The Role Of Democracy In The Weimar Republic

Civil and societal manipulation of the German people was seen following the American market crash of 1929 when unemployment imprisoned nearly 14% of the available workforce (196). With no noticeable intervention from the Weimar Republic, ordinary people were under the impression that democracy had failed the republic and they believed the current system should be removed (196). Capitalizing on the vulnerability of the German people, Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) exploited the situation by leveraging popular opinion and making radical promises to improve the chances of entering the Reichstag (197). Once voted into office as Chancellor, Hitler demanded “control” of two ministries within the Thuringian Government:
After which, it became virtually impossible for Social Democrats, communists, or any other “illegal” political parties to hold rallies, distribute literature, or to canvas opinion (7). With socialist and communist party representatives increasingly likely to be imprisoned, many understandably feared making political contacts (7). Additionally, the publication of arrests in local news outlets and an increase in SA police raids only heightened public hysteria (7). Once Nazi political opposition was removed, Hitler focused on limiting any other existing resistance during the Night of The Long Knives. On June 30, 1934 Hitler carried out a purge that took the lives of a number of nonconforming Nazi leaders and other political opponents. Heinrich Himmler, Reich Leader of the Schutzstaffel (SS), was assigned the responsibility of executing the Purge and upon completion, took the lives of over 85 top SA leaders and political opponents, including Nazi party members. Shortly after the purge the Reich cabinet issued a law legalizing the murders claiming the victims threatened the existence of the German nation. In an attempt to justify the murdering of many Germans, Joseph Goebbels launched a propaganda campaign to portray the purge as an effort to remove traitors who threaten national security. However, at a local level the extent of the purge was greeted
Union leaders and activists are imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. The Reich took the trade unions funds seized all of its assets. Hitler understood the enormous power the existing German Labor movement had by representing workers’ interests and promoting a democratic altruistic outlook among workers. But perhaps more importantly, the unions presented a barrier to the Nazi seizure of power of all areas of German life and society and therefore made a priority of replacing existing unions with the German Labor Front. Although it did still provide certain benefits and services to members, it focused more on supporting the Nazi ideology and spread propaganda amongst workers. Nevertheless, the program was widely unorganized and it leader, Robert Ley, later confessed to having had little idea as what his new organization was supposed to do (7). But as unplanned as the organization might have been, it was the only union organization allowed in the Reich, which limited any defiance of the policies. Hitler later decreed a law bringing an end to collective bargaining and as a result the German Labor Front deprived the workers of any bargaining mechanisms soon thereafter. As a result of extensive societal control through the Reich’s reign of terror, there was little member resistance to the policies of the Labor