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| 1933, Jan. 28 |
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| Schleicher forced to resign after his efforts to conciliate the Center and Left had failed and Hindenburg had rejected a demand for another dissolution. | 1 |
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| Jan. 30 |
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| ADOLF HITLER, CHANCELLOR. Papen, vice chancellor; Hermann Goering (Nazi), without portfolio; Wilhelm Frick (Nazi), interior; Gen. Werner von Blomberg, defense; Constantin von Neurath, foreign affairs. Hugenberg and Franz Seldte, Nationalists, were included. The ministry, regarded as a coalition of National Socialists and Nationalists, with important posts assigned to nonparty men of the old governing class, lacked a majority so long as the Center stood aloof. But Hitler refused to compromise with Mgr. Ludwig Kaas, the Centrist leader, and the Reichstag was dissolved. The new elections were set for March 5. | 2 |
| The National Socialist German Workers' Party appealed to prejudices widely held in Germany against Jews, intellectuals, pacifists, Communists, Socialists, and liberals. Hitler exacted unquestioning obedience from his followers but promised in return to make Germany strong, self-sufficient, respected. His denunciations of the Versailles treaty had brought him much support. The middle classes, ruined by inflation and economic depression, were offered the elimination of Jewish competition in business and the professions. Thousands of unemployed and hopeless young men were put into uniform as storm troopers, with the support of which the lieutenants of Hitler, such as Goebbels, were able to organize an unusually effective propaganda and imposing demonstrations. The movement was financed by many in the well-to-do classes and big business interests against communism. Hitler's fanatical patriotism and extreme nationalism, combined with asceticism, his vague denunciations of capitalism, and his extraordinary powers as a popular orator secured him the backing of many in various classes deeply discontented with things as they were. | 3 |
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| Feb. 27 |
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| A violent election campaign culminated in a fire that partly destroyed the Reichstag building. Hitler denounced this as a Communist plot, and President von Hindenburg issued emergency decrees suspending the constitutional guaranties of free speech and free press, as well as other liberties. The Nazi storm troopers were able to intimidate and bully their opponents with impunity. | 4 |
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| March 5 |
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| The Reichstag elections gave the Nazis only 44 percent of the votes and their Nationalist allies (party of big business and of the old aristocracy) only 8 percent. The Center Party elected 74, the Socialists 120, the Communists 81, and other non-Nazi parties 23 members. There were 288 Nazis and 52 Nationalists. The vote cast exceeded all preceding ones. | 5 |
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| March 23 |
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| Passage of the Enabling Act by the Reichstag and Reichsrat. The National Socialists and the Nationalists found support among deputies of the Catholic Center. The Communist Party had already been outlawed after the Reichstag fire. Only 94 votes (all Social Democratic) were cast against the crucial Enabling Bill, which gave the government dictatorial powers until April 1, 1937. Thereby the Nazi dictatorship was firmly established. | 6 |
| The Nazi revolution proved to be one of the greatest overturns in German and European history. It affected almost every phase of life. The policies of the first years may be briefly summarized as follows: | 7 |
| (1) CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. The German states were allowed to continue, but the state governments were gradually shorn of effective power. Statthalter were appointed for all the states (April 7, 1933), and the Reichsrat, representing the states, was abolished (Jan. 30, 1934). Thereby the sovereignty of the states came to an end, and Germany became a national rather than a federal state. Relations between the state governments and the local party organizations (Gaue) were not clearly defined, but the tendency was to identify them more and more. | 8 |
| (2) ADMINISTRATIVE. By the Civil Service Law of April 7, 1933, all non-Aryan (Jewish) officials of national, state, and municipal governments could be retired, as could notaries, teachers, and other semipublic servants. Thenceforth no opponents of the Nazi regime could hope to retain their positions. | 9 |
| (3) JUDICIAL. The entire legal system was overhauled, all traditional concepts of law being discarded and the welfare of the state and the Nazi regime becoming the sole deciding considerations. The People's Court (May 3, 1934) was set up to try cases of treason (which was given an extremely wide definition); the proceedings were made secret and there was no appeal except to the Führer. A secret state police, the Gestapo, also gained prominence as the ruthless protectors of Nazism. Summary execution of sentences became the usual thing. CONCENTRATION CAMPS, in which thousands of opponents were detained without trial, became standing institutions. | 10 |
| (4) POLITICAL. All opposing parties were liquidated under government pressure. Socialist parties were prohibited on May 10, 1933; the Nationalist Party dissolved itself (June 27, 1933); the Catholic parties were obliged to dissolve (July 5, 1933); all monarchist organizations were forbidden (Feb. 2, 1934). In the same way such nonpolitical organizations as the Stahlhelm were incorporated with the Nazi party (June 21, 1933) and ultimately disbanded (Nov. 11, 1935). The National Socialist Party was declared the only political party on July 14, 1933. | 11 |
| (5) RACIAL. From the very outset the new regime aroused indignation throughout the world for its ruthless persecution of the Jews. A national boycott of all Jewish businesses and professions (April 1, 1933) introduced a long series of outrages. As quickly as possible Jewish businesses were liquidated and lawyers and doctors barred from practice. By the famous Nürnberg Laws (Sept. 15, 1935) Jews (including all those of one-quarter Jewish extraction) were deprived of rights of citizenship and all intermarriage with Jews was strictly forbidden. Many Jews left the country, though they were required to sacrifice almost all of their property in so doing. After the annexation of Austria the same measures were extended to the new state and, on June 16, 1938, Jews were required to register all their property, at home and abroad, within a couple of weeks. Early in Nov. 1938 the persecution came to a head when, following the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jew in Paris, well-organized attacks upon synagogues and Jewish property took place throughout the Reich (Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938). The government levied a fine of 1 billion marks upon the Jewish community, which amounted to a capital levy of 20 percent on property above 5,000 marks. No secret was made of the determination of the government to drive all Jews out of the country. In view of this desperate situation an international refugee committee was organized to arrange ways and means of effecting the emigration of so large a number as soon as possible. One great obstacle to a satisfactory arrangement was the unwillingness of the German government to allow the emigrants to take money or property with them. | 12 |
| (6) RELIGIOUS. Though both Catholics and Protestants gave the Nazis considerable support at the outset, it soon became evident that the new regime was bent on coordinating all religious organizations with the state machinery. Neopagan movements, which were many, were countenanced and even encouraged by the government, while the Christian churches were exposed to great pressure. The Protestant state churches amalgamated to form a new Evangelical Church (July 11, 1933), but when the government appointed as national bishop Ludwig Müller, many pastors who objected to him broke away and formed the German Confessional Church, which soon found itself in conflict with the authorities. On Sept. 28, 1935, the Protestant Church was placed under state control, and Hans Kerrl was made minister of Church affairs with decree powers. The opposition was led by Pastor Martin Niemoeller, who was finally arrested (July 1, 1937). Though acquitted after trial (March 1938), he was at once rearrested by the secret police and returned to a concentration camp. How many other recalcitrant pastors suffered the same fate can only be guessed at. The Catholic Church had an equally hard time. On July 20, 1933, the government signed a new concordat with the Vatican, replacing the older agreements with separate German states. The Catholic clergy was forbidden to take part in politics, and future diocesan appointments were to be made by the Holy See only after consultation with the German government. On the other hand Catholic schools and societies were to be permitted so long as they did not meddle in public affairs. Despite this agreement the government brought pressure to bear to prevent parents from sending children to confessional schools (Catholic or Protestant), and furthermore brought children into the Youth Movement, where doctrines wholly objectionable to many Christian parents were freely taught. The policy of the government led to many protests by Catholic leaders (notably Card. Faulhaber of Munich). But these proved futile. On the contrary, the government took the offensive (1937), brought many monks to trial on charges of immorality and the like, and in general did its utmost to discredit and break the influence of the Catholic Church. | 13 |
| (7) ECONOMIC. The workers' parties, after dissolution, were replaced by the Nazi Labor Front, which was given a new constitution (Oct. 24, 1934). Strikes and lockouts had already been forbidden (May 17, 1933), and under the new constitution the employers (as leaders in their respective factories and industries) were given extensive control; wages remained low. On the other hand the new regime succeeded, within a remarkably short time, in eliminating all unemployment (chiefly through opening of labor camps for young men and even women, by public works and rearmament, etc.). Many of the workers were won over to the Nazi Party by the establishment of the organization Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy), which provided for cheap entertainment, vacations, and so on. In the larger sphere the government brought to an end the reparations problem and embarked upon a policy of self-sufficiency (autarchy) which would make the country independent (especially in raw materials) in the event of war. This underlay the famous Four-Year Plan of Oct. 19, 1936. Germany suffered greatly from the parlous condition of world trade, and considerably also from the boycott of German goods resulting from the anti-Jewish policies. The great costs of government and rearmament were met by internal loans, more forced than voluntary. Industry was brought under considerable government control, just as the peasants were more and more attached to their land. | 14 |
| (8) MILITARY. The government restored universal compulsory military service on March 16, 1935, and from that time on made rapid progress in rearmament. By 1938 Germany had not only an impressive land army, equipped with the latest weapons, but an air fleet superior to that of any other country. In the course of 1938 the western frontier was heavily fortified, giving the country further assurance against attack from France. | 15 |
| (9) SOCIAL. The Nazi regime believed firmly in the “traditional” family. By the Law to Reduce Unemployment (June 1, 1933) newlywed husbands became eligible for marriage loans, provided that the wife had been a worker and had given up her job. Moreover, parts of the loan were forgiven upon the births of a first and second child. The cult of motherhood received official sanction through women's and girls' organizations. Those who could not contribute Aryan families to the development of the Reich, such as non-Aryans and homosexuals, were ruthlessly persecuted. The desire to push women out of the workplace was reversed at the beginning of the war, but by then many middle-class women had accepted Nazi propaganda that established the home as their true place and refused employment. Working-class women were forced to accept much lower pay as gender became the sole factor in determining wages. In all, sexual divisions of labor, eugenics, better conditions for mothers, and sterilization and birth control for “inferior” groups made up the Nazi position on sexuality and reproduction. | 16 |
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