remedy the need of the people and the Reich (Ermächtigungsgesetz) Article 1 In addition to the procedure prescribed by the constitution [i.e. decision by parliament], laws of the Reich may also be enacted by the government of the Reich. This includes laws as referred to by Articles 85 sentence 2 and Article 87 of the constitution. Article 2 Laws enacted by the government of the Reich may deviate from the constitution as long as they do not affect the institutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The rights of the President remain undisturbed

  9. Potsdam, March 12, 1933

  10. “In our eyes the German boy of the future must be slender and supple, swift as greyhounds, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel. We must bring up a new type of human being, men and girls who are disciplined and healthy to the core. We have undertaken to give the German people an education that begins already in youth and will never come to an end. It starts with the child and will end with the ‘old fighter‘. Nobody will be able to say that he has a time in which he is left entirely alone to himself“. Hitler at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1935

  11. 6-10 Pimpfen (Cubs) 10-14 Deutsches Jungvolk (Young German Boys) 14-18 Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) Reich Labour Service Wehrmacht 10-14 Jung Mädel (Young Girls) 14-18 Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls) 18-21 Glaube und Schönheit – Faith and Beauty NS Frauenwerk – NS Women‘s organisation Nazi organisations for the youth German Labour Front NSDAP German Students‘s league

  12. “It is extremely difficult for parents who are opponents of the Nazis to exercise an influence on their children. Either they ask the child not to talk at school about what is said at home. Then the children get the feeling, aha, the parents have to hide what they think. The teacher permits himself to say everything out loud. So he‘s bound to be right. – Or the parents express their opinion without giving the child a warning. Then it‘s not long before they are arrested or at the very least called up before the teacher, who shouts at them and threatens to report them. – ‘Send your father to the school!‘ That is the normal answer to suspicious doubts and questions on the part of the child. If the father is quiet after such a visit, then he gives the child the impression that he has been convinced by what the teacher has told him, and the effect is far worse than if nothing had ever been said.“ Report from a social democratic observer from 1938 (Deutschland Berichte der SPD)

  13. Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA (1887-1934)

  14. Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense (in German: Gesetz über Maßnahmen zur Staatsnotwehr), 3 July 1934 The bill is signed by ReichskanzlerHitler, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, and Minister of Justice Dr. Franz Gürtner.

  15. “I swear by God this sacred oath: I will render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German nation and people, Supreme Commander of the armed forces, and will be ready as a true soldier to risk my life at any time for this oath”. Oath of German soldiers since 1934

  16. “The Führer is supreme judge of the nation…The Führer is not backed by constitutional clauses, but by outstanding achievements which are based on the combination of a calling and of his devotion to the people. The Führer does not put into effect a constitution according to legal guidelines laid before him but by historic achievements which serve the future of his people… Constitutional law in the Third Reich is the legal formulation of the historical will of the Führer.” Justice Minister Hans Frank in a speech in 1938

  17. John Hite, Chris Hinton, Weimar & Nazi Germany (London, 2000), p. 180

  18. Schedule • The Road to Absolute Power: 1933-1934 • Economy and Social Policy • NS Terror • Resistance • Controversies

  19. ReichsnährstandAmtsschild1933-1945DHM, Berlin

  20. Hitler and the president of the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht Hjalmar Schacht1877-1970 President of the Reichsbank 1923-1930, 1933-1939 Minister of Economy 1934-1937

  21. Reichsautobahnen • Year km total • 1935 108 108 • 1936 979 1087 • 1937 923 2010 • 1938 1036 3046 • 1939 255 3301 • 1940 436 3737 • 1941 90 3827 • 1942 34 3861 • 35 3896 • Total: 3896

  22. RECYCLING: Jeder muß helfen! Deine Pflichten im VierjahresplanPropagandaschrift für die Sammlung von Altstoffen zur Erfüllung des Vierjahresplanes

  23. Hermann Göring, Hamburg, 1934, DHM, Berlin

  24. Aviation industry: Junkers-Flugzeugbau, Bayreuth, 1939

  25. John Hite, Chris Hinton, Weimar & Nazi Germany (London, 2000), p. 214

  26. John Hite, Chris Hinton, Weimar & Nazi Germany (London, 2000), p. 214

  27. John Hite, Chris Hinton, Weimar & Nazi Germany (London, 2000), p. 214

  28. Social Policy: Public welfare organisations ‘Power through Joy‘ Frankfurt/Main, 1937

  29. Schedule • January 1933 • The Road to Absolute Power: 1933-1934 • Economy and Social Policy • NS Terror • Resistance • Controversies

  30. Heinrich Himmler 1900-1945

  31. Reinhard Heydrich 1904-1942

  32. Schedule • The Road to Absolute Power: 1933-1934 • Economy and Social Policy • NS Terror • Resistance • Controversies

  33. Opposition in the Third Reich (Sample) • Organising a coup • Attempting to assassinate Hitler and other leaders • Going on strike • Helping victims of Nazism • Spying for foreign governments • Deserting from the armed forces • Committing suicide • Emigrating • Distributing anti-Nazi leaflets • Underachieving in the workplace • Publicly criticising the regime, telling anti-Hitler jokes • Listening to American jazz and the BBC • Not giving the Hitler greeting • Refusing to join Nazi organisations • Reading banned Nazi literature

  34. Harro Schulze-Boysen (1909-1942) with his wife Libertas Haas-Heye

  35. Georg Elser 1903-1945

  36. Sophie Scholl, 1921-1943 Hans Scholl, 1918-1943

  37. Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg 1907-1944

  38. Schedule • January 1933 • The Road to Absolute Power: 1933-1934 • Economy and Social Policy • NS Terror • Resistance • Controversies

  39. THE DEBATE ON THE FUNCTIONING OF THE THIRD REICH

  40. Synthesis (according to Bracher and Jäckel): Hitler derived much of his strength from the rivalry and the overlapping responsibilities of state and party institutions. He thus could assume the role of a mediator. Single offices competed to win him over to their policies. Often they tried to implement what was considered to be his wish ... http://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/GermanyE5.html Current consensus (Ian Kershaw) (see Hinton: Weimar & Nazi Germany, p. 190) Hitler is the key activator Policy reflects Hitler‘s overall vision His decisions are accepted by rivals Mobiliser and legitimator but not necessarily initiator of many policies

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