Nazi Germany
The Nazi Consolidation of power 1933-34
The Appointment of Hitler as Chancellor
The background to the election of 1933
The Enabling Law
The elimination of opponents and the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship
The Blood Purges, 1934.
Nazi ideology and the policy of Gleichschaltung
Hitler: his personality and his appeal to the German people.
The contribution of other leading Nazis.
Establishing a Dictatorship: The Stabilization of Nazi Power
German Government
On the surface, not many things seemed to have changed in the German government. Only three out of twelve ministers in the new cabinet belonged to the NSDAP. Several ministers had already been members of the Brüning, Papen, and Schleicher cabinets. Hitler, however, received a decisive concession from his conservative allies right before Hindenburg appointed him: the right to call new elections. The Reichstag had just been re-elected in November 1932, but Hitler hoped to win a majority in a new election campaign in which he would for the first time be able to use the power of the state in support of his party. That his party colleague Hermann Göring controlled Prussia with its strong police apparatus (which, until 1932 under SPD control, had often fought the Nazis) and that a Nazi was Interior Minister and thus head of the police all over Germany greatly helped Hitler.
On 1 February the Reichstag thus was dissolved. Hitler called elections for the 5th March. The election campaign was by no means democratic and free. The period between the closure of the Reichstag and the elections in March is often referred to as the period of chaos and terror. SA gangs terrorised the streets and political meeting halls. The Nazi interior minister made sure that the police complied. In Prussia, Göring even hired 50,000 auxiliary policemen, mostly SA members, allegedly "to keep order" during the campaign. Many Communists and some Social Democrats were persecuted, beaten up, and shot. Göring
The Appointment of Hitler as Chancellor
The background to the election of 1933
The Enabling Law
The elimination of opponents and the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship
The Blood Purges, 1934.
Nazi ideology and the policy of Gleichschaltung
Hitler: his personality and his appeal to the German people.
The contribution of other leading Nazis.
Establishing a Dictatorship: The Stabilization of Nazi Power
German Government
On the surface, not many things seemed to have changed in the German government. Only three out of twelve ministers in the new cabinet belonged to the NSDAP. Several ministers had already been members of the Brüning, Papen, and Schleicher cabinets. Hitler, however, received a decisive concession from his conservative allies right before Hindenburg appointed him: the right to call new elections. The Reichstag had just been re-elected in November 1932, but Hitler hoped to win a majority in a new election campaign in which he would for the first time be able to use the power of the state in support of his party. That his party colleague Hermann Göring controlled Prussia with its strong police apparatus (which, until 1932 under SPD control, had often fought the Nazis) and that a Nazi was Interior Minister and thus head of the police all over Germany greatly helped Hitler.
On 1 February the Reichstag thus was dissolved. Hitler called elections for the 5th March. The election campaign was by no means democratic and free. The period between the closure of the Reichstag and the elections in March is often referred to as the period of chaos and terror. SA gangs terrorised the streets and political meeting halls. The Nazi interior minister made sure that the police complied. In Prussia, Göring even hired 50,000 auxiliary policemen, mostly SA members, allegedly "to keep order" during the campaign. Many Communists and some Social Democrats were persecuted, beaten up, and shot. Göring