Nazi Germany
I) The breakdown of democracy--the 1930-33 political crisis and the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933
II) Nazi consolidation of power in 1933-1934
Spring and early summer 1933--Reichstag fire; Hindenburg gives Hitler special emergency powers; Nazi electoral victory; "Enabling Act"
allows Hitler to rule without any constitutional constraints or limits; Nazis shut down all political opposition, shut down free press, outlaw strikes, etc.
1933-1934, non-Nazi nationalists purged from government
Summer 1934, purge of Hitler's rivals from Nazi party and the "Night of the Long Knives"; death of Hindeburg and plebiscite to designate Hitler
to the post of "The Leader" (August 1934)
III) Nazi political/state system
No constitutional restraints; "Fuhrer power" and working toward to Fuhrer
IV) Nazi economic policy
capitalist economic planning (multi-year state economic plans); economic autarky; emphasis on military economy; economic recovery in
1934-1936, but from late 1936 the economy shows signs of problems and consumer economy begins to decay
V) Nazi propaganda policy
function of propaganda is to convince people that they really want the Nazis and really support Nazi policies; among other methods, this involves
banning access to all other ideas (book burnings, censorship); also requires tight control over educational policy and strong emphasis on propaganda
aimed at youth; Hitler Youth organization
VI) Nazi social policy
"Aryan race" as master race; strengthening the race by eliminating the weak; purifying the race by removing/eliminating its "racial enemies"--in
particular Jews; anti-Jewish measures; the Nuremburg Laws and the definition of Germans and Jews; first stages of Jewish policy (1933-1937)
concentrate on definition, isolation, removal from public life, special taxes, etc., to pressure toward emigration; in 1938, policy turns to open
violence--Crystalnight, ghettoization, concentration and work camps [and during the war, mass death camps]
VII) Nazi foreign policy aims
racial unity and building the "Greater Reich"; repudiating the Versailles Treaty; German-dominated "Middle Europe"; "living space" and the
German colonization of Eastern Europe; German "Middle Africa"; the "crusade" against "Judeao-Bolshevism"
VII) Fascist and Nazi aggression in the 1930s
1935, Italian invasion of Ethiopia; Hitler repudiates the Versailles Treaty; German reoccupation of the Saar district in the east
1936, German re-militarization of the Rhineland; German-Italian aid begins for Franco and the anti-Republicans in the Spainish Civil War;
German-Japanese Anti-Comintern {anti USSR} Pact
1937, Italy signs Anti-Comintern Pact
1938 March, German occupation and annexation of Austria
April-May, first crisis over the Sudetenland in Czaechoslovakia
Summer, failure of Soviet efforts to create an anti-German alliance
August-September, second crisis over the Sudetenland
29-30 September Munich Conference (leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy)
1 October, German occupation of Sudetenland
1939 March, German occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia
23 August, German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed
1 September, German invasion of western Poland
3 September, Britain and France declare war on Germany--WWII begins
Study questions: How did Hitler come to power in Germany and how did he consolidate Nazi rule?
What were the basic aims of Nazi policy toward the economy, ethnic minorities and Jews, and foreign policy?