Hitler and the Rise of Nazism
The Great Depression: The main Ingredient
Brown Shirts:
Burning of the Reichstag:
The Enabling Act:
The Night of the Long Knives:
- Unemployment high
- Many angry workers
- Hitler like roosevelt provided jobs
Brown Shirts:
- Hitlers henchmen
- used through the late 20s and early 30s to harass opposition parties unmercifully
- Led by Ernst Rohm the hitler got rid of him
- After Hitler is elected many are appointed auxiliary police
Burning of the Reichstag:
- February 1933
- there was a strong communist opposition against hitler
- hitler needed an event to ruin the communist party
- Dutch communist was convicted of the crime
- Hitler bullies (with the help of the Brownshirts) the Reichstag into passing enabling acts to face the coming 'communist revolution' (solidifies power)
The Enabling Act:
- Agreed to by the Reichstag in 1933 under the threats from the brown shirts
- Only 93 Social democrats voted against
- Allowed Hitler to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag
- Despite the lack of freedom of speech or press Hitler only won 288 seat, barely a majority
- By July 1933 all other political parties were outlawed
- Hitler came into power democratically
- He formed the Gestapo (secret police)
The Night of the Long Knives:
- 30 june 1934 those killed were:
- Any would be internal challengers were murdered
- Ernest Rohm leader of S.A
- All socialists whom he'd only adopted for electoral reasons
- He declared the Schutzstaffel had conducted the murders and was congratulated by Hinderburg
- Later on Hinderburg dies and there is nothing in Hitlers way and he ran for president and won 99.9 percent of the votes (intimidation)
Summary
One of the main ingredients, other than appeasement, that brought Hitler into power was the burning of the Reichstag (parliament). Hitler burnt it down and blamed the communist party, which was a success and he ruined the communist party for good. Hitler brought in the Enabling Act because of the 'coming communist revolution' and the parliament agreed to it because they were scared. This allowed Hitler to pass laws without the consultation of the Reichstag. Hitler outlawed all other political parties and he then proceeded to kill the people who seemed to be opposed to him.