The role of the Führer and Hitler’s aims Competing empires - a polycracy

Connector- Fuhrerprincip

Outcomes All to understand how the Nazi state was organised

Problem - Second Revolution Within 6 months Hitler wanted Germany to be a one party state He believed that “the stream of revolution must be channelled into the safe channel of evolution” He was most worried about the role of some his more extreme party activists (SA) who may embarrass his more conservative supporters on whom he depended on financial support Whom else may be worried?

The SA 1931 1932 1933 1934 Membership 100000 291 000 425 000 3 000 000 Popular or efficient How may this be a problem for Hitler?

Who were the SA? They represented the radical left wing of the party, often young and unemployed They placed more emphasis on the more socialist policies than Hitler ever did Many were disappointed with the lack of opportunity to progress in the party after winning the street battles of 1933 This was especially true through the eyes of their leader Ernst Rohm who wanted a genuine socialist revolution, and then to combine the SA and the army

SA vs Army Hitler was stuck between the growing role of the SA and the traditional role of the army The SA contained 3 million members and his oldest political ally However the army was the one organisation that could unseat Hitler especially with its links to the civil service and the Junkers The army could also achieve Hitlers foreign policy aims However Rohm and the SA would not back down

Night of the Long Knives When it became clear in April 1934 that Hindenberg was dying Hitler knew he had to win the Presidency without opposition and to do this he needed the army This would end talk of a “second revolution” and a “people’s militia” On June 30 1934 Hitler eliminated the leaders of the SA by using the SS to shoot them although the weapons and transport were provided by the army Around 200 people were killed including Schleicher (the former Chancellor) and Strasser

The effects The German army had now endorsed the Nazi regime Popular or efficient The German army had now endorsed the Nazi regime German soldiers now took an oath of loyalty to Hitler rather than the state The SA was effectively disbanded The SS became the party’s elite institution of terror Hitler had now completed his political supremacy

Reasons for Success Terror Legality Deception Propaganda Popular or efficient Terror Legality Deception Propaganda Weakness of opposition Sympathy of the conservative right

Hitler- look at the worksheet Make notes on the Hitler myth

Party and the State This existed under the idea of dualism- the Nazi party and the state government worked together co-existed What might be some of the problems?

State Institutions Reich chancellery- co-ordinated government, controlled flow of information Government ministries-Transport, education and economics were run by civil servants, but clashed with Nazi institutions (Four Year Plan ) Judicary- Nazi’s established new courts and eventually lost their power to the SS police system (Nacht un Nebel law)

Regional Gleichschatung destroyed many regional powers Nazi governors called Gauleiters were appointed to rule these regional areas But The nazi party was designed to gain power rather than run a country Popular or efficient

Party instituions Groups such as the youth and teachers were who had been recruited to gain support now wanted to represent their own interests As time went by the party became more splintered and some organisations were caught between the party and the state ie- Four Year Plan and economics The hierarchy of the Fuhrerprincip did not really work in terms of a system of government, but led to the domination by the Gauleiters of regional politics who tried to preserve their own personal power

Other people Rudoph Hess- became deputy Fuhrer and was granted special powers and developed party bureaucracy Martin Borman- party secretary who created two new organisations Department of internal party affairs- discipline in the party Department for Affairs of the State- secure party supremacy over the state

Task Background reading on the Fuhrerprincip and the role of the party and the state Popular or efficient

“Nazi consolidation of power in 1933 was primarily due to the use of terror and violence” How far do you agree with this judgement?