Nazi consolidation of power in 1933 was primarily due to the use of terror and violence

Propaganda was another important tool for the consolidation of power. Goebbels was one of only three Nazis in the first of Hitler’s cabinets; he was responsible for the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda which was established in March 1933. Hitler and Goebbels both believed that propaganda was essential to the establishment of the Nazi government. Cinema was of prime importance. 1933 saw the release of Hitlerjunge Quex a filmic representation of the death of a blue eyed and blond haired boy at the hand of the Communists. This emphasised the evil of the Communists who had received a legal and physical hammering in the early days of the Nazi government, thus encouraging public sentiment helpful to the consolidation of the regime. Propaganda also emphasised Hitler as the embodiment of the Nation. The poster 'One People, One Nation, One Leader' stressed just this and emphasised that the Nazi revolution was for the good of the nation as a whole and went beyond ordinary politics. In 1933 Goebbels moved quickly to seize control of all forms of communication and by the end of 1933 they had control of all forms of the media, Jewish, communist and socialist journalists were dismissed. The Nazis in fact deployed propaganda effectively as a means of deceiving the political nation of their real intentions and significances of their actions, which in effect contributed to their consolidation of power.

To a lesser extent the collaboration between the conservatives and the middle class can be seen as a contributing factor to the Nazi’s consolidation of power,  the centre Party gave the Nazis the 2/3’s majority necessary to introduce the ‘Enabling Act’ which paved the way for the Hitler’s dictatorship. Hindenburg had allowed himself to be fooled into thinking that Hitler could be contained and the Conservative and nationalist leaders calculated that by allying themselves with the Nazis that they could moderate Hitler’s idealism. They were then out manoeuvred – thus suggesting that the tactical alliances in fact played an instrumental role in the Nazi’s consolidation of power.

A More significant factor contributing the consolidation of power was essentially the three legal measures. The first was the suspension of civil rights which was passed by the Reichstag immediately after the Reichstag fire. On the 28 February 1933 the Decree for the Protection of People and State drawn up by Frick and signed by Hindenburg effectively ended constructional protection of individual civil right thus increasing governmental power and giving Hitler greater freedom to act against his opponents. Secondly, on March 23 1933 the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which transferred legislative power from the Reichstag to the Cabinet for four years. In practice this measure allowed Hitler to rule by decree, again extending his power and entrenching the Nazi dictatorship. Finally, in mid July 1933, using the Enabling Act Hitler decreed that the Nazi Party was the only legal political party in Germany. In the absence of opposing parties the position of the Nazis were secure which therefore led to their consolidation of power.

Conclusively, terror and violence played an instrumental part in the Nazi’s consolidation of power in 1933 however if it without the successful use of propaganda the brutality of the Nazi’s would not have been effective. Therefore one can argue it cannot primarily be due to one factor but due to both propaganda and terror and violence which in effect led to the Nazi’s consolidation of power.