THE NAZI “SEIZURE OF POWER” IN 1933

Adolf Hitler did not seize power in 1933. Rather, he was appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg to be chancellor of the Weimar Republic (the government that replaced the monarchy in Germany after World War I). The idea that the Nazis had come to power by the use of force nevertheless became part of the Nazi political myth.

Had it not been for the Great Depression, the German National Socialist Worker’s Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party) would never have been in a position to enter the government in 1933. Mounting unemployment and the threat of complete economic collapse led many Germans to vote for extremist parties. In the election for the Reichstag (parliament) in 1930, the Nazi Party emerged as the second largest political party.

Over the next two years, the government, unable to secure a majority in the Reichstag, used President Hindenburg’s emergency decree powers, but failed to find a way out of the Depression. In 1932 a number of elections were held. In the presidential campaign, Hindenburg won the run-off election, but Hitler ran a respectable second and attracted millions of votes. There were two elections to the Reichstag that year. In the first, in July, the Nazi Party won 230 seats. In November another election was held; this time the Nazi Party won only 196 seats. Some thought the Nazi Party had peaked and was now declining. Hitler, offered the post of vice-chancellor, refused it. He was only willing to become chancellor. Conservative politicians made overtures to a popular colleague of Hitler’s, Gregor Strasser, but Strasser did not respond. Finally, in January 1933, Franz von Papen, a former chancellor who was intriguing against the current chancellor, convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor and himself as vice-chancellor. He was convinced the conservatives could use Hitler and the Nazi Party, then discard them once they had served their purpose. The underestimation of Hitler turned out to be fatal, not only to the political system of the Weimar Republic but also to Germany. Within a year and a half, Hitler managed to disolve every other political party and to gain control over or destroy organizations ranging from trade unions to sports clubs, choral societies, and groups for hobbyists. Only the churches and the army still had independent positions, and the army, after the death of President Hindenburg in August 1934, pledged personal loyalty to Hitler. In 1935 Hitler began a campaign of intimidation and violence that led directly to World War II.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Hitler was an innovative campaigner and used both the radio and the airplane in the 1930s in his campaigns. Using accounts of his electoral campaigns, discuss Hitler’s weaknesses and strengths as a campaigner.
2. On the local level, the Nazi Party pursued an energetic campaigning style that supplemented the national efforts of the party in crucial ways. Using local studies by William S. Allen (see Suggested Sources) and others, investigate the way the party worked on the local level.
3. President Paul von Hindenburg had been the great hero of World War I for Germans. As president, he was a symbol of trust and stability. Evaluate his role in Hitler’s rise to power. 4. Soon after Hitler was named chancellor, a mysterious fire broke out in the Reichstag building. The communists were blamed and the incident was used to convince Hindenburg to suspend the guarantee of civil liberty. The Nazis were also accused of setting the fire. Examine the evidence available for each and stage a mock trial (you may either consult accounts of the actual trial and recreate it or put on your own version based on the facts you have established).
5. The Nazi Party consolidated its power after Hitler became chancellor through a process termed Gleichschaltung. This might be understood as the process of making something conform to the Nazi viewpoint. Imagine what it would be like if you were living in Germany in 1933 and your student government association and other organizations you were a part of underwent a process of Gleichschaltung.
6. The S.A. (Stormtroopers), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, although loyal to Hitler, was a source of problems after he became chancellor. It wanted to move directly to a revolution featuring anti-Semitism and measures directed against big business. Hitler reluctantly agreed to a campaign of assassination against the leaders of the S.A. and other enemies of the Nazis in June 1934, the “Night of the Long Knives.” Why would he decide to turn on people who had been staunch supporters? What role did the German army play? Begin with “The Night of the Long Knives” in David Clay Large’s Between Two Fires (see Suggested Sources).

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entries for “The Paris Peace Conference, 1919” (#11) and “The Great Depression in the 1930s” (#22). Search under Reichstag Fire, Enabling Act, Night of the Long Knives, Hermann Göring, and Heinrich Himmler.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

Noakes, J., and G. Pridham, eds. Nazism 1919–1945. Vol. 1, The Rise to Power, 1919–1934. Exeter, U.K.: University of Exeter Press, 1983. One of three volumes of documents and analysis in the series. A comprehensive and valuable collection.

Sax, Benjamin, and Dieter Kuntz, eds. Inside Hitler’s Germany: A Documentary History of Life in the Third Reich. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1992. The first four chapters present documents on the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Nazi Party, the “seizure of power,” and Gleichschaltung in 1933–1934.

Secondary Sources

Allen, William S. The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922–1945. New York: Franklin Watts, 1984. Rev. ed. A grass-roots study of the Nazi Party in action. A very useful source.

Blum, George. The Rise of Fascism in Europe. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. A good overview for students with accompanying biographical profiles and primary documents.

Broszat, Martin. Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987. A careful discussion of Hitler’s role in the failure of the Weimar Republic.

Bullock, Alan. Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. New York: Knopf, 1992. Although Bullock’s earlier work, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1964), is more detailed, the dual biography reflects recent scholarship.

Large, David Clay. Between Two Fires: Europe’s Path in the 1930s. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991. A good starting point for the history of Europe in the 1930s.

Nicholls, A. P. Weimar and the Rise of Hitler. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. A good introduction to the topic.

Orlow, Dietrich. The History of the Nazi Party, 1919–1933. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1969. An excellent analysis of the formative years of the Nazi Party.

Turner, Henry A., Jr. Hitler’s Thirty Days to Power. Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley Longman, 1996. The best study currently available of the “seizure of power.” Turner stresses that it never had to happen.