Rise of Nazism under Hitler in Germany (1933-⁠39) | ISC Class 11 History Notes

This note covers the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany between 1933 and 1939: the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic, the events of 1932-33 that made Hitler Chancellor, his popularity among different groups, the Nazi state in government, culture, education, the army and the economy, religious policy, the escalating persecution of the Jews up to the "Final Solution", and the reasons his policies were accepted.

What was the background of the Weimar Republic?

Germany lost the First World War, and the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919 imposed harsh terms on her: the surrender of territory, the loss of all colonies, a huge reparations bill, severe limits on her army and the acceptance of sole guilt for the war.

The Weimar Republic was the democratic government set up in Germany in 1919, so called because its constitution was drafted at Weimar. It lasted until 1933.

The new republic carried the blame for defeat and for Versailles, and this "stab in the back" charge was used against it by nationalist groups from the start.

In 1923 French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland, when reparations were not paid; the government answered with passive resistance and printed money, and hyperinflation destroyed savings. A putsch by Hitler in Munich in November 1923 failed.

Recovery came after 1924 under Gustav Stresemann, with the Dawes Plan of 1924 and the Locarno agreements of 1925, but the Great Depression that began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 brought mass unemployment back.

Definition: The Weimar Republic was the parliamentary democracy established in Germany in 1919 after the abdication of the Kaiser. Its constitution gave the President emergency powers under Article 48, which later allowed rule by decree.

What were the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic?

The weaknesses of the Weimar Republic form the background to the rise of Nazism. They may be grouped as follows.

Constitutional weaknesses

Proportional representation meant that many small parties entered the Reichstag and no stable majority was possible; governments rose and fell quickly. Article 48 let the President suspend fundamental rights and rule by decree in an emergency.

The President was elected directly and could appoint and dismiss the Chancellor, so the army and the President could override parliament.

Political violence and hostility

From 1919 the republic faced attacks from both left and right: the Spartacist rising of January 1919, the Kapp Putsch of March 1920, and Hitler's Munich Putsch of November 1923.

The Freikorps, private armed bands of ex-soldiers, were used against the left and later fed the Nazi movement. Judges often treated right-wing plotters leniently; Hitler received a light sentence after 1923.

Economic and social strain

Reparations, the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, hyperinflation and then the Depression of 1929 ruined the middle class and swelled unemployment. The republic was blamed for signing Versailles and for the depression, and the democratic parties appeared unable to help.

Loss of faith in democracy

Many Germans, including officials, teachers and army officers, had never accepted democracy. The republic was called a "November Republic" born of defeat, and the anti-democratic tradition of the army, the bureaucracy and the judiciary weakened it from within.

What events from 1932 onwards led to Hitler becoming Chancellor in 1933?

The Depression wrecked the last stable government, the Grand Coalition under Hermann Müller, in March 1930. From then Germany was ruled by presidential cabinets through Article 48: Heinrich Brüning (1930-32), Franz von Papen (1932) and Kurt von Schleicher (1932-33).

In the Reichstag elections of September 1930 the Nazi Party jumped from the 12 seats it had won in May 1928 to 107 and became the second largest party.

In the presidential election of March-April 1932 Hitler stood against the ageing President Paul von Hindenburg and lost the runoff, but won over 13 million votes.

In the Reichstag elections of July 1932 the Nazis became the largest party with 230 seats. In the elections of November 1932 they fell to 196 seats but remained the largest.

Papen, dismissed in December 1932, persuaded Hindenburg that Hitler could be controlled inside a coalition. On 30 January 1933 Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of a cabinet in which the Nazis were a minority, with Papen as Vice-Chancellor.

The Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933 was used to justify the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State, which suspended civil liberties.

In the election of 5 March 1933 the Nazis won 288 seats, and with the Nationalists they controlled a majority.

The Enabling Act of 24 March 1933 let the government make laws without the Reichstag for four years, and the Law against the Formation of New Parties of 14 July 1933 made the Nazi Party the only legal party.

1. March 1930: the Grand Coalition collapses and rule by decree begins.
2. September 1930: the Nazis win 107 seats and become the second largest party.
3. March-April 1932: Hitler wins over 13 million votes against Hindenburg.
4. July 1932: the Nazis become the largest party with 230 seats.
5. 30 January 1933: Hitler is appointed Chancellor in a coalition cabinet.
6. 27 February 1933: the Reichstag fire leads to the suspension of civil liberties.
7. 24 March 1933: the Enabling Act gives the government power to legislate without parliament.

Why was Hitler popular among different groups?

Hitler's popularity rested on promises that answered the fears of particular groups, and on propaganda that repeated them. The reasons for his popularity among different groups should be explained group by group.

Unemployed workers and the poor

He promised work and bread, public works and rearmament, and blamed the republic, the Versailles treaty and the Jews for unemployment. The SA offered food, uniform and a sense of belonging to young men with no work.

The middle class and shopkeepers

Small traders, artisans and the lower middle class feared ruin by inflation, depression and big business. Hitler promised protection from competition and a restoration of order, and his attacks on department stores and on Jewish traders appealed to them.

Big business and landowners

Industrialists and Junkers feared communism after the growth of the Communist Party and wanted rearmament and an end to strikes. They gave money to the party and pressed Hindenburg to appoint Hitler.

Peasants and farmers

Falling prices and debt after 1929 angered farmers. Nazi promises of protection for agriculture and of a return to the land won support in the countryside.

Youth, women and the army

Young people were drawn by the Hitler Youth, rallies and the promise of a great future. Many women accepted the Nazi ideal of the home and family. Army officers welcomed rearmament and the promise to crush communism and restore Germany's strength.

Nationalists and the old elite

Those who hated Versailles, democracy and the "November criminals" saw Hitler as the man who would restore German honour. Papen and his circle believed they could use him and control him.

How did Hitler change government and the army?

Within a year the republic became a one-party dictatorship. The Enabling Act of 24 March 1933 removed the Reichstag as a law-making body.

The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of April 1933 removed Jews and political opponents from the civil service.

The Law against the Formation of New Parties of 14 July 1933 made the Nazi Party the only legal party.

The Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934 destroyed the SA leadership, including Ernst Röhm, and removed a rival to the army.

On 2 August 1934 Hindenburg died, and Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor as Führer; the army swore an oath of personal loyalty to him.

The SS under Heinrich Himmler and the Gestapo became the instruments of terror, and the concentration camps were set up from 1933. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped Jews of citizenship.

The Reichstag fire and the Enabling Act together ended parliamentary government, and the plebiscite of 19 August 1934 approved Hitler's assumption of the presidency.

1. 27 February 1933: the Reichstag fire is used to suspend civil liberties.
2. 24 March 1933: the Enabling Act allows laws without the Reichstag.
3. 14 July 1933: the Nazi Party becomes the only legal party.
4. 30 June 1934: the Night of the Long Knives destroys the SA leadership.
5. 2 August 1934: Hindenburg dies and Hitler becomes Führer.
6. 19 August 1934: a plebiscite approves Hitler's new powers.

How did the Nazis control culture, education and religion?

The Reich Chamber of Culture, set up in 1933 under Joseph Goebbels, controlled the press, radio, film, theatre, music and the visual arts.

Books by Jews and by opponents were burned in May 1933, and "degenerate art" was removed from museums. In July 1937 the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich held such works up to ridicule.

The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls trained the young in Nazi ideas, and school textbooks were rewritten to teach race theory and obedience.

In religion, Hitler signed a Concordat with the Vatican in July 1933, but the regime then tried to control the Protestant churches through the German Christians and the Reich Church, and persecuted the Confessing Church under Martin Niemöller.

Catholic youth organisations were restricted, and priests who protested were sent to camps.

Note: The Concordat of 1933 was a treaty with the Vatican, not a surrender of the Church, and the regime broke it in practice. Students often confuse it with the Enabling Act, which dealt with the Reichstag.

How did the Nazis manage the economy?

Hitler's economic policy aimed at ending unemployment and preparing for war. Public works, especially the building of motorways (Autobahnen), gave work to the unemployed. Rearmament from 1935 created jobs in industry and swelled the army.

The Four Year Plan of 1936 under Hermann Göring aimed at self-sufficiency (autarky) in food and raw materials and at preparing the economy for war.

Trade unions were abolished in May 1933 and replaced by the German Labour Front. The Strength through Joy organisation offered cheap holidays and leisure to win workers over.

Big business gained from rearmament and from the destruction of the unions, while small traders lost ground to large firms. By 1939 unemployment had fallen sharply, but wages were controlled and workers lost the right to strike.

How did the campaign against the Jews escalate to the "Final Solution"?

Anti-Semitism was central to Nazi ideology, and the campaign against the Jews escalated in stages. In April 1933 a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses was organised, and Jews were removed from the civil service.

The Nuremberg Laws of September 1935 deprived Jews of citizenship and forbade marriage or sexual relations between Jews and "Aryans".

In November 1938 a Jewish student shot a German diplomat in Paris, and the regime used it for the Kristallnacht pogrom of 9-10 November 1938: synagogues were burned, shops looted and thousands of Jews arrested.

Jews were then forced to pay a fine, were excluded from schools and businesses, and were encouraged to emigrate.

After the war began in 1939, Jews were concentrated in ghettos in occupied Poland, and from 1941 the Einsatzgruppen shot Jews in the occupied Soviet Union.

The Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 organised the "Final Solution", the plan to murder all the Jews of Europe. Jews were deported to extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka, where they were killed in gas chambers.

About six million Jews are estimated to have been murdered in the Holocaust.

1. April 1933: boycott of Jewish shops and removal of Jews from the civil service.
2. September 1935: the Nuremberg Laws remove Jewish citizenship.
3. 9-10 November 1938: Kristallnacht, the burning of synagogues and mass arrests.
4. 1939 onwards: Jews are concentrated in ghettos in occupied Poland.
5. 1941: the Einsatzgruppen carry out mass shootings in the occupied Soviet Union.
6. 20 January 1942: the Wannsee Conference organises the "Final Solution".

Why were Hitler's policies accepted among different groups?

Many Germans accepted Nazi policies because the regime appeared to solve the problems that had divided the republic. The reasons should be explained group by group.

Workers and the unemployed

Public works and rearmament ended mass unemployment, and the Strength through Joy organisation offered cheap holidays and leisure. Workers gained work and leisure, though they lost the right to strike when the trade unions were abolished in May 1933 and replaced by the German Labour Front.

Big business and the middle class

Industrialists gained rearmament contracts and the destruction of the unions, while the middle class welcomed the restoration of order and national pride after the humiliation of Versailles.

The army and the old elite

Army officers welcomed rearmament and the crushing of the SA in the Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934, and the oath of personal loyalty to Hitler gave them honour and strength.

Nationalists and the churches

Nationalists saw the end of democracy as necessary after the failure of the republic, and fear of communism made many accept it. The churches were divided and largely silent, and the Concordat of July 1933 seemed to protect the Catholic Church.

Ordinary Germans and the Jews

Many ordinary Germans accepted the persecution of the Jews through indifference, prejudice or fear. Propaganda through the Reich Chamber of Culture and the Hitler Youth spread the Nazi message, while the Gestapo, the SS and the concentration camps silenced opposition.

How did the Nazi state differ from the Weimar Republic?

The Weimar Republic and the Nazi state rested on opposite principles, and the comparison shows how completely the democratic experiment of 1919 was reversed within a few years. The Weimar constitution of 1919 set up a parliamentary democracy with an elected President, a Reichstag chosen by proportional representation and a bill of fundamental rights. The Nazi state that emerged after 1933 was a one-party dictatorship in which all authority flowed from the Führer.

Law-making is the clearest contrast. Under Weimar, laws were made by the Reichstag, and Article 48 allowed the President to rule by decree only in an emergency. After the Enabling Act of 24 March 1933 the government could make laws without the Reichstag for four years, and the Law against the Formation of New Parties of 14 July 1933 left only the Nazi Party legal. Where Weimar had many parties and unstable coalitions, the Nazi state had one party and no opposition.

Civil liberties followed the same path. The Weimar constitution guaranteed freedom of speech, press and assembly; the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State, issued after the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933, suspended these rights. Free trade unions were abolished in May 1933 and replaced by the German Labour Front, and a free press and free universities gave way to the Reich Chamber of Culture under Joseph Goebbels and a Nazi school curriculum.

The treatment of the Jews marks the deepest difference. Weimar citizenship had given Jews equal rights; the Nuremberg Laws of September 1935 took away their citizenship and forbade marriage between Jews and "Aryans", and persecution went on to Kristallnacht in November 1938 and the "Final Solution" organised at Wannsee in January 1942.

What is the timeline of the rise of Nazism, 1919-42?

What sources tell us about the Nazi state?

Historians rely on several kinds of evidence for the period from 1933 to 1939. Official documents include the laws themselves, such as the Enabling Act of 1933 and the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which show how the dictatorship was built and how the Jews were excluded from citizenship.

The records of the Wannsee Conference of 1942 show how the "Final Solution" was organised.

Contemporary newspapers, radio broadcasts and propaganda material, controlled by the Reich Chamber of Culture from 1933, show what the regime wanted people to believe.

Diaries and letters, such as those of ordinary Germans and of victims, and the memoirs of survivors of the camps, show what life was like.

The records of the Nuremberg trials after 1945, and the testimony of survivors of Auschwitz, provide evidence of the Holocaust.

Photographs and films of the Kristallnacht of 1938 and of Nazi rallies are also used, though they must be read with care because much of the visual record was made by the regime itself.

What were the consequences of Nazi rule for Germany and the world?

The consequences of the Nazi seizure of power were felt in Germany and far beyond it. Inside Germany, parliamentary democracy was destroyed within eighteen months: the Enabling Act of 24 March 1933 ended law-making by the Reichstag, the Law against the Formation of New Parties of 14 July 1933 made the Nazi Party the only legal party, and the death of Hindenburg on 2 August 1934 let Hitler combine the offices of President and Chancellor as Führer.

The Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934 removed the SA as a rival and bound the army to Hitler by an oath of personal loyalty. Terror became normal: the SS under Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo and the concentration camps set up from 1933 silenced opposition, and the Reich Chamber of Culture under Joseph Goebbels controlled the press, radio, film and the arts.

For the Jews the consequences were catastrophic. The boycott of April 1933, the Nuremberg Laws of September 1935, the Kristallnacht pogrom of 9-10 November 1938, the ghettos after 1939, the shootings by the Einsatzgruppen from 1941 and the Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 led to the "Final Solution" and the murder of about six million Jews in the Holocaust.

Beyond Germany, rearmament from 1935, the Four Year Plan of 1936 and an aggressive foreign policy destroyed the settlement of Versailles and made war likely; the invasion of Poland in 1939 began the Second World War.

Going beyond the syllabus

These ideas extend the unit and are not needed for the questions on it.

The Nazi seizure of power is often compared with the rise of other dictatorships between the wars, such as Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy from 1922 and Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union. The comparison helps explain why democracy failed in Germany in 1933, and why the Second World War began in 1939.

Three points of comparison are worth noting. First, all three regimes came to power or consolidated power after a period of war, inflation or economic crisis, and the Fascist and Nazi movements both used para-military violence against political opponents before taking office. Second, each built a cult of personality around a single leader and used radio, film and mass rallies to spread it, as the Reich Chamber of Culture did in Germany after 1933. Third, each destroyed the institutions that might have checked it: parliament, an independent judiciary, free trade unions and a free press.

The differences matter too. Mussolini had marched on Rome in 1922 and had ruled for more than a decade before Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933, and Hitler reached office through appointment by President Paul von Hindenburg rather than by a coup. Stalin's rule rested on a single party that had already taken power in 1917, while the Nazi Party had to destroy a working democracy from within, using the Enabling Act of 24 March 1933 and the Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934.

The racial policy of the Nazi state had no exact parallel in Italy or the Soviet Union. The Nuremberg Laws of September 1935, Kristallnacht of 9-10 November 1938 and the Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 belong to a programme of extermination that set the Nazi regime apart, and the murder of about six million Jews in the Holocaust is the reason the period is studied as a warning about what an unchecked state can do.

A student comparing the three regimes should ask the same questions of each: how did the leader come to power, which institutions were destroyed, which groups were persecuted, and how did ordinary people respond? The answers show that the collapse of democracy in Germany was not inevitable, but the result of choices made by politicians, generals, judges and voters between 1919 and 1933.

Glossary

• Weimar Republic: the German democratic republic of 1919 to 1933, named after the city where its constitution was drafted.
• Führer: the title Hitler took in 1934 when he combined the offices of President and Chancellor.
• Reichstag: the German parliament; its fire in February 1933 was used to suspend civil liberties.
• Enabling Act: the law of 24 March 1933 that let Hitler's government make laws without the Reichstag.
• SA: the Sturmabteilung, Hitler's brown-shirted storm troopers, whose leaders were killed in 1934.
• SS: the Schutzstaffel, the Nazi elite guard under Himmler that ran the police and the camps.
• Gestapo: the Nazi secret state police, used to crush opposition.
• Nuremberg Laws: the laws of 1935 that removed Jewish citizenship and banned marriage between Jews and "Aryans".
• Kristallnacht: the pogrom of 9-10 November 1938, when synagogues and Jewish shops were attacked.
• Final Solution: the Nazi plan, organised at Wannsee in 1942, to murder all the Jews of Europe.
• Holocaust: the mass murder of about six million Jews by the Nazis.
• Autarky: economic self-sufficiency, the aim of the Four Year Plan of 1936.
• Article 48: the Weimar constitution's emergency clause allowing rule by decree.
• Appeasement: the policy of conceding to Hitler's demands, as at Munich in 1938.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Hitler came to power by revolution. Correct: He was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933 by President Hindenburg, and then used the Enabling Act to destroy democracy.
• Misconception: The Nazis won a majority in the March 1933 election. Correct: They won 288 seats and depended on their Nationalist allies, and the election was held under terror after the Reichstag fire.
• Misconception: The Night of the Long Knives was a purge of Jews. Correct: It was a purge of the SA leadership, including Röhm, on 30 June 1934.
• Misconception: The Concordat of 1933 ended all conflict with the churches. Correct: The regime broke the treaty and persecuted the Confessing Church.
• Misconception: The "Final Solution" was decided in 1933. Correct: Persecution escalated in stages, and the "Final Solution" was organised at Wannsee in January 1942.
• Misconception: The Weimar Republic fell only because of the Depression. Correct: Its constitutional weaknesses, the Versailles treaty and the hostility of the army and judiciary also weakened it.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. State any two weaknesses of the Weimar Republic. [2 marks]

1. Proportional representation produced many small parties and unstable coalition governments.
2. Article 48 allowed the President to rule by decree and suspend fundamental rights in an emergency.

Q2. State any two events of 1932-33 that led to Hitler becoming Chancellor. [2 marks]

1. In July 1932 the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag with 230 seats.
2. On 30 January 1933 Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of a coalition cabinet with Papen as Vice-Chancellor.

Q3. Explain any three reasons for Hitler's popularity among different groups. [3 marks]

1. Unemployed workers were won by promises of work and bread through public works and rearmament.
2. Big business and landowners feared communism and wanted rearmament, and gave money to the party.
3. Nationalists who hated Versailles and democracy saw Hitler as the man to restore German honour, and many middle-class voters ruined by inflation and the Depression wanted strong government.

Q4. Explain the changes Hitler made in government between 1933 and 1934. [4 marks]

1. The Enabling Act of 24 March 1933 let the government make laws without the Reichstag.
2. The Law against the Formation of New Parties of 14 July 1933 made the Nazi Party the only legal party.
3. The Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934 destroyed the SA leadership and removed a rival to the army.
4. When Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor as Führer, and the army swore loyalty to him.

Q5. How did the campaign against the Jews escalate between 1933 and 1942? [5 marks]

1. In April 1933 a boycott of Jewish shops was organised and Jews were removed from the civil service.
2. The Nuremberg Laws of September 1935 deprived Jews of citizenship and banned marriage with "Aryans".
3. In Kristallnacht on 9-10 November 1938 synagogues were burned, shops looted and thousands of Jews arrested.
4. After 1939 Jews were concentrated in ghettos, and from 1941 the Einsatzgruppen shot Jews in the occupied Soviet Union.
5. The Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 organised the "Final Solution", and Jews were deported to extermination camps such as Auschwitz. About six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Q6. Explain how the Nazis controlled culture, education and religion. [4 marks]

1. The Reich Chamber of Culture, set up in 1933 under Goebbels, controlled the press, radio, film and the arts.
2. Books by Jews and opponents were burned in May 1933, and "degenerate art" was removed from museums.
3. The Hitler Youth and school textbooks trained the young in Nazi ideas and race theory.
4. Hitler signed a Concordat with the Vatican in July 1933, then tried to control the Protestant churches and persecuted the Confessing Church.

Q7. Why were Hitler's policies accepted among different groups? [5 marks]

1. The regime ended mass unemployment through public works and rearmament, which won over workers.
2. It restored order and national pride after the humiliation of Versailles, which appealed to nationalists and the middle class.
3. Big business gained from rearmament contracts and from the destruction of the trade unions in May 1933, which kept wages low.
4. Propaganda through the Reich Chamber of Culture and the Hitler Youth spread the Nazi message.
5. Terror through the Gestapo, the SS and the concentration camps silenced opposition, and fear of communism made many accept the end of democracy.

Q8. Compare the Weimar Republic with the Nazi state. [4 marks]

1. Weimar was a parliamentary democracy; the Nazi state was a one-party dictatorship under the Führer.
2. Weimar laws were made by the Reichstag; after 1933 laws were made by decree under the Enabling Act.
3. Weimar guaranteed civil liberties; these were suspended after the Reichstag fire of 1933.
4. Weimar had free trade unions and a free press; the Nazis abolished the unions and controlled culture and education.

Key takeaways

• The Weimar Republic was weakened by proportional representation, Article 48, the Versailles treaty and the hostility of the army and judiciary.
• The Depression after 1929 destroyed the middle ground and made the Nazi Party the largest in the Reichstag by July 1932.
• Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933, not elected, and used the Enabling Act to destroy democracy.
• The Night of the Long Knives of 1934 removed the SA leadership and secured the army's loyalty.
• Culture, education and religion were brought under Nazi control through the Reich Chamber of Culture and the Hitler Youth.
• The economy was directed to public works, rearmament and the Four Year Plan of 1936.
• Persecution of the Jews escalated from the boycott of 1933 to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and Kristallnacht of 1938.
• The "Final Solution" was organised at the Wannsee Conference of 1942, and about six million Jews were murdered.

Test yourself

When was Hitler appointed Chancellor?

On 30 January 1933, by President Hindenburg, at the head of a coalition cabinet in which the Nazis were a minority.

What was the Enabling Act?

The law of 24 March 1933 that allowed Hitler's government to make laws without the Reichstag for four years.

What happened on the Night of the Long Knives?

On 30 June 1934 the SA leadership, including Ernst Röhm, was killed, removing a rival to the army.

What were the Nuremberg Laws?

Laws of September 1935 that deprived Jews of citizenship and banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and "Aryans".

What was Kristallnacht?

The pogrom of 9-10 November 1938, when synagogues were burned, Jewish shops looted and thousands of Jews arrested.

What was decided at the Wannsee Conference?

On 20 January 1942 the "Final Solution", the plan to murder all the Jews of Europe, was organised.

What was the Four Year Plan?

A plan of 1936 under Hermann Göring to make Germany self-sufficient in food and raw materials and ready for war.