Nazi control and dictatorship 1933–39
Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933 with a coalition cabinet. Within 18 months he had established a totalitarian dictatorship. The transformation came in three phases.
Phase 1: legalising dictatorship 1933
Reichstag Fire — 27 February 1933: A fire destroyed the Reichstag building. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was caught at the scene. Whether the Nazis themselves set it or merely exploited it is disputed, but the political consequences were transformative.
Reichstag Fire Decree (28 February): Hindenburg, persuaded by Hitler, used Article 48 to suspend civil liberties — freedom of speech, press, assembly, habeas corpus. KPD members rounded up; ~4,000 arrested.
March 1933 election: Held with KPD effectively banned + SA intimidating opponents. Nazis got 43.9% — still not a majority. Coalition with DNVP gave them just over 50%.
Enabling Act — 23 March 1933: Allowed cabinet (= Hitler) to pass laws without Reichstag approval. SPD voted against; KPD already excluded. Two-thirds majority achieved.
"Made me a dictator" — Hitler privately
Phase 2: eliminating rivals 1933–34
By July 1933: Trade unions banned (replaced by DAF — German Labour Front under Robert Ley). All other parties banned. NSDAP became the only legal party.
Night of the Long Knives — 30 June 1934: Röhm and SA leadership were a threat: they wanted a "second revolution" + had a paramilitary force. Hitler, with the SS (under Himmler), arrested + executed ~85 SA leaders + other rivals (e.g. former Chancellor Schleicher). Army welcomed it (SA had threatened to merge with army).
Death of Hindenburg — 2 August 1934: Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor → Führer. Army swore personal oath of loyalty to Hitler.
Phase 3: total control 1934–39
The Police State
| Body | Role |
|---|---|
| SS (Himmler from 1929) | Elite paramilitary; ran concentration camps; "racial purity" enforcement |
| Gestapo (Heydrich + Himmler) | Secret police; informers; arrest without warrant |
| SD (Sicherheitsdienst) | Intelligence service; political surveillance |
| People's Courts (1934) | Tried "treason" without juries; Roland Freisler infamous judge |
| Concentration camps (from 1933) | Dachau opened March 1933 for political prisoners; later for Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, etc. |
Propaganda — Goebbels' Reich Ministry
- Press: Editors required to be Nazi-approved; non-Aryan owners forced out; ~1,500 journalists dismissed
- Radio: "Volksempfänger" (people's radio) cheap, mass-produced. By 1939 ~70% of households had one. Hitler + Goebbels speeches reached the entire country
- Cinema: Nazi propaganda films (e.g. Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl, 1935)
- Books: 10 May 1933 — public book burnings (Goebbels at Berlin Opernplatz)
- Art: "Degenerate art" exhibitions (1937) ridiculing modernism
- Rallies: Annual Nuremberg rallies, choreographed for cinema
Churches
Concordat with the Pope (July 1933): exchange — Nazis recognise Catholic schools, Vatican stays out of politics.
Reich Church under Müller (1933) tried to subsume Protestants. Confessing Church (Niemöller, Bonhoeffer) resisted.
Nazis aimed to replace Christianity long-term but trod carefully — many Germans were observant.
Resistance
| Group | Action |
|---|---|
| White Rose (Munich students, 1942–43) | Leaflets; Sophie + Hans Scholl executed |
| Edelweiss Pirates (working-class youth) | Anti-Hitler Youth groups; helped escapees |
| Confessing Church (Niemöller, Bonhoeffer) | Sermons + writing; concentration camp |
| July Plot (1944) | Bomb at Wolf's Lair; Hitler survived; ~5,000 executed |
Resistance never threatened the regime's survival but forms the moral backbone of post-war German memory.
⚠Common mistakes
- Saying "Hitler banned the SPD on 23 March" — the Enabling Act suspended the constitution; SPD was outlawed two months later (June 1933).
- Confusing SS / SA / Gestapo: SA = brownshirt street force (purged 1934). SS = Hitler's bodyguard, then became the elite. Gestapo = secret police arm.
- Saying "Hitler eliminated all opposition" — White Rose, Edelweiss Pirates, Confessing Church + many private dissenters existed throughout.
- Forgetting the army oath of August 1934 — personal loyalty to Hitler, not the constitution. Crucial later when officers considered resistance.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-history