On 27 February 1933 Reichstag building went up in flames. Hitler blamed Communists and made Hindenburg to pass a law Enabling Act that could make Hitler operate on him own. Hitler became Chancellor and started to get rid of his opponents. On 30 June 1933 Hitler ordered his bodyguards SS to murder Rohm ad 70 other leaders of SA. This event went in history as the Night of the Long Knives. In August 1934 Hindenburg died and Hitler became the “Fuhrer” of Germany.
- Forms of state and the regime.
After Hitler seized the power Germany became a Fascist state with one head ruler – Hitler and with single party – Nazi. Other parties were banned and the judicial system was ruled by the state. It was complete single party dictatorship. All functions were taken over by Nazi Special Commissioner in each state and it had compete power of all officials and affairs. No more elections were held in the Nazi Germany.
- Opposition and resistance.
The Nazi Germany was a police state and there was a huge police force to control the power. The State Secret Police – Gestapo controlled almost every aspect of the German people lives so it was very dangerous to oppose the government in any aspect. There were also other police forces like SS and SA. Also concentration camps were built to hold there the enemies of the Nazi party but actually the main inhabitants of those camps were the Jews.
- Domestic policies.
Trade unions were banned and the Nazi run German Labour Front was put in the place of the unions. The Beauty of Labour was made to improve working conditions. The Strength Through Joy organization gave holidays to workers. Also National Labour Service was established. Private ownership was sustained but the state controlled the whole economy. Hitler introduced the Four Year Plan to make Germany an autarchy. Hitler also took control of the young Germans: the schools were introduced with the Science of Races. All boys had to join the Hitler Youth and girls had to join the League of German Maidens. Religion was brought under the control of the state: the National Church was established and the Concordat with the Catholic Church was signed. And the worst policy was the Hitler’s anti – Semitic policy. He blamed Jews for everything and this lead to the slaughtering of millions of Jewish people. This was called Holocaust.
- Foreign policies.
Hitler had an expansionism foreign policy. In 1933 Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations and walks out of the World Disarmament Conference. 1934 signs a ten-year non-aggression pact with Poles. 1935 after the plebiscite Saraland is returned to Germany. Hitler also breaks the Versailles treaty and starts conscription an announces rearmament. Hitler tries to unite the German – speaking countries and provide them “Living Space” by annexing Rhineland, then comes the Anschluss of Austria, annexation of Sudetenland, then the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and occupation of Poland. He signed Rome Berlin axis with Mussolini and later the Anti Comintern pact with Italy and Japan. He also manages to secretly agree with GB and sign German-Anglo naval agreement. He provides help in the Spanish Civil War. Hitler also manages to foul Chamberlain by signing the appeasement policy. Finally right before WW2 Hitler signs the Pact of Steel with Mussolini and Molotov-Ribentrop pact with Soviet Russia.
- Use of propaganda.
Ministry of Propaganda was established and ruled by Dr Joseph Goebbels. Everything was under the censorship – radio, newspapers, magazines, books, theatre, films, music and art. The Reich Chamber of Culture was made to keep an eye on all this. It was the Hitler’s personality cult. The forbidden books were burned in public etc. Goebbels also organized spectacular rallies and parades to let people see how powerful Hitler was.
- Successes and failures of the regime.
First of all the unemployment was completely exterminated (but it also included the removal of Jews and women from the work force and also 1935 the conscription and rearmament is introduced). Care was taken to support the simple workers and also the wealthy businessmen were delighted. But he never manager to make Germany an autarky. In overall he managed to establish the totalitarian regime in Germany and control the citizens, but he was finally defeated when tried to invade USSR and declare war on the United States.
- Impact on region and world.
Some other dictatorships were established as they saw the Hitler’s successes for example Kāŗlis Ulmanis in Latvia. But the main impact is that Hitler’s policies led to the World War 2 - almost whole Europe was occupied by Nazis and in all this territory the Holocaust was in action.
