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Germany and West Germany 1918-89 > Establishing a Dictatorship (1933-34) > Flashcards

Establishing a Dictatorship (1933-34) Flashcards

1
Q

List 8 obstacles that stopped Hitler from having absolute power as soon as he became chancellor.

A
  • Civil rights stopped the Nazis from intimidating their opponents
  • Germany had a federal system of government, so the national government was limited in power
  • Other political parties
  • Trade unions
  • The press could criticise the government
  • Hindenburg
  • The army, especially since it was suspicious of the SA
  • Radicals within the Nazi party
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2
Q

What made up the ‘legal revolution’?

A
  • The Reichstag Fire
  • The March 1933 elections
  • The Day of Potsdam
  • The Enabling Act
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3
Q

What event happened in late February 1933?

A
  • The Reichstag fire
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4
Q

What caused the Reichstag fire?

A
  • It is still disputed whether it was started by van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, or the Nazis, who used him as a scapegoat
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5
Q

What 2 things did the Nazis do in response to the Reichstag fire?

A
  • They instructed the police to raid the offices of the KPD, and 4000 of them were arrested
  • Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to declare a state of emergency, which then allowed Hitler to pass decrees
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6
Q

What decree did Hitler pass in February 1933, and what 3 things did it contain?

A
  • The Reichstag Fire Decree
  • It suspended individual rights and the freedom of the press
  • The government could now imprison people without charging them with a specific crime
  • The government was also given the power to enforce law and order in the states, undermining the state governments (some of these were power bases for rival political parties)
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7
Q

What did Hitler do after the Reichstag fire?

A
  • He convinced Hindenburg to hold elections in early March
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8
Q

Why did Hitler want to hold elections so early? Give 2 details.

A
  • The coalition between the Nazis and nationalists controlled around 40% of the seats
  • Hitler needed 50% support to pass laws, and a two-thirds majority to change the constitution
  • Hitler therefore wanted to win more seats to control the Reichstag
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9
Q

What 4 actions did the Nazis take to ensure they won a greater proportion of the seats in the March 1933 elections?

A
  • Hitler used his emergency powers to arrest opponents
  • The SA terrorised the Nazis’ political opponents- 69 people were killed during the campaign
  • They used their growing control of the media to spread the idea that the KPD was planning a revolution
  • Hitler waited until after the elections to ban the KPD to split left-wing support between the SPD and KPD
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10
Q

What were the results of the March 1933 elections?

A
  • The Nazis won 44% of the seats
  • The Nazis had over 50% with the combined seats from the DNVP (52), but this still wasn’t two-thirds
  • Hitler used his emergency powers to ban the KPD from taking their 81 seats
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11
Q

Other than the lack of a two-thirds majority, what other issue did the March 1933 elections cause the Nazis?

A
  • Hindenburg was concerned by the use of violence by the SA up until the election
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12
Q

What 2 things did Hitler do to assuage Hindenburg’s fears?

A
  • Hitler instructed his followers to stop the violence 5 days after the election
  • The Day of Potsdam
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13
Q

What was the Day of Potsdam? Give 4 details.

A
  • The opening of the Reichstag by Hindenburg and Hitler
  • Hitler showed Hindenburg respect and deference throughout the service
  • Hindenburg was in full military uniform (representing old Germany) while Hitler was wearing a frock coat and top hat (representing new Germany to appeal to the middle classes)
  • This ceremony showed that Hitler was accepted by the old government, and it made the Nazis look respectable to both deputies in the Reichstag and the general public
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14
Q

What did Hitler do after the elections? Give 2 details about it.

A
  • He put forward an Enabling Act
  • This would give him dictatorial powers as he would be able to pass laws without the Reichstag
  • However, as his plans required changing the constitution, he needed a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag to support this
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15
Q

What 5 things did Hitler do in order to pass the Enabling Act?

A
  • All 81 KPD deputies were not allowed to enter the Kroll Opera House (where the debate was being held)
  • 26 SPD deputies were also not allowed to enter
  • Hitler promised to respect the rights of the Catholic Church to win the support of the ZP
  • The SA surrounded the chamber to intimidate deputies
  • Hitler convinced the deputies that the law was only temporary as it was intended to last for 4 years
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16
Q

How many voted in favour of and against the Enabling Act?

A
  • 444 in favour
  • 94 against- all of the SPD
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17
Q

What was the Enabling Act passed?

A
  • Late March 1933
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18
Q

Who could have stopped Hitler, and why didn’t they?

A
  • Hindenburg was too old and sick, and knew Hitler taking power was inevitable
  • The SPD had respected Hitler’s position as chancellor as although they disagreed with his actions, they knew he had a legal right to be chancellor
  • The KPD had believed that Hitler’s government would only be temporary
19
Q

What was Gleichschaltung?

A
  • Meant ‘integration’ or ‘bringing into line’
  • The Nazis used this term to refer to dealing with powerful groups that threatened Hitler’s power
20
Q

Which 3 groups did the Nazis believe they needed to control as part of Gleichschaltung?

A
  • Landtage; regional parliaments
  • Political parties
  • Trade unions
21
Q

List 4 reasons why trade unions threatened Hitler’s power.

A
  • They had mass membership
  • They had strong links with socialism and Catholicism
  • They were the group the most hostile to Hitler
  • The Kapp Putsch had been ended by a general strike
22
Q

What were 2 impacts the Great Depression had on trade unions, and how did this affect their relations with the Nazis?

A
  • Their membership went down
  • Members were less willing to strike
  • This meant they were willing to work with the Nazis to try to survive
23
Q

What 4 things did Hitler do in response to the threat trade unions posed to him?

A
  • On May 2nd, trade union headquarters were occupied by the SA/SS
  • Union funds were confiscated
  • Leaders were arrested and sent to early concentration camps
  • He abolished trade unions, and absorbed them into the DAF (German Labour Front)
24
Q

How did Hitler neutralise regional parliaments?

A
  • March 1933: Länder lost most of their power and could only carry out federal laws
  • April 1933: Reich governors (Nazi regional leaders) were introduced, who answered directly to Hitler
  • January 1934: Hitler abolished the Länder altogether
25
Q

What position had the Reich governors had previously?

A
  • Most of them had been Gauleiters
  • Their job as Gauleiters had been to organise the Nazi Party within their region
26
Q

What were 5 steps Hitler took to deal with political parties?

A
  • The KPD had been banned since the elections
  • Hitler banned the SPD in June 1933
  • June 1933: major parties dissolved themselves
  • July 1933: the ZP dissolved itself due to pressure from the Nazis and promises to uphold the rights of the Catholic Church
  • 14th July 1933: all parties other than the Nazis were banned, and the formation of new parties was also forbidden
27
Q

List 4 reasons why some Nazis saw Röhm as a threat.

A
  • The SA represented the more working-class section of the Nazi Party, so they reflected the socialist aspects of Nazism
  • He did not like Hitler’s willingness to compromise with the aristocracy
  • He felt that a new elite should be created from the people who had served on the from lines in WW1, rather than the traditional elites
  • He was the second most powerful Nazi in the movement in the 1930s
28
Q

What view did Röhm have that angered a particular group that was important? Which group was this?

A
  • Röhm wanted to either replace the army with the SA, or give the SA equal status to the army, as he saw the SA as a ‘people’s army’ led by the ‘front generation’, which angered the army
29
Q

What were 2 reasons why the army so concerned about the SA?

A
  • It had 2 million members
  • The head of the army, Werner von Blomberg, saw the SA as undisciplined, working-class thugs
30
Q

What event concerned the army about the SA, why, and what did they do as a result?

A
  • In June 1934, Hindenburg’s health started to decline
  • As Hindenburg had been an army general, the army knew he would protect them from radical Nazis
  • Army leaders began to discuss a new government with von Papen in charge, to end Hitler’s power and ensure that the revolution Röhm wanted never happened
31
Q

Who within the Nazi Party was against Röhm, and why?

A
  • Himmler wanted the SS to become more powerful than the SA
  • Göring wanted to Nazify the army and lead it, instead of getting rid of it
32
Q

What was the SS? Describe its members.

A
  • The Schutzstaffel
  • It was originally a subdivision of the SA created to guard Hitler
  • They were younger than SA members (they had been children during the war), were usually middle-class, well-educated, organised and disciplined
33
Q

What did Hitler do in response to the issues that the army had with the SA, when, and why?

A
  • In June 1934, von Papen made a speech that strongly criticised the SA, which clearly threatened the Nazis and indicated that he had the army’s support
  • Hitler therefore made a deal with the army; he would remove Röhm and SA leaders, and respect the rights of the army in return for their support after Hindenburg’s death
  • In late June, Hitler allowed the purging of the SA
34
Q

How was the SA purged? Give 3 details.

A
  • Himmler and Göring drew up a death list of around 80 of the Nazis’ enemies, the majority of which were SA leaders
  • The SS and soldiers from the army killed the people on the list and arrested others from 30th June to 2nd July 1934
  • It became known as the ‘Night of the Long Knives’
35
Q

What happened to Röhm and other SA leaders?

A
  • Röhm was given the option to commit suicide, but refused and was shot
  • The other SA leaders were executed as well
36
Q

How many people were killed during the Night of the Long Knives, and why? Give 2 details. How many were arrested?

A
  • 85
  • Over a thousand
  • Senior conservatives were also killed, such as von Schleicher and 2 of von Papen’s advisers
  • Nazis who had been sympathetic towards Röhm’s cause of having a second revolution were also purged, such as Gregor Strasser, who had been a leading Nazi
37
Q

What happened to the SA after the Night of the Long Knives? Give 2 details.

A
  • Hitler appointed a new leader who was entirely loyal to him
  • 100,000 of its members were expelled in August and September 1934
38
Q

How did Hitler manage to get away with the Night of the Long Knives? Give 3 details.

A
  • He passed the Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defence on 3rd July 1934 legalising it
  • The army supported it
  • Hindenburg even thanked him for it
39
Q

When did Hindenburg die, and what did Hitler do in response?

A
  • 2nd August 1934
  • Hitler merged the position of chancellor and president to create the position of Führer
  • The position of president was abolished which, according to Nazi propaganda, was done out of respect for Hindenburg
40
Q

How did Hitler consolidate his control over the army?

A
  • On 2nd August 1934, they swore an oath of loyalty to him specifically, which von Blomberg himself had offered to make
41
Q

What extra benefit did the Night of the Long Knives and Hindenburg’s death have for Hitler?

A
  • The traditional nationalists had lost their power as von Papen was also arrested (he later resigned from the post of vice-chancellor and became ambassador to Austria, which removed him from German politics)
42
Q

In what 3 ways did Hitler keep up an appearance of having a democratic government from 1933 onwards, and why?

A
  • The Nazis continued to hold elections to the Reichstag and it continued to meet, but since only the Nazi party was the only party, all of the deputies were Nazis
  • Hitler did this as the Reichstag had been an important part of Germany since 1871, so abolishing it would have been unpopular
  • The Enabling Act was renewed every 4 years (in 1937 and 1941) to make the Nazi regime seem legitimate so the public would follow it
  • They argued their policies were a continuation of Weimar’s
43
Q

How were the Nazis able to argue that their policies were a continuation of the past’s? Give 4 examples.

A
  • The 1922 Law for the Protection of the Republic was a precedent for banning political parties
  • The regular use of Article 48
  • The use of the army and Freikorps against communist rebels by Ebert
  • The Kaiser’s government allowed the creation and use of concentration camps in Africa

Germany and West Germany 1918-89 (18 decks)

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