Analyse The Process By Which Hitler Transformed

Himself From Legal Chancellor To Legal Dictator By 1 Essay, Research Paper

`.In two months we.ll have pushed Hitler into a corner so

hard that he.ll be squeaking.. This was the widely held view among the German

conservatives voiced by Von Papen in 1933. He emphasised their perceived

position of dominance over Hitler when they were forced to appoint him as

chancellor in January 1933. However by August 1934 Hitler had complete

dominance over every sector of Germany and had become a legal dictator. This

essay will examine and analyse Hitler.s rise from legal chancellor to legal

dictator. On January 30th 1933 Hitler became Chancellor of

Germany, this however was not the position of power which it appeared to be as

only four of the fourteen members of the cabinet were Nazis. The rest was made

up of conservatives like Von Papen. Hitler realised that he was weak in this

situation and needed to rectify it. So he called new elections within his first

twenty-four hours in power. The aim of this was to give the Nazi party a

majority within the Reichstag. Hitler

believed that new elections could only serve to increase the Nazi vote and

increase his profile within Germany. The Nazi.s campaign for the Reichstag was bloody and contained few characteristics of a

democracy. The Storm Abteilung

(Stormtroopers .SA) using violence and terror broke up socialist and Communist

meetings. Hitler blamed terrorist activities of the Communists for the way in

which the election campaign was undertaken. The Nazis were confident of winning

a majority in the Reichstag by using

the large sums of money donated to them by leading industrialists and Goebbels.

expert manipulation of the media. The Nazis. position was strengthened by a

strange incident, which occurred on the night of 27th February 1933

five days before the election. The Reichstag

building was set on fire by a Dutch Communist named der Lubbe. Many believed

this to be a Nazi plot but it has never been proved either way. Hitler did

however exploit the incident to his advantage. The next day he persuaded

Hindenburg the German President to sign the .Decree for the Protection of

People and State.. This document suspended most civil and political liberties

and strengthened the power of central government over that of local

authorities. This meant that the last week of the election campaign saw an

increase in violence with hundreds of the Nazis. political opponents arrested. The elections were held on March 5th 1933 and the

Nazis surprisingly only increased their majority from 33.1 per cent to 43.9 per

cent. This meant that they still did not have a majority in the Reichstag and could only claim majority

via the help of the Nationalist party. Hitler.s next step towards full control of Germany was to

control the media. He decided that the best way to do this was to create a

Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This ministry was lead by

Joseph Goebbels whose .cynical understanding of mass psychology. made him a

formidable figure. The aim of the ministry was to control and censor all the

sources of mass media and use them to work for the Nazis. In this way the Nazis

eradicated freedom of speech on a wide scale legally. Despite Hitler.s problems with majority within the Reichstag he decided to propose the passing

of an Enabling Act which would suspend parliamentary procedure and legislation

for a period of four years. If this were passed the dictatorship which Hitler

aimed to create would be grounded in legality. However in order to pass this

decree he needed to gain the support of other parties in the Reichstag to give him two thirds of the

vote. The first meeting to discuss the passing of the Enabling Act on 23rd

March 1933 was an ugly affair with Communists being refused admittance and

arrested and other members of the Reichstag

facing badgering from the assembled masses of the SA who surrounded the

building. The Nazis realised that they still needed two-thirds

majority and as they could assume that the Social Democrats would vote against

them they looked to gain the support of the Catholic Centre party. Hitler

promised in a speech made on the 23rd March to respect the Catholic

Church.s rights and to uphold moral and religious values within Germany. So on

the 24th March it was only the Social Democrats who voted

against the Enabling Act and it was passed by 444 votes to 94. Germany had by

now succumbed to what Bracher called .legal revolution.. Hitler did not hold

full power in Germany yet though he spent the next seventeen months

consolidating his power until he had created a .legal dictatorship.. Hitler.s next major step toward complete power was to

finally remove any influence the Communists might have within Germany by on 7th

April 1933 introducing the Restoration of Professional Civil Service. This

aimed to purge all public jobs such as

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