1. Nazi Germany
Initial
Consolidation
of Power
1933-34
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2. Gleichschaltung
"coordination",
"making the same",
"bringing into line"
"forcible-coordination"
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3. GLEISCHALTUNG is the process of
Nazification of German political, social,
economic and cultural life from 1933
onwards.
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4. One people, one empire, one leader
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5. Hitler established a one-party dictatorship
to realise the Nazi ideology of
Volksgemeinshaft, a racially unified and
hierarchical society in which the
interests of individuals would be strictly
subordinate to those of the nation, or
Volk.
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6. The period from 1933 to 1937 was
characterised by the systematic elimination
of non-Nazi organisations that could
potentially influence people, such as trade
unions, political parties and religious groups.
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7. The Nazis used the term
“Gleichschaltung” to refer to the specific
legal measures taken by the government
from the first months following January 30,
1933, when Adolf Hitler became
Chancellor of Germany.
It is through this process that Germany
becomes a fascist state.
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8. fas·cism (fshzm)
n.
a. A system of government marked by
centralisation of authority under a dictator,
tight socio-economic controls, suppression of
the opposition through terror and censorship,
and typically a policy of aggressive nationalism
and racism.
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9. November election,
1932
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10. November election,
1932
Hitler’s attempts to become Chancellor
are rebuffed by Hindenburg who said:
A presidential cabinet led by you would
inevitably develop into a party dictatorship
with all the consequences of drastic
intensification of the antagonism within the
German nation
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11. Work and food, 1932
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12. January
28, 1933
Despite his earlier reservations, President Hindenburg
agrees to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in a bid to end
the ongoing political instability (in the previous year
there had been 4 elections in 8 months)
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13. January
30, 1933
Hitler is appointed Chancellor.
"We have the power.
Now our gigantic work begins."
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14. January
30, 1933
From a window in the Reich Chancellery, German
president Paul von Hindenburg watches thousands
of Nazis in a torchlight parade to celebrate of
Hitler's appointment as German Chancellor.
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15. New York Times, January 31, 1933
“HITLER MADE CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY BUT
COALITION CABINET LIMITS POWER; CENTRISTS HOLD
BALANCE IN REICHSTAG.”
After losing several elections to President Von Hindenburg, Franz
von Papen makes a deal with the WWI general to make Adolf
Hitler, leader of the National Socialist Party, Chancellor of Germany
even though they don’t have a majority in the Reichstag. The story
states: “The composition of the Cabinet leaves Herr Hitler no scope for
gratification of any dictatorial ambition.”
The front page also contains a story by the AP headed, “HITLER
PLEDGES FIGHT IN CABINET.” The Nazi statement says, in part,
“After a thirteen-year struggle the National Socialist movement has
succeeded in breaking through to the government; the struggle to win
the German nation, however, is only the beginning.”
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16. Monday, 18 March 13

17. "It is almost like a dream – a fairytale.
The new [Third] Reich has been
born. Fourteen years of work have
been crowned with victory. The
German revolution has begun!"
Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary, Jan. 30, 1933
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18. Under the Weimar Constitution, the chancellor had
little political power and acted as a chairman.
Cabinet decisions were made by majority vote and
there were 8 Conservative politicians and two
Nazis: Frick and Goering
These two factors meant that the Conservatives
(backed by the Reichswehr, industrialists and
Junkers), led by von Papen, believed they could use
the Nazis to gain political control in Germany and
end the rising support for Communists (up from 80
to 100 seats in the Nov, ’32 election)
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19. "Within two months we will
have pushed Hitler so far in
the corner that he'll squeak."
von Papen, 1933
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20. The infighting and jockeying for power
had led the Conservatives to make a
massive political miscalculation - within
two years Hitler destroyed all who stood
in his way and many who had supported
him were dead (SA leaders,
von Schleicher), in concentration camps
or under house arrest (von Papen)
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21. Monday, 18 March 13

22. February
4, 1933
“Decree for the Protection of the German People,” issued,
using Article 48 - gives govt. temporary powers to:
•prohibit public meetings
•suppress publications deemed “dangerous”
•ban strikes in vital areas.
•expanded powers of arrest,
This decree allowed the government to round up
Communist and Social Democratic candidates in the
weeks leading up to the March general elections.
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23. February
22, 1933
Göering (Minister of the Interior for Prussia) takes
control of the police
Göering replaced hundreds of police officials with Nazis
Göering set up an auxiliary police force (Hilfspolizei)
of 50,000 men, composed mostly of members of the SA
and SS.
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24. February
27, 1933
“Democracy burns” - the infamous burning of
the Reichstag.
This event is seen as a pivotal moment in the
beginning of Nazi Germany.
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25. February
27, 1933
The alleged arsonist was Marinus van der Lubbe, a
young Dutch Communist of questionable sanity; he
was arrested on the spot and executed the
following year. Nazi officials immediately claimed
the fire was an attempt by the Communists to
overthrow the government and took drastic action.
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26. This is the beginning of the Communist
revolution! We must not wait a minute.
We will show no mercy. Every
Communist official must be shot, where
he is found. Every Communist deputy
must this very day be strung up."
Hermann Goering
Monday, 18 March 13

27. February
27, 1933
Decree for the Protection of the People and the State of
February 28. Popularly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree
Hitler convinced Hindenburg to use Article 48 to permanently
suspend civil liberties protected by the Weimar Constitution
These included:
habeus corpus
right to assembly
freedom of speech
freedom of the press
all restraints on police investigations
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28. The “Decree for the Protection of the
German People,” was a significant step to
establishing a one-party Nazi dictatorship
•Thousands were imprisoned in the days following the fire,
including leading KPD (Communists), Social Democrats and
trade unionists
•March and April 1933 alone, over 45,000 women and men
were taken in so-called protective custody and incarcerated in
prisons and newly established concentration camps,
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29. March 5,
1933
General election, NSDAP wins only 44% of the vote.
Whilst they are unable to win a clear majority, the
election gives the NSDAP legitimacy despite the fact
that other parties were prevented from campaigning
by new laws and SA intimidation and violence
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30. March
23, 1933
The Enabling Act, a law giving Hitler dictatorial
powers, was passed. This “Law to Remedy the
Distress of the People and the Reich”, allowed
Hitler’s government to pass laws without
approval of the Reichstag or President.
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31. Otto Wels, leader of the SPD, had
his citizenship revoked in 1933
and fled to Paris
Social Democratic Party (SPD), the only party to
vote against the Enabling Act, was banned. Its
leaders were stripped of their citizenship (above)
or arrested. All other parties disbanded to avoid
persecution, arrest and being sent to
concentration camps.
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32. March-
April, 1933
March 4 - SA raids on gay bars
March 11 - SA attack Jewish-owned shops
March 20 - Nazis build Dachau concentration camp
March 26 - Hitler calls for boycott of Jewish shops
April 1 - SA prevent people from entering Jewish shops
April 7 - Jews and dissenters banned from civil service
April 21 - Kosher tradition outlawed
April 25 - quotas introduced on Jewish children in schools
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33. April 26,
1933
The Nazis took over state and local government. The Nazis
started to replace anti-Nazi civil servants, teachers and
University professors. Hitler set up the Gestapo (the secret
police) and encouraged Germans to report opponents.
Tens of thousands of Jews, Communists, Protestants,
Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, alcoholics and
prostitutes were arrested and sent to concentration camps
for 'crimes' as small as writing anti-Nazi graffiti, possessing a
banned book, or making anti-Nazi statements.
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34. Monday, 18 March 13

35. May 2,
1933
Trade Unions offices were closed, their money
confiscated, and their leaders put in prison.
Hitler established the German Labour
Front (DAF) in their place, which reduced
workers' pay and abolished the right to strike.
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36. May 10,
1933
In 34 university towns across Germany, the “German
Student Association” of Nazi Germany ceremonially
burnt 45,000 books in an attempt to “purify” the
German language and culture.
The books by liberal, anarchist, socialist, pacifist,
communist, Jewish, and other authors whose ideologies
conflicted with the National Socialism were viewed as
“degenerate” or subversive
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37. “ The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end.
The breakthrough of the German revolution has again
cleared the way on the German path...The future German
man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character.
It is to this end that we want to educate you. As a young
person, to already have the courage to face the pitiless
glare, to overcome the fear of death, and to regain respect
for death - this is the task of this young generation. And thus
you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames
the evil spirit of the past. This is a strong, great and symbolic
deed - a deed which should document the following for the
world to know - Here the intellectual foundation of the
November Republic is sinking to the ground, but from this
wreckage the phoenix of a new spirit will triumphantly rise. ”
— Joseph Goebbels, Speech to the students in Berlin
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38. July 14,
1933
The "Law against the establishment of political parties"
declared the Nazi Party to be the country's only legal party.
However, for all practical purposes Germany had been a
one-party state since the passage of the Enabling Act.
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39. October
4, 1933
Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Popular Enlightenment
and Propaganda, effectively takes control of
Germany’s media with the Reich Press Law. The law
stated that all journalism had to be “racially clean”.
Any Jewish and liberal editors and journalists were
sacked and all remaining editors had to take a Nazi
citizenship test. Paragraph 14 of the law required
editors to omit anything “calculated to weaken the
strength of the Reich”.
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40. April 24,
1934
People's Courts - Hitler sets up the Nazi people's
courts where judges have to swear an oath of loyalty
to the Nazis. The "People's Court" was set up outside
the operations of the constitutional frame of law. The
court had jurisdiction over a broad array of "political
offenses".
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41. David Low, 1934, “They salute with both hands now
June 30,
1934
Night of the Long Knives - members of the Nazi paramilitary
Storm Division (SA) demanded that the Nazi party carry
out its radical socialist agenda, and that the SA take over the
army. The SS murdered the leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm,
and 85 SA members, along with a number of Hitler's other
opponents including former Chancellor von Schleicher. This
operation eliminates opposition to Hitler within Nazi ranks.
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42. August
19, 1934
When Hindenburg died, Hitler assumed the office
of President and leader of the army (the soldiers
had to swear to die for Adolf Hitler personally).
Hitler called himself 'Fuhrer'.
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43. SOURCES
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AAAAAAAAATY/NveHYH9CKlo/s1600/Adolf_Hitler_Appointed.jp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/images/
nazi_propaganda_ein_volk.jpg
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http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters1.htm
Monday, 18 March 13

44. http://www.berlin.de/2013/en/portraits/selected-portraits/wels-otto/
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Monday, 18 March 13

45. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/timelines/
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http://www.docstoc.com/docs/93855451/The-Rise-of-Hitler---
Download-as-PowerPoint
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/rememberingnazism/nazi_propaganda
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Monday, 18 March 13