The second factor was the ‘Enabling Law’. After the general election in 1933, Hitler proposed a change to the constitution. However, such a law needed a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag, and the Nazis controlled only 44% of the seats. The KPD deputies were in concentration camps or in hiding, as were many SPD deputies. However, Hitler still required the support of the Catholic Centre Party to pass the legislation, and successfully offered them a deal that if they voted for the bill then the Nazi Party would guarantee the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany (such as youth groups and Catholic schools). The remaining deputies were surrounded by the SA and SS and threatened with death if they did not vote for the law. When the vote was taken, only ninety four members (the SDP) voted against the bill. This was enormously important in Hitler’s rise to total power because Hitler now became the dictator of Germany: this law effectively made the Reichstag nothing more than a platform for making ‘keynote’ speeches. As he could make legislation without going through the Reichstag or President, Hitler’s word was now law.
The third factor was the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ (30 June - 1 July 1934). Having ordered Ernst Roehm and the other SA leaders to attend a meeting in the Hanselbauer Hotel in Wiesse, Hitler and his SS bodyguards arrived to arrest them. Although Hitler initially decided to pardon Roehm because of his past services to the Party, after pressure from Goering and Himmler (who wanted to get rid of a rival for power) he agreed that Roehm should die (when he refused to commit suicide, Roehm was shot by two SS men). The purge was a secret until announced by Hitler on 13 July, when he explained why he had not used the courts: “In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and therefore became the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason.”
The ‘Night of the Long Knives’ was of vital importance in Hitler’s rise to total power, for several reasons. First, Hitler relieved himself of a key rival for Party leadership, by whom he felt threatened. Other Nazi ‘barons’ such as Goering, Goebbels and Himmler (whom Hitler encouraged to compete for senior positions) led Hitler to believe (via a dossier compiled by Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Sicherheitsdienst) that Roehm had been paid 12m Reichmarks by the French to overthrow Hitler. Although Hitler refused to believe this at first, he also wanted Roehm removed for his own reasons: he realised the SA was a threat because Roehm wanted a ‘second revolution’, and was threatening to achieve it either with or without Hitler. Second, the SA had now become unnecessary. They were created in the 1920s to battle the Communists on the streets. However, the Communists were no longer a threat, and Hitler could now rely on the police to support him. As well as being unnecessary, the SA were also an embarrassment. Here was the main significance of the purge: the step was necessary for Hitler to cement the support of the groups mentioned earlier. For example, Roehm wanted the 2.5-million-strong ‘brown flood’ to submerge the 100,000-strong ‘grey rock’ (i.e. he wanted the SA to absorb the Army). The generals saw this merger as a threat to their own positions, which was a clear concern to Hitler. Roehm was also seen as a threat by powerful industrialists and conservatives like the President and Papen (vice-chancellor), who hated Roehm’s socialist economic views and the thuggish way the SA publicly beat Jews and smashed up Jewish shops. Hitler had to act like a responsible statesman, and the SA was giving him a bad name! Hitler saw the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ as the best way out of the situation. He could take care of everyone who was a threat to him and keep public support at the same time. The result was that Hitler was now the undisputed leader of the Party, and was seen once again as a saviour by the public, who believed the propaganda that the people who Hitler killed really were traitors. More importantly, when Hindenburg conveniently died in August, and when Hitler merged the offices of president and chancellor, the Army swore an oath of loyalty to him as Führer that tied them to him until the last days of the Second World War.
The fourth factor was ‘Gleichschaltung’. This is the system with which the Nazis assumed total control over Germany. In March 1933, the propaganda ministry was set up, headed by Joseph Goebbels. It would constantly bombard people with whatever the Nazis wanted them to hear using media such as the radio and newspapers. They would broadcast achievements of the regime/Hitler. In May 1933, trade unions were broken up and cemented into one organisation: the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front). As this was headed by Nazis, it would prevent general strikes from bringing Hitler’s regime to an end. Next, on 14 July 1933, after the other parties had voluntarily dissolved themselves, Hitler made it illegal to form political parties. This made Germany a one-party state, cementing Hitler’s control. Up until 1933, Germany was a federal republic, i.e. Germany was divided into states, so much governmental power was in local hands. In January/February 1934 Hitler abolished this system, therefore putting all power in his hands. Children were taught from a young age that Hitler was good for Germany and the rightful leader. Hitler knew that they were the future for Germany and were effectively a ‘blank canvas’. Youth groups, such as the ‘Hitler Youth’ were set up, so children spent less time at home where their family could influence their views. Churches were another dangerous influence on Hitler’s regime as they too could tell people what to believe. The Catholic Church could not be nazified (the Pope was the head), so Hitler made a second deal with it called the Concordat in which both groups agreed not to interfere with each other. The Protestant Church on the other hand could be nazified: Hitler appointed a Reich Bishop called Ludwig Mueller to lead a ‘German Christian’ movement within the Church which combined Protestant tradition with Nazi ideology. The Nazi government also combined Christian worship with Nazi Party celebrations that adopted religious ritual but glorified the Party and Hitler. Thus, Hitler limited one of the most dangerous influences in Germany. ‘Gleichschaltung’ was significant in Hitler’s rise to total power because it enabled him to speak to everyone and change their opinions. He saw children as the future of Germany and could now indoctrinate them, not to reduce opposition to him now but to guarantee a generation of loyal Nazis in the future.
The fifth factor in Hitler’s rise to total power was ‘Terror and the Nazi Police State’. First, Hitler controlled the ordinary police force, which prevented opposition on the streets. Second, the Gestapo was set up by Goering as a secret state police, to constantly hunt out opposition, either open or secret, to the Nazi regime and arrest them. During the Second World War there were 45,000 members. Third, the SS (originally set up by Hitler as his personal bodyguards) were put in charge of the concentration camps, which were set up in order to concentrate Hitler’s enemies (initially communists, socialists and trade unionists) in one place, behind barbed wire, and even to murder them. This enabled Hitler to root out and eliminate all opposition to his rule.
In conclusion, it is important to see that the different factors were related to each other, like links in a chain. For example, during the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, Hitler used his ‘Reichstag Fire Decree’ powers to arrest the SA leadership; the SS, the main component of the ‘police state’, were the instrument he used to make the arrests and to carry out the killings; afterwards, he used the ‘Enabling Law’ to make these killings legal. And there would have been huge outcry had Hitler not used ‘Gleichschaltung’ to keep public opinion and ‘Terror and the Nazi Police State’ to arrest anyone who did oppose him. All these factors are therefore arguably equally important in giving Hitler total power as judge, jury and executioner.
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