1. FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP The rise of Hitler and the Nazis

2. THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC  Established 1919, after WWI  Treaty of Versailles (signed June 28, 1919) angers Germany because of:  Blame  Army  Reparations  Territory  Unrest + hyperinflation  instability  BUT Germany is still a democracy

3. THE NAZIS COME TO POWER  November 1932: Nazis win 33% of vote in Reichstag elections  January 1933: President Hindenburg makes Hitler chancellor  BUT the Reichstag still technically controls the chancellor ElectionNazi % of Vote May 19246.5% December 19243.0% May 19282.6% September 193018.3% July 193237.3% November 193233.1% March 193343.9%

4. THE REICHSTAG FIRE  February 27, 1933: Reichstag (building where the government meets) burns down  Hitler blames the Communists – probably unfairly  Hitler suspends personal freedoms and cracks down on Communists  BUT elections are still held (March 5, 1933) – Nazis win 44% of vote; Communists win 12%

5. THE ENABLING ACT  Passed March 23, 1933  Voted in overwhelmingly by the Reichstag – 441-94  Communists should have been seated in the Reichstag, but didn’t show up – they would have been arrested  Enabled the Chancellor to punish any “enemies of the state”  Allowed the government to violate the Constitution

6. THE NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES  Old group: the SA (Sturmabteilung, or “Storm Troopers”) – 1921-1934  Essentially a substitute army  Assaulted political opponents and Jews  Headed by Ernst Rohm from 1931  Hitler viewed Rohm as a potential challenger  Night of the Long Knives: Rohm and other SA leaders are killed

7. THE SS AND THE GESTAPO  SA was replaced by the SS (Schutzstaffel, or “Protection Squadrons”) – 1925-1945  Elite police/military force that enforced Nazi ideology and racial purity  Personally loyal to Hitler  The Gestapo (“Secret State Police”) – 1933-1945 – undercover police who attacked Hitler’s opponents