World War II in Europe. Lecture Notes #1

WWII in Europe | Lecture Notes #1 World War I: Domestic and National Consequences in Europe 1.) What were the historical and racial causes of WWI? 2.) Just how closely did systematic mass murder align with the European Axis Powers’ war aims? ● More civilians die in WWII than military ● Only in 1943 does Germany’s economy switch to a military-supply state, continues normal economic activity prior to this time ● Tony Judt in 1945—“a prospect of total misery” The German Nation in the 19th Century (unified in 1871) ● Decentralized, diverse nation-state, no unified German identity; Catholic/Protestant tensions; Lack of a collective nationality ● Otto von Bismarck: ○ What is and isn’t a German? ○ Anti-Polish and anti-Catholic ● The destruction of feudalism allows for the formation of nationality and national identity Jews in the German Nation ● Dreyfus Affair (1890s), nationalistic forces across Europe in anti-Jewish sentiments/prejudice ● Anti-Judaism is not the same as anti-Semitism ○ Phrase coined by Wilhelm Mar (1879) ■ German journalist as an amateur ethnologist ■ Against Jews, but doesn’t want to be conflated with those who don’t like Jews for religious reasons, he looks for logical/scientific reasons ● Anti-Semitism is dangerous because it presents Jews not as only a different religion, but a different race that is a threat to the German bloodlines ● Anti-Semitism presents a danger because one can change their religion, but not their race ● Increase in pogroms during the Black Death due to blame for them plotting/causing the disease because of their forced distancing outside of towns or being in Ghettos Europe at the turn of the 20th Century ● Societal pushes to the left, social reforms, egalitarianism ○ Slowed down initial rises of anti-Jewish sentiments and initial fascism ● Political Parties across Europe: ○ Liberal = nationalistic, grassroots, democratic, coalitions ○ Conservative = land-owning aristocrat ● Conservatives want a weaker government to maintain power and physical land which then equated to wealth 1 ○ Switches now though to capitalistic ideals as land ‘is not as important” Europe on the Cusp -- 1914 ● Retzel (1882) Lebensraum or “living space” ● Queen Victoria’s grandchildren in power: ○ Crown Prince Wilhelm, later Wilhelm II ○ Prince George, Prince of Wales, later George V, King of the United Kingdom ○ Nicholas II of Russia ■ (among others in power/high up at the time) ● Marshall: France and the UK financially borrowed the most from the US, eventual move off of the Gold Standard ● Fritz Harbor ○ Jewish, but makes the mustard gas for the Germans in WWI ○ Thought of himself as German first, Jewish second ○ In the 1890s, produced as synthetic fertilizer ○ Made first by the Germans, easily reproduced and used by other countries ● Czar Nicholas II disposed of -- 1917 ○ St. Petersburg changed to Petrograd ○ October Bolshevik Revolution which seizes power from the pseudo Perenski government ● Treaty of Brest-Litovsk -- March 1918 ○ German treaty with Russia ○ Germany wins WWI in the East Promise and Tragedy Post-WWI Declarations and Treaties ● One of the first decisions at the Treaty of Paris removes German victories and territorial expansion in the East ● Germany is effectively run by: ○ Erich von Ludendorff ○ Paul von Hindenburg ● An argument is made that Germany didn’t lose because in the East Germans were totally unaware of the loss ○ Guiding desire to take the territory Germany won in the East ○ Ludendorff/Hindenburg perpetuate these ideals ● Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates (Nov. 9, 1918) ○ Celebrations at the Reichstag ○ Phillip Scheidemann (SPC) declares Germany as a republic, to be completely egalitarian ○ Stattstratgbäde: Karl Liebkecht and Rosa Luxembourg declare Germany as a Soviet ● Leon Trotsky threatens to lead the Red Army into Western Germany ○ In 1918, the idea is to establish satellites of communism that connect to the West ● Paris Peace Conference establishes the Treaty of Versailles ○ Among many decisions, the removal of Germany’s colonies 2 ● President Wilson’s self-determination ● Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919) ● Was Germany and the rest of Europe on a collision course with WWII and the Holocaust? Weimar, Germany (14 years) ● Café Josy - Potsdam Platz ○ Fist stoplight in Europe moved slightly for the construction of the Berlin Wall ● Culture and Arts in Weimar ○ Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari ○ Magic Mountain ○ Metropolis ○ Bauhaus Architecture: more creativity outside of state/society architecture expectations ● Gay Berlin.Weimar ○ Sexual liberation of women in Weimar ■ Suffrage for German women in 1920 ○ Dr. Magnus Hirschfield -- gay activity and research in Berlin ● Founding of a German Republic, first president of Germany (SPD) Friedrich Ebert Political Potentials of a New Germany ● Weimar destroys the old political order, but, the military order remains unchanged ● Dissolution of the German monarchy ● Highly liberal political system -- potentially too liberal for Europe at the time ● Expansion of welfare programs and benefits ● Weimar Constitution, parliamentarian government ○ Articles 48 and 53 will eventually lead to the appointment of Hitler in the Reichstag as German Chancellor, due to contingency plans if a majority cannot be met Democratic Virtues: 3 Phases of Weimar (1918-1923) A coalition of the German left: SPD, DDP, Center Party (1924-1929) The loose center right: DUNP, DVP, Center Party (1930-1933) Radical Right, NSDAP ● Locarno Treaties (1925): ○ France, Germany, UK ○ For France/UK to lessen some economic reparations for Germany, if they would recognize the Western borders as permanent and legitimate ■ Alsase-Lorraine is French ■ No more expansion into Belgium and the Netherlands ○ Locarno is why the German Economy will transform for a short period of time ● President Paul von Hindenburg (“grave-digger of Weimar) 3 ○ Favorably viewed for his wins in the East during WWI, did not agree with the Weimar system of liberalization and shared governance ● Weimar was a politically vibrant state, propaganda, democratic activism in elections Weimar’s Successes: → Declaration of a republic for the first time in German history → Egalitarian Weimar Constitution and society, both politically and socially → Newfound political freedoms and social progress → The proliferation of arts and culture → “Modernity” at its height in Germany The Beginnings of Fascism ● President Wilson’s Self-determination: construction of homogenous nation-states ● Italy: “least among the great powers”: ○ Monarchy unlike the other powers ○ Not the most viable partner militarily, experienced a large number of casualties ○ Set back of the Italian economy post-WWI ■ Only one Italian colony, being Ethiopia for a time ● “Winners of WWI?” ○ Self-determination, Italy is promised, but not given, territories requested for cooperation ○ 650,000 dead in Italy as a result of WWI ○ Cost of the war: 297 billion in local currency -- double went they spent in their entire history leading up to the start of WWI ○ Economic and social uncertainty, primed for conflict ■ When all is well economically, there are fewer extremist voices ● In turbulent times socially, economically, and/or politically, people will look to extreme groups on either side for solutions ○ Deep-seated discussions: nationalists, communists, social liberals ● Italian Irredentism: dream/aspiration of what they want to be, the o.g. empire/territories The Invention of Fascism “National self-determination” in Europe ● Positive framework in the US → Wilson’s 14 Point Speech Benito Mussolini ● Born in northern Italy (1883) ● Attracted to romantic sentiments of Italian nationalism ○ Friedrich Nietzsche, Vilfredo Pareto, and Georges Sorel 4 ● Initially joined the Italian Socialist Party ○ Later expelled due to his support for Italian intervention in WWI ● Mussolini formed the Revolution Faces for International Action in October 1914 ○ “Fascists” ● Reforms the Fascio (Italian Combat Squad) on 23 March 1919 ● Evokes the memory of the Roman Empire and nationalistic identities in Italy, primordial nationalism, Italians then were no different from those who formed the Roman Empire ○ National identity, race, ethnicities, are all social conceptions and constructions ○ We attach significance to these things, but they are not inherent or primordial The Invention of Fascism ● Conflations of fascism and communism with totalitarianism (coined 1947) from the West at the start of the Cold War ● Fascism and nationalism are tied, seeking to define a mythic past and future of the nationality, demarcations in a society with a hierarchy on top, and a national core ● Rodgers Griffin: ○ Fascism is a genius of political ideography ○ Form of ultra-populist nationally ● What are the precursors to fascism? ○ Shame and embarrassment as a foundational tenant for the creation of support of it ○ Economic, political, militarily instability ○ Minorities and a collective other are necessary for a nationalistic, fascist rise ○ Voting for a fascist not because of their values, but for wanting to disrupt the status quo ● Paxton’s Precursors to Fascism (pg. 41) 1. A sense of overwhelming crisis beyond the reach of any traditional solutions 2. The primacy of the group, to which one has duties superior to every universal right 3. The belief that one’s group is a victim, a sentiment that justifies any action, without legal or moral limits, against its enemies, both internal and external 4. The dread of the group’s decline under the corrosive effects of individualistic liberalism, class conflict, and alien influences 5. The need for authority by natural leaders (always male), culminating in a national chief who alone is capable of incarnating the groups’ national identity 6. The superiority of the leader’s instincts over abstract and universal reason 7. The recognition of violence as a beautiful orchestration of power and efficacy of will 8. The right of the chosen people to dominate others without restraint from any kind of divine law ● What are the implications of these “Fascist precursors”? ● Fascism is an active, diachronic movement whose practitioners state their ethnic, national, and religious desires through prohibitive policies and violent demonstrations for the collective benefit of a superior ethnic, national, and religious faction, and whose destiny depends exclusively on the absolute will of an infallible leader. (Dr. Blackler’s definition) 5 ○ If this is accepted, it is not a static-phenomenon unique to a distant European or erstwhile past. Fascist Potentials in Italy ● An Italian map which was promised by the Allied powers, and not delivered upon ● Mussolini’s Black Shirts ( Squadristi) ○ Their primary task was to fight with communists and socialists, the antithesis of their idealistic Italian state ○ More often than not, the state broadly turned a blind eye to most violent actions ■ Increasingly more and more government groups would come to see the Black Shirts as combating the ideological and physical happenings of communists ○ Ideologically at this time, the international pariah was communism, a trend from the USSR so transformative that government officials globally feared its spread ■ The US’s concern over the USSR also applied to Western European states ● 1921 → National Fascist Party, five months later over two-hundred thousand are in the new political movement ● 1921 → Mussolini is elected to the Chamber of Deputies, although not a leader, this space gives Mussolini a more legitimate station for his fascism in broader Italian society ○ Italy is a constitutional monarchy: King Victor Emmanuel III, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, concerned he was losing support from members of the military looking to Mussolini ● “March on Rome” (27-29 October 1922) a staged protest with his supporters started in Northern Italy and marched to Rome, he already knew the King would authorize this, but he marches nonetheless and asserts that the fascists would reclaim their nation ○ Mussolini appointed as Prime Minister (31 October 1922) → does not yet have dictatorial powers, more significant changes will happen over the entire course of the 1920s, King Victor Emmanuel III will stay throughout WWII, he will always retain ● power and popularity Squadristi violence (1924) Representative Giacomo Matteotti ○ An individual who repeatedly spoke out about Mussolini’s Black Shirts through imprisonment and overt violence, in 1924 is assassinated by the Black Shirts in an event that is never formally investigated, is justified by a stacked court system fearful of speaking out against Mussolini, arguably the most well-known victim, a sign that Italy has crossed the line from a fascist potential but a fascist state State of Emergency Fascist Potentials in Spain ● Alfonso XIII—Spanish monarch at the close of WWI ● Spanish Civil War (1936) the communist grouping vs. state 6 ● Spain and Political Instability (in the 19th century) ○ Lantifundia (plantations) and the land-based oligarchy ○ 1868—Abdication of Queen Isabella II ■ Fall to the House of Bourbon (1873) ○ First Spanish Republic, egalitarian state comparable to France at the time ■ Monarchy restored one year later (1874) ○ Anarchists, Socialists, and Republicans—a sign of an active society, still an autocratic monarchy, but these factions and groups did lead to political instability ■ Catalonia ○ 1923—military dictatorship replaces the rule of Alfonso XIII in a coup ■ Main supporters are members of the Spanish armed forces, and traditionalists of the period looked to the new government as a better representative body, broad trends with members of the Catholic Church, the link between church and state ○ 1931—Second Spanish Republic following a relatively bloodless revolution ■ This republic will be the ruling group at the start of the Spanish Civil War ● Falange Española ○ Debate over falangists as fascists ○ Group is made up of former elites, members of the military, devout followers of Catholicism, ● Spanish Military ○ The large majority of the Spanish military at this time is placed outside Spanish Morocco ■ Spain and Morocco are separated by the Strait of Gibraltar ○ Jose Sanjurjo and Francisco Franco Fascist Potentials in Hungary ● At the end of the first WWI, the victorious powers still put repercussions on Hungary tying them with Germany and problems therein ● Treaty of Trianon (1920)—specific treaty related to Hungary ○ Territories are removed from Hungary, Czechoslovakia is formed ○ The reasoning behind Hungarian irredentism ● Admiral Miklos Horthy ○ Nevermore than a regent leader ○ Leads Hungary from 1924-1944 ○ Initially a center-right figure, but as time goes on becomes more sympathetic for fascism, but many argue in a difficult situation (between USSR and Germany) Horthy was forced to adopt fascism ○ Background partnership with Nazis/Germany ○ More Jews from Hungary are killed at Auschwitz than any other group of Jews The Other Side of Self-Determination ● In the 1920s, states that are organized in the notions of homogeneity where only states are responsible for what happened within their own borders 7 A “Providential” Beginning… ● Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire ● Initial first last name was Jewish ● Orphaned by 11 …To the “Saddest Period” … ● Rejection as an amateur artist ● In 1913, goes into Munich because he was fearful of conscription into the Austrian army ● In Munich when WWI begins …To a “Fateful intervention” … ● Serves as a runner for the German army in four years during WWI, western front ● Develops hatred for French and Belgians …To the “Bohemian Corporal” … ● In Belgium, comes under mustard gas, temporarily blinded, in a hospital learns of Germany’s loss ○ Results in damage to his vocal cords ● He is sent to watch over/gather intelligence on the DAP—German Worker’s Party ○ Leaves his commission, join the group as their propagandist ■ However, even by 1920, still, the DAP was incredibly small and only in Munich ● The 25 Point Plan for the creation of the Nazi German State ○ Many of the points are similar to arguments being made against fascist Europe ○ Agreeing with Wilson’s ideals of a homogenous state ● Changes the name to the NSDAP ○ National Socialist meant an exclusionary state exclusively to determine Aryan, German people ○ Uses the term socialist purposefully to try to attract communists on the fringe A Troubled Beginning ● “A Soviet!” Leibknecht, Luxemburg on the same day Germany is declared a Republic ● Spartakusaufstand (January 1919) ○ Leibknecht, Luxemburg: post-WWI you workers are enslaved by the state and capitalism, join us to overthrow the corrupt system ● Bavarian Soviet Republic (April 1919) ○ For a month, a Soviet state is declared and upheld ○ Sporadic and violent periods of time ● Freikorps ○ German militias with no centralized authorities are used to put down the Soviets ○ Der Stahlem ○ Many of these groups are also fighting against Soviet communism and the Red Army 8 ○ Decentralized groups ● The “Kapp Putsch” (March 1920 ○ Wolfgang Kapp leads the charge forFreikorps to take power in Germany ○ Loathed the Weimar Republic ○ For a period of time, the government is forced to leave Berlin and move to Weimar ■ The regime only lasts for a period of three days ■ Easily overthrown, not a plan for staying in power, Berlin goes on mass strike ● If this new German system was doomed to failure, then why didn’t it happen in 1920? Weimar’s Economic Crisis or “The Troubles” (1919-1923) ● Germany knew nothing but economic chaos ● Gold Standard: “The Gold Standard was a system under which nearly all countries fixed the value of their currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold, or linked their currency to that of a country which did so. ... Maintaining convertibility of fiat currency into gold at the fixed price and defending the exchange rate.” ● “Deflationary Spiral” and “Hyperinflation” ● Hyperinflation: “is a term to describe rapid, excessive, and out-of-control general price increases in an economy. While inflation is a measure of the pace of rising prices for goods and services, hyperinflation is rapidly rising inflation, typically measuring more than 50% per month.” ● At the end of WWI, one USD was four German Marks, by November 1923: 1 USD is 4.2 trillion German Marks ● 1928: Germany partners with the US in the Young Plan, to loan large amounts of money which Germany would use to pay France/Great Britain for reparations ○ Then France/Great Britain would pay the money back to the US ○ In 1929, when the US stops the loans, leads to the Great Depression Public Intimidation and Street Violence ● Urban spaces in the 1920s like Berlin and Munich ● Paramilitary organizations, armed groups, assassinations ● “Fascist violence was neither random nor indiscriminate.” (Paxton, Anatomy of Fascism) ● German communist party was very closely linked to the USSR Soviets Weimar’s (Im)Partial Judiciary ● Most of the Judiciary in Germany, near 65%, were holdovers from the imperialist German court systems with judges ● Overwhelmingly, if it was a communist group attacking a socialist group charges were pushed, if the other way, no charges were pushed ● Matthias Erzberger -- one of two who signed the Treaty of Versailles for Germany ○ He was against this but had to sign because treaty options would only worsen ○ Assassinated in August 1921 9 ■ “We must learn to hate our enemies abroad, but we must also punish the domestic enemies of Germany with our hatred and our contempt. Compromise is impossible. Only extremism can make Germany as great again as it was before the war.” (Oletzkoer Zeitung) French and Belgian Occupation of the Saarland (1923) ● Small area inside the German border, but right next to France/Belgium -- signed out for the French to occupy this region ● Way for the expansion of economic benefit for the French and Belgians ○ Take resources (coal, timber) as payment if Germany could not meet the wage ○ French workers paid to do the work, seize some factories ● Part of the Rhineland ● The French send predominately Black Africans (conscripted from German territories) into the occupation of the Saarland Region to hold the territory ○ Done to stoke racial resentment ○ “Franzosen im Ruhrgebiet” Collective Fear ● “Panics often have more to do with perceptions than real life” ● Humiliation and its role (Hett) ● Increasing more and more individuals are running for political office in attempts to overthrow the government, in 1930 on both sides these are the leading voices in the communist and Nazi parties ● “Weimar still speaks to us” (Weitz) ○ “It reminds us that democracy is a fragile thing, society an unstable construction, each threatening to spin wildly out of control.” ○ “And it [democracy] especially cannot endure when powerful groups in that society seek at every turn to undermine and destroy its very being. The threats to democracy are not always from enemies abroad. They can come from those within who espouse the language of democracy and use the liberties afforded them by democratic institutions to undermine the substance of democracy. Weimar cautions us to be wary of those people as well. What comes next can be very bad, even worse than imaginable.” (Weitz 367-368) Founding the NSDAP ● By the end of 1920s, now the Nazi Party and Hitler is the leader ● Still only 2,000-3,000 people organized in Munich ● Their militia: ○ The Strumabteillung (SA) or the brownshirts-- mostly comprised of individuals from lower classes, out of work, formed soldiers from WWI, increasingly radical ○ Becomes the armed unit of the Nazi Party ○ Have access to arms because their leader was a military captain with connection to military groups or companies, would steal weapons for the SA 10 ● Hitler first appears -- New York Times (January 21, 1923) ○ Acknowledges the violence of SA, but Hitler as a potential force for hope in Germany Mussolini and the March on Rome (October 1922) ● Mussolini and group know that the King will step down, Hitler doesn’t know this and sees it as a possibility for the government to be overthrown with a march ● Autumn 1923 -- the occupation of French/Belgians in the Saarland Beer Hall Putsch (November 9, 1923) ● Coup, seize the armory and city hall to march from Munich to Berlin, picking up people along the way to take to Berlin ● Complete failure to march/rally people, only managed to blockade the armory for sometime ● Heinrich Himmler -- will be the future head of the SS ● Ends in Feldherrnhalle (Odenosplatz) -- gunned down 16 Nazi deaths, Hitler narrowly escapes when leaving and hides with a German-American supporter, eventually captured and sent to jail Hitler on Trial (February 26, 1924 ● He would respond for extended periods to short questions, some of the jurors and people were sympathetic ● Launches Hitler to a new level of attention from the trail ● He is found guilty, not given capital punishment but instead a five-year prison term (which he will serve nine months, let out for good behavior) Hitler in Landsberg “Prison” ● Not dissimilar to Escobar’s situation in terms of the prison’s livability ● Given secretaries and workers: ○ Rudolf Hess (Future Deputy) ■ Dictates for him to write Mein Kampf, Hitler orates this and Hess is to write the book transcribed from his work ● Mein Kampf is a flop at first, until Hitler gets into power when the state prints it out, and it is assigned to many groups, when married you had to accept a copy from the state After the Putsch: New Political Approaches ● Release from Landsberg: December 20, 1924 ○ New York Times: “Hitler tamed by prison”, “looks a much sadder and wiser man” ● Work within the Weimar system ● Hitler is not allowed to speak publicly until 1927 ● Gregor Stasser and Joseph Goebbels ● Rhetoric and national appeal -- to appeal to as many people as possible ● Mass politics and propaganda ○ “Everything for anyone” 11 Nazi Rise in German Federal Elections ● 1928 -- 2.6% or 12 seats ● 1930 -- 18.3% or 107 seats (2nd largest Reichstag party) - Germany is able to take political power because they refuse to form a coalition unless Hitler is appointed as Chancellor, elections repeat time and time again, showing instability Economic Recovery: ● Dawes Plan - 1928 (easing economic inflation and relations with neighbors) ● Young Plan - 1929 (loans from the US, what should we do with the rest of our GDP? → The Great Depression comes in 1929, the attitude of the US changed, and economic tidal waves are felt globally, the first thing they have to do is cut off aid from the Dawes/Young Plan → for the second time in the same decade, Germans are back in the streets with unemployment Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler: Nazism in Power President Hindenburg’s Appointments for Chancellor ● Heinrich Brüning (1930-1932) ○ April 1932 German Federal Elections: ■ Community Party (KPD) at 14.6% ■ NSDAP at 37.4% with the largest political party in Germany (230 seats) ● Largest amount of support the Nazis will receive in a free and fair election ● Fronz Von Papen (1932) ○ November 1932 Elections: ■ Community Party (KPD) at 16.9% ■ NSDAP decreases to 33.1% (196 seats) ● Kurt Von Schleicher (1932) ● “Backstairs conspiracy?” Brüning ○ Approaches Hindenburg about forming a partnership with NSDAP ■ Appoint him Chancellor, but with Brüning as VC ■ Of the coalition in power, the majority of members have to be non-NSDAP ■ Hitler must know at any time Hindenburg can fire him ○ Approaches Hitler, who agrees ● January 30, 1933 → Hitler becomes German Chancellor ● Torchlit NSDAP parades in Berlin and about Germany that night 12 From Weimar to Nazism ● Neither calls for the elimination of “foreign bodies” nor “antisemitism” propelled Hitler and the NSDAP into power → the attraction to each voting body about specific interests ○ Anything to everybody will win the NSDAP more support than anything else Hitler’s Path to Power ● NSDAP operated as a “catch-all” party ● A majority mandate did not promote Hitler into the chancellorship, he was not democratically elected as Chancellor ● Article 48 of the German constitution ● Economic depression and political destabilization ● Promises of “work and bread” ○ Not “Brieg (War) and Holocaust)” → In 1933, Jewish people constituted only 0.07% or 400,000 in Germany From “Rule by Decree” to a Nazi State ● NSDAP in power (Spring 1933) ○ Hitler calls for new elections (March 5, 1933) ○ Hitler sought to work within the legal system to expand his power ■ The perception of legality ○ Hitler did not have a legal majority ○ Hitler immediately targeted Communists, SPD, and the German and/or International Free Press ■ NSDAP attracted support from conservatives, industrialists, and the military ■ “ Lügenpresse” or the lying press ● Hitler’s first speech as Chancellor -- February 10, 1933 ○ The Goebbels Experiment documentary ● “Now we will show …” ○ “ … what the apparatus can achieve when you know how to use it.” ● The (literal) spark: Reichstag Fire (February 27, 1933) ○ An arsonist severely damaged the Reichstag ○ Although still unsure, the Nazi’s claim a “Dutch Communist” Marinus van der Lubbe ○ Used as a Nazi piece of propaganda about communists in Germany (and blames the SPD) as a tool to garner support ○ Approaches Hindenburg to seek emergency powers ■ “Reichstag Fire Decree” ■ Pretext to expand the power and curtail egalitarian liberal democracy ■ Establish the first concentration camps (at least the proposals) ● Concentration Camp Systems ○ Dachau and then Sachsenhausen 13 ○ Not initially for Jews, but for political opponents and members of opposing parties ● German Federal Elections (March 5, 1933) ○ Hitler campaign with Hindenburg (unity government) ○ NSDAP limited Communist and SPD population ■ Either under arrest, or they are curtailed to vote ○ Even with all of this, only 43.9% of votes ○ NSDAP is able to take enough people away from the center parties to grow over fifty percent of the Reichstag-- and the DVNP ○ 50%+ percent of the Reichstag to consolidate programs ● Ermächtigungsgesetz “Enabling Act” (March 23, 1933) ○ NSDAP passed this act with its new electoral majority ○ Hitler no longer needed a Presidential decree to invoke Article 48 ○ Enabling Act empowered Hitler to rule by decree ○ Marked the official end of democracy in Germany ○ Reichstag effectively voted itself out of existence ■ “So this is how liberty dies … to thunderous applause.” “Cumulative Radicalization” (Summer 1933) ○ Hitler curbs gay rights and outlawed Jehovah’s Witnesses ○ NSDAP ordered forced sterilization of the so-called “Rhineland Bastards” ■ During the occupation of the Saarland from French and Belgian African colonies ○ Hitler passes the “Sterilization Law” which can apply to: ■ Chronicle illness, including congenital mental deficiency, depression, Huntington’s, blindness, and deafness upon recommendation of the Hereditary Council… ○ NSDAP bans Jews from the German Civil Service Gleichstchtaltung ● All of these efforts were all part of the Nazi process, German culture becoming Nazi culture over a period of time ● NSDAP subverted state institutions to fit Hitler’s Weltanshauung (world view) ○ Family, school, press, healthcare, etc. ○ Book burnings, torchlight marches, propaganda, songs, etc. ■ “ Horst Wessel Leid” ● By the end of 1933, Hitler had not Natzified every German institution -- the German military Early Foreign Policy Initiatives ● Hitler and the Vatican signed theReichskonkordat (July 1993) ○ The Vatican will acknowledge the Nazi Regime as long as they leave Catholics alone ○ Eugenio Pacelli -- becomes Pope Pias the 12th 14 ● Germany withdrew from the League of Nations (October 1933) ● Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with Poland (January 1934) ● Germany began to ignore the Treaty of Versailles’ military restrictions (1934) Revolution too slow? ● Despite early successes, the “Nazi Revolution” did not move fast enough for some groups, most notably theSturmabteilung (SA) -- their leader, Röhm ● By 1934, commanded one of the largest paramilitary groups globally ○ The SA had just under five million people at this time ○ Legally speaking, the German military could only be at one hundred thousand ■ Fear from the military because Röhm is close-ish with Hitler and this relationship and the size could overthrow ● However, Hitler knew this couldn’t happen because he needed the Reichswher for Germany legitimacy ● Hitler becomes frustrated with the SA-Brownshirts ● Heinrich Himmler with the SS - the Schutzstaffel (SS) ○ At this time, in 1934, the SS was a part of the SA, the brownshirts ○ Himmler was the head of the SS in the SA ■ It’s only operation initially was to serve as the bodyguards of Hitler ■ In 1928 when Himmler gets the SS, until 1934, he expands the role of the SS and it’s size, making it a pure iconic German thing which would be feared and respected, his pet project ■ By 1934, Himmler hated Rohm, and knew others did as well, Himmler wanted to be in charge the large paramilitary, SS ● Geheim Stattspoleiza (Gestapo) ○ Initially organized by Hermin Gerling, the whole organization was supposed to exist for surveillance of citizens ○ Quickly become taken by the German Policy Force, and becomes a dominating presence throughout Germany ○ A police state dominated through fear and the perception of Nazi control ● Despite all of this, Hitler is fearful the SS may overthrow him ● So… in April of 1934, with Hitler in Wilhelmshaven, Hitler alongside the German military meet in a covert agreement, in exchange for Hitler agreeing to never disband or replace the military with the SA, when Hindenburg dies they promise loyalty to Hitler ● Smear campaign about Hitler with Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goring ○ Eventually convince Hitler he needs to overthrow the SA, they cannot be trusted ● “The Night of the Long Knives” (30 June, 1934) ○ Mafia-like murder campaign -- carried out by the SS ○ SS leaders arrested Ernst Rohm and murdered SA leaders throughout Germany ○ Old enemies of Hitler dating back to 1919 arrested ■ Gregor Strasser -- “Left Wing” of the Nazi Party - killed 15 ■ Kurt con Schleicher - killed ■ Franz von Papen -- arrested but eventually released ● Leibstandarte-SS, is where many are killed in this spout of violence ○ Building will eventually be Adams Barracks ● The Night of Long Knives resulted in the arrest and murder of at least 150 people ● Nazi’s claim (not true) the SA was planning a plot to overthrow ○ So successful, that Hidenburg himself congratulates Hitler on avoiding a regime overthrow ○ National reaction to this was tepid and compliant -- people were so afraid of stepping out of line that they went along with it ○ State mobilization of fear and terror to accomplish ideological and political goals of the regime ● The leader of the SS, Rohm, was in a prison and Hitler was struggling to have him executed, they basically let him kill himself, but wouldn’t so they kill him ● “Hitler curbs a revolt” Paul von Hindeburg dies (August 2, 1934) ● On the same day he dies, Hitler combines President and Chancellor into the Führer with the support of the military ● Thesis: Hitler’s military power is created due to the SS violence, which will lead to his full consolidation of power and the atrocities which will follow ● THE MILITARY SUPPORT WHICH WAS GARNERED THROUGH PARAMILITARY OVERTHROW AND TERROR ○ This allows Hitler to set up the situation and set the scene going into further conflict etc. ○ Pledge of allegiance to Hitler, not Germany, and will not surrender unless he does ● Triumph Des Willens (1935) ○ Wheat iconography on the staffs? ○ People form different locations, one germany, on hitler, etc. ○ Reconstructions of infastructue 16