Why was Nazi opposition limited between the years 1933-39?

Another negative way Hitler minimised opposition was through violence by Hitler’s main police arms the SS, SA and SD. The SA played a key role in encouraging people to vote Nazi through violence until June 1934, for example the SA contributed to getting Von der Lubbe (communist) to confess to starting the Reichstag fire . The Night of the Long Knives, Hitler ordered the murder of Ernst Rohm (the leader of the SA) and his supporters who wanted more socialist policies, for example acting against big businesses. Hitler also didn’t like the idea of the SA absorbing the army (he saw this as alienating the army). After the elimination of the SA the Nuremburg Laws were introduced, which developed the idea of a superior race. The SS proceeded to command concentration camps and filled the camps with so called “asocial” people, for example opponents, Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals thus limiting the opposition to the Nazi regime. The combination of the SS, SD the Gestapo provided the Nazi state with the means to suppress opposition through terror.

However it could be argued that there were many positive things Hitler did to minimise opposition, for example the Nazi’s reduced un-employment and restored prosperity in contrast to the austerity of the Weimar Republic(time of depression). When Hitler came into power in 1933 unemployment was extremely high at 6 million, in contrast to 1939, when unemployment was extremely low at 302,000. Hitler also managed to increase wages. It is believed this success appealed to all the electorates because people had more money thus gaining support. Hitler aimed to maintain high standards of living because he wanted Germany to be self sufficient and the German people liked this idea because it portrayed a strong government in contrast to the Weimar Republic.

Hitler successfully appealed to all types of electorate, for example the industrialists liked Hitler because they saw him as totally against communism; the middle classes were pleased with the return to prosperity because they had lost a lot during the Weimar Republic, and the working classes were happy with Hitler’s creation of new jobs. Hitler even managed to gain the support of women because he addressed the importance of the family and provided benefits. (The idea of this was to create more Nazi’s to extend the Arian race’s population).   It could be argued that because Hitler appealed to all he limited the opposition.

Another positive thing Hitler did to gain votes was to take advantage of the un-reacting governments after the war, for example Britain did not act to Hitler’s plans to re-unite Germany violating the treaty of Versailles. The nation was weak economically and militarily and so did not want to commit itself to war unless it definitely had to. Hitler became popular because he then proceeded to establish a strong stable government, for example Germany re-occupied the Rhineland in 1936 which made the people feel more secure from invasion and it also provided essential raw materials for industry production/ war production thus limiting the opposition.  It could be argued that Hitler gained support because he managed to overthrow reparation payments. Reparations were viewed as extremely un-fair by the German people and this would have been viewed as a success by Hitler thus gaining support.    

In conclusion we can say that there were many reasons for the limited opposition between the years 1933-39. I believe from the information I have obtained that the main reason was because of Hitler influencing the German people through terror, although I recognise that there were other contributing factors.