Nazi Germany: 1933-1939

NAZI GERMANY (1933-1939)

Hitler appointed Chancellor In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed

Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg due to his popularity

This is known as the Nazi’s “Seizure of Power”

The Nazi Party was taking control of the government through delegates

Single Party Dictatorship

Reichstag Fire (1933)

German government building set on fire by the Nazi’s, so they could blame the Communists

Hitler’s chance to use the moment to attack communists

1934

Act to Rebuild the Reich Gave Hitler total power to save Germany Government became centralized with

Hitler Local governments of small towns

eliminated Government appointed mayors of larger

towns

Total Power (1934)

“The Night of the Long Knives” Hitler and the Nazi Party’s plot to murder

those who were suspected of being against them

S.A leader Ernst Rohm killed, as well as Gregor Strasser (who replaced Hitler while in prison), former German Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, and the man who suppressed the Beer Hall Putsch, Gustav Ritter von Kahr.

Rohm’s Murder

He was captured and held in a prison while Hitler decided what to do with him

Upon deciding that he had to die, he made S.S officer Michael Lippert visit him and give him a gun, ordering him to kill himself or they would do it for him

"If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself.“

He refused, and Lippert shot him point-blank

Continued…

During the one night, 85 people were murdered and more than a thousand were arrested

All of this was secretly carried out by the S.S and newly formed Gestapo, which was the Nazi’s secret police

The Nazi’s were now getting close to total, absolute power, and the S.S became one of the most feared organizations in Europe

Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Created at the annual Nuremberg Rallies

A series of anti-Semitic laws to make life unbearable for the Jewish people

Followed an already-in-progress national boycott of Jewish businesses

Took away German citizenship of Jews

Eugenics

What the Laws Stated:

1) “Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.”

2)“Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor.”

3) “Relationships between Jews and Germans are not allowed” Known as “Blutschande”

Continued…

4) “Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens under the age of 45, of German or kindred blood, as domestic workers.”

5) “Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors.”

6) “On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colors. The exercise of this right is protected by the State.”

Continued…

Children were taught this in schools, and made to memorize poems that talked about why German and Jewish blood should not mix:“Keep your blood pure, it is not yours alone,it comes from far away,it flows into the distanceladen with thousands of ancestors,and it holds the entire future!It is your eternal life.”

Hitler Youth

For male youths aged 14-18 (think of this as a Nazi version of the Boy Scouts)

Purpose was to induct its members into the S.S when they turned 18

They would train and learn to fight, and above all, learn obedience to their leader, Adolf Hitler

Motto was “Blut und Ehre” or “Blood and Honor”

Continued…

This was key to the future of Germany, because children were involved from a very young age

There was even a branch of the organization for girls, called “The League of German Girls”

Moving Towards War

Hitler begins to move away from the Versailles Treaty and towards war, by rearming Germany and building up the military

Goal was to increase Lebensraum, and expand the Third Reich into a superpower

Lebensraum: Living Space

1938

German army moves into a part of Austria, known as the Anschluss, where Hitler would annex (or bring in) Austria to become a part of Germany

Occupies the Sudetenland, which is a part of Czechoslovakia

Agreements in 1939

Pact of Steel with Italy Enables either country to come to the

aid of each other if attacked or in a war Russo-German Non-Aggression Pact

Russia allows Germany to invade Poland, promising not to attack

Permits Russia to occupy eastern Poland and the Baltic Sea, creating a buffer zone between Russia and Germany

Next week…

WAR!