The Nazis also got inside youth Organisations such as the Student Unions, provoking universitry authorities to gain support from Students.
Support by the industrialist millionaires, for example Fritz Thyssen, gave them financial backing for their party. The Nazis made the most of their technology at the time. Radio was used for the first time in the 1932 presidential election. Hitler was chartered around on plane flights to speak to four of five rallies per day. Radio Broadcasts, rallies, millions of election posters, as well as marches and parades carried the Nazi message into every town and home in Germany. The Nazi regime was very flexible. If they found an idea losing support, they would change it. They told the public what they wanted to hear.
The elections in 1930 showed a remarkable breakthrough in Nazi support. Their representation jumped from twelve to one hundred and seven seats. They were suddenly the second largest party in the Reichstag. By July 1932, their representation was two hundred and thirty seats, making them the largest party in the Reichstag.
Although Nazi Party was now the largest party in the Reichstag, Hitler was unable to become Chancellor due to President Hindenburg despising Hitler and his party. Instead Hindenburg appointed Franz Von Papen Chancellor. Von Papen wished to form a coalition with the NSDAP however Hitler refused, and as a result he lost public support. Although it was not over for the party as General von Schleicher, a main advisor to Hindenburg, stopped supporting Von Papen, deciding he should be Chancellor. Hindenburg appointed von Schleicher Chancellor. After less than two months, von Schleicher resigned as a result of lack of support in the Reichstag.
Von Papen, who had now disliked Hindenburg for sacking him from Chancellor, had been working secretly with Hitler. Von Papen persuaded Hindenburg that as long as the number of Nazis’ in the cabinet was limited, Hitler would be no threat as Chancellor. He also warned that the alternative was a Nazi revolt and civil war. Hindenburg decided to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and von Papen as Vice-Chancellor on the 30 January 1933.
Over a period of thirteen years, Hitler and the NSDAP gained more and more power until in 1933, their prayers were answered. Their saintly leader Adolf Hitler had power over the Reichstag and was in every position to dominate German society. The years leading up to 1933 were rich in opportunities for an extremist uprising. The Weimar Republic was weak, and Germany was in the midst of political anguish. The German people were looking for a strong and decisive leader and they found it in Hitler. The Depression gave Hitler and the NSDAP the opportunity to gain power over the Reichstag, and they did just that.
When Hitler came to power in January 1933 he had promised to the people a new Germany. However Hitler could not begin this Revolution because he was head of a coalition government composed of mainly Conservatives. Only two other Nazis’ were in the cabinet. To try and strengthen his position he called an Election on the 5 March. However the election did not go to plan with the NSDAP winning only 43.9%, which was not enough for an absolute majority. This tactic used by Hitler was not as effective as planed. Therefore he had to come up with other means of gaining complete control.
On the 27 of February a Reichstag building was set on fire. This gave Hitler his chance to gain emergency powers, blaming the communists. The next day President Hindenburg signs the Article 48 decree, which allows the Nazis to suspend freedom of speech, which they use to ban virtually the entire opposition press. Even the major communist party, the KPD, was effectively banned.
Hitler then began his major plan to destroy all opposition parties. On 22 June the Social-Democratic Party was banned. Followed by the dissolving of the Centre party on 5 July. The minor right wing parties decided to transfer to the NSDAP rather than be demolished. On the 14 of July Germany became a one party state and Hitler had no political opposition. This strategy was very effective for Hitler’s Dictatorship as it eliminated all opposition of the nazi party.
On the 23 March 1933, Hitler presented an Enabling Act to the Reichstag, which was designed to give him permanent emergency powers. Hitler carefully was able to gain support from the Catholic Church, which produced sufficient support from the centre parties to pass the bill. Hitler was finally free from the limitations of the coalition and the parliamentary system and began the construction of dictatorship.
“When we came to power in 1933 the German people found itself in the midst of a mighty historical transformation.”(Adolf Hitler, May 1936)
Just a week after the Enabling Act made Hitler dictator of Germany, Nazis organized a national boycott of Jewish shops and department stores under the direction of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The SA storm troopers, stood at entrances to Jewish shops. They held poster signs saying: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" this was an effective strategic method used by Hitler as it showed the people of Germany Hitler’s power and slowly began a trend of hatred on the Jewish people in Germany.
Education and culture under the Third Reich was one of Hitler’s major tactics in maintaining power.
On the night of May 10, 1933, an event unseen in Europe since the Middle Ages occurred as German students from universities once regarded as among the finest in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with "unGerman" ideas. The burning of the books showed that Nazi students and professors in favour of the pursuit of a glorious future for Germany denounced rational thinking and knowledge.
Throughout the schools’ great emphasis was placed on physical education. Healthy active bodies were regarded as necessary for the future of Germany. When Germany bid successfully to host the Olympic games in 1936 the Nazis’ used the occasion as a propaganda triumph for the physical education regime. Despite threats of boycott because of the German anti-Semitism in sport, the games went ahead. German sportsman dominated, winning 33 Gold medals to USA’s 24. However Hitler and the Nazi Party were disappointed that they did not win as many medals that was predicted. However the Nazi party succeeded in putting propaganda at the centre of Germans Educational and Cultural life.
Hitler’s final tactic to maintaining power was to gain complete control of the army. On February 4, 1938, he convened a meeting of his Cabinet and had them promulgate a decree stating, "From now on I take over personally the command of the whole armed forces."
Hitler abolished the entire War Ministry, replacing it with the new High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW) headed by himself with complete control of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The nominal post of OKW chief of staff was assigned to General Keitel. To replace Fritsch as Army commander, Hitler chose General Walther von Brauchitsch. This final tactic completed what Hitler needed to maintain absolute within Germany.
