Another unlawful act I mentioned was the Night of the long knives, where many SA troops were killed (inc. Rohm). Hitler did this because the SA wanted a bigger role. Their leader, Ernst Röhm, wanted to merge the SA with the regular army, leaving them both under his absolute control. The regular army was not happy with this arrangement, and Hitler was alarmed, as a merger would make Röhm the most powerful man in Germany. Hitler thought something had to be done to prevent this from ever happening and with the advice from Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, and so the SS and army murdered Röhm and approximately 400 other leaders of the SA. The purge of the SA was very much an illegal process in the Nazi consolidation of power but nevertheless Hitler had succeeded in wiping out the only real threat to his power and had also gained the support of the army. Shortly after the purge of the SA, Hitler formally explained to the Reichstag his reasons for doing so
However, Hitler didn’t consolidate his power through unlawful procedures all the way, he wanted to look good infront of the German public, in doing so he had passed out many lawful issues which didn’t make his consolidation of power illegal.
Some examples of these would be that the day following the fire, the "Reichstag fire decree" was introduced. This gave the Nazis the power to arrest a number of communists and socialists and hold them for unlimited periods of time without having to appear in court. Their good performance in the elections was undeniably helped by the fact that 81 communist leaders were being held under the "Reichstag Fire Decree".
Hitler used his new power to pass the "Enabling act" on the 23rd March 1933. This gave Hitler dictatorial powers by enabling him to make decisions that had the same authority and power as those made through Reichstag. Under these powers Hitler was able to destroy the trade union movement of Germany. On 2nd may SA men raided trade union offices and officials were arrested. Similarly, Hitler used these powers to destroy all opposing political parties, creating a one party state.
Also, the purge of the SA had ultimately resulted in Adolf Hitler's unchangeable power in Germany, but this act can be described as the main contributing argument to the legality of Hitler's consolidation of power. This purge is now seen as legal because
a law was passed after the event that made Hitler's actions perfectly legal. This act therefore resulted in a closer alliance between the Nazi state and the army, giving Hitler greater power than ever before
In conclusion, looking at all the aspects in which go into the argument of whether Hitler achieved supreme control over Germany through an unlawful or lawful manner, I would say that Hitler's consolidation of power was achieved mainly through lawful than unlawful means. Yet the unlawful means were either never reviled or were rationally accepted for the good of the country.