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HI 224 Raffael Scheck Colby College (4) Establishing a Dictatorship The Hitler Cabinet: Success of Papen’s Taming Strategy? Only three Nazis and ten conservative allies – BUT: Nazis have important posts (chancellor, interior, Goering as minister without portfolio, soon Prussian interior minister) Papen as vice-chancellor Hugenberg (DNVP-leader) as coalition partner Hindenburg still President Terror Goering’s measures as Prussian Interior Minister – – – Fires 22 of 32 police presidents Hires SA as “auxiliary police” Result: massive wave of terror particularly against communists (25,000 arbitrary arrests) Reichstag fire Concentration camps Legal Measures Reichstag Fire Decree (23 February 1933) New Elections (5 March 1933) Enabling Act (23 March 1933); opposed only by SPD (Otto Wels) Dissolution of all other parties until July 1933 Gleichschaltung (Synchronization) Konkordat with Papacy Dismissal of all Jews in the civil service Election Results March 1933 300 250 KPD SPD DDP C/BVP DVP DNVP Nazis Others 200 150 100 50 0 March 1933 Why did the Hitler Dictatorship Win Much Public Acceptance? Massive reduction of unemployment and rapid economic recovery Semblance of order, stability, and peace once the wave of terror subsides (July 1933) Many non-Nazis collaborated in hopes of having a mitigating influence on Hitler There is no alternative Building up German Hegemony in Central Europe 1933-39 Final Steps Toward a Legal Dictatorship Elimination of the SA leadership, 30 June 1934 („night of long knives“) Hitler appoints himself „Führer of the German People“ after Hindenburg‘s death (2 August 1934) Plebiscites Unemployment 1932-39 6000 5000 4000 Unemployed (in thousands): Yearly averages 3000 2000 1000 0 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Military Spending 1932-39 40000 35000 30000 25000 Military Expenditure (in million marks) 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Hitler’s Foreign Policy Goals The REAL goal: Lebensraum in Eastern Europe; huge and crude genetic engineering project (upgrading the “Aryan” race) Do NOT write „liebensraum“! The professor The PERCEIVED goal: revision of the wrongs of Versailles Hitler‘s Foreign Policy 1933-39 Defiance of Versailles, but with limited risk Mixed messages: declaration of peaceful intentions mixed with threats and bullying Search for allies Massive rearmament Decisive step: break of Munich Agreement through the invasion of Czechoslovakia, March 1939 Main Events of German Foreign Policy 1933-39 October 1933 Withdrawal from the League of Nations March 1935 June 1935 Reintroduction of the draft; air force buildup announced Anglo-German Naval Treaty March 1936 Remilitarization of the Rhineland Summer 1936 Alliance Germany-Italy-Japan; support for General Franco in Spain Anschluss: annexation of Austria March 1938 September 1938 March 1939 Munich Conference: annexation of the Sudetenland Annexation of the rest of Czecho-Slovakia Reasons for Hitler‘s Success? Remorse about Versailles among the victors Longer economic crisis and slower economic recovery in France and Britain Disillusionment with war among the victors British concern about Italy and Japan The International Reaction Containment (1933-35): efforts to build antiGerman alliances (Stresa Front with Italy, April 1935; pact between France and the Soviet Union) Appeasement (1935-38): concessions to Hitler hoping that he would voluntarily recognize a just revision of Versailles Confrontation (1939): recognition that Hitler cannot be appeased. Rapid rearmament and guarantee treaties for Poland and Rumania Blitz Victories 1939-1941 The Start of the World War II Hitler‘s desire for war The Hitler-Stalin Pact (August 1939) The German Attack on Poland (1 September 1939) British and French declarations of war (3 September 1939) Blitzkrieg Rapid Victories: – – – – Poland (Sept. 1939) Denmark and Norway (April-May 1940) France and Benelux countries (May-June 1940) Yugoslavia and Greece (April-May 1941) What was Blitzkrieg? – – – – – Rapid move of concentrated motorized forces Air attacks to support these moves Breakthrough at strategically crucial points Element of surprise Economic benefits Total War 1941-1945 Why did Hitler Attack the Soviet Union? Hope to bring Britain to the peace table Conflicts with the Soviet Union (Finland; Rumania) Ideological motivation (Lebensraum) Expectation of quick victory Why did the Attack on the Soviet Union Fail? Depth of territory Determined resistance Underestimation of Soviet industrialization German treatment of civilian population The German Defeat No compromise peace Decisive: vast numerical inferiority and massively overextended fronts Defeat in the Soviet Union War with the United States Defeat of the submarines, March-May 1943 Defeat in North Africa, May 1943 Allied landings in France, June 1944 Bombing campaign against Germany The Nazi State, Industry, and Society The State Hitler: a strong dictator - „Working toward the Führer“ (Kershaw). Charismatic rule with a radicalizing dynamic Primary instrument of Hitler‘s power: the SS under Heinrich Himmler Corruption at the lower levels of the party and state administration (Gauleiter) Crucial: Hitler was always much more popular than the party and Nazi ideology. He was often liked for things he did not condone and dissociated from unpopular measures („if only the Führer knew“). HITLER MYTH Industry Promotion of cars. The Volkswagen - Germany‘s answer to Ford Heavy focus on rearmament. Hence: financial shortages and weak consumer sector Society The claim of Volksgemeinschaft (people‘s community): practicing social solidarity The realities of Volksgemeinschaft – – – – – Discontent among the peasants The workers: working hard for little money Women: pushed out of the labor market, and then begged to come back Boys and girls: focus on athletics The churches (Lutherans: official church and Confessing Church; Konkordat with the Pope) Priorities: war preparation and racial policy The Dark Sides of the Volksgemeinschaft Not everybody is equal Discrimination against Jews – – – – 2000 anti-Jewish laws 1933-1945 April boycott 1933 Dismissal from public service jobs and industry (1933) Nürnberg Laws (1935) Discrimination against Sinti and Roma Upgrading the Germans Forced sterilization and abortion Euthanasia, 1939-45; protest by Bishop von Galen Slave Labor Seven million forced laborers in Nazi Germany in 1944 1.5 million French POWs „Voluntary“ laborers from France Italian „Military Internees“ after 1943 (ca. 600,000) Concentration camp inmates (altogether 2.5-3.5 million) with high mortality (around half a million) Separation of foreigners from Germans Racial Murder The Three Phases on the Road to Mass Murder 1. Restriction and Segregation 1933-38 (Nürnberg Laws, 1935) 2. Expulsion and exclusion 1938-41 (Night of Broken Glass, 1938) 3. Extermination 1939/41-45 (Euthanasia program; genocide) Questions Why did this happen? Who was responsible? Discussion? The End of the War The Allied Bombing Campaign against Germany British aim: to „de-house“ the working class and inspire uprisings: area bombardment of large cities by night American aim: to hit industrial plant and infrastructure: precision bombing by day Ultimately: terror bombing by both air forces Hamburg firestorm, July 1943 Destruction of all German and Austrian cities. Example: Dresden, February 1945 Bombing of Germany 1200 1000 800 Total (in 1000 tons) RAF USAF 600 400 200 0 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Bombing by Month 1944-45 180 160 140 120 100 Total RAF USAF 80 60 40 20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 Yearly Average by Month *1945: January through April 120 100 80 60 Total 40 20 0 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945* The German Reaction Indifference of Hitler and the other Nazi leaders Priority on „revenge weapons“ Delayed development of ME 262 Crumbling of Hitler Myth, but also new field for NSDAP support activity and propaganda The End: Inferno Hitler incapable of averting defeat and fanatically unwilling to surrender Soviet atrocities Giant refugee movement from east to west Wilhelm Gustloff disaster Attacks on civilians by low-flying fighter planes Local resistance to national suicide German POWs The German Resistance The German Resistance Conditions, Definitions, Motivations Communist resistance – Workers – Harro and Libertas SchulzeBoysen Christian resistance – Bonhoeffer – Niemöller The White Rose The bomb plot – Stauffenberg – Ulrich von Hassell My father’s cousin August Nitschke: