Germany Depth Studies: The Nazi's

    HOW DID HITLER GAIN POWER…

1.       Long term Bitterness

Deep anger about the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles created an underlying bitterness to which Hitler’s viciousness and expansionism appealed, so they gave him support.

2.       Ineffective Constitution

Weaknesses in the Constitution crippled the government.   In fact, there were many people in Germany who wanted a return to dictatorship.   When the crisis came in 1929–1933 – there was no one who was prepared or able to fight to stop Hitler.  

3.       Money

The financial support of wealthy businessmen gave Hitler the money to run his propaganda and election campaigns.

4.       Propaganda

Nazi propaganda persuaded the German masses to believe that the Jews were to blame and that Hitler was their last hope.

5.      Programme

Hitler promised everybody something, so they supported him.

6.       Attacks on other parties

The Stormtroopers attacked Jews and people who opposed Hitler.   Many opponents kept quiet simply because they were scared of being murdered – and, if they were, the judges simply let the Stormtroopers go free (see point 2).

7.       Personal Qualities

Hitler was a brilliant speaker, and his eyes had a peculiar power over people.   He was a good organiser and politician.   He was a driven, unstable man, who believed that he had been called by God to become dictator of Germany and rule the world.   This kept him going when other people might have given up.   His self-belief persuaded people to believe in him.

CONSOLIDATION OF POWER

1     Reichstag Fire - 27 Feb 1933

The Reichstag (the German Parliament) burned down.  A Dutch Communist named van der Lubbe was caught red-handed with matches and fire-lighting materials.    Hitler used it as an excuse to arrest many of his Communist opponents, and as a major platform in his election campaign of March 1933.   The fire was so convenient that many people at the time claimed that the Nazis had burned it down, and then just blamed the Communists.   Modern historians, however, tend to believe that van der Lubbe did cause the fire, and that Hitler just took advantage of it.

2    General Election - 5 March 1933

Hitler held a general election, appealing to the German people to give him a clear mandate.   Only 44% of the people voted Nazi, which did not give him a majority in the Reichstag, so Hitler arrested the 81 Communist deputies (which did give him a majority). 

Goering become Speaker of the Reichstag.

  

3    Enabling Act - 23 March 1933

The Reichstag voted to give Hitler the power to make his own laws.   Nazi stormtroopers stopped opposition deputies going in, and beat up anyone who dared to speak against it.    

     The Enabling Act made Hitler the dictator of Germany, with power to do anything he liked - legally.

  

4    Local government - 26 April 1933

The Nazis took over local government and the police.   The Nazis started to replace anti-Nazi teachers and University professors.   Hitler set up the Gestapo (the secret police) and encouraged Germans to report opponents and 'grumblers'.   Tens of thousands of Jews, Communists, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, alcoholics and prostitutes were arrested and sent to concentration camps for 'crimes' as small as writing anti-Nazi graffiti, possessing a banned book, or saying that business was bad. 

  

5    Trade Unions banned  - 2 May 1933

The Trade Unions offices were closed, their money confiscated, and their leaders put in prison.   In their place, Hitler put the German Labour Front which reduced workers' pay and took away the right to strike. 

   

6    Political Parties banned - 14 July 1933

The Law against the Formation of Parties declared the Nazi Party the only political party in Germany.   All other parties were banned, and their leaders were put in prison. 

  

7    Night of the Long Knives - 30 June 1934

The SA were the thugs who Hitler had used to help him come to power.   They had defended his meetings, and attacked opponents.   By 1934 there were more than a million of them.

     Historians have often wondered why Hitler turned on the SA.   But Hitler was in power in 1934, and there was no opposition left - the SA were an embarrassment, not an advantage.   Also, Rohm, the leader of the SA, was talking about a Socialist revolution and about taking over the army.   On the night of 30 June 1934 - codeword 'Hummingbird - Hitler ordered the SS to kill more than 400 SA men.

LIFE UNDER THE NAZI’S

  

 1  .  Nazi Party members

were especially happy - they got all the best houses, preferential treatment, good jobs in the government and power over other people.

2   .  Ordinary people

For ordinary people, life was good:

1.   Nazi economic policies gave full employment (work programmes/ Strength through Joy), prosperity and financial security - many observers stated that there seemed to be no poverty in Germany

2.   the Strength through Joy programme   (KdF) gave some people fun and holidays.

3.   the 'Beauty of Work' movement (SdA) gave people pride in what they were doing.

4.   law and order (few people locked their doors),

5.   autobahns improved transport,

6.   frequent ceremonies, rallies, colour and excitement,

7.   Nazi propaganda gave people hope,

8.   Nazi racial philosophy gave people self-belief

9.   Trust in Adolf Hitler gave a sense of security

 

There were few drawbacks:

1. Wages fell, and strikers could be shot - the Nazis worked closely with the businessmen to make sure that the workforce were as controlled as possible.

2. Loss of personal freedoms (eg freedom of speech).

3. All culture had to be German - eg music had to be Beethoven or Wagner or German folk songs - or Nazi - eg all actors had to be members of the Nazi party/ only books by approved authors could be read.

3     Women

The Nazis were very male-dominated and anti-feminist.   Nazi philosophy idealised the role of women   as child-bearer and creator of the family:  

The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave newly-wed couples a loan of 1000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had.  

Mothers who had more than 8 children were given a gold medal.  

 

But not all women were happy with the Nazi regime:

Job-discrimination against women was encouraged.   Women doctors, teachers and civil servants were forced to give up their careers.

Women were never allowed to serve in the armed forces - even during the war.

      

     

4  .  Youth

Most German young people were happy:  

Nazi culture was very youth-oriented.  

The HJ provided exciting activities for young boys.  

The HJ and the BDM treated young men and women as though they were special, and told then they had knew more then their parents.  

Many parents were frightened that their children would report them to the Gestapo, which gave young people a power that they enjoyed.

 

But not all young people were happy with the Nazi regime:

SOME girls were unhappy with the emphasis on the three Cs (Church, children, cooker). 

Towards the end of the war, youth gangs such as the Eidelweiss Pirates grew up, rejecting the HJ and Nazi youth culture, drinking and dancing to American jazz and 'swing' music. 

In Cologne in 1944 they sheltered army deserters and even attacked the Gestapo. 

If they were caught, they were hanged.

5  .  Opponents

The Nazi's used 'fear and horror' against anyone who disapproved of their regime:

Hitler banned all Trade Unions on 2 May 1933.   Their offices were closed, their money confiscated, and their leaders put in prison.

Communists were put into concentration camps or killed.

Many Protestant pastors such as Dietrich Bonhoffer were persecuted and executed.

Each block of flats had a 'staircase ruler' who reported grumblers to the police - they were arrested and either murdered, or sent to concentration camps.

Children were encouraged to report their parents to the Gestapo if they criticized Hitler or the Nazi party.

 

But remember that:

Many Germans welcomed this because it brought political stability after the Weimar years.

6   . Untermensch

The Nazi regime despised many groups which it thought were racially or socially inferior (Untermensch = subhuman) - people they called the 'germs of destruction'.

 

Groups which were persecuted and killed included:

Jews, such as Anne Frank, whom the Germans systematically persecuted, were forced into walled ghettos, put into concentration camps, and used for medical experiments.   In the end the Nazis devised the Final Solution of genocide - it was the Holocaust.

Gypsies were treated almost as badly as the Jews - 85% of Germany's gypsies were killed.

Black people were sterilized and killed.

5000 mentally disabled babies were killed 1939-45.  

72,000 mentally ill patients were killed 1939-41.

Physically disabled people and families with hereditary illness were sometimes sterilized.   300,000 men and women were sterilized 1934-45.

Some deaf people were sterilised and put to death.

Beggars, homosexuals, prostitutes, alcoholics, pacifists, hooligans and criminals were also regarded as anti-social, and they were put in concentration camps.