Figure 1.-- This photograph was taken in Hanover on the occassion of Hitler's birthday (April 20, 1933). Hindenburg had appointed Hitler Chancellor (January) and the NAZIs at the time were in the orocess of seizin power. Hitler's birthday was to become a major holiday in Germany, as the Kaiser's birthday had been earlier. In 1933 the celebration was very limited. These German boys, probably about 10-13 years old, are playing soldier in the street in imitation of their NAZI elders. I'm not sure why flag they are carrying. The military often appeals to boys of that age. One boy has aword an World War I helmet. Other boys are wearing their school caps. They are not wearing Hitler Youth uniforms necause in 1933 the movement had not yet been expanded. All the boys wear short trousers, which was virtually universal in early 1930s Germany. Two of the boys seem to have knee socks on, whereas the others wear long stockings. It seems to be a rather dreary, chilly day. Of course these boys have no idea of what a disaster is befalling their country under the NAZI Third Reich. They are, however, part of the generation that would fight World War II.

The rise of the NAZIs is a frightening enough event, but perhaps even more frightening is how Hitler and the NAZIs so easily bent the German nation to their evil purposes. Every country has evil people, but how could a small group of evil thugs so easily cow a great nation into participating or at least acquiese in what were some of the most evil actions of the 20th century. Thus the NAZI years are a case study in modern totalitarianism. A key factor here was the considerable political skills of Adolf Hitler. Another factor was the political ferment in Germany and the tenous acceptance of democracy. Hitler gave the Germans what many wanted (jobs, order, and prestige) while laying the foundation for what he wanted (war, conquest, and genocide). Hitler had convinced conservative elements and the middle-class that he and the NAZIs were a force for stability and conservative social values. In fact, the NAZI Govrnment in the years before the War would launch a revolution transforming German society. And here a major effort was made to win over youth. The NAZI revolution was well underway, but not fully implemented at the time Hitler launched World war II. Germany in 1933 was not a NAZI nation bent on conquest. But in 6 years Hitler and the NAZIs transformed Germany. The German people still did not want war, but their leadership had prepared them and their children for the most terrible war in world history. Perhaps the greatest irony of the Third Reich was that Hitler while a political mastermind, heated politicans and politics. What he wanted (as the Kaiser wanted) was to be a great war leader. Fortunately for the world, Germany did not have the resources for a world war and Hitler was not a military genius.

Seizure of Power/Machtergreifung (1933)

The NAZI's after the July 1932 election were the largest German political party, but did not have a majority in the Reichstag. Hidenburg dismissed Brüning and the result was political instability in the Reichstag. President Hindenburg refused to appoint Hitler Chancellor and instead turned to Papen. The political situatation remained unstable. The newly elected Reichstag in September voted no confidence in the Papen government. The November 1932 Reichstag election results were: NAZI Party 196 seats, Social Democrats 121 seats, The Communist Party 100 seats, and the Centre Party 70 seats. The NAZIs lost a few seats, but continued to be the largest party in the Reichstag. Hitler continued to demand to be appointed Chancellor, Hindenburg refused saying that he said he did not trust Hitler to rule democratically. Hindenburg preferred Papen, but the Army objected. Hindenburg turned to General Kurt von Schleicher who lasted 57 days. Finally Hidenberg, running out of options, turned to Hitler whom he appointed January 30, 1933. Hidenberg attempted to control Hitler by placing Papen as vice-chancellor and surrounding Hitler with moderate ministers who supported Papen. Hitler by carefully selecting his cabinent posts was within days gaining control. To be sure of success, however, he needed a mahority in the Reichstag. He insisted on a new election. In the middle of the elections the Reichstag went up in flames on Februarry 27, 1933. A Dutch Communist was blamed. Historins still debate who was responsible. Many blamed the NAZIs, but it appears that neither they or the Communist Party was responsible. Hitler took full advantage of the situation and claimed that the fire was a Communist plot, and persuaded Hindenburg to sign an emergency Law for the Protection of the People and State. The law suspended people's rights and allowed the Nazis to arrest many Communists and others. This was the key legal document allowing Hitler and the NAZIs to seize power. Historians use different terms to describe the NAZI victory. Some suggest that Hitler was elected. In fact the NAZIs never gained a majority in as German election, even the tainted 1933 election. The description of seizing power seems more correct.

Concentration Camps

Concentration camps were an integral part of the NAZI regime. The first camp, Dachau, near Munich was established within days of Hitler's appointments as Chancellor. Hitler had secured only a few ministerial post for his NAZI associates, but they included the Ministry of Interior giving him control over the police. The NAZIs began arresting Communists and other opponents and there just was not room for them in German jails and prisons. In addition, prisons when the NAZIs first seized power were much too open an enviroment for what Hitler and his close associates wanted to do. Dachau was only the first camp, but it became the blue print for subsequent camps of an enormous system that would eventually extend over much of Europe. Dachau was run by both the SA and SS, but the SS soon took over control of the camps. The camps at first were an instrument of political repression. Germany in 1933 had a wide range of political parties and a free and very vocal press. Within weeks the NAZIs effectively silenced both the political opposition and free press. Recalcitant critics were arrested and interned in the camps where there was no limits on what the SA and SS could do to the prisoners. The camps were also a conventient place to dispose of political enemies without fear of embarassing questions being asked. As the NAZI concentration camp system developed it came to serve other purposes as well. There were work camps which made valuable contributions to the war effort. The slave labor in these camps made everything from uniforms and pots and panrs to V-2 balistic missles--one of the most complex weapons system of the War. Other camps once the War began were constructed as death camps. The death camps were intended primarily for the Jews, but many other people besides Jews were killed there. It is likely that these camps would have been used for killing Slavs and others who the NAZIs considered undesirable, but when the War turned against the NAZIs, the retreating NAZIs tried to disdmantle the camps and destroy evidence of the killing. Some of the lrger camps like Auschwitz had units with different purposes, both labor camps and death camps. There were also POW camps, but many of these camps were tin by the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe rather than the SS. There were even camps for Germans. Hitler ordered the Baltic Germans "Home to the Reich" in 1939. The NAZIs intended to use these ethnic Germans to colonize areas of Poland from which the Poles were being expelled. Many of the Baltic Germans spent long periods in rough camps with inadequate food and medical supplies. [Overy, p. 595.]

Depression

The Depression played an important role in the NAZI sizure of power and in the image that Hitler built in Germany once he seized power. Tragically for Germany, the most serious period of the depression followed the New York Stock Market crash (1929) through Hitler's seizure of power (1933). The impact that the Depression had on Germany folded neatly into Hitler's political drive for power. Apparent economic improvements in Germany were an important element in Hitler's real popularity after seizing power. The view of the Hitler and the NAZIs in Europe was substantially different in Europe during the 1930s before Hitler launched World War II than it is today. It should be remembered that until Kristallnacht (November 1938) that NAZI actions against the Jews were not greatly different fom how Blacks were treated in the American South. In fact many NAZI racial laws were based on laws enacted against Blacks by Southern state legislatures. There were prominent Americans (Lindberg, Ford, and others) before World War II who were impressed with the NAZIs. Hitler was seen by many as the most dynamic leader in Europe. One reason for this was that NAZI policies essentially ended the depression by 1935. Many Germans had turned to the NAZIs in the earlt 1930s because of the Depression. The NAZIs expanded German labor programs, creating a National Labor Service must like the American CCC. The NAZIs seized control of the economy. German industrialists benefitted and soon learned that it was very dangerous to defy the Government. It might be argued that Germany under the NAZIs had the most controlled economy in Europe. Their major project was the construction of the Autobauns. The massive new armaments program was a major factor in putting Germans back to work. The German GNP was back to pre-Depression levels by 1935. NAZI policies made sure there was no longer wide-spread unemployment and destitution in Germany. The German people, however, were not better off. The benefits of the expanding economy was not brought to them in terms of more consumer goods, but rather a rearmed military. Many Germans, however, were convinced that they were better off. This was in part due to declinging product standards. It was also a result if the effectiveness of NAZI propaganda which emphasized the increased international respect with which Germany had achieved. [Hanby]

Interegnum (1933-34)

There was a brief period in Germany after Hitler was appointed Chancellor (January 1933) in which he was not in complete control of Germany. This was not because of the political opposition. The the DKP was sipprssed and the SPD was silenced. Hitler was able to do this because he through the ministers the NAZIs were allocated achieved control of the German police. Police officers quickly learned not to question the NAZIS. They also engaged in extra-legal actions in the concentations the SS quickly set up. The judiciary was not at first controlled by the NAZIs. The concentration camps, however, allowed the NAZIs to move against the political opposition even without the judicary. The NAZIs also gained control over the media which ensured that their extra-legal actions were not questioned pubically. While the political opposition was cowed, Hitler still was not in complete control of Germany. There was one force not unnder NAZI control--the Army. The Army was not particularly dusturbed with NAZI actions against Communists, Socialists, and Jews--legal or not. The Army was not strongly committed to the Weimar Republic. Many officers objected to the Socialist who had dominated the Repubic. Others were monarchists. And many were ardent nationalists, sympathetic to nationlist parties, including the NAZIs. he Army was, however, committed to its own institutional existence. The NAZIs posed a major problem to the Army because of the SA. Despite the NAZI natonalist appeal, the Army would not accept Hitler and the NAZIs as long as the SA posed the threat of replaving uit as the core of a new army. Thus while Hindenburg still lived and the SA threatened the Army, the Army posed aserious threat to Hitler's control of Germany. Other institutions were at first beyond the immediate control of the NAZIs. One of these was the educatiojal system. Thre were NAZI teachers and administrators. There were also many who distrusted or opposed the NAZIs. It would take some time to throughly NAZIfy the educational system and other German institutions.

Night of the Long Knives (June 1934)

Hitler in 1934 had a basic problem. The SA had been useful in his rize to power, but now constituted a threat. The Army saw the SA as a mortal threat to their position as the principal military force of the German state. Not only was it a threat, but the unrestrained thugery and disorder fomented by the SA as well as the social status and lack of education of the SA was disturbing to many officers. Hitler reasoned that as long as the NAZI Party maintained a military force that threatened the Army that he and the Party would never be accepted. Another probem that Hitler saw is that he and Roehm disagreed as to the future direction of the NAZI Party. Hitler saw the revolution as essentially achieved. Roehm now that the NAZIs had won power, wanted to conduct a second revolution and turn the SA into a new German Army. Roehm was a threat to Hitler's personal control of the Party, a dangerous threat because of the size of the SA and the fact that many members were personally loyal to him. Hitler's the master politican had a simple, but effective solution--the same one he constantly used. He turned his enemies against each other. He had no desire to attack the Army and besides it would have been exceedingly dangerous to do so. The army had the means to destroy him. Many Army officers disliked Hitler but were never committed to the weimar Republic. Roem on the other hand had become increasingly open in his criticisms of Hitler. Because of the strength of the SA did not fear for his personal security. Hitler used Himmler's SS to decapitate the SA as well as several other political enenies. The strike was enginered by Himler's deputy, Reinhard Heydrich. Here the actual sequence of events that lead to the decession is not precisely know, We know Himmler admired Roehm because of his war record. In addition Roehm and Hitler had been close in the NAZI rise to power. Heydrich collected evidence on Roehm and others. This information was presented to Hitler. To what extent it influenced Hitler or was used by him what he wanted to do anyway, I do not know. Heydrich organized thed the actual arrests and executions which became known as the Night of the Long Knives. Once Roehm was disposed up, the Army swore a personal oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler. The Night of the Long Time was a critical turning point in German history. This oath was more important than it might appear to modern readers. Countless individuals who served the German Reich in statements afyter the War refer to the oaths they took and loyalty to justify the most unbelievably heinous actions. That oath placed the Army firmly in Hitler's camp. In addition, The arrests and executioins were done entirely outside German law. There was not even a pretext of legality. It was the beginning of the horific NAZI attrocities that would be inflicted on all of Europe.

NAZI Revolution

NAZI Economics

It was very common before World War II to read about an earlier Gernman economic miracle. Many in the 1930s lauded the NAZI achievement in ending the Deopression. Other of course envied the Soviet Union. This is perhaps understandable in the 1930s when it was not entirely clear what was going on in those countries. Wha is surprising is that we still see some authors blinkered by ideology and often adding outriht falsehoods still talking about the NAZI achievement. Here is a typical example, "The Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, at a time when its economy was in total collapse, with ruinous war-reparation obligations and zero prospects for foreign investment or credit. Yet through an independent monetary policy of sovereign credit and a full-employment public-works program, the Third Reich was able to turn a bankrupt Germany, stripped of overseas colonies it could exploit, into the strongest economy in Europe within four years, even before armament spending began. In fact, German economic recovery preceded and later enabled German rearmament, in contrast to the US economy, where constitutional roadblocks placed by the US Supreme Court on the New Deal delayed economic recovery until US entry to World War Two put the US market economy on a war footing." [Liu] IThe author is wrong thst the NAZIs did not begin to re-militarize at an early point. He is also wrong that reparations were a major problem. In fact te Germans payed very little in the way of repsarations. Most of the payments they msadewere funds borrowed from America and at the orhnial reparations required in the Versailles Treaty were postponed. It is true thst Hitler put erman workers to work. It is also true that the real wages (purchasing power) of German weorkers declined. And by the time that Hitler launched the War that the NAZI state was near bankruptsy. The German people had after the War lived under NAZI price controls and subsequently rationing when the War began. The NAZIs first imposed price controls (1936). This allowed the Goivernent to re-militarize with materials purchased at prices below market levels. Hitler placed Reichmarshal Hermann Goering incharge of the war ecnomy (1939). He imposed rationing. NAZI rationing was at first linited because the food of production of the occupied countries could be looted. Draconian punishments faced Germans violating the porice control regulations.

The Hitler Youth

The Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth), the NAZI party's youth movement, indoctrinated German youth to perpetuate the "1,000 year Reich." The Hitler Youth movement emphasized activism, physical training, NAZI ideology, especially nationalism and racial concepts, and absolute obedience to Hitler and the NAZI Party. Indoctrinating children in National Socialist idelogy was a key goal of the NAZI Party. Once Hitler assumed control over the German state, he used the Goverment to make the Hitler Youth the country's all encompasing youth movement. Hitler and other NAZIs leaders saw the indoctrination of young Germans as of critical importance. In the same year that they took power, the NAZIs organized German youth organizations into two branches of the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugen), one branch for boys and one for girls. Membership was eventually made compulsory and all boys had to report to a neigborhood office to have his racial background checked and be registered for membership. There was then a typically elaborate introduction ceremony on the Füherer's birthday. The Hitler Youth was not just a German version of the Boy Scouts. The Hitler Youth were more similar to the Soviet Young Pioneers, but even with the Pioneers there were major differences. Hitler from the beginning saw the Hitler Youth movement as a tool to hardening boys for their future role of soldiers. He wanted a generation of "victorious active, daring youth, imune to pain." There was to be no "intelectual" training for the boys of the New Order, he saw intelectual pursuits as damaging to German youth. The NAZIs used the Hitler Jugend to educate German Youth " in the spirit of National Socialism " and subjected them to an intensive programme of Nazi propaganda. The NAZIs established the Hitler Jugend as a source of replacements for the Nazi Party formations. The Hitler Youth leadership in October, 1938 entered into an agreement with Himmler under which members of the Hitler Jugend who met SS standards would be considered as the primary source of recruitment for the SS. The NAZIs also used the Hitler Jugend for pre-military training. Special units were set up whose primary purpose was training specialists for the various military branches. HNC has compiled the following information on the Hitler Youth movement and the uniforms the boys wore.

The Wehrmacht

The high command made a pact with Adolf Hitler (1934). Hitler agreed to eliminate the SA as a threat to the Wehrmact and ordered the execultion of Roehm and other close associates. The Wehrmact swore a loyalty oath to Hitler--not to the German nation but to Hitler. In return for their loyalyty they were the bebeficiaries of a hige reaemament ptogram in contravention of the Versailles Treaty. The dimensions of the rearmament progrram far outweiged any level of armament needed for defense. It was patently clear to the Wehrmact general staff that Hitler mean to wage aggressive war. This essentially made the Wehrmacht a criminal enterprise committed to waging aggressive war. In addition, there is a tendency in Germany today to draw a destinct line between the Wehrmacht and the SD SS wjhich carried out the most horrendous attrocities. In the field, especially in the East, this line was much less well defined. Wehrmact units were involved in major attrocities and carried out orders from the high command concerning the execution of Jews and Communist Party members. The Wehrmact was also involved in many reprisal actions against civilians. The ordinary German soldiers were not all or even mostly war criminals. The Wehrmact was a conscript army. And with any conscript army had the same level and range of behavior as the population in general. That said, many of the conscript soldiers had been members of the Hitler Youth and NAZI educatin system which prepared the ground work for jusifying horendous acts against whole classes of people,

Rearmament

Hitler and the NAZIs planned from the beginning a massive rearmament program. NAZI propaganda promoted the idea that Germany must rearm. [Riegler] The NAZIs did not, however, begin a massive rearmament program immediately upon seizing power in 1933. The Weimar Republic Goverment itself has spomsored secret armanents programs in violation of the Versailles Treaty. The NAZIs did sharply expand weapon reseearch. The German military expanded in secret during 1933-34. Hitler by March 1935, felt suffucently secure to publicize his military. The NAZIs announced that they expansion - which broke the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Europe learned that the Nazis had a modern 2,500 plane Luftwaffe and a Wehrmacht with 300,000 men. Hitler publicly announced that he was insituting a compulsory military conscription and planned to expand the Wehrmacht to 550,000 men. Actual araments production began in earnest in 1936. The NAZIs in 1936 doubled armamets spending over 1935 levels. It was in 1936 that NAZI arms spending first exceeeded the combined total for transportation and construction spending. The nature of arms spending also increased. NAZI arms spending initially focused on research, development, and capital investment. The NAZIs in 1936 began concentrating on producing actual military equipment. This is one of the least economically beneficial types of government spending.

The Luftwaffe (1935)

The Germans during World War I created an air arm during World War I (1914-18). The airplane was first used in any significant way in World war I. It played a useful, but marginal role. The Allies were able to outproduce the Germans, but both side made important technological strides. The German air ace the Red Baron (von Rictoff) was the most famous pilot of the War. When he was killed, Herman Goering took over command of the the Flying Circus. The German air forces were dissolved after the War, as required by the Treaty of Versailles. Even so the German military continued to develop technology through secret arrangements with foreign countries. German companies built planes in other countries, especially the Netherlands. Glider clubs throughout Germany provided training for future pilots. The operations were expanded when the NAZIs seized control (1933). Soviets and Japanese. Adolt Hiter ordered Göring to formally establish the Luftwaffe (February 26, 1935). The Versailles Treaty was still in force.

Third NAZI Referendum: The Rhineland (March 1936)

Hitler did not believe in elections, he did utilize carefully calculated referendums or plebecites. The third such NAZI Referendum ratified Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland, which under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, was to have remained demilitarized. The Versailles Treaty with its trasfer of territoiry and limitations on German military power was widely unpopular in Germany, The remilitarization of the Rhneland was hugely popular in Germany. The Referendum was a landslide victory for the NAZIs (March 29, 1936). The NAZI-controlled press reported that 99 percent of registered voters participated. And 98.8 percent of those voters voted voted "Ja"--44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million. There is no doubt that German voters were impressed with Hitler's action and the vote would have been heavily yes. What the actual vote was, however, is not known.

Religion

The Germany that Hitler seized control of was a Christian nation, split between the Catholic and Protestant (mostly Lutheran) faiths. Religion was still a strong element of national life, although as in other European countries declining. Here World War I had been a major factor in undermining religion. The NAZIs in their propaganda drew on Christian symbolism as well as pagan symbols. This disturbed many Christian, mostly Protestant, theologians. NAZI leaders were drawn from both Catholic and Protestant families, but generally rejected traditional Christian teaching. The most prominant outlook among NAZI leads was a variety scientific or quasi-scientific theories. Especially prominant was Social Darwinism). This was Hitler's outlook. For political reasons, however, he did not openly attack Christianity. Other NAZI leaders dabeled in mysticism and occultism. This was especially notable in the SS that steadily grew in importance. The interest in mysticism and occultism was primarily the result of Himmler's interest. There was a common thread in both approaches (science and mysticism), that was a belief in Aryan racial superiority. Hitler authorized a Ministry of Church Affairs (1935). It was heded by Hanns Kerrl, but had no great impact in the NAZI state. The principal NAZI ideologue was Alfred Rosenberg. He gave little notice of the Ministry or Chrisinity in general. Hitler'a attitude toward religion was that an open campaign of atheism was unecessary and would be harmful politically. He bleieved that religious beliefs would gradually weaken. And in fact large numbers of Germans left their churches during the NAZI era, although the numbers declined sharply as the War began to go against the Germans. While there was no open atheism campaign, there were discrete steps taken. There was no religious component to the Hitler Youth. The church role in education was curtailed. Some mosly lower level NAZIs who wanted to retain their religious connections promoted what becane known as Positive Christianity. This wa essentially to associate NAZI beliefs within in Christian teachings. Many German Christians throughout the NAZI era saw no incompatability between their Christian faith and the NAZI state. Thus there was no loud rejection of attempts to integrate Natinal Socialism and Christinity. This was not just the layity. Many Protestant and Catholic clergy did not reject National Socialism even during the later years of the War. This is not to say that the clergy was NAZIfied, but the clergy did accept the NAZIs as the legitimate government nd out of patriotism supported it. There were disenters, but this was dangerous and substantial numbers of clergy were arested.

Fourth NAZI Referendum: The Anschluss (April 1938)

The fourth and last NAZI referendum was held to ratify the Anschluss (March 1938). The vote was taken the following month (April 10, 1938). This was an action widely approved in both Austria and Germany. It was another step taken in defiance of the Vesailles Treaty which had prohibited Austrian union with Germany. The German press reported that 99% of registered voters voted "Ja" on that question. The Referendum was held in conjunction with a Reichstag election. There was, however, no choice of candidates. Rather the electorate simply approved a list of NAZI candidates drawn up by the government. [Suksi, p. 101.]

Sources

Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p

Hanby, Alonzo. For the Survival of Democracy.

Liu, Henry C. K. "Nazism and the German Economic Miracle," Asia Times Online (May 24 2005).

Overy, Richard. The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin';s Russia (W.W. Norton: Newy York, 2004), 849p.

Suksi, Markku. Brining in the People: A Comparison of Constitutional Forms and Practices (Nijhoff).

Created: October 3, 2003
Last updated: 4:12 AM 8/29/2009