Hitler and Nazi Germany PART THREE: Consolidation of Power

Reichstag Fire Enabling Act Opposition Police State

• The Reichstag Fire took place • In March 1933, Hitler proposed • In 1934, Rohm the leader of • The Police State was made up on the 27th February 1933. the Enabling Act. the SA was opposed the Hitler of four main groups. • Historians are still unsure • This Act was designed to policies and had 3,000,000 • The SS were Hitler's private about what caused the fire remove the power of the troops. He was a serious protections squad. Their but Hitler used it to his Reichstag so Hitler used the internal threat to Hitler. leader was Hienrich Himmler. advantage. storm troopers to intimidate • 30th June 1934: Hitler ordered They were given black • A young Dutch communist political opposition. the Night of the Long Knives uniforms. called Marinus van der Lubbe • The Act stated that: The in which 100 senior SA • They were totally loyal to was caught at the scene with Cabinet could pass any laws officers, including Rohm, were Hitler and numbered around matches and firelighters. He and the Act could overrule the arrested and executed. 240,000 men during the confessed and was executed. constitution. • There were two main youth 1930s. • Hitler claimed that van der • It would give Hitler the power groups that opposed the • The SD were a security force Lubbe was part of a wider to make laws for four years Nazis. that kept an index of all Communist conspiracy to without consulting the • The Swing Youth were a group people suspected of opposing take over the government. Reichstag. of teenagers who listened to the Nazis. • 4,000 communists were • On the 24th March 1933 banned music and dressed like • The Gestapo were the secret arrested. After Hitler (without the presence of Americans. police, whose aim was to pressured Hindenburg to Communist members) the • They organised secret dances identify anyone who opposed declare a state of emergency. Reichstag voted to pass the that were attended by 4,000 the Nazis. They were non- • New elections were called for Enabling Act. This was the end young people. uniformed so anyone could be the 5th March 1933 in which of the Weimar Constitution. • The Edelweiss Pirates were a member of the Gestapo. the Nazis increased their • Trade unions were banned. teenagers who disliked the They tapped phones and used numbers to 288. • May 1933: the offices of the Hitler Youth. They would taunt informants to arrest 160,000 • Hitler was able to issue the Social Democratic Party were them or even attack them. in 1939 alone. ‘Decree for the Protection of broken into and their • They would go on long hikes • Concentration Camps were the People and the State’ newspaper destroyed. and sing parody songs about were first used for political allowing him to imprison • July 1933: All political parties Hitler. prisoners. They were run by political opponents and ban were illegal apart from the • By 1939, their membership the SS and the SD. communist newspapers. Nazis. was around 2,000. • 1933 – Dachau was opened. Hitler and Nazi Germany PART THREE: Consolidation of Power

Censorship Church Spellings for PART THREE: Consolidation of Power • Joseph Goebbels was the Head • In July 1933, Hitler reached the of Propaganda and Concordat with the Pope. It Spellings for this part of the unit have been set for you to Censorship. stated that the Pope would not • He used the media to influence interfere with politics if Hitler practise and learn. You will have a test in lesson time at some peoples opinions. Newspapers granted freedom of religion to point during this part of the unit and a test online. were told what to print and Catholics. radios had to be short range so • 1937: Pope Pius XI wrote ”With 1. propaganda 11. trade union not to pick up foreign stations. Burning Anxiety” which 2. Holocaust 12. Rohm • By 1939, 70% of German criticised Hitler. 3. Gestapo 13. Goebbels homes had Nazi radios. • The Pastors’ Emergency League 4. influence 14. Himmler • Rallies were used to show the was set up in 1933, by a group of 5. ideology 15. economy power of the Nazis. Protestant pastors, including 6. dictatorship 16. rearmament • At the Nuremburg Rally Martin Niemoller who were 7. Enabling 17. concentration 200,000 people attended. opposed the the Nazis. 8. elimination 18. policy • Nazi use of sport: The Berlin • However, Hitler set up the Reich 9. political 19. Olympics Olympics were held in 1936 Church in 1936. Some ministers 10. opposition 20. discrimination and used to show Germany in a allowed Swastikas to be flown good light. in their churches. Its leader was • The Nazis controlled art, music Ludwig Muller who was made and culture in Germany. Reich Bishop of Germany. • They even burnt 20,000 books • The churches did try to opposed written by Jews communists Hitler. 400 catholic priests were and anti-Nazi authors. sent to concentration camps. • Films were also used to show The Confessing Church was set Nazi ideas. 1,300 Nazi films up in direct competition with were made by 1939. the Reich church in 1934.