Clearly not everyone is susceptible to propaganda. You cannot force somebody to listen to the radio, read newspapers or watch film shows. To combat the potential threat to the utopia that was created by Hitler by these people alternative methods of ensuring control were necessary. The secret police was publicised; its role was to find enemies of the state. These people would quite often be publicly humiliated or even tortured. Such actions making people think twice before questioning the state. Likewise the police and Gestapo had the authority to remove people from their homes and send them, often without trial, to concentration camps. Once again this acted as a deterrent but it also ensured that the more determined opponent of the state was removed from the public domain.
In essence Germany under Hitler was a very good example of what a totalitarian state is/ was. People did not question decisions, no matter how absurd they appeared to be. It was evident that working against the party, or even being perceived as a potential threat would lead to prison or worse (the Night of the Long Knives for example). Through careful coercion, manipulation and misleading information’s the authorities could, and did, do as they pleased as the people either knew nothing about actions being taken or were too afraid to speak out about them.
How did Hitler Change Germany from a democracy into a nazi dictatorship in 1933-34?
Hitler wasted no time in consolidating his position as Chancellor. Nazi control of the Reichstag and its institutions was a necessity to enable his plans. This section looks at the methods employed by Hitler in his consolidation of power.
Once the Nazi Party had taken power, or rather gained control of the Reichstag, Hitler made moves to gain control of the institutions that ran Germany on a day to Day basis. This was achieved in a number of ways.
Following his election as Chancellor, Hitler was in a position where he was the nominal leader of the Weimar republic but he did not have the majority necessary to implement his political program. To do as he wanted he required such a majority, indeed he needed the opposition to be silenced. A fire in the Reichstag buildings provided him with the ideal opportunity to take the initiative. (The fire was being almost certainly started to facilitate the following actions).
The fire was publicly blamed upon the Communists. 4000 communist party members were consequently arrested and sent to concentration camps around Germany. In a stroke Hitler had annihilated the most potent threat to his leadership. This was followed, very quickly, by the Enabling Act. This measure allowed Hitler the right to rule without consultation of the Reichstag or the president. It was in effect a decree of a state of emergency. The result was the banning of all opposition parties, censorship of broadcasts and publications and a rapid replacement of Government officials who were deemed to be unsympathetic towards Nazi policy.
Such swift actions left the Nazi party with little political opposition certainly no legalised opposition. Hitler now had a one party state and control of most means of communication: the nazi propaganda machine could begin its work. Even so Hitler was not entirely certain of his position. The party itself was not united behind his vision of National Socialism. On the Night of the Long Knives this situation was rectified. Hitler asserted that Rohm, the leader of the SA, had plotted to overthrow him. 400 members of the organisation were rounded up and killed. This brutal action secured the loyalty of the Armed forces, who had previously been wary of the SA's influence. Hitler was now in control of both his party and the Government. The death of President Hindenburg leaving no possibility of his authority being challenged from within Germany.
Andrew Brazewell 10W
