Nazi - Politics + Government

Question 1

Main ways which the Nazis consolidated power

Answer 1

Reichstag Fire (Feb 1933)
Election (March 1933)
Enabling Act (March 1933)
Night of the Long Knives (June 1934)

Question 2

Reichstag Fire

Answer 2

February 1933
Marinus van der Lubbe (dutch communist) accused of setting fire to the Reichstag - found guilty.
Suppression of communists - 4,000 killed by the SA +SS
Anti-communist sentiment potrayed by Goebbels

Question 3

March 1933 Election

Answer 3

Nazis win 288 seats - compared to their 196 in Nov 1932
Goebbels headed the election campaign with anti-communist sentiment, following the Reichstag fire.
The SPD still achieved 120 seats, ZP = 92
The election was highly corrupt, SA intimidation

Question 4

Enabling Act

Answer 4

March 1933
Allowed the cabinet to pass laws without the approval of the Reichstag
Laws did not require presidential approval
A 4 year arrangement, required renewal
Hitler could rule by decree (passing laws took < 24hrs)

Question 5

Night of the Long Knives

Answer 5

June 1934
SA eliminated as a political and military force
Rohm and the main leaders of the SA were shot
Weapons + Transport was provided by the army
Von Schleicher + Strasser (socialist leader) were killed
400 killed in total
Press were told it was the suppression of a treason plot.
Von Papen marginalised
Army swear loyalty oath to Hitler

Question 6

Power of the President (Change/Continuity)

Answer 6

Change - From August 1934, the role of Chancellor and President was merged into the role of Fuhrer.

Cont. - Reichstag still had some control in theory, ie could pass a vote of no confidence.

Question 7

Power of the Central + State govt. (change / cont.)

Answer 7

Change - Elected state governments were replaced with centrally appointed officials + from 1939, civil servants had to be party members and wear the Nazi Uniform.

Cont. - The elected state government of Prussia had already been removed by Von Papen + Hindenburg in 1932.

Question 8

Power of Parliament (Change + Continuity)

Answer 8

Change - due to the Enabling Act + the one party state, the Reichstag played a minor role. In 1942, it voted to dissolve itself.

Cont. - Reichstag remains a existent, however mostly a ceremonial role. They were needed to renew the Enabling Act.

Question 9

Voting / Elections (Change + Continuity)

Answer 9

Change - Elections became less frequent (1933,1936 + 1938) they were linked to referendum questions. Only Nazi approved candidates could stand.

Cont. - German consitutencies + electorate did not change under Nazi rule.

Question 10

Political Parties (C+C)

Answer 10

Change - From July 1933, there was a one party state. Nazi radicals were purged during the Night of the Long Knives. Gauleiters became very important.

Cont. - There were some attempts to exclude SPD from the ruling coaltion by Hindenburg + NSDAP banned briefly.

Question 11

Nature of elections/ referendums (C+C)

Answer 11

Change - Vert high voter turnout (90% +), elections combined with plebiscite questions. Atmosphere of intimidation + ballot rigging.

Cont. - the Weimar constitution allowed for referendum to be triggered by popular petition (eg. Young Plan).

Question 12

Judiciary (C+C)

Answer 12

Change - People’s court (1933) allowed people to be tried for political crimes. New Reich Chamber for Lawyers established where a loyalty oath was taken and non-cooperative judges were forced to retire.

Cont. - Largely the institutions were left untouched as they were hostile to democracy during the Weimar, with right-wing sympathy, ie. Hitler’s 9 month sentence.

Question 13

Civil Service (C+C)

Answer 13

Change - Purged of Jews and Socialists in 1933, all civil servants had to be members of the Nazi party in 1934.

Cont. - The actual administrative methods was left largely untoched.

Question 14

Foriegn Office (C+C)

Answer 14

Change - Leading Nazis were given diplomatic missions (eg. Goering negociated Anschluss + consulted Mussolini in 1938).

Cont. - Non-Nazi Von Neurath stayed in his post until 1938 when he was replaced by Ribbentrop.

Question 15

Education Ministry (C+C)

Answer 15

Change- Existing education was undermined by the party’s new Hitler Youth organisations

Cont. - Similar bureaucratic methods as during the Weimar period.

Question 16

Prerogative State

Answer 16

The government itself is constrained to act legally in normal modern states - Hitler ignored this and ruled by his own freewill.

Question 17

Polycratic Regime

Answer 17

A state run by numerous people - Hitler delegated lots and made official positions overlapping in their responsibity.

Question 18

Cumulative Radicalisation

Answer 18

Belief that genocide + mass crimes are not planned, instead they emerge in the short-term due to warfare.

Question 19

Gauleiters

Answer 19

The head of a Gau (region) eg. Goebbels was Gauleiter of Berlin 1928-45.

Question 20

Fuhrerprinzip

Answer 20

Hitler best understood what was benficial for German people and therefore was best placed to inform decisions

Question 21

Working towards the Fuhrer

Answer 21

Policies were based on what policitcan percieved that Hitler would want.

Question 22

Gleichschaltung

Answer 22

a process of Nazification designed to turn Germany into a single party state under Hitler and the Nazi Party

Question 23

Martin Bormann

Answer 23

Hitler’s private secretary (1935)
He organised Hitler’s diary, appoinments + mail.
He gained control over the Reich Chancellory (1941)

Question 24

Henreich Himmler

Answer 24

He was appointed as the Reichsfuhrer of the SS in 1929.
He grew the SS to 50,000 by 1933.
Promoted to Chief of German Police in 1936
Assistant Chief of the Gestapo in 1934
Committed Suicide in 1945

Question 25

Ernst Rohm

Answer 25

Head of the SA Killed at the Night of the Long Knives - 1934

Question 26

Hermann Goering

Answer 26

WW1 fighter ace Joined the Nazis in 1922 Injured at the Munich Putsch Reichstag deputy in 1928 Leader of the Luftwaffe Plenipotentiary of the 4 year plan (1936)

Question 27

Joseph Goebbels

Answer 27

Gauleiter of Berlin Minister of Propaganda Decisive during Krystallnacht 1938 He was made 'Plenipotentiary of Total War' in August 1944

Question 28

Key Political Changes during the War

Answer 28

Key Gauleiters became Commissioners for the defence of the Reich in September 1939. Bormann was made in charge of the Reich Chancellory (1941). The party became increasingly bureaucratic Older party members were marginalised Himmler became Minister of the Interior in 1943

Question 29

Key Changes to the Army during the War

Answer 29

After the war broke out, dissession seemed treasonable After the NotLK, Hitler promised the Army would be the only force in Germany. The SS was kept as a reserve force - Waffen SS - 35 divisions by 1945. After the Army bomb plot, major purge of army officers - est. 200 officers were killed

Question 30

Role of the SS during the War

Answer 30

Ran concentration camps (1934-30) 900,000 men by 1944 Administrated new Nazi territory eg. Poland Carried out racial wars - Einsatzgruppen