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Hitler's consolidation of power 1934-35 - Coggle Diagram
Hitler's consolidation of power 1934-35
Hitler as chancellor
Burning of the Reichstag
A week before the March elections in March 1933 the Reichstag (a parliamentary building) burned down
Marinus van der Lubbe (a communist) was held accountable and was executed by the Nazis, but it is suspected that the Reichstag fire was a Nazi ploy to frighten voters into giving their support for the NSDAP because of a "KPD uprising"
The KPD did not seem to have anything to gain from burning the Reichstag, or did Lubbe's motives ever come known
After the Reichstag fire, Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to issue the Article 48
KPD became forbidden
Street violence before the March elections
Despite the Reichstag fire and the propaganda, the Nazis still did not receive abosolute majority
Nazi SA (
The Sturmabteilung
or Storm Troopers) attacked KPD and SPD paramilitary organisations, Reichstag deputies and officers under the excuse of the Article 48
The Enabling Act 1933
Presented by Hitler and would allow him to rule for four years as a dictator
He got the 2/3 for the bill to be re-enabled through the elimination of KPD, intimidation of SPD deputies and by offering the Zentrum/BVP protection of the Catholic Church (who had already made agreements with fascist regime in Italy)
Hindenburg signed the bill, transferring his power to the chancellor, burying the last remnants of democracy
Gleichschaltung
, or coordination
The Night of the Long Knives 1934
Purge of the
Sturmabteilung
through a series of murders
There were claims that the leader Ernst Röhm was planing a second revolution to distribute wealth, because some Nazis were not fine with Hitler's willingness to accommodate the major industrialists during his rise to power
Fear that Röhm would emerge the SA and the armed forces would antagonise the army
The blood purge of 1934 was used not only to assuage the army's (the one institution that still had the physical power to oppose the regime) and big industrialists' fears, bring SA under control but also to cleanse the Party of the "Left wing of the Party"
Abolition of trade unions and political parties
Since the Labour movement and the trade unions were considered Leftist, they were abolished and replaced by the DAF,
Deutsche Arbeitsfront
, the German Labour Front
Ban of other political parties except NSDAP in 1933
the Zentrum/BVP voluntarily dissolved with the prospect of a Concordat with the Nazis and the Vatican, which was signed in July 20th
the DVP and DNVP self-dissolved after the promise of job security under the 1933 Civil Service Law
The Law for the Re-establishment of the Civil Service of April 1933
To avoid the difficulties plaguing Weimar, the government was allowed to purge the civil service of elements considered "anti-Nazi"
Individuals hostile to National Socialism and those of Jewish descent were removed from fields of judiciary, diplomacy and education
Methods
Demonisation
Certain groups and individuals, were used as hate symbols which would get support from different groups within the German population
Jews, the 'Marxist' KPD and SPD, the "November Criminals" i.e. those who signed the 1918 Armistice and the Weimar "traitors" i.e. those who signed the Versailles "Diktat" in 1919
Abuse of the democratic system
After 1923-24, Hitler focused on intimidating his enemies and pursuing power through "outvoting" his opponents rather than just "outshooing" them
Transformation of NSDAP from a Bavarian/Munich-based party into a national organisation
Geographical sections and separate departments, which allowed it to be well endowed before elections and campaigns 1930 onwards
Collaboration with big businesses(industrialists, and political parties like Zentrum/BVP and DNVP
According to the provisions of the constitution, Hindenburg appointing Hitler was perfectly legal
Enabling Act
Propaganda
In the presidential election campaigns of 1932, when Hitler ran against Hindenburg, Hitler did flyiing visits across the country
Radio broadcasts, fillm shows, mass meetings, loudspeakers..
Violence, intimidation and murder
Intimidation of SPD and other party deputies to pass the Enabling Bill of 1933
Paramilitary organisations (SA, the
Sturmabteilung
, which later became the
Schutzstaffel
, or SS)
Carried out political murders of Nazi opponents
Protected Party meetings and disrupted meetings of other parties, and won control of the streets of Germany during the Weimar Era
The Beerhall Putsch 1923 and Night of the Long Knives 1934
After the Night of the Long Knives, the army,
Reichswehr
, pledged thei rloyalty to Hitler in gratefulness over Röhm's removal
Charisma and powers of oractory
Content of Hitler's speeches was repeptitive and little detailed, thus easy to understand
Performance skills, such as big hand movements and yelling
The 25-point programme
It had a "catch-all nature"
Attracted those in favour of national rebirth, ultra-nationalism, racism, revisionism, anti-Marxism, expansionism, anti-Semitism...
Pragmatism and opportunism
Hitler was willing to adapt to circumstances, for example, he abandoned the anti-capitalist views in the 25-point-programme when he was seeking cooperation with Hugenberg and the industrialists
Despite earlier hostlity towards DNVP and Zentrum, Hitler was able to work with them by the early 1930s to protect the country from "Bolshevism and economic bankruptcy"
Collaboration with the Catholic Church to secure the Enabling Act
NSDAP seized every opportunity they had, for example, when the Great Depression happened, Nazis promoted slogans like "Work and bread", which bode with many
The Reichstag fire
Bribery
NSDAP "bought" the support of DNVP by promising NSDAP(DNVP alliance in 1933 to give NSDAP the absolute Reichstag majority in the elections
Bribery also led to Zentrum/BVP voting for the Enabling Act
The deal with the army following the elimination of Röhm
Other factors
THE FAILURES OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND DEMOCRACY
Left was feared by important institutions of society, such as big businesses and the Catholic Church, which increased the support for National Socialism
The fatal underestimation of Hitler by important figures such as Hindenburg and Von Papen
Humiliation of Franco-Belgian imposition on Ruhr, the Great Depression, the Treaty of Versailles