Transcript Nazi Power - edu4lte-nazi-germany-unit

Session: The Nazi
Consolidation of Power
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Hitler as Dictator
• Hitler used his skills as a
speaker to persuade
Germans to vote for him in
elections.
• In 1930, 6 million people
voted for the Nazi Party; in
1932 it was 14 million.
• The Nazi Party had become
Germany’s largest political
party.
• On January 30, 1933, Hitler
was appointed chancellor
(leader of the German
government).
• He was the most powerful
man in Germany—a dictator
voted into power by millions
of ordinary German people.
Above Image Source: http://emiljung.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hitler460.jpg
Below Image Source: http://www.freedomsfoundationaz.org/ffvfactiv/ffvfprog/Hitler%5B3%5D.jpg
The Coordination of Party & State
Nazi politicians within German
Parliament (Reichstag)
Image Source: http://mail.ststephens-texas.com/~wgoodman/WWIIAustriaSalutesHitler.jpg
• After the Beer Hall Putsch
fiasco, Hitler decided he
would take control of
Germany via a ‘legal
revolution’ – so that the
NSDAP was a ‘legal’
political party & wouldn’t
appear as a ‘rebel’ group
over-throwing the Weimar
Republic.
• The official policy name
was Gleichschaltung –
permanent revolution by
which Hitler brought all
sectors of the state and
society under Nazi
control.
Consolidation of Power Gleichschaltung
•
Three stages made up this
process of Gleichschaltung
(means the coordination of
Party & State):
1. Allowing a one-party regime
policy. Increase in executive
power & elimination of all
political opposition via The
Reichstag Fire Decree &The
Enabling Law.
2. Neutralize the power of the
SA & the army, the 2
remaining forces outside
Hitler’s immediate control.
3. Gleichschaltung of
a) The Civil Service;
b) Judicial System;
c) Culture & Education;
d) Local Governments
Essentially, The Nazis
controlled every area & aspect
of life within Germany &
German occupied countries.
Hitler meeting the Nazi Police – SS 1937
Image Source:
http://www.usmbooks.com/images/RBGDW7.jpg
Elimination of Opposition
- Night of the Long Knives
• Night of the Long Knives, was the sudden
bloody purge within the Nazi Party carried
out by Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Interior
Minister Hermann Göring, and SS leader
Heinrich Himmler on June 30-July 1, 1934.
• The main victims of the “Night of the Long
Knives” (this was the name given to it by the
Nazis themselves) were Ernst Röhm and his
chief lieutenants within the SA, Gregor
Strasser, and General Kurt von Schleicher,
the former Chancellor.
• Mainly men who had opposed Hitler
between 1931 and 1934, were slaughtered.
• Among these were the Führer's main critic
within the Nazi Party, All over Germany
approx. 200 Nazi officials were killed on this
night.
Elimination of Opposition
- Censorship
Nazis burning books
Image Source: http://educate-yourself.org/cn/Nazi%20book%20burning.gif
• The Nazis controlled
newspapers, film, radio, art,
literature, theatre & music.
• People who wanted to work
in these fields had to be
approved members of the
Propaganda Ministry, or
else their work couldn’t be
published or performed.
• Nazis made it clear what
they thought of non-Nazi &
anti-Nazi writers in the
book-burning ceremony of
May 1933.
Consolidation of Totalitarianism
- The Nazi Police State
Waffen-SS Recruitment Posters
Image Source:
http://www.reichslieder.com/0736_Waffen_SS_2.jpg
• After 1933 Hitler made Germany a
‘police state’ (totalitarian country) to
secure his power within Germany &
destroy internal opposition.
• Hitler created several arms of Nazi
police. They all had specific jobs.
However their central aim was to
find & remove anyone disloyal to
Hitler & ensure people followed Nazi
rules.
• The following squads formed the
Nazi Police squad:
1. SA (Storm Troopers – security
organisation of Nazi Party);
2. SS (Protection Squad);
3. Gestapo (Secret State police) &
4. SD (Security Service of the SS)
Ideological Power
- Nazi Propaganda
•
"Work and Food," this poster says.
It was used for the November
1932 Reichstag election. The
Nazis viewed this as one of their
most effective posters.
Image/caption source: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters1.htm
Propaganda is the organized
spreading of ideas &
information which is meant to
make people think or act in a
certain way.
• Josef Goebbels was in charge
of the Reich Ministry of
Popular Enlightenment &
Propaganda.
• Goebbels had two main tasks:
1. was responsible for putting
Hitler’s ideas about
propaganda into practice, in
the most persuasive way
possible.
2. Make sure Germans didn’t see
or read anything that was
hostile or damaging to
Nazism.
Forms of Nazi Propaganda
The Nuremberg Rally
Image Source:
http://www.suzyrice.com/BIRD/archives/triumph_of_the_will_nurembergStadium.jpg
• Main Forms of Propaganda:
a) Nazi posters & Nazi movies
b) Radio Broadcasting of Nazi
ideology & regulations.
b) Re-writing of German history
c) Educational reforms
e) Written publications –
Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
• The Nazis created new pubic
celebrations such as rallies,
marches and rituals. Goebbels
ensured that the Press gave
these events maximum publicity.
The annual Party rally in
Nuremberg received the most
attention.
• The Nazis forced Germans to use
the Heil Hitler greeting, the Nazi
salute.
Securing the Nazis’ Future Power
- Hitler Youth Movements
• Hitler Youth – Hitler believed
that to control Germany’s
Future they had to influence
the minds of young Germans.
• The Nazis pressured young
Germans to join the Hitler
Youth.
• Aims of the Hitler Youth
movement were:
Boys - indoctrination &
preparation for war;
Girls – indoctrination &
preparation for motherhood &
domesticity.
• By 1945, the German army
commonly drafted 12-year-old
Hitler Youth members into its
ranks.
•The Hitler Youth (Axmann’s
regiment) fought at the Battle of
Berlin Hitler Youth & formed a
major part of the last line of
German defense.
March 20, 1945. Hitler awards the Iron
Cross to Hitler Youth outside his bunker.
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth