Although the opposition instances mentioned caused the Nazis some concern, Goebbles and his Nazi propaganda machine managed to overcome them. They did this by taking control of the medial and cultural aspects of Germany to win over the German people. They also manipulated events (e.g. the Reichstag fire) using propaganda to abolish any opponents who were seen as a threat towards the Nazi power struggle. Goebbles fought for control of newspaper companies and radio stations and hundreds of pro-Nazi films were made. Germany had no real national newspapers in 1933 but had 4700 local newspapers, some of which were owned by big Jewish publishing firms. Goebbles tacked this by taking over most of the publishers and putting controls on what journalists could write. In the event of this all Anti Nazi newspapers were closed therefore eliminating the threat of Nazi opposition via newspapers. Also the Jews were now unable to speak out against the anti Semitic policies of the Nazis. German radio stations were targeted as well. Goebbles won the power struggle for the control of radio and formed the Reich radio company which controlled all local stations. Both Hitler and Goebbles believed radio and spoken word was very effective and so millions of cheap radios were made. These radios could not pick up foreign broadcasts and instead featured speeches from Hitler himself that the public were strongly encouraged to listen to. Goebbles also concentrated on music, theatre and in particular Literature to help boost the Nazis image. Music by German composers was played and theatres featured historical topics about German history and political dramas. A list of banned books was also drawn up by Geobbles which may have depicted anti Nazi material. The Nazis also encouraged students to burn the books they believed were non German related and Jewish.
Eventually, Goebbles had nearly every aspect of German life and culture at his disposal which constantly fed the German people a stream of pro Nazi and pro German propaganda. Therefore any opposition that arose was crushed instantly. This propaganda was also essential in convincing the German people that the Nazis anti Semitic and other policies were right.
There was supposed to be no room for opposition of any kind in Nazi Germany. The aim was to create a totalitarian state. In a totalitarian state there can be no rival parties and no political debate. The Nazis had a powerful range of organizations and weapons they used to control Germany and terrorize Germans into submission. These weapons culminated in the creation of the police state. The police state was set up to ensure that any opposition or offence to the Nazi regime could be dealt with by force if necessary. One of the organizations that had primary responsibility in undertaking this task was the SS party, led by Heinrich Himmler. SS men were Aryan, very well trained and totally loyal to Hitler. Under Himmler the SS destroyed opposition and carried out the racial policies of the Nazis. For instance, the deaths head units, which were a subdivision of the SS, were responsible for the concentration camps in which thousands of Jews were imprisoned. The first concentration camps were simply makeshift prisons and were the ultimate sanction against their own people. Jews, socialists, communists, churchmen and anyone else brave enough to criticize the Nazis ended up there. Therefore this was an effective way of dealing with opposition.
The Gestapo (secret state police) was the force which was perhaps most feared by the ordinary German citizen. They were led by Reinhard Heydrich and employed a variety of sweeping powers to remove opposition. This included arresting citizens on suspicion and sending them to concentration camps without trial or explanation. However, probably the most blatant reminder of Germany’s police state culture occurred on the weekend of 29-30 June 1933 in a purge that came to be known as the ‘night of the long knives’. It occurred after Hitler had begun to grow suspicious of his SA commander, Ernst Rohm in that he feared Rohm’s control over the four million SA men made him a potentially dangerous rival. Furthermore Rohm had talked about turning the SA into a second German army of which the leading officers were suspicious about. Therefore Hitler had to choose between the army and the SA. He acted in favor of the army and on the weekend of 29-30 June squads of SS men broke into the homes Of Rohm and other leading figures of the SA and arrested them. Hitler accused Rohm of plotting to overthrow and murder him and as a result executed the SA leader along with four hundred other leading figures. The army later said it was well satisfied with the events of the weekend.
In 1933 Germany was just beginning to recover from the atrocities that the economic depression had inflicted on them previously. However, in order to increase Germany’s power further, something would have to be done about its weak economy. One of the reasons for this poor economy (besides the sanctions of the Treaty of Versailles) was the high rate of unemployment, five million people to be exact. Hitler believed that the majority of German people would be willing to give up their political freedom in return for work and other benefits that he offered. This meant that he would have less political opponents and therefore less opposition to his regime. Due to this, Germany’s economy did improve in that the Nazis (in particular Dr Hjalmar schact) organized Germany’s finances to fund a huge program of work creation. This included pubic works projects which consisted of construction motorways, autobahns and railways. Propaganda praised the workers and tried to associate them with Hitler, thus helping to prevent opposition. Other measures brought increasing prosperity. One of Hitler’s most cherished plans was rearmament. In 1935 he reintroduced conscription for the German and in 1936 he announced a four year plan to get the German economy ready for war.
Arguably one of the strongest points which helped to prevent opposition against Hitler and the Nazis was Hitler’s political success. The more powerful Hitler was the more he could get away with, and the more he could intimidate opponents. Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933 and carried on climbing up the political stepladder using a combination of clever methods, some legal, others dubious. The Reichstag fire is a classic example of one of the more dubious of his methods. Hitler used communists as a scapegoat for the fire when really; many people believed it was the work of his Nazi party. Nevertheless Hitler immediately demanded emergency powers which were granted to him by Hindenburg in order to deal with the situation. He used these powers to his advantage by arresting communists, breaking up meetings and frightening voters. In the election the Nazis won there largest ever share of the votes. Using the SA and SS he then intimidated the Reichstag into passing the enabling act which allowed him to make laws without consulting the Reichstag. This made Hitler a virtual dictator and for the next four years if he wanted to make a new law he could pass it. In the event of this, the catholic party, which had previously been a political opponent to Hitler, decided to cooperate with the Nazis rather than be treated like communists. From this it clear that Hitler was beginning to use his political status to eliminate opposition. However he was not yet strong enough all of his opponents so he set about a claver policy that mixed force, concessions and compromise. An example of this policy in action was the night of the long knives. Hitler used power this time (His SS) to eliminate Rohm and his other leading associates. The praise given to Hitler for his actions in the night of the long knives undoubtedly helped him achieve supreme leader status (Fuhrer) on the 2 August 1934. This meant Hitler had total control over Germany’s armed forces and political issues and so marked the beginning of his police state. Hitler used his power to carry out his racial policies and destroy any opposition that stood in his way. In doing so he ordered the SS to begin to place Jews in concentration camps. His Gestapo then dealt with any opposition that arose by arresting citizens without trial or explanation. This was the sign that suggested Hitler was now Unstoppable.
Hitler’s promises to the German people, that he would reverse the treaty of Versailles, unite Germany and Austria, rebuild Germany’s armed forces and extend German territory into Eastern Europe had been fulfilled however he had started WW2 in the process. In war the Nazis used all methods available to make the German people support the regime. Morale was kept up by Germany’s early success in the war. In 1941 took the risk of invading the Soviet Union, and for the next three years his troops were at an expensive war with the soviets. In the process of this Geobbels had to redouble his censorship efforts so that the German people would not become too disheartened and start to oppose. He did this by involving the German people in the war and asking them to make sacrifices. The result was a donation of 1.5 million fur coats to help clothe the German army in Russia. Cinemas showing propaganda films were also kept open.
Hitler was very clever in that he used a variety of factors to help him deal with or eliminate almost every inclination of opposition. His political status played a key role in this as the Reichstag fire and Night of the long Knives suggest. He also used his political status to create the police state which further helped to deal with opposition and worked the two together to keep opposition to a minimum if anything at all. However, arguably the key factor that helped Hitler deal with opposition most effectively was his use of propaganda. The media was a very powerful weapon when it came to dealing with opposition and Hitler managed to control nearly every aspect of it. In doing so he influenced the minds of the German people and more or less controlled what they were listening to or looking at in terms of Germany’s image. Hitler also used propaganda to manipulate events (the Reichstag fire) and furthermore to boost his image which helped him to progress further in terms of his political status. From this we can see that Hitler intended for these factors to work together in favor of himself and the Nazis, so he could become powerful and any opposition that stood in the way of this could be dealt with.
Carl Dodd 11u