Germany - Establishing the totalitarian state (1933-1934)

Question 1

Define totalitarianism

Answer 1

A system of government in which power and all aspects of state affairs are in the hands of one party, and that party tolerates no opposition.

Question 2

What was expected when Hitler became Chancellor?

Answer 2

That power would remain with President von Hindenburg, vice-chancellor Franz von Papen, and his conservative colleagues.

Question 3

Where were the first concentration camps opened up?

Answer 3

1 Dachau, outside Munich
2 Oranienburg, outside Berlin
(Both in 1933)

Question 4

Despite Hitler’s claim of legality and appeal to national revival, what really happened?

Answer 4

The Nazis used force and intimidation

Question 5

Who were the main targets for Nazi violence?

Answer 5

Communists and socialists

Question 6

Why was the use of force made easier?

Answer 6

Of the 3 Nazis in the government, 2 of them controlled the police:
1 Wilhelm Frick (Minister for the Interior), controlled the national police
2 Hermann Goring (Prussian Minister for the Interior), controlled the 90 000 strong Prussian police force

Question 7

Explain the situation of the Reichstag fire

Answer 7

On the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin burnt down. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was detained at the scene of the crime and confessed.

Question 8

What were the 2 consequences of the Reichstag fire?

Answer 8

1 It unleashed a massive attack on the German communists. The Nazis played on the theme of a communist conspiracy against the state
2 One day later, the introduction of the decree ‘For the Protection of People and State’. The decree was issued via Article 48 and suspended the sections of the constitution that guaranteed the basic rights of the German people.

Question 9

Why did Hitler’s conservative allies and many middle-class Germans not object to the decree ‘For the Protection of People and State’, created after the Reichstag fire?

Answer 9

They genuinely believed that there was a real threat from the left.

Question 10

What was failed to be realised or ignored about the decree ‘For the Protection of People and State’?

Answer 10

There was nothing to stop the Nazis from using these powers on other people as well as communists.

Question 11

In the election of 5 March 1933, what was the result for the Nazis?

Answer 11

They increased their representation in the Reichstag from 196 to 288 seats.

Question 12

Explain the Day of Potsdam

Answer 12

In their desire to present the Nazis as the legitimate government and heir to previous periods in German history, an elaborate ceremony to open the first Reichstag of the Third Reich was staged in March 1933.

Question 13

What was significant about the Day of Potsdam?

Answer 13

1 Potsdam was the city of Frederick the Great, and the symbolic message of holding the ceremony there was that the Nazis were the heirs to this earlier period of German greatness.
2 The date (21 March 1933), was the day in 1862 when Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had assembled the first Reichstag of the Second Reich.

Question 14

What was the Enabling Act?

Answer 14

This new law would give the government the power, for the next 4 years, to issue laws regardless of the Reichstag.

Question 15

What were the voting numbers for the Enabling Act?

Answer 15

It needed a 2/3 vote of the Reichstag to be passed (432 votes):
441 members of the Reichstag voted in favour

Question 16

Explain the 2 reasons middle-class Germans voted in favour of the Enabling Act

Answer 16

1 They believed it was necessary to deal with the threat from the left and that political life would then settle down
2 Others voted out of fear, believing that if Hitler’s demands were not met he would force them by other means

Question 17

What did the passing of the Enabling Act mean?

Answer 17

There was no longer any role for political parties in Germany. All parties were declared illegal, were abolished or dissolved.

Question 18

What was the result of the November 1933 elections?

Answer 18

The Nazis were the only political party, so they won all 661 seats in the Reichstag. The once-powerful German Reichstag was left without power or influence.

Question 19

Why were the SA considered a threat?

Answer 19

By 1934, Hitler believed that the Nazi revolution was over, but many in the SA shared leader Ernst Rohm’s belief that the National Socialist Revolution had not gone far enough.

Question 20

What were the rumours concerning the SA?

Answer 20

That there would be a second revolution as Rohm constantly displayed the power of the SA in a series of parades and marches.

Question 21

Explain the relationship of the SA and the army

Answer 21

Ernst Rohm believed the SA, not the regular army, should be the main military force in Germany. Rohm wanted the army incorporated into the ranks of the SA and saw himself as the ultimate commander of this force. The army were totally opposed to any such idea, as well as Hitler.

Question 22

What was the other issue concerning Hitler, apart from the SA?

Answer 22

President von Hindenburg’s health was failing and only had a few months to live. When he died, Hitler planned to abolish the office of president and take for himself the position of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. To do this he needed the backing of the army, not the SA.

Question 23

What deal did Hitler make with the armed forces?

Answer 23

In a secret arrangement with the military leaders, Hitler agreed to deal with the SA in return for the armed forces supporting Hitler as Hindenburg’s successor.

Question 24

Who planned and executed the elimination of the SA?

Answer 24

Hermann Goring and Heinrich Himmler. The purge was to be undertaken by the SS.

Question 25

What was the elimination of the SA called, and when did it occur?

Answer 25

The ‘Night of the Long Knives’ took place on 30 June 1934.

Question 26

What happened on the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 26

Troops of the SS took the SA leadership by surprise and, in a coordinated activity in Berlin and Munich, Rohm and hundreds of SA officers were arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the state.

Question 27

Explain the events of the day after the Night of the Long Knives

Answer 27

Many SA officers, including Rohm, were shot. The death list was expanded to include others that the Nazis wanted removed:
1 General von Schleicher - former Chancellor - and his wife
2 Gustav von Kahr - as PM of Bavaria, he opposed Hitler’s Munich Beerhall Putsch in 1923

Question 28

What happened 1 month after the elimination of SA leadership, on 2 August 1934?

Answer 28

President von Hindenburg died aged 87.

Question 29

Discuss the events that occurred after the death of President von Hindenburg

Answer 29

1 A new law combined the office of president and chancellor. Hitler was now the head of state, head of the government, and supreme commander of the armed forces.
2 All members of the armed forces took an oath of loyalty to Hitler

Question 30

What did the death of Hindenburg essentially mean for Adolf Hitler?

Answer 30

Hitler was now the Fuhrer (leader), supreme ruler of the German state.