To pass the Enabling Act the current laws of Germany at that time stated that Hitler must get a majority of two thirds of the Reichstag in favour of it. Hitler knew that as it stood, the Reichstag, would not support him – so he needed to remove the current opposition. To do this he used two tactics. The first of these as previously stated, was to ban the Communists. The Communists were the Nazi’s extreme enemies. They were the markers of the left wing, as the Nazi’s were on the right. Hitler hated them and felt threatened by them. This was partly because they had tried to seize power twice previously through the Spartacist Revolt and the Bavarian Uprisings both of which took place in 1919. It should also be remembered that the Communists were another large party in the Reichstag and as such a threat to the Nazis plans.
As well as eradicating opposition by banning their rivals, Hitler had just made it much easier to get the two thirds majority he needed, as he now had much less opposition. Hitler needed to secure 38 votes, as well as the 288 he was guaranteed from the Nazi’s and the 52 from the Nationalists to win. To secure his votes Hitler intimidated members of the other parties, and frightened them into voting for his policy. He threatened politicians, many with their lives if they were to vote against him.
However, some did vote against him but with no effect. Hitler won with 444 votes to 94 against. It has been said that the Reichstag voted themselves out of existence- It was true! The Enabling act is in my opinion the main way Hitler was able to remove opposition to himself during the period of March 1933 – August 1934.
The Enabling Act was passed on March 5th 1933. However, although the Enabling act played a major part in the eradication of opposition there are many other ways it was also done. As Hitler was an extremely racist man, he felt anyone who wasn’t racially pure – or an Aryan – was a threat to him. He felt that the reason for some of Germany’s past problems was that racially pure people had not been in control of Germany. To make Germany prosper again, Hitler wanted to remove all racial minorities such as Jews, from positions of power and eventually drive them out of the country.
To do this Hitler slowly dismantled their lives piece by piece. As he did this many Jews left the country. One of the first steps he took was to place a ban on kosher meat. As this is the meat a Jew must eat in their religion. It made it impossible for Jewish people to live happily in Germany. Kosher meat is meat that has been killed in a certain way, and had all of the blood removed. This left Jewish people with very few options. These were:
- Leave the country as Hitler wanted
- Kill their own animals, and drain the blood themselves
- Not eat meat
- Abandon their religion
Many Jews would not stand up to Hitler as they were afraid of him and new they were in the minority. There were worldwide reports stating that hoards of Jews were leaving Germany for neighbouring countries.
The next step Hitler took against the Jews was to ban Jews in all professions, schools and businesses. This took effect from March 28th 1933. Many Jews were put out of business – and it was not only Jews that were affected. As Jews made up 16% of all German Lawyers, 17% of Bankers and there were also 10,000 Jewish doctors the German public services were greatly affected
The Nazis continued to marginalize non-Aryan groups – especially Jewish people. The following are just a few of the significant events:-
1933
April 1st – Ban on Jewish Merchants.
July 3rd -- German Nazi’s begin evicting Jews from the Civil Service.
August 29th – Jews sent to Prison camps for the first time.
1934
March 16th – Jews who cannot prove German ancestry are classed as second-class citizens. They loose political privileges such as voting.
Earlier on in this essay, I mentioned Hitler and his leadership qualities. When Hitler spoke the people seemed to enter a trance that they could not snap out of. If you have ever seen old film footage of Hitler speaking to a crowd you will understand what I mean. All over the country ‘Hitler mania’ broke out! Although they probably did not realise at the time, they were all working towards Hitler’s aims. If you were not a Hitler Fan during his period in office, you would probably be regarded as a mis–fit, and people would certainly notice this. You would stand out in the crowd – Like an Evertonian within the cheering Liverpool supporters when the cups were brought home by Liverpool a few weeks ago! These people would be pushed out of society for failing to be the same as everyone else. They were beginning to eradicate all minorities, without even realising it.
As well as using the law to destroy people’s lives, Hitler also went out and physically destroyed them. As he had passed the Enabling Act, Hitler had control over all of Germany’s courts, Judges, Police force, and Army etc. Hitler had handed over control of the police to the SS. The SS or Schutzstaffel (meaning Defense Corps) were Hitler’s Henchmen. They were originally created to protect Hitler from his enemies, but then went on to be the main means of intimidating or terrorizing Germans into obedience. As Hitler was in control of the SS, he still had much of the power he wanted over the police force. This proved very useful in his later schemes.
Hitler also had complete control over the courts. He could use them to try Nazi opponents, and the judges were biased as they had taken an oath of loyalty to Hitler. By controlling the legal system, Hitler did not need to worry about opponents at all. He became judge and jury. He had ultimate power over all of his major rivals in the political system, and in the key areas of power all over the country.
The control Hitler now had became very useful in removing the opposition in the SA (Sturmabteilung or Storm Troopers). These were German militia in charge of physical training and teaching of politics. In what is known as the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ Hitler got rid of many of his enemies. It was on 30th June 1934 when Hitler crushed opposition within the Sturmabteilung or Storm troopers. He and the SS murdered all of the leaders within the organization, and then had it disbanded. The leader of the SA was Ernst Rohm. Rohm had been a close friend of Hitler’s, but he too was murdered by Hitler himself on this night. Hitler felt Rohm was a threat to him as he was an extremely powerful man.
This happened, as Hitler had to make a choice between the SA and the Army. If Hitler went with the SA, he would have to comply with many of their demands and the SA were very powerful. So Hitler removed the opposition in a very brutal manner. However, as he was in charge of all of the law forces and courts he was never going to be charged with any of the deaths.
With this power it meant he could continue to imprison anybody he liked, for any reason he could find. Hitler took advantage of this as often as he could. This soon meant that the jails were filling up and there was nowhere for prisoners to go. As a solution to this problem, Concentration camps, or prison camps were opened to take the overflow of prisoners. These were later used to imprison Jews and other opponents of Hitler.
Finally, Hitler made some other adjustments to Germany that would help eradicate his enemies. He banned trade unions, so that people would not be able to stand up to him in large numbers. He added Informers. This was when all of Germany was divided into small groups/blocks which were visited regularly by there local Nazi or Block Warden. These people were allegedly supporting the people within their area. In reality they were being watched and controlled at all times.
In conclusion, it is fair to say that Hitler used every available device to help himself. He could always manage to manipulate things to his advantage. This cunning man was yet to make a mistake in the eyes of most Germans. The majority of the German people loved him. It was as if he had almost hypnotised them – and whatever he did he could always convince them it was for the best!
Synopsis – Hitler was able to remove opposition to himself through the Enabling Act passed in March 1933 and its advantages between the period of March 1933 and august 1934.
