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Topic 13- Consolidation of Power: - Coggle Diagram
Topic 13- Consolidation of Power:
Creation of a one party state
AH despised democracy, he thought the 28 parties in the reichstag only represented sections of society not a whole country
Hitler wanted a volksgemeinschaft, a racially pure society that would pull together and celebrate its shared blood
Volksgemeinschaft expected to make great sacrifices so Germanyt can become a great nation again
no room in this for other parties
The Death of other parties:
KPD Banned by reichstag fire decree, 4000 arrested overnight and 1000s put in protective custody and murdered
SPD voted against enabling act and continued to oppose the Nazis until it was banned on 22nd June 1933 on the basis of being 'hostile' to the nation
Most smaller parties dissolved themselves under pressure- including Z and Nazi allies DNVP
The Law Against the Formation of New Parties in July banned all parties except the nazis
Unification of the state
Germany was a federal state, with 17 states that had their own parliaments and laws around a range of local issues, e.g. education, and the police etc
Prussia was largest state covering 67% of land in Germany and around half the population
Papen had dismissed the state SDP govt in 1932 and appointed himself commissioner, Goering had been appointed to this position when AH became chancellor
Nazis wished to scrap the federal system so they could control the unified reich
Laws To Centralise Power:
31st March 1933: state assemblies must have nazi majority
7th April 1933: reich governors appointed for each state, accountable to interior minister Frick
After the law on formation of new parties, all members of state assemblies had to be Nazis
30th Jan 1934: state assemblies abolished, Germany became a full unitary state- each state had a Gauleiters (regional fuhrer)
14th Feb 1934: the Reichsrat abolished
in less than a year all non-nazis holding elected positions in assemblies and councils were driven out of office, using force from the SA when they refused to 'voluntarily step down'
Civil Service
civil servants carry out key administrative and research tasks for the govt, under the kaiser many top civil servants were aristocrats, so many welcomed Hitlers appointment to chancellor, but naively felt the conservatives in the cabinet could control him
anybody not thought 100% loyal to the Nazis were dismissed in Spring 1933 and often replaced by members of the Nazi party, who were clueless about workings of government
The first to go were jews, social democrats and women
The Night of the Long Knives
Context to the NoLK:
AH needed Rohm and the SA to help him become chancellor and consolidate power by using force
The left had been smashed by summer 1933 with 100,000 in protective custody, and at this point the -SA were becoming an embarrassment
The army detested Rohm and the 'Brown peril' who wanted to take over the Reichswehr (German army)
Hitler dithered due to loyalty to rohm, but was ready to take action in Summer 1934
Rohm and the SA:
Rohm participated in Munich Putsch, and went to Bolivia in 1925 to train RW paramilitaries but was recalled by AH in 1930
Hitler and Rohm remained friends, and only rohm was allowed to call the fuhrer, Adolf
By 1932 he commanded 500,000 rowdy SA- most unemployed, veterans from WW1.
-it was an open secret that many were gay
following reuchstaf fire the SA given auxiliary police powers, and were let loose before march 1933 elections.
June 1933- Kopeck Blood Week: the SA rounded up 500 social democrats and brutally tortured 91
The SA started regularly brawling with police and army and needed reigning
they had their police powers taken away in August and the organisation that reached 3 million members by 1934 was increasingly bored and causing more issues
The Rohm Cult:
Rohm was a passionate supporter of the socialist wing of national socialism, and called for a 'second revolution'- nationalising the economy and taxing the wealthy. They increasingly wanted jobs in govt, and Rohm became the leader of this movement, with many of his men more loyal to him than to AH
Goering, Goebbels, and Himmler wanted to convince AH that Rohm was plotting against him- no evidence he ever did that
Rohm spoke at multiple rallies calling for the SA to become a national militia separate to the army, and was agitating to become minister of defence (he had been given a pointless cabinet tole in dec 1933 but the cabinet rarely met)
Reactions of the Elite:
Hindenburg was dying but those around AH were worried that he may still declare martial law if SA was not controlled
Papen and his allies were appalled and still hoped to take presidency after Hindenburg died
In April 1934, aboard the Battleship Deutschland, AH and the generals agreed that the SA would be curbed and AH would be supported as president
June 17 1934: Papen (still VC) made a major speech at Marburg Uni warning against a second revolution and the personality cults surrounding AH and the brutality of Rohm and SA
June 21 1934: Army Chief Blomberg warned AH that Hindenburg would declare Martial Law if the SA were not dealt with
Murder unleashed
AH had no choice but to act and ordered Himmler to begin drawing up plans to strike on 30th June at a conference of senior SA leaders
Following 3000 drunken SA members rampaging through the city on the night of the 29th June, AH forwarded his plans
a few hours later, mass arrests began at 6am on 30th June
Rohm and many others are arrested personally by AH at the Hanselbauer Hotel
Some SA members are found in bed with other men, which allowed AH to justify the killings by stating the SA was a diseased organisation
over the next 3 days, between 100 and 1000 SA are murdered in ganster style
Rohm was accused of plotting with the French, refused to shoot himself and was gunned down defiantly shouting 'heil hitler'
in Munich the murders were organised by AH and in Berlin by Goering who took particular pleasure in the task
Impact of Hindenburg's death
August 1934- hindenburg dies and AH merges the offices of Chancellor and President using the Enabling Act, rather than calling an immediate election which is what he should have done under the weimar constitution
showed AH's confidence in his position
A plebiscite was held to get German seal of approval for Hitler as Fuhrer, and the result was 90% in favour
Surprisingly 10% said no, 4.5 million voters, showing that even at this point security was not complete