- August 1934 Hitler became Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor.
I will go through each of these main steps and say how each of them effected Hitler and his establishment of the Nazi dictatorship.
After the fire in the Reichstag on the 27th February 1933, which was believed to be started by a Communist, Hitler told President Hindenburg that Germany was in great danger from the Communists and convinced him to pass a law called, ‘The Protection of the People and State.’ This was made to look like a good law for the public when actually it was only good for Hitler. It gave him the power to suspend parts of the constitution. This enabled him to smash his opponents, the Communist’s, election campaign. Over 4000 communists were arrested due to this law. All of their newspapers were shut down and their meetings were put to an end. This put Hitler one step closer to overall power in Germany.
Hitler still wanted more power. For this he had to introduce the ‘Enabling Law’. However, the Reichstag would only let this pass if Hitler had two thirds of the overall majority, and Hitler only had half. However, Hitler found a way to win more votes. When people entered the Reichstag, they were greeted by cheers for the Enabling Act and Storm-Troopers who intimidated members on their way to vote. It was no surprise that most members voted for them. Once Hitler had the Enabling Law passed he was a dictator and Germany was no longer a democracy.
During March Hitler introduced a series of laws which put every part of German society was under Nazi rule and in line with his ideas. The introduction of the series of new laws was called, ‘Bringing Germany into Line’. The German states were brought into line, so all eighteen of them were controlled by the Nazis. The trade unions were brought into line. All the trade unions were formed into one and were run by a Nazi. The parties were brought into line. All of the parties were closed down one by one. Hitler passed a law stating no one was allowed to form another political party and Germany became a one party state.
Hitler had a dilemma in making the decision which led to the Night of the Long knives. Ernst Rohm, leader of the S.A., wanted to join forces with the regular army. This would make him more powerful than Hitler. Hitler, who could not allow that, joined forces with the generals who did not want to lose power either. On 30th June 1934, Rohm and the other SA leaders were taken from their beds and shot. The same happened to all possible rivals to Hitler. Because he took out the only remaining rivals he had, and joined with the army generals, he was now almost unstoppable.
When President Hindenburg died, the final piece of the jigsaw for Hitler fell into place. There was now nothing anybody could do to stop him. He gave himself the title, ‘Fuhrer and the Reich Chancellor’. On that day the only people who could have stopped Hitler, the German army, swore an oath of personal allegiance to him. Now he was unstoppable.
Callum Quigley
7.12.04
