An important part of Hitler’s rise to dictatorship was the enforcement of his special forces, the Nazis had a powerful organisation of weapons that they used to control Germany and terrorise the German public into submission. The SS was a force that was loyal to Hitler from 1925 onwards. It grew into a huge organisation with many different responsibilities. They created support of the Germans and destroyed the opposition to Nazism. This SS formed into such a large force that there were sub-divisions. Two important sub-divisions of the SS were the Death’s Head and the Waffen-SS. The Death’s Head were responsible for the concentration camps and the slaughter of the Jews, whereas the Waffen-SS were special SS armoured regiments which fought alongside the regular army. The deployment of these forces ensured that non-supporters or enemies of Hitler were disposed of or terrorised into supporting him on his way to dictatorship.
Propaganda was one of the most important parts of his rise to dictatorship. After Dr Joseph Goebbels was appointed the head of the new ministry of Propaganda, Hitler and Nazism took control of most of the media in Germany. Over the course of the 12 years of Nazi rule, Goebbels constantly kept his finger on the pulse of public opinion and largely decided what the German public should and should not hear. The Nuremberg Rallies was a perfect chance for Hitler to gain the respect and support that he needed. The Nuremberg rallies that were held each summer included bands, marches, flying displays and Hitler’s speeches. The rallies were specifically designed to attract large amounts of the public, and to give them a sense of belonging to a great movement. They also showed the German people the power that the Nazi’s had and to convince them that they deserved their votes.
Another important use of propaganda that helped Hitler was Goebbels control of the German media. He very closely controlled media such as books that had to be Nazi approved before being published and burn any books that were not. Artists, newspapers and cinemas were controlled closely to be only ‘pro-Nazi’ ideas, and if they weren’t they were easily shut down. Numerous posters were put up around Germany showing the success of Hitler and the Nazis. He banned Jazz music and took advantage of radio broadcasting for spreading Nazi messages.
Goebbels was supported in this period of propaganda by the SS and Gestapo. He used these forces to his advantage when he wanted to close down an anti-Nazi newspaper, silence an anti-Nazi writer or catch someone listening to a foreign broadcasting station.
By this time Hitler and Goebbels has control of every major media in Germany and use this to make everything in Germany pro-Nazi and to convince the German people of their Nazi message and superiority.
Other small but important methods and decisions Hitler made during 1933 were such things as the enabling act, which allows Hitler to pass decrees without the President’s involvement and made Hitler a legal dictator. Trade unions were banned, the employment law was enforced, law against the formation of new parties in Germany as well as the Concordat between the state and the Roman Catholic Church. All these small events proved to be very significant in Hitler’s gradual rise to power throughout 1933.
The Night of the Long Knives was probably the last event before Hitler gained the title of Dictator. Hitler was very suspicious of the SA that were being run by Ernst Rohm, and that his control of the 4 million SA men was a potential threat to him. He ruthlessly chose that he would send squads of the SS into the homes of the SA including that of Rohm and the other leading figures. Hitler had accused Rohm of planning to overthrow and murder him. He was killed as well as 400 others and Von Schleicher.
After this weekend of killings Hindenburg thanked Hitler for his determined actions and the army seemed satisfied with events of the weekend. After this event the SA never had the influence it once had and many were absorbed into the army and the SS.
Soon after this Hindenburg died and Hitler took over as the supreme leader of the Germany. On August 2nd 1934 the entire army swore an oath to Hitler as Fuhrer of Germany. The army agreed to stay out of politics and in return Hitler spent vast sums of money on rearmament, brought back conscription and made plans to make Germany a great military power again.
All of these events throughout 1933 and 1934, some legal and some not, made sure that Hitler gradually rose to title of Dictator in Germany by the end of 1934 with the help of many influential forces such as Goebbels control of the media and the SS supressing the German public into submission for their support.
