Download Establishing the totalitarian state

The Rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
Establishing the totalitarian state
By 1933 Hitler was one large step closer to his goal of having complete control of Germany. Before the March
elections of that year he had been made Chancellor - the second most powerful political job in Germany. Using
the powers that the job gave him, he actively sought to increase his power even more.
Destroying the Reichstag
In February 1933, the Reichstag building was burned down. Hitler blamed the Communists for the fire and
arrested the party's 81 officials. After the March elections, using the fire as an excuse, Hitler banned his greatest
rivals, the Communist party.
The Enabling Law
At the March elections the Nazi party was the largest single political party. After suspending the Communists,
and using his storm troopers (the SA) to intimidate members of the other parties, Hitler had the two-thirds
majority in the parliament he needed to suspend the country's constitution.
This meant Hitler now had the power to issue new laws without consulting parliament.
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He made the Nazis the only legal political organization in the country. The other parties were banned or
dissolved themselves.
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No one could now challenge the Nazis legally, which made opposition very dangerous. Opponents of
the Nazis had to work in secret, and some fled abroad.
Suppressing all opponents
In April 1933, the parliaments of the German states (Lander) were replaced by Nazi governors who could
appoint and dismiss officials and judges.
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Anti-Nazis or Jews were removed from the civil service.
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In May 1933, trade unions were banned and replaced by the Labour Front.
In June 1934, in the 'night of the long knives', Ernst Rohm, leader of Hitler's storm troops was killed,
along with 400 of his men. This ensured the German army would be loyal to Hitler and showed that
even Nazi supporters were not safe if Hitler doubted their absolute loyalty.
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In August 1934, President Hindenburg died. With the support of the army, and with no one left to oppose him,
Hitler combined the role of President with that of Chancellor and assumed the title of Fuhrer (Leader) of
Germany.
Organizations of the totalitarian state
Hitler used a number of organizations to uphold and extend his control of Germany.
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The SS (Hitler's personal body guard). This organization was made up of fanatical supporters of
Hitler. Hitler used them as his execution squad to eliminate his opponents.
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The SD (Security Service) and Gestapo (Secret State Police). The SD had an army of informants and
hunted down, and also often eliminated, opponents.
The Police force and law courts. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, was also in charge of the
police. This meant no one investigated the crimes committed by the Nazis. Special 'people's courts'
made sure that opponents of the Nazis charged with treason were found guilty, even if there was little or
no evidence.
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Concentration camps. Established in January of 1933. Opponents of the Nazis and undesirable
members of the population, such as Jews, Communists and gypsies, were sent to the camps without trial.
The SS, Hitler's most loyal organization, ran the camps.
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The army. After the murder of Rohm, the army pledged their loyalty to Hitler. His plans to rearm the
forces and his expansionist foreign policy were popular with them.
The visible evidence of control, seen in flags, symbols and uniforms on the streets, together with the use of
informants, made people very cautious. However, the system was not as efficient as it appeared, with security
forces often reporting "grumbling" among workers but unable to do much about it.
Social controls
The churches
Despite signing an agreement with the pope, The Catholic Youth League was broken up, Catholic priests
arrested, and religious teaching banned. Hitler set up a Protestant Reich Church with Nazi bishops. Ministers,
such as Martin Niemoller, who resisted were sent to concentration camps.
Youth
To brainwash the young, Jewish and anti-Nazi teachers were sacked and subjects were given a pro-Nazi bias so
children would accept Nazi ideas without questioning them. The Nazi youth organization used physical
activities to indoctrinate boys to glorify war while girls were taught to welcome their role as mothers.
Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels, as Minister for National Enlightenment, controlled the media and arts. He made sure that
Germans were fed Nazi ideology while other ideas were censored. The glorification of Nazi Germany was
emphasized by the Nuremberg rallies and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. These were a message to the world that
Nazi Germany was here to stay.
Anti-Semitism
Beginning in April of 1933, Jews were removed from public office and the professions. In September 1935, the
Nuremberg Laws deprived them of citizenship. Persecution was gradually increased with boycotts of Jewish
businesses until Kristallnacht in November 1938 when the SA looted over 7,000 Jewish shops and arrested
20,000 Jews.
Economic controls
The Nazis tried to make Germany self-sufficient - that is, to produce all the goods it needed without having to
rely on external supplies. This could be achieved more easily for some types of goods than for others, so the
need to obtain access to oil, for example, was part of the reason for Germany's aggressive foreign policy in
Eastern Europe.
Employment
The Nazis implemented a major program of public works, such as building and repairing roads, railways and
houses. This significantly helped reduce unemployment, as did large-scale military rearmament. With Germany
building up its armed forces, thousands of jobs in iron, steel, aviation and shipbuilding were created. After 1935,
conscription of men into the army also helped reduce the unemployment figures. This was seen as a benefit to
the country and enabled many Germans to accept Nazi rule.
Workers' conditions
The Labour Front prevented strikes. Many Germans preferred low paid jobs to unemployment. Kraft durch
Freude (Strength through Joy) was an organization set up to make lives better. This meant loyal workers
received benefits such as subsidized theatre visits, sports facilities as well as cheap cruises. Although some
disliked being regimented even in their leisure pursuits, others enjoyed the better facilities.
The production of the people's car (the Volkswagen) from 1938 suggested Nazism was benefiting workers
because they could put their name down for one of these cars and save money each week for two years to buy
one.
Incomes
The government controlled wages and prices but, despite this, the standard of living dropped under Nazi rule.
Resources that might have gone towards improving supplies of goods for people to use were diverted into the
public works program and into rearmament.
What this meant for ordinary people
It is easy to think that all Germans were affected by the Nazis in everything they did, but in practice many were
able to continue with everyday life without much change, as long as they were not among the groups that the
Nazis persecuted. They may have been irritated by the propaganda and censorship that restricted what they
could read in newspapers or see in cinemas or the theatre, but for some there were compensations in Strength
Through Joy, in regular employment or even in lower crime rates - as one historian has said, "if nothing else,
dictatorships make good police".
There was also a good deal of support for the foreign policy that sought to overturn Versailles - events like the
reoccupation of the Rhineland and the Anschluss with Austria were popular, and seen as evidence that Germany
was recovering from the humiliations of Versailles.
This does not suggest that Nazi Germany was a pleasant place to live - unless of course you were one of the
Nazi elite. There was always an undercurrent of fear, an element of unpredictability, and for persecuted groups it
was a terrible tragedy. But many ordinary people learned to put these things in the background and to get on
with their lives. Only a few, however, were brave and committed enough to take their resistance beyond
"grumbling" and become active opponents of the Nazis.
Source: Adapted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/higher/history/nationalism/nazi1_rev.shtml
Questions:
1. Create a timeline in which you outline the major events leading to A. Hitler becoming the Fuhrer (Leader)
of Germany. Your timeline should go from January 1933 to December 1935.
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begin creating your timeline by selecting the appropriate events based on their date
place the events in chronological order based on their date
summarize the event in your own words
lay out your information on a properly titled timeline
2. Hitler and the Nazis established a totalitarian state in Germany in the 1930s. Outline and describe in point
form the various social, political and economic controls established by Hitler and the Nazis to accomplish
this.
Impact of Nazi rule
1 Complete the following paragraph by inserting the correct word in the spaces.
The Nazi Party was able to gain complete control of Germany because the __________
allowed Hitler to pass laws without consulting the __________. By July 1933 all other
__________ had been banned. When Nazi __________ took control of the Lander they sacked
___________ and anyone who might oppose them. In 1934 the __________ showed no one was
safe. Hitler used the __________ to arrest opponents and the people's courts sent them to
__________.
2 Choose the statement which is the most appropriate answer to the question. How far do you
agree that Hitler's domestic policies enjoyed widespread popularity between 1933 and 1939?
Identify the different aspects of domestic policy. Examine them to see which were popular
and which were not. Come to a judgement on the question.
Describe Hitler's domestic policies and show how they were popular with most of the German
people.
Describe the successful economic policies of the Nazis and explain how their policies towards
children won them over and how propaganda convinced the adults.
3 The Nazis signed a concordat with the pope and let Roman Catholics carry on as normal.
True
False
4 The Nazis set up their own Reich church with bishops to rule it.
True
False
5 In schools teachers had to be pro-Nazi.
True
False
6 All subjects in the curriculum were taught in a way that made children agree with Nazi policies.
True
False
7 Goebbels used newspapers, films, radio and rallies to make the Nazis look powerful.
True
False
8 Persecution of the Jews did not begin until Kristallnacht in 1938.
True
False