content="15; IB History Essays: How Did Hitler Consolidate Power?

How Did Hitler Consolidate Power?

As A.J.P Taylor said, “Hitler’s rise to power was consequential;, it was only a matter of time.” [1] The creation of Hitler’s dictatorial state was established not long after his invitation to become Chancellor in January 1933.. In fact it was right after his becoming of chancellor when he really began to exploit his powers, eventually declaring ‘A Thousand Years Reich’ after being crowned Fuhrer on August 19, 1934. [2] But how was Hitler able to get even greater support from the German population in later years after becoming Fuhrer? How did he gain an allegiance from the German people in his consolidation of power?

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”[3] This is one of Hitler’s most famous statements and the ideology he followed. Hitler’s primary method of consolidating power was to forcefully entice the German people by the means of terror and use of propaganda. In other words, even if the German people did not know that they were being dragged to supporting Hitler against their will, this was exactly what Hitler was doing. On the other hand, for the Germans that were reactionary against his Nazi regime, they were sentenced to time in concentration camps. This did not bother him as he already had control and strong support from a great number of the German youth. As Hitler said: “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” [4] He had the future of Germany in his grasp. But for Hitler to better control Germany and diminish rebellions he had to strike terror into the people and those who would oppose his rule. Therefore, Hermann Goering established the GESTAPO on April 26, 1933. [5] Goering wrote in his book “Germany Reborn” “Finally I alone created, on my own initiative, the State Secret Police Department. This is the instrument which is so much feared by the enemies of the State, and which is chiefly responsible for the fact that in Germany and Prussia today there is no question of a Marxist or Communist danger.”[6] But it was in April, 1934, when Goering handed the GESTAPO over to Himmler that it began to develop as a division of the SS, where after they truly became a terrorizing force over the German people.[7] However, it was not until the Gestapo law publicized by the government on February 10, 1936 that the Gestapo organization was above the law. [8] This meant that the courts were not allowed to interfere with the activities of the Gestapo in anyway. The “enemies of state” were placed in ‘Schutzhaft’ or protective custody but this did not mean the person was protected against harm.[9] They were placed in concentration camps and tortured depending upon their hierarchical standing. This was but one method in which the Nazi party tried to forcefully get the German people to blindly support them.? Whilst terror was being applied to manipulate the actions of the German people, propaganda was also extensively used to control the way people thought. Hitler appointed Dr. Joseph Goebbels as Reichminister for propaganda and National Enlightenment in 1933. [10]Goebbels’s job was to control what was shown to the public, certifying that nothing damaging to the Nazi Party was shared with the public. He also tried to propagandize the views of the Nazi party and in return give off a positive sentiment. Goebbels, with the title of Reichminister for propaganda was given complete control over the press, radio, cinema and theatre all of which materially benefited Hitler’s consolidation of power. One of the first demonstrations against non-Nazi teachings, illustrating Nazi mind control over the German youth was on the midnight of 1933, May 10th, where thousands of Nazi College students participated in the mass burning of books. [11] Many of the books which were already censored and written by Jews and communists; approximately 20,000 books were burnt outside the University of Berlin.[12] In addition, Goebbels and other members of the Nazi party were already rewriting all textbooks and teachings to educate the German youth. This was very important in fact in creating loyal followers of Hitler and the Nazi party. The Nazi schooling curriculum would include biology, history, geography, science, etc. But the aim of the Nazi teachings would be to promote a knowing a race superiority, self-discipline and strong nationalistic fervour at a young age. For example, biology was the study of different races to ‘scientifically prove’ racial superiority.[13] “Racial Instruction” began at the age of six and Hitler himself decreed that “no boy or girl should leave school without complete knowledge of the necessity and meaning of blood purity.” [14]As Hitler himself said,: “Let me control the textbooks and I will control the state. The state will take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.”[15] Another key element in Goebbel’s propaganda movement was to heighten Hitler’s position as Fuhrer in the eyes of the German people. In other words it was to make him appear even greater. On Hitler’s birthday, Joseph Goebbels would always prepare a speech in front of the German masses to compliment him for what he has been ‘doing’ for Germany. On Hitler’s 49th birthday in 1938, Goebbels said: “In these moving moments, we saw in the Fuhrer's face that the pain of his people was his pain, that he shared their pain and misery, that no one could suffer more for his homeland than he.” [16]This is only just one extraction from the long speech Goebbels had to make. However, it shows how Goebbels was through propaganda in speech making Hitler appear to the German people as an honorary hero of Germany. He wanted to make the people see Hitler as their saviour and moreover as their “God.” At the same time, Hitler and his Nazi party was also brainwashing kids into an organization known as the Hitler Jugend. In 1932, there was just under 107,956 youths in the Hitler Jugend. By the end of 1939, there was over 8,000,000 enrolling.[17] He stated that: “When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side,’ I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to us already... What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.’”[18] This is exactly what Hitler had accomplished. They were loyal to him as the SS were. For when Allied forces invaded Germany near the end of war, the Hitler Jugend stood against them. The new generation of Germany had been completely brainwashed by Hitler and Nazi propaganda. Hitler was able to consolidate power through many ways, but the easiest way in which he did so was by “forcefully” making people support by “brainwashing” people with the use of propaganda and striking terror in them. He had the support of a large number of the youth in Germany and regular Germans so controlling and improving his view to the German people was not too hard.

Another way in which Hitler was able to consolidate power was by pleasing the German people. Hitler at the time was seen as an icon of victory. He had three main aims which many historians argue today were long term effects in Germany leading to World War Two: ‘tearing up’ the Treaty of Versailles, Lebensraum and uniting the Germans in a single country. However, these long term effects set the foundation for a stronger Germany. In 1934, a year after Hitler’s coming to power; he gave orders to rearm Germany. The army grew from 100,000 men to 300,000 by October 1, 1934. [19] They also constructed two battle cruisers called the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau and six submarines which were all prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles.[20] In just a year’s time, Hitler openly announced the decree of conscription and that the army would be increased to 550,000 men.[21] At the same time, countries around Germany were forming diplomatic alliances but none did anything to stop Germany’s breaching of the Treaty of Versailles. On March 2, 1936, Hitler ordered his army to march into Rhineland. [22] He sent in 30,000 equipped troops but it was a gamble as he noted that if the French were to act “we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our legs.”[23] But out of luck, the British refused to help the French and they also did not fight. So the Germans were able to easily occupy the Rhineland. During the same year as the occupying of the Rhineland in 1036, Hitler also formed a number of foreign alliances. In 1936, he had the Rome-Berlin Axis pact with Mussolini and the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan on the other side of the globe. By forming these alliances with foreign countries he was not only strengthening Germany, but he was also building up an even greater belief in him within the German people. In 1938, Hitler was ready to form a union, or Anschluss with Austria. He wanted to bring German speaking people into a single country. But the Anschluss was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.[24] Hitler began by ordering the Nazi Party in Austria to create chaos. When the Austrian leader Schuschnigg banned this, Hitler held a meeting with him whereby he threatened to invade if the Nazis were not given the most important roles in the Austrian government. Schuschnigg had to agree but he tried to hold a vote for Austria to remain independent or part of Germany. However Hitler had other plans, Schuschnigg was replaced by and Austrian Nazi called Seyss-Inquart and asked Hitler to send German army into Austria to restore order. Later on, the Gestapo and SS were sent in to deal other enemies. Austria was now part of Germany and its people lived under the Nazi reign of terror. However, Hitler wanted more land. He looked to the richest part of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland as it contained 3 million people living there that spoke German because it was part of the Austrian Empire before 1919.[25] Hitler ordered the Sudeten German Party leader, Konrad Henlein to stir up trouble in Sudetenland[26]. Henlein arranged riots complaining that the Czech government was treating Sudeten Germans unfairly. Whilst this was happening Hitler gathered his armies around the border ready to fight. But this time they couldn’t invade as the Czechs had a powerful ally, France to help them. Hitler was not ready to battle two countries at the same time. But within a few months time, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Britain persuaded France to let Germany have Sudetenland as they feared that it could escalate into a big war. France agreed with Britain that they would not be involved and Germany took over the Sudetenland. Hitler was keeping his promises to the German people. He promised ‘living space’ and breaking of the Treaty of Versailles and that is what he gave them. By doing this Hitler gained an even greater support from the German people and was able to consolidate power fairly easily with few people against him.

Hitler was able to consolidate power by keeping his promises to the German people. He had gained an allegiance from them and could further expand his power by taking over other countries with support from Germany. Britain and France adopting a policy of appeasement made it even easier for Hitler to consolidate power. He was gaining more support than he ever had and was becoming overly audacious in his plans. However, Hitler did not stop and with his invasion into Poland whereby he knew Britain would protect them he did not layback. This was the final string triggering World War II.

Skills shown in answering the question- ¾ (presentation a problem in particular)

Knowledge- 4/4

Understanding the question- 4/4

Historiography- 4/4 (although limited to simple quotes)

Analysis and interpretations- 2/4 No attempt to provide contrary arguments

17/20



[1] The Origins of the Second World War, A.J.P.Taylor, Page 21.

[2] The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, William Shirer, Page 212

[3] http://thinkexist.com/quotation/make_the_lie_big-make_it_simple-keep_saying_it/175795.html

[4] Hitler, one of his speeches in year 1935. http://thinkexist.com/quotation/he-alone-who-owns-the-youth-gains-the-future/348635.html

[5] The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, William Shirer, page250

[6] Germany Reborn, Hermann Goering.

[7] The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, William Shirer, page250

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid, page 251,

[10] http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw35propaganda.htm

[11] http://blog.tianya.cn/blogger/post_show.asp?BlogID=1157398&PostID=12666086

[12] Hitler’s Dictatorship, Part One, page 19.

[13] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Nazis_Education.htm

[14] Ibid

[15] Notable Quotes of Socialism, http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/Socialism.htm

[16] Joseph Goebbels, “ ‘Es gibt Männer, die man achtet, bewundert und verehrt ---den Fuhrer aber lieben wir.’ Die Rundfunkrede des Reichsministers Dr. Goebbels am Vorabend des Geburtstages des Fuhrers,” Volkischer Beobachter, 21 April 1938.

[17]http://www.japanweb.info/browse.php?u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5sb2VzZXIudXMvZXhhbXBsZXMveW91dGguaHRtbA%3D%3D&b=31

[18] The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, William Shirer, Page 249

[19] Hitler’s Dictatorship, Undoing The Treaty of Versailles, page 22

[20] The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, William Shirer, Page 260

[21] Ibid

[22] Ibid, page 268

[23] Hitler’s Dictatorship, Undoing The Treaty of Versailles, page 23

[24] Ibid

[25] Ibid, page24.

[26] Ibid.

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