In 1933,
when Hitler became Chancellor, few thought that he would hold on to power for
long. Yet, by 1934 he was the dictator of Germany.
So how did he do that?
Ø Hitler used a combination of methods,
some legal, some questionable.
Ø He also defeated or negotiated with
those that could potentially be against him.
Ø He called for another election in
March 1933 to attempt to get a Nazi majority in the Reichstag. There were more
speeches, rallies and street fighting, he was using the same tactics as in
previous elections, and however, he had more resources now.
On the 27th
of February the Reichstag building burnt down, which Hitler blamed on the
Communists, who were Hitler’s most immediate threat. He stated that this was
the beginning of a Communist uprising. He demanded special emergency powers to
deal with the situation, which President Hindenburg gave him. They used this
power to arrest Communists, break up meetings and frighten voters.
In the
election, the Nazis won the overall majority. He intimidated the Reichstag into passing the Enabling Act using the SS and SA.
The Enabling Act allowed him to make laws without asking for permission or even
telling the Reichstag.
Hitler had
one party voting against him: the SDP, the second largest party. The Communists
were banned shortly after the election.
What did he do with
that power?
Ø Within a year, opponents (or
potential opponents) had either left Germany or were in concentration camps run
by the SS, while other political parties were banned.
Ø Despite all his power, Hitler still
had leading officers in the army doubting him, as well as being suspicious of
Ernst Röhm, who was in charge of the SA. Röhm wanted to make the SA into a
second German army. Hitler was also suspicious of Röhm, because he feared that
his power over 4 million men made him a potential danger to Hitler.
The night
of 29-30 June is known as the Night of the Long Knives. The SS troops broke
into the homes of Röhm, along with the homes of other leading figures in the SA
and arrested them. Hitler accused Röhm of plotting to murder him. Röhm and
possibly 400 others were executed. The SA was not banned afterwards.
Ø After Hindenburg died, Hitler took
over as Supreme Leader (Führer) of Germany. Hitler wanted a totalitarian state:
full control over everybody’s lives.
Ø He had the SS, a loyal group of
Hitler’s followers who formed in 1925. The Death-Head’s units were in charge of
concentration camps, the Waggen-SS fought alongside the army.
Ø The Gestapo was the secret state
police, who coud arrest citizens on suspicion to concentration camps without
trial. Due to the fear of the Gestapo, many citizens told on each other because
they thought that the Gestapo would find out anyway.
Ø The police and the courts were
controlled by Nazis, which resulted in Nazi crimes being ignored.
Ø Concentration camps were set up
almost as soon as Hitler came to power. The first ones were in 1933 and were
empty warehouses and factories. They were run by the SS Death’s-Head units.
People had to do hard labour with little food, as well as having to suffer
harsh discipline, beatings and random executions. Very few people came out
alive. The prisoners were: Jews, Communists, Socialists, churchmen and anyone
else against the Nazis.
Why was there hardly
any opposition?
Opposition
was always private, never public.
Many
admired Hitler, he had ‘rebuilt’ Germany.
Ø There was an economic recovery.
Ø Made the people feel like they had
power again since the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles.
People
didn’t want to lose their jobs. There
was also a lot of propaganda. It ensured that the people would know very little
about the bad things happening.
The opposition
In 1944 many believed that Hitler was bringing
Germany into ruin. So they tried to kill him. The plan was to leave a bomb in
Hitler’s conference room. The man behind this was Count von Stauffenberg. On
the 20th of July he left a bomb, however it did not succeed, and as
a revenge, over 5000 men were killed.
Catholic
Bishop Galen led a protest in 1941 against the Nazi killing mentally ill and
physically disabled people, which forced the Nazis to temporarily stop.
Pastor
Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer formed an alternative Protestant
Church.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer became involved with members of the army who were secretly
against Hitler. He helped Jews escape from Germany. He was arrested in October
1942 and hanged.
The Churches
In the
early stages of Hitler’s power, there was some co-operation. Hitler signed a
Concordat with the Catholic Church in 1933. The Catholic Church would be left
alone and they would still be in control of the schools, in return they would
stay out of politics.
However,
some Protestant Churches were against the Nazis, as they believed that the
loyalty lay with their own churches, and not Nazi-approved ones.
Hitler made
an alternative religion to the Churches: the pagan German Faith Movement.
Culture and Propaganda
Dr Joseph
Goebbels was in charge of the Propaganda and Enlightenment. He organised
rallies, marches and meetings. An example is the Nuremberg rallies which took
place every summer. They brought excitement into people’s lives.
The Olympic
Games in 1936 was a propaganda opportunity for Goebbels to show the world how
great the Nazis were and how well Germany was doing. The USA tried to boycott
the Games due to the Nazis hate towards Jews.
Goebbels
had full control over the media
Ø No books were published without
Goebbels’ premission.
Ø He organised a ‘book-burning’ in
1933 where students publically burned any books that included anti-Nazi ideas.
Ø Artists also had these restrictions.
Goebbels also had control over the newspapers.
Ø Jewish editors and journalists lost
their jobs.
Ø Cinemas were also closely
controlled. All films had to include a pro-Nazi message. No foreign films.
Ø Many posters were hung up in
Germany.
Ø Jazz music was banned, he claimed it
to be ‘Black’ music.
Ø He controlled radio stations and
made them cheap so many people could afford them. Loudspeakers were placed in
the streets and public bars, repeating Hitler’s speeches over and over.
School
Ø Learn a lot about the history of
Germany.
Ø Told how the economic problems were
because of Jews taking away the money of honest Germans.
Ø Biology would tell you that as an
Aryan race you were superior and more intelligent.
Teens
Ø The Hitler Youth or League of German
Maidens members marched in exciting parades, were physically fit and confident
at reading maps.
Ø Hitler Youth: first loyalty is
Hitler.
Rebellious
teens
Ø The Swing movement:
v Middle-class teenagers
v Listened to American and English
music.
Ø The Edelweiss Pirates
v Working-class teenagers
v Mainly aged between 14 and 17
v Went camping on weekends and sang
songs mocking Germany
v Almost never arrested because Hitler
needed youths to work once they were old enough, but one time it escalated, in
1944 in Cologne. They helped shelter escaped prisoners and stole weapons and
attacked the Gestapo. A chief was killed. Twelve ‘ringleaders’ were publically
hanged in November 1944.
Citizens in Germany
Women in
Nazi Germany
Ø Traditional role of a woman: take
care of the household and children and support the husband.
Ø Due to the falling birth rate,
Hitler offered financial rewards for married couples to have four children. At
eight children you were given a ‘Gold Cross’ and a special seat in meetings.
Ø Gertrude Scholz-Klink was head of
the Nazi Women’s Bureau.
Ø Many women had to give up their
jobs.
Ø In the late 1930s the Nazis needed
more women workers because the supply of unemployed men was drying up.
The workers
Ø The National Labour Service sent men
on public works projects, to build a network of motorways or autobahns.
Ø Industrial workers strongly
supported the Nazis: propaganda, organisations providing activities for the
working-class. They improved working conditions in factories.
Ø Farmers were important in the rise
of the Nazis. Hitler made the Reich Entailed Farm Law: no land could be taken
off the farmers.
Ø Not all farmers were thrilled: banks
often refused to lend money.
The
business
Ø Middle-class business people were
grateful for the Nazis: eliminated the Communists and how the Nazis were
bringing order to Germany.
Ø Most small stores did not benefit:
especially not shops with consumer goods.
Ø The big business really benefited
from the Nazi rule: no more worries about difficult trade unions or strikes.
Volksgemeinschaft: all farmers, workers and so on would see
themselves as Germans. Their loyalty lay with the Germany and Hitler before
their own social groups.
“Minorities”
The Nazis killed mentally ill or handicapped, gypsies, homosexuals and others
because they believed that the Aryans were the ‘master race’ and that the above
were inferior or just plainly unacceptable.
The Jews
Ø Anti-semitism means hatred of Jews.
Ø One reason for them to be
discriminated was because the Jews were blamed for the death of Jesus Christ.
Ø Another reason was that they were
often well educated, had good jobs or successful stores and businesses.
Ø Hitler hated Jews because during his
years in Vienna, in poverty, he felt that the Jews were really successful. This
showed the opposite of his idea of the superiority of Aryans.
Ø He blamed Jewish businessmen and
bankers for Germany’s defeat in the First World War, declaring that they forced
the surrender of the Germans.
Ø When Hitler took power in 1933, he
banned Jews from Civil Service and a range of public services like teaching and
broadcasting.
Ø The SA and SS organised boycotts of
Jewish shops and businesses and marked them with a star of David.
Ø In 1935 the Nuremberg Laws took away
German citizenship from Jews.
Ø Jews were often refused jobs and in
schools Jewish children were humiliated.
Kristallnacht: In November 1938 a young Jew killed a German
diplomat in Paris. The Nazis used this as an excuse for an attack on Jews. SS
troopers got pickaxes and hammers and the addresses of Jewish businesses and
smashed up their shops and workplaces. Ninety-one Jews were murdered. Twenty
thousand were taken to concentration camps and thousands fled Germany. This
became known as the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ or the Kristallnacht.
The
ghettos: after Germany defeated Poland in 1939, the Nazis wanted to ‘Germanise’
western Poland. This meant taking the Poles away from their homes and replacing
them with Germans. Polish Jews were rounded up and transported to the major
cities, where they were brought into isolatated areas: the ghettos. The healthy
Jews were used for slave labour, however, the young, the old and the sick were left to die from hunger and
disease.
In 1941
Germany invaded the USSR, which seemed to be a great success at first. Until
they were losing to 3 million Russian Jews and the Jews of all the other
countries the Germans had invaded. The Germans had the orders to round up and
shoot Communist Party activists and their Jewish supporters. Special SS units
called Einsatzgruppen carried out
these shootings. By autumn 1941, mass shootings were taking place all over
eastern Europe. In Germany, all Jews had to wear the star of David on their
clothing to mark them out.
The ‘death camps’
When senior
Nazis met at Wannsee in January 1942 to discuss what they called the ‘Final
Solution’ to the ‘Jewish Question’ Himmler, head of the SS and Gestapo was put
in charge of the killing of all Jews in Germany and German territory. Slave
labour and death camps were built at Auschwitz, Treblinka, Chelmo and other
places. The old, the sick and young children were immediately killed, the healthy
were used as slave labour and some were used for medical experiments. Six
million Jews, 500,000 European gypsies and countless political prisoners, homosexuals
and Russian and Polish prisoners were sent to these camps to be worked to
death, gassed or shot.
Impact of World War 2
Hitler
promised to:
Ø Reverse the Treaty of Versailles
Ø Unite Germany and Austria
Ø Rebuild Germany’s armed forces
Ø Extend German territory into Eastern
Europe
He started a Second World War while doing so.
Ø Germans didn’t want another war, but
the Nazis made sure that they would support it.
Ø Food rationing – introduced soon
after the war began in September 1939.
Ø Clothes rationing – November 1939.
Ø From 1939 – 1941 everything was
going well for Germany: Hitler was in control of much of western and eastern
Europe.
Ø In 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet
Union: they were losing.
Ø Civilians had to cut back on
heating, work longer hours and recycle rubbish.
Ø The Nazis lost support, weakening
them.
Ø In 1942, the Allies started bombing
German cities, to cripple German industry.
Ø The bombing in Dresden (February
1945) killed between 35,000 and 150,000 people in two days.
Ø By 1945, civilians were desperate: food was scarce, 3.5 million German civilians had died. 3 months after the Dresden bombing, the war was over: Hitler, Goebbels and other Nazi war leaders committed suicide and Germany surrendered.
Many Jews were able to flee the country before the killing started,
while others managed to live under cover in Germany and the occupied
territories. Gad Beck led the Jewish resistance to the Nazis in Berlin. There
were 28 known groups of Jewish fighters. Germans and other non-Jews helped
protect or smuggle Jews out of the country. Industrialist Oskar Schindler saved
many Jews by getting them on his ‘list’ of workers. Swedish diplomat Raoul
Wallenberg worked with others to provide Swedish and US passports to bring them
to safety.
