Hitler in GermanyJoin now to read essay Hitler in GermanyThe point of this essay is to prove that although Hitler came to power within the letter of the law” he did not come to power within the spirit of the law.
Hitler was appointed Chancellor on the 30th of January 1933, with only two other Nazis in the Cabinet, this was though to be enough to control him, by Van Papen and the conservatives. Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to hold new elections in March 1933, in the hope he would gain an over all majority. However in the new elections Hitler controlled Prussia through Gцring (Cabinet Minister) and the other two fifths of Germany through Frick (the other Cabinet Minister). With Nazi appointed police chiefs and local government heads, the Nazis had the legal power to intimidate the electorate. By the end of February 1933 Hitler was Chancellor and in control of police and local government, all legally and not within the spirit of the constitution.
On the 27th of February 1933 a half-mad Dutch Communist called Van der Lubbe was found wondering in the ashes of the burning Reichstag. This provided the Nazis with the opportunity to persuade Hindenburg to sign an emergency decree (composed by Frick) on February the 28th, suspending civil liberties and allowing the central Government to run regional governments deemed unable to run them selves. By the end of April, twenty five thousand people had been taken into protective custody in Prussia alone. Under the decree Frick was able to take over areas not already controlled by Gцring. Because of the suicide clause these actions were legal however they were definitely not within the democratic spirit of the constitution.
In the Reichstag elections of March 1933 the Nazis increased their control from 33.1% in December 1932 to 43.9%. This increase can be attributed to the Nazis strong stance on Communism. The Nazis were known for their hatred of Communism, the middle class voted Nazi because of that policy. Joseph Goebbels propaganda machine was also very good at acquiring votes. Nazi intimation by the now auxiliary policeman (in Prussia), the S.A. and S.S. plus the threat of unemployment by Nazi run organisations also helped increase Nazi votes. With their rightwing and Catholic allies the Nazis were now in a position to obtain power legally. Hitler clearly gained power legally as regards election results but as to how he got the results it is clear he acted both illegally and against the constitution.
The Enabling Act was the law, which legalised the Nazi regime. However the Nazis needed a two-thirds majority to get the law passed. Hitler promised the Roman Catholic Church he would protect its right to preach and to have separate schools, in return he would receive the RC Centre Partys support. This was not enough by itself to secure the two-thirds majority needed. However with Communists Deputies in prison and extreme Socialists unable to take their seats in parliament, Hitler could make the two-thirds majority needed. On March the 21st 1933 the new Reichstag was opened. Goebbels turned it into a Nazi propaganda event, appeasing the Nazi faithful, intimidating what was left of the opposition and reassuring the Nazis allies that Germany would be strong again. On March the 23rd 1933 the Kroll Opera House played host to the Enabling Act debate. Goebbels orchestrated the whole event with S.A. men lining the entrance and corridors, huge Nazi banners hung from the roof and of course no Communists or extreme Socialists. Despite the courageous opposition of the S.P.D. the Enabling Act was passed by four hundred and forty one votes to ninety-four. The Enabling Act effectively did away with parliamentary procedure and switched all legislative powers to the Chancellor & his Cabinet. Hitlers “coup de tat” or coup by instalments was as good as sealed. The intimation and Nazi persuasive tactics which gave Hitler Germany were definitely illegal and out with the spirit of the democratic constitution of Germany.
On the 7th of April 1933 Hitler began to consolidate his power using the Enabling Act. On that day laws were passed to remove political opponents and Jews from the civil service and the legal professions. From the 7th of April Jews could only practice law representing their own race. Loyal Nazis replaced all judges and senior legal officers. The 1st of May (International Labour Day) was declared a national holiday. On the 2nd of May all trade unions not already merged with the D.A.F. (German Labour Front) were absorbed by the D.A.F. which was a Nazi run organisation. The trade unions had little choice as the S.A. occupied their offices and printing works. On the 22nd of June the SPD was formally outlawed.
The Nazis of the 1930s
Possessively a class of workers were able to hold sway in their respective political parties. There is some evidence that there were some anti-authoritarian tendencies among the “Nazi” ranks:
• German Social Democrats (Bundestag and Habsburg) held that the party should be run by the members of the German Social Democrats. The SPD ran the party like a “socialist party” but its leader, Georg von Haydn, openly embraced the Nazi party’s ideas. There were other parties within the party such as The Red Cross and Social Democratic party, and in particular the Socialist Workers Party. The Socialist Social Democrats had its own political party which was based in Dresden and worked on a similar basis, although the Social Democratic candidate, Reinhard Heydrich, openly supported Hitler’s political views. The BSD (German Worker’s Party) founded the German Workers’ party, the National Movement of the unemployed workers’ movement, which was a major supporter of the Nazi party. As early as 1938 there was a “consolidation of the German Social Democrats,” and in 1948 there were an alliance between the Social Democratic and the Socialist Social Democratic forces.
• The Nazis ran a party in the US called Socialist Equality Party. Many people were unhappy with their government’s handling of welfare problems in the US. It was argued that, at best, the government was acting in concert with the political leaders of the US (Nazi party) and Nazi trade unions, and in actual fact, the government wasn’t doing anything to help. The Social Democratic-Nazi campaign in 1948 was based on this.
• The Social Democratic Movement of the unemployed workers’ movement. The SS (Germany’s secret intelligence agency) was created by the Nazi party so that for example the workers could be protected by the National Movement of workers. It provided legal protection for some of the workers on the wage scale that the government was not fulfilling in their place. In fact when the Social Democrat-Nazi-trade unionists merged with the Social Democratic Party and made their own party they were forced to support Hitler’s agenda because this meant Hitler was going to get it done in the US. The Social Democrats had a very large membership of many of them and the Germans were very excited to make any change to the situation. They tried to create an alternative party that would help alleviate the problems created by the civil service of the US. The workers were not against being protected from the public (i.e. the Nazis have been giving the workers a financial incentive that they have refused to show over the past 20 years), and for people to live in harmony with the policies of their governments. The Social Democrats were mainly interested in economic improvement in the US through the