Essay Hitler
Hitler as ruler of Germany.
In 1921 Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party. He was a firm
believer in Germany and wished to return it to a time of power and prestige.
Hitler’s chance came in 1929 with the death of Stressman and the Great
Depression marking an end to Weimar’s Golden Age. With great civil unrest
and rampant levels of unemployment, the German public began looking for
answers. Hitler grasped this opportunity, persuading the public that all the
solutions lay with him and his dynamic party, offering wild promises such as
full employment. With this growing support, Hitler’s Nazi party began its
rise to power and by 1933 they held the majority of seats in the
Reichstag. President von Hindenburg came under pressure from some very
influential power groups and appointed him Chancellor. Some people believed
that Hitler "could be tamed" but within a very short period he
proved them wrong and created a powerful totalitarian state.
On the 30th of January 1933 Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. His
first act was to call a general election, which in his mind was to be the
last. He used the power of the state to gain publicity. He also used an
illegal campaign of street intimidation, believing that “Possession of the
streets is key to the to the power of the state”. Prior to the election, a
Dutch Communist, Van der Lube, set the Reichstag on fire, Hitler used this
as an excuse to pass the decree for the protection of the People and state.
This limited civil liberties and gave police special powers. Hitler used
this to remove some of his sternest Opposition from the Reichstag. Despite
all this The Nazis went onto secure only 43.9% of the votes, but with the
support of the Nationalist Party (53 seats), they held a narrow majority in
the Reichstag.
With the power of the state now fully behind Hitler, He proposed the
Enabling Law, which gave him the right to rule by decree, full dictatorial
powers. Once again he used intimidation to ensure it’s passing and on the
23rd of March, through democratic and parliamentary means, Hitler became the
sole dictator of Germany and began his process of Gleichschaltung, whereby
all aspects of German life were brought under Nazi Control. He acted quickly
and by June all opposition parties were non-existent and the Reichstag was
dissolved. All trade unions were abolished and in their stead the DAF led by
Dr. Ley. Rigid censorship was introduced, led by Joesef Goebells. He
abolished all freedom of the arts and filtered what went into the mind of
the German people.
Nazism also had a profound effect on Education. Indoctrination of the
Youth became consistent policy of the state. Children were taught that
Germany was the greatest country in the world, “ Deutschland, Deutschland,
über alles”. This indoctrination was centered in Hitler Youth Movements.
By 1934 such movements had swollen to sizes of over 7 million. The youth of
Germany preached absolute loyalty to the State. Hitler decided his state
should abandon religion believing Nazism should be the only creed of the
German people. This was dealt with in 1933 with the signing of a concordat
with the church. This stated that neither would meddle in the others
affairs.
The Gestapo were a state police that held special powers. It was an
Organization that existed not to protect the people but the state.
Individual Liberties were at an absolute minimum. All had to conform to the
Nazi view.
By 1934 Hitler faced only 2 possible threats, the army (the only thing
remaining that could remove Hitler from his position) and the other from
within his own party, Ernst Rohm and the SA. Rohm demanded the Nazi
revolution continue and he began to openly threaten Hitler. Hitler acted
swiftly. On the “ Night of the Long Knives”, the deaths of over 400
(including Rohm) were ordered and the SA was absorbed into the Army. This
eradicated both the threat of the SA and appeased the Army (who had felt
wary of the SA), now offering unconditional obedience. Hitler ratified the
killings to the public by saying that he alone “was responsible for the
fate of the German people” This indicated clearly Hitler’s full
dictatorial powers. This Message was re-enforced in August 1934, when upon
the death of Hindenburg, Hitler merged the office of chancellor and
President and became Fuhrer. Germany was now beyond question under the
complete control of Adolf Hitler. This was ratified by a plebiscite that
gave him an approval rating of 96%.
This Confidence in the Regime was borne partly from Confidence in the
Economy. In 1932 he had promised to solve the economic crisis, Over the
course of his reign, Hitler was to be proved true, bringing the country much
economic success and stability. This was done through two 4-year plans. A
huge scheme of Public Infrastructure and armament production ensured that
the Problem of employment so Rampant in 1932, had all but disappeared by
1939. Dr Schacht, President of the Reichsbank, oversaw the provision of
adequate finance, Income, Tax Concessions and State Loans. German Industry
was soon back on its feet. Such material progress hastened the rise of
Germany back into the position of a respectable nation again and this was
showcased to the world in the 1936 Olympics.
In Conclusion from 1933 to 1939 Hitler had created a purely totalitarian
state. Everything had succumbed to Nazi Rule, the industry, the church and
the minds of the German people. Germany was a police state where the
Individual existed for the state, merely a cog in the Nazi machine. A state
which worked if you worked with it, a state of which Hitler was the Supreme
Ruler.
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