Geschiedenis germany national - socialism consolidation of power

NS Consolidation NS Consolidation and Terrorand TerrorHistory of Germany History of Germany

Lecture 9Lecture 9

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. The Road to Absolute Power: The Road to Absolute Power: 1933-19341933-1934

2.2. Economy and Social PolicyEconomy and Social Policy

3.3. NS TerrorNS Terror

4.4. ResistanceResistance

5.5. ControversiesControversies

Reichstag fire

Nazi propaganda poster “The Reichstag in flames” (March elections 1933)

Fight for GermanyBooklet on German politics before 1933München, 1933

Marinus van der Lubbe

(1909 – 1934)Georgi Dimitrov (1882 – 1948)

Party Votes

NSDAP 43,90%

DNVP 8,00%

DVP 1,10%

BVP 2,70%

Zentrum 11,20%

Deutsche Staatspartei 0,90%

SPD 18,30%

KPD 12,30%

Other 1,60%

Elections to the Reichstag,March 5, 1933

Otto Wels

"At this historic hour, we German Social Democrats pledge ourselves to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and Socialism. No Enabling Law can give you the power to destroy ideas which are eternal and indestructible ... From this new persecution too Germany Social Democracy can draw new strength. We send greetings to the persecuted and oppressed. We greet our friends in the Reich. Their steadfastness and loyalty deserve admiration. The courage with which they maintain their convictions and their unbroken confidence guarantee a brighter future."

"You can take our lives and our freedom, but you cannot take our honour". "Wir sind wehrlos aber nicht ehrlos." - "We are defenceless but not honorless."

Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich - Law to remedy the need of the people and the Reich (Ermächtigungsgesetz)

Article 1 In addition to the procedure prescribed by the constitution [i.e. decision by parliament], laws of the Reich may also be enacted by the government of the Reich. This includes laws as referred to by Articles 85 sentence 2 and Article 87 of the constitution.

Article 2 Laws enacted by the government of the Reich may deviate from the constitution as long as they do not affect the institutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The rights of the President remain undisturbed

Potsdam, March 12, 1933

Nazi Party

Gau (region)

Kreis (district)

Ortsgruppe (small town)1,500 households

Zelle (cell)160-480 households

Block (street blocks)40-60 households

“In our eyes the German boy of the future must be slender and supple, swift as greyhounds, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel. We must bring up a new type of human being, men and girls who are disciplined and healthy to the core. We have undertaken to give the German people an education that begins already in youth and will never come to an end. It starts with the child and will end with the ‘old fighter‘. Nobody will be able to say that he has a time in which he is left entirely alone to himself“.

Hitler at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1935

Nazi organisations for Nazi organisations for the youththe youth

6-10 Pimpfen (Cubs)6-10 Pimpfen (Cubs) 10-14 Deutsches 10-14 Deutsches

Jungvolk (Young German Jungvolk (Young German Boys)Boys)

14-18 Hitlerjugend (Hitler 14-18 Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth)Youth)

Reich Labour ServiceReich Labour Service WehrmachtWehrmacht

10-14 Jung Mädel (Young 10-14 Jung Mädel (Young Girls)Girls)

14-18 Bund Deutscher 14-18 Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of Mädel (League of German Girls)German Girls)

18-21 Glaube und 18-21 Glaube und Schönheit – Faith and Schönheit – Faith and BeautyBeauty

NS Frauenwerk – NS NS Frauenwerk – NS Women‘s organisationWomen‘s organisation

German Labour Front

NSDAP

German Students‘s league

“It is extremely difficult for parents who are opponents of the Nazis to exercise an influence on their children. Either they ask the child not to talk at school about what is said at home. Then the children get the feeling, aha, the parents have to hide what they think. The teacher permits himself to say everything out loud. So he‘s bound to be right. – Or the parents express their opinion without giving the child a warning. Then it‘s not long before they are arrested or at the very least called up before the teacher, who shouts at them and threatens to report them. – ‘Send your father to the school!‘ That is the normal answer to suspicious doubts and questions on the part of the child. If the father is quiet after such a visit, then he gives the child the impression that he has been convinced by what the teacher has told him, and the effect is far worse than if nothing had ever been said.“

Report from a social democratic observer from 1938 (Deutschland Berichte der SPD)

Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA (1887-1934)

German English Translation

Die Reichsregierung hat das folgende Gesetz beschlossen, das hiermit verkündet wird:

The Reich government has decided upon the following law that is herewith announced:

Einziger Artikel. Die zur Niederlegung hoch- und landesverräterischer Angriffe am 30. Juni, 1. und 2. Juli 1934 vollzogenenen Maßnahmen sind als Staatsnotwehr rechtens.

Single article. The measures taken on 30 June and 1 and 2 July 1934 in order to put down attacks of high treason shall be legal State self-defense.

Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense (in German: Gesetz über Maßnahmen zur Staatsnotwehr), 3 July 1934

The bill is signed by Reichskanzler Hitler, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, and Minister of Justice Dr. Franz Gürtner.

“I swear by God this sacred oath: I will render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German nation and people,

Supreme Commander of the armed forces, and will be ready as a true soldier to risk my life at

any time for this oath”.

Oath of German soldiers since 1934

“The Führer is supreme judge of the nation…The Führer is not backed by constitutional clauses,

but by outstanding achievements which are based on the combination of a calling and of his devotion to the people. The Führer does not put

into effect a constitution according to legal guidelines laid before him but by historic

achievements which serve the future of his people… Constitutional law in the Third Reich is the legal formulation of the historical will of the

Führer.”

Justice Minister Hans Frank in a speech in 1938

John Hite, Chris Hinton, Weimar & Nazi Germany (London, 2000), p. 180

ScheduleSchedule






ReichsnährstandAmtsschild1933-1945DHM, Berlin

Hitler and the president of the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht

Hjalmar Schacht1877-1970President of the Reichsbank 1923-1930, 1933-1939Minister of Economy1934-1937

Stand

Ende

km

Entw. km

1935

108

108

1936

979

1087

1937

923

2010

1938

1036

3046

1939

255

3301

1940

436

3737

1941

90

3827

1942

34

3861

1943

35

3896

Gesamt

3896

Stand

Ende

km

Entw. km

1935

108

108

1936

979

1087

1937

923

2010

1938

1036

3046

1939

255

3301

1940

436

3737

1941

90

3827

1942

34

3861

1943

35

3896

Gesamt

3896

Reichsautobahnen

Year km total

1935 108 108

1936 979 1087

1937 923 2010

1938 1036 3046

1939 255 3301

1940 436 3737

1941 90 3827

1942 34 3861

1943 35 3896

Total: 3896

RECYCLING: Jeder muß helfen! Deine Pflichten im VierjahresplanPropagandaschrift für die Sammlung von Altstoffen zur Erfüllung des Vierjahresplanes

Hermann Göring, Hamburg, 1934, DHM, Berlin

Aviation industry: Junkers-Flugzeugbau, Bayreuth, 1939




Social Policy: Public welfare organisations ‘Power through Joy‘

Frankfurt/Main, 1937

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. January 1933January 1933






Heinrich Himmler1900-1945

Reinhard Heydrich1904-1942

HimmlerReichsführer SSChief of Police

SSOrdnungspolizei

(order police)Municipal police

SipoSecurity Police

Heydrich

SDSecurity Service

Heydrich

KripoCriminal Police

GestapoSecret state police

Foreign intelligence

Domestic intelligence

ScheduleSchedule






Opposition in the Third Reich (Sample)Opposition in the Third Reich (Sample)

Organising a coupOrganising a coup Attempting to assassinate Hitler and other leadersAttempting to assassinate Hitler and other leaders Going on strikeGoing on strike Helping victims of NazismHelping victims of Nazism Spying for foreign governmentsSpying for foreign governments Deserting from the armed forces Deserting from the armed forces Committing suicideCommitting suicide EmigratingEmigrating Distributing anti-Nazi leafletsDistributing anti-Nazi leaflets Underachieving in the workplaceUnderachieving in the workplace Publicly criticising the regime, telling anti-Hitler jokesPublicly criticising the regime, telling anti-Hitler jokes Listening to American jazz and the BBCListening to American jazz and the BBC Not giving the Hitler greetingNot giving the Hitler greeting Refusing to join Nazi organisationsRefusing to join Nazi organisations Reading banned Nazi literatureReading banned Nazi literature

Harro Schulze-Boysen (1909-1942) with his wife Libertas Haas-Heye

Georg Elser1903-1945

Sophie Scholl, 1921-1943 Hans Scholl, 1918-1943

Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg1907-1944

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. January 1933January 1933






THE DEBATE ON THE FUNCTIONING OF THE THIRD REICH

Intentionalist Interpretation Functionalist Interpretation

1.Hitler's roleStrong dictator; can implement his will

Weak dictator; depends on competing organizations

2.Structure of the state

Obedience to the dictator

Four competing and relatively independent power blocks: economy, army, Nazi party/SS, state administration

3.Implementation of policies

Hitler's willLong-term planningRealization of long-term goalsPrimacy of ideology

Spontaneous initiatives of organizations, improvisation, primacy of opportunism

4.Critique

Too personalistic, too much centered on Hitler, too rational, too apologetic of Germans in general

Ignores deliberate policies and the popularity of Hitler, overestimates independence of single organizations and apparatuses, too much focused on anonymous structures

Synthesis (according to Bracher and Jäckel): Hitler derived much of his strength from the rivalry and the overlapping responsibilities of state and party institutions. He thus could assume the role of a mediator. Single offices competed to win him over to their policies. Often they tried to implement what was considered to be his wish ...

http://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/GermanyE5.html

Current consensus (Ian Kershaw) (see Hinton: Weimar & Nazi Germany, p. 190)

Hitler is the key activator

Policy reflects Hitler‘s overall vision

His decisions are accepted by rivals

Mobiliser and legitimator but not necessarily initiator of many policies

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