Life In Nazi Germany

• Hitler was made Chancellor in January 1933

To achieve dictatorship, he had to remove the power of:

1. The Reichstag
2. Other Parties
3. Trade Unions
4. The President (Hindenburg)
5. The Army
6. State Governments

• 27th February 1933
• Fire in Reichstag building
• Blamed on communists - Marianus Van der Lubbe found on premises
• Many people believed the Nazis were involved in setting the fire
• Hitler claimed this meant that the communists couldn't be trusted to support the government

• 28th February 1933
• Hitler used the fire to exploit the President's fear of a communist takeover
• Hitler was able to persuade President Hindenburg to pass the law
• Gave emergency powers to have anyone suspected of plotting against the government arrested and imprisoned without trial
• Hitler also used it to distrubt the election campaigns of opposition parties and intimidate voters

• 23rd March 1933
• The Nazis won 288 seats in March 1933 elections and by combining with the Nationalist Party, they gained just over 50% of the votes in the Reichstag
• Hitler wanted more power
• Enabling Act meant he could pass laws fore four years without the consent of the Reichstag
• He need 2/3rds of the Reichstag to approve the enabling law as it changed the constitution
• Hitler had banned the Communists using the Law for the Protection of the People and State 
• He got the support of the Centre Party by promising to cancel this law
• Only the Social Democrats voted against the law and it was passed on 23rd March 1933 by 441 votes to 94
• The Enabling Act confirmed the collapse of the Weimar Republic

Hitler used the Enabling Act to introduce lawswhich got rid of other groups of opposition.

Other laws to increase control and get rid of opposition:

• Late March - all state parliaments were closed down and re-established with Nazi majorities

Reasons:

• Hitler's positionwas under threat from Ernst Rohm, the leader of the SA
• Rohm and the SA had become very powerful as it now had over 2 million men
• The German amy hated Rohm and the SA had made this clear to Hitler
• Hitler need the support of the army as it was the only group that could stop him becoming a dictator

Events:

• 30th June 1934
• Around 100 people Hitler suspected of preventing himbeing a dictator were executed by the **
• Key SA leaders were executed: Rohm, Von Kahr and Von Schleicher

Results:

• Removed Rohm as a key rival to Hitler's leadership
• Helped make the Nazis more respectable - SA were damaging the Nazis' image - brought under control
• The army now gave their crucial backing to Hitler's bid to become President after Hindenburg's death
• Hindenburg died on 2nd August 1934
• 1st August 1934 - Hitler passed law which joined together the jobs of Chaancellor and President
• 2nd August 1934 - Hitler became Fuhrer
• Hitler was able to secure an oath of personal loyalty from the army
• From this point onwards the army was totally linked to Hitler

• May 1933 - Trade Unions were banned
• July 1933 - Germany became a one - party state
• December 1933 - Nazis won 92% of the votes in the Reichstag elections
• January 1934 - Law for the Reconstruction of the State - Hitler abolished all state governments apart from Prussia which was controlled by the Nazis