Why were the Nazis able to maintain power between 1933-9?

We are learning to…
Explain why the Nazis were able to stay in power between 1933 and 1939
I can…
Build up notes on the topic
Plan a 20 mark essay
Pass a 20 mark timed essay

• In January 1933 Hitler was appointed
Chancellor of Germany and set about dismantling democracy
• Historians debate the reasons why the
Nazis were able to stay in power – did people enjoy living in Nazi Germany or were people coerced into obedience?
• It is your job to decide this – but also to judge which factors were more important than others in the Nazis staying in power

• In January 1933, the Nazis were the biggest party in the Reichstag (196 seats) although they still had never won a majority of the seats
• Ageing President Paul Hindenburg offered Hitler the job of Chancellor which he accepted
• Hindenburg was convinced by the political right to appoint Hitler but also did it because he felt he could keep an eye on him if he had a position of power
• Hitler was not as easily manipulated as was hoped
• On 27 th February 1933 the Reichstag building went on fire and it was blamed on a young Dutch
Communist
• The subsequent events allowed Hitler to take supreme power in Germany and rule as a dictator ; the democratic Weimar years were over

The arguments for the Nazis maintaining power
1. Establishment of a totalitarian state
2. Social Controls
3. Propaganda
4. Foreign Policy
5. Economic and Social Policies
You should aim to cover 4 of these in your essay; but you must know all of them in case it is the isolated factor.

The establishment of a totalitarian state
• After the Reichstag Fire on 27 th February 1933
(apparently started by) the Communist party, Hitler used his position as chancellor to persuade the President to pass Article 48 – The Emergency Decree, removing all civil liberties (rights) from the German people.
• The SA Brownshirts and SS ‘protective squadron’ acted as a ‘temporary’ police auxiliary, arresting Communists ,
Socialists and Trade Union officials so that Hitler could call a new election and win a majority in the Reichstag
• With the Communists and Socialists ‘missing’ from the
Reichstag, Hitler passed the Enabling Act on 24 th March
1933 which gave him power to pass laws without
Presidential authorisation, effectively allowing Hitler to rule as sole dictator.

Analysis (basic)
• The Reichstag Fire and Enabling Act were very important in giving Hitler the power he needed to pass laws to get rid of opposition groups and political parties and was the first step in achieving a oneparty state
Analysis (+)
• However, even with the SPD arrested or ‘missing’ and Communists banned, Hitler still did not win a majority vote in the March 1933 election (43.9%) showing that there was still a lot of opposition in
Germany that Hitler would need to take strong action against to stay in power

The crushing of opposition
• On 2 nd May 1933, Trade Unions were banned . The Reich
Labour Front led by Robert Ley was set up to ‘protect the
Rights of Workers’ and strikes became illegal.
• Trade Union leaders who may have potentially led uprisings or opposition groups were swiftly arrested and interned at the new concentration camp Dachau , near
Munich.
• On the 22 nd June 1933 the Socialist party was banned.
The Communists had already been banned after the
Reichstag Fire and most of the other parties broke up , the last being the Catholic centre party.
• On the 14 th July 1933, a new law was passed declaring the
Nazi party to be the only legal party in Germany.

Analysis (basic)
• This shows Hitler had successfully established a one-party dicta torship in Germany where the only legal party were the Nazis and German civil rights were removed; the visible crushing of opposition also served the purpose of terrifying potential opponents into obedience
Analysis (+)
• However, wages were low and working conditions were very poor in the Reich Labour Front so it was likely that Hitler would face opposition from working men in Germany which showed the Nazis there would have to be ‘incentives’ or rewards for peoples’ obedience

Living in Fear of the State (SQA call state terrorism)
• The SS ‘Schutzstaffel’ was the state’s internal security service and led by Heinrich Himmler , their job was to root out any opposition to the Fuhrer. The disciplined force wore black uniforms and lightning flashes on their collar.
• The Gestapo were the secret police of the Nazi
Government. They read mail, opened letters and listened at doors and seemed to be watching and listening everywhere.
• The most feared institution of the Nazi state was the concentration camps. Dachau (Munich) and Sachsenhausen
(Berlin) were supposed to be ‘re-education’ camps which housed enemies of the state and most Germans would do anything to avoid ending up in one.

Analysis (basic)
• This shows that the Nazis created the apparatus of a police state in order to ensure people in Germany were living in fear and would therefore obey and accept Nazi rule in order to avoid the consequences of being sent to be ‘re-educated’
Analysis (+)
• However, it must be acknowledged that sections of
German society were happy to see ‘undesirables ’ like
Communists removed from society & punished and the fact that around 160,000 German acted as informants for the Gestapo shows that there was a willingness to cooperate

The Nazification of society
• On 7 April 1933 the law for the Re-establishment of the Civil Service allowed all opponents of the
Nazi regime to be sacked from government jobs
• The legal system became pro-Nazi; Nazi Judges set up the People’s Court in 1934 and anti-Nazi judges and lawyers were sacked
• All teachers, lecturers and professors had to sign up to the National Socialist Teachers’ League or they were sacked. Any opponents to the regime in education were sacked.

Analysis (basic)
• This shows that the Nazis successfully wiped out any opposition within influential sectors like justice and education which was where opposition would be likely due to a high number of academics. The professions were now
Nazi-dominated and loyal to the state.
• It shows German citizens no longer had an independent judicial system to safeguard their rights
Analysis (+)
• However, it is not clear how many of these people genuinely believed in Nazi ideology and it is likely that many in education and justice cooperated in order to save or further their career rather than any strong desire to promote Nazi beliefs
• Some historians have said that many judges and lawyers who were not staunch Nazis welcomed the Nazi regime due to their promise to restore a more authoritarian notion of ‘ law and order ’

Education and religion
• The entire school curriculum was redesigned to reflect Nazi Ideology.
 PE replaced RE
 Geography taught the need for ‘living space’
 Biology taught ‘eugenics’ or ‘race studies
• The Nazis reached an agreement, or concordat, with the Catholic church in July 1933 where the church was granted religious freedom as long as they did not interfere in politics
• The Protestant Church , with its 45million
German members, was taken under Nazi control.
The Nazis appointed their own bishop Ludwig
Muller and Mein Kampf became the Bible.

Analysis (basic)
• This shows that with full control of the
German education system the Nazis were able to manipulate the curriculum to ensure an obedient youth who had been conditioned into
Nazi beliefs which helped them stay in power
• This shows that even at Church , which most
Germans attended, people would hear positive messages about the Nazis, or at least no criticism, which helped ensure the majority of the German population were compliant with the Nazi government

Analysis (+)
• However, it is important that credit is given to the youth and many German children and young people were quite aware that their education was being distorted and could see the Nazi bias in their lessons. Many children rebelled in their own way, such as listening to illegal jazz or swing music.
• In addition, despite all attempts to silence the churches in German some of the most vehement opposition came from clergy such as minister
Martin Niemoller who was sent to Sachsenhausen and Dachau for speaking out against the Nazis

Propaganda
As propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels ’ job was to rid Germany of its old class divisions and create a sense of ‘national community’ ( volksgemeinschaft )
Propaganda during the Nazi reign came in three main forms (and was usually posters/ cinema)
 Promoting the benefits of living in Nazi Germany – how lucky people were for what Hitler gave them i.e. The
Peoples’ Car
 Promoting Nazi beliefs/ persecuting minorities – Jews, the disables
 Enforcing the Fuhrer Cult – showing Hitler as a God and the ‘Father’ of Germany

Analysis (basic)
• Propaganda could not be avoided living in Nazi
Germany and people were bombarded with Nazi messages, helping promote the positives that
Hitler brought to Germany and gained loyalty from the German people
• Historians believe that propaganda was most effective amongst young people and they enthusiastically embraced the idea of the
‘thousand year Reich’

Analysis (+)
• However, more recent research has suggested that propaganda was not able to change peoples’ minds about minority groups but instead built on existing prejudices , so it only made people more prejudiced rather than created prejudice
• Historians have also concluded that propaganda was largely unsuccessful in the working class but that it is very difficult to measure how far anyone was influenced by propaganda due to the system of fear in place which would have stifled peoples’ true opinion
• In addition, many Germans were quite aware they were being bombarded with Nazi propaganda and actually intentionally avoided it, such as showing up at the cinema late to avoid the propaganda films

An anti Versailles Foreign policy – hugely popular in
Germany
• Hitler’s decision to end all reparations payments was portrayed as a great foreign policy achievement even though it was actually the work of Weimar
• In 1933 Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations , a group intended to keep peace in Europe
• In 1935 Hitler announced rearmament ; the army increased in size, planes and tanks were built, conscription was reintroduced
• In March 1936, Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland
• In 1938, Hitler accompanied the Anschluss with Austria as part of his bid for lebensraum – ‘living space’ for
German speaking people in Europe

Analysis (basic)
• This is important because Hitler’s foreign policy was extremely popular in Germany and he received a huge amount of support from Germans for reversing the humiliation of the Treaty of
Versailles and re-establishing Germany as a world power
• Some historians have called Hitler’s foreign policy victories a ‘sweetener’ of life in Nazi Germany and said that much of Hitler’s popularity while he was in power rested on his achievements in foreign policy

Analysis (+)
However, it is clear that not every German supported the aggressive foreign policy adopted by
Hitler and many could see he was leading Germany into another war – the Nazis published propaganda postcards claiming ‘we thank our leader’ after the invasion of the Sudentenland which shows they had to convince Germans they were thankful

5. Social and Economic Policies: Knowledge
Economic – ‘The Nazi Economic Miracle’
• Through a programme of forced labour, public works, excluding Jews from the workforce as well as the building of the Autobahn system, unemployment reduced dramatically.
• In 1933 it was over 6 million. By 1936 it was 1 million. By
1939 it was 0 .
Social – ‘Strength Through Joy’
• The KDF or ‘Strength through Joy’ organisation was set up to avoid worker discontent. It gave workers free holiday, cruises, concert tickets and even the chance to obtain a
Peoples’ Car via a savings system
Youth (Social) – The Hitler Youth Movements
• Youth movements were set up for young people – The Hitler
Jugend for boys where camping, shooting and digging trenches prepared the boys for the next German conflict
• The League of German Maidens (BDM) taught girls to accept the role of mothers and wives and focussed on the
‘three Ks’ – church, children and kitchen’

Analysis (basic)
• This is important because Nazis received a great deal of support and praise for providing jobs for all and a regular income for German families after the unemployment and misery of the Weimar years, even if working conditions were difficult
• The Strength through Joy movement was successful in winning over the working class in Germany as it provided small rewards – it certainly helped deflect criticism from the regime and helped the Nazis stay in power. 10m had been on a KDF holiday by 1938.
• The Youth movements won over most German youths – particularly the outdoor activities and Hitler Youth camps by boys and many poor children enjoyed the activities and free uniforms they otherwise could not afford, which is shown in the fact that by 1936, 60% of young people belonged to a Nazi youth organisation (voluntarily)

Analysis (+)
• However, some historians have pointed out that the working class Germans remained suspicious of the
Nazi regime and were not totally won over by full employment - strikes in Berlin in 1936 showed unrest towards the Nazis - and many remained loyal to the
Socialist and Communist Parties.
• The Strength Through Joy movement also failed to deliver many of it’s promises – the Beetle (People’s
Car) scheme was never fully developed and funds were diverted towards the military by 1938/39 rather than leisure
• It must also be pointed out that not all children were enticed by the Youth movements as many joined opposition groups – The Edelweiss Pirates, The White
Rose - and the Nazis had to take the step of making the youth movements compulsory in December 1936

• The persecution of the Jewish minority in
Germany was carried out gradually
• In April 1933 , there was a nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses
• Soon after, Jews were sacked from the Civil
Service and were forbidden from entering the professions (doctors, lawyers, teachers)
• In 1935 , the Nuremberg Laws were introduced made Jewish discrimination legal
– Jews lost their German Citizenship and marriage became Jews and Aryans illegal

• In 1938, using the murder of a German diplomat as an excuse, the Nazi regime carried out it’s first nationwide attack on Jewish communities
• Shops, synagogues and homes were smashed up and looted, 91 Jews were killed and many were taken to camps
• It became known as Kristallnacht or the Night of
Broken Glass
• Watch the programme and take notes on the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynypuxgCbH4

• A good idea when you have taken all your notes for a topic is to create a condensed revision guide for the essay
• This might be a mind map, picture map, bullet points etc. but should fit on one page
• Do this for homework (example on next page)

Establishment of a
Totalitarian State
Social Controls
Propaganda
Foreign Policy
Social & Economic
Policies

• The Nazis in Power is an example of an isolated factor essay – this means the SQA will ask you whether women got the vote because of a specific factor (one of the 5 we cover)
• You must talk about the factor in the question BUT you do not need to agree it is the most important
• Examples
To what extent did the Nazi party stay in power after
1933 due to the establishment of a totalitarian state
How far can it be argued that The Nazis stayed in power
1933 - 39 due to the popularity of their policies ?
‘The Nazi’s maintenance of power was largely due to propaganda’. Discuss.

• Background (give 2-3 sentences about the
Nazis coming into power/ Hitler becoming chancellor)
‘By 1933…’
• Factors (what are the factors in the essay?)
There were many important factors in the Nazis staying in power such as…
(a list is fine)
• Argument (what will you be arguing is most important?)
It can be argued that the most important factor was …because…

• In conclusion, there were many reasons why the
Nazis stayed in power between 1933-39.
• On the one hand… (you should take one key factor here and explain why it was important)
• On the other hand… (now you should do the same with another key factor to balance your argument)
• Overall, the most important factor was… (keep your strongest until last, backing up why it is
so important and it should be clear why it outweighs the other factors)

• A good way to approach trying to get the final 4 marks for evaluation is to take your factors (5 in this case) and rank them from most important to least important
• Try to come up with a reason Why each is in that place (not why it is important but why it is more or less important)
• A priority diagram can be a good technique to use – try to relate every factor back to your most important

E1 and E2 - 2 marks can be gained from making evaluative comments which relate to individual factors
Example – Upon evaluation, ______ was the most/least important factor in the Nazis maintenance of power because...
NB – You must be saying something new in your evaluation, not repeating your analysis or doing ‘mini conclusions’

E+ - up to 4 marks can be gained from making evaluative comments which show the relative importance between factors (i.e. you compare two)
Example – Upon evaluation, the totalitarian state was more important than ______ in the
Nazis staying in power because...
NB – You must be saying something new in your evaluation, not repeating your analysis or doing
‘mini conclusions’
Remember analysis is really tricky and many candidates get 0/4 but still get an A!