Revision Diary

Hitler's Consolidation of Power

Hitler's consolidation of power - Reichstag Fire; Election of March 1933; Enabling Act; Elimination of political opposition – political parties, Trade Unions. Night of the Long Knives; death of Hindenburg; Hitler becomes Führer.

One party law and order – the SS and Gestapo.

Control of education, youth movements and the media; censorship and propaganda.

Make sure you have detailed factual knowledge about AND HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT the following issues and topics:

ESTABLISHMENT OF A NAZI DICTATORSHIP

1. The STORY of Hitler's consolidation of power.

2. The reasons why Hitler had all-power in Germany

and that you are able to explain:

ESTABLISHMENT OF A NAZI DICTATORSHIP

Hitler's Consolidation of Power

(Rigged General Election Leads To Psychopath Nazi Fuhrer)

Revision Focus

This is a Paper 2 topic, so you need to have factual KNOWLEDGE IN DEPTH but also a degree of understanding which will allow you in the exam to write MULTI-CAUSAL EXPLANATIONS of the key issues.

Links

e-books on Hitler's Consolidation of power and his Apparatus of Power.

Date/Event	Details	How it helped Hitler
27 Feb 1933 Reichstag Fire	• The Reichstag set on fire. • A Dutch Communist, van der Lubbe, caught red-handed in the burning building. • Van der Lubbe sentenced to death • Communists claimed that the Nazis started a fire, and held a mock-trial in Paris where an SA man called Karl Ernst 'confessed' - but the evidence was made up.	• allowed Hitler to imprison many Communist leaders, which stopped them campaigning. • allowed Hitler to claim the country was in danger from communism during the campaign. • (when the courts did not convict the Communist leaders) gave Hitler the excuse to bring in the Nazi People's Courts.
5 Mar 1933 General Election	• 44 per cent of the population voted for the Nazis, who won 288 seats in the Reichstag - NOT a majority. • Hitler immediately arrested the 80 Communist deputies	• gave Hitler the majority he needed to pass the Enabling Act
23 Mar 1933 Enabling Act	• The SA bullied all the non-Nazi deputies. • The Reichstag voted Hitler the right to make the laws.	• made Hitler an absolute dictator
26 April 1933 Local govt	• Hitler divided Germany into 42 Gaus, each run by a Nazi Gauleiter. • Each block of flats run by a Blockleiter. • Hitler sets up the Gestapo.	• this was the mechanism of informing, control and terror over ordinary people
2 May 1933 Trade unions	• abolished and their leaders arrested. • instead Hitler set up the German Labour Front	• removed the basis of left-wing opposition from the workers • kept his rich businessmen backers happy
14 July 1933 Political parties	[• June 1933: Hitler made an agreement with the Pope: he could take political power in Germany if he left the Catholic Church alone (he later ignored this) - this allowed Hitler to abolish the Catholic Centre Party without opposition.] • Hitler banned all political parties - only the Nazi party is allowed.	• made Germany a one-party state • destroyed democracy - Germans could no longer get rid of Hitler in an election.
30 June 1934 Night of the Long Knives	• SA leaders wanted the Nazi party to carry out its socialist agenda, and to take over the army. • codeword 'Hummingbird - Hitler ordered the SS to kill more than 400 SA men, including its leader Röhm	• destroyed Rohm (a rival) and the power of the SA (who were wanting to take over the Army). • gave power to the SS (Hitler's personal bodyguard)
19 Aug 1934 Führer	• when Hindenburg died, Hitler declares himself Fuhrer (leader)	• combined the roles of president, chancellor and head of the army.

How did Hitler Control Germany?

IF YOU ARE ASKED THIS, MAKE SURE YOU GIVE SOME FACTS AS WELL.

(Overdo The Power - You Worthless Ranting Rogue)

One-Party State	• After July 1933 it was an offence to belong to another Party. • All other parties were banned, and their leaders were put in prison. • Nazi Party members got the best jobs, better houses and special privileges. • Many businessmen joined the Nazi Party purely to get orders.
Terror	• The Nazis took over local government and the police. • Hitler set up the Gestapo (the secret police) and the SS, and encouraged Germans to report opponents and 'grumblers'. • Jews, Communists, gypsies, homosexuals, alcoholics and prostitutes were sent to concentration camps for 'crimes' as small as writing anti-Nazi graffiti, possessing a banned book, or saying that business was bad. • On the Night of the Long Knives (13 June 1934) Hitler used his legal power to assassinate all his opponents within the Nazi Party,
Propaganda	• Continual propaganda, run by Josef Goebbels. • Cult of personality - everything was organised to make Germans permanently grateful to Adolf Hitler. Germans were made to feel part of a great and successful movement (nb Olympic Games). • The Nazis used the most up-to-date technology to get their message across - bands, book-burning, censorship, cinema, jazz banned, loudspeakers, marches, Mein Kampf, newsreels, newspapers, parades, posters, radio, Olympic Games, processions, rallies, speeches. • The Nazis made sure that every family could afford a cheap radio.
Youth	• The Nazis sacked anti-Nazi teachers and University professors. • School lessons included hidden indoctrination - requiring children to calculate how much mentally disabled people cost the state, or to criticize the racial features of Jewish people. • German boys had to attend the Hitler Jugend (which mixed exciting activities, war-games and Nazi indoctrination). • German girls went to the BDM to learn how to be good mothers, and to love Hitler.
Workforce	• Hitler banned all Trade Unions (2 May 1933) and imprisoned their leaders. • Instead Hitler made them join the German Labour Front (which reduced workers' pay and took away the right to strike). • The National Labour Service sent men on public works programmes. • To keep the workers happy, the Nazis set up the 'Strength Through Joy' (which offered good workers picnics, free trips to the cinema and a few free holidays) and 'Beauty of Work' movements.
Religion	• Hitler signed a Concordat with the Pope, agreeing to leave the Roman Catholic Church alone if it stayed out of politics - so most Catholics were happy to accept the Nazi regime. • Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses who opposed the Nazis were sent to concentration camps. • Hitler started his own 'German Church', based on Viking myths.
Racism	• The Nazi regime was based on anti-semitism. • The Racial Purity Law (15 September 1935) took away German citizenship from the Jews, and forbade sex between Germans and Jews. • Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938) • Many Germans approved of this discrimination.