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

2. Connector- Fuhrerprincip

3. Outcomes
All to understand how the Nazi state was organised

4. 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?

5. The SA
1931
1932
1933
1934
Membership
100000
Popular or efficient
How may this be a problem for Hitler?

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 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

9. 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

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

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

12. 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?

13. 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)

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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

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