Yesterday was our friend Anne’s birthday and I mentioned that she was born in Germany in the same year Hitler came to power.
Anne has mentioned on several occasions the similarity of Germany in her youth to the United States the past few years. I thought it might be interesting to take a quick look at Germany beginning back in 1933…..
Germany became a republic in 1919. After losing the First World War, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. Many Germans were dissatisfied with the new situation and longed for a return to the Empire. A lot of people also believed that the ruling social democrats were to blame for losing the war. In 1930, the global economic crisis hit. Germany could no longer pay its war debts stipulated in the Versailles Peace Treaty. Millions of Germans lost their jobs and the country was in a political crisis —it seemed impossible to form a majority government.
That situation led to the rise of the German National Socialist Workers’ Party (NSDAP.) It was founded in 1920, but was a very small party. But Hitler used his oratory talent to attract more and more members. The party was characterized by extreme nationalism and antisemitism. Hitler led a coup attempt in 1923, but it was a complete failure. He was jailed and the courts banned the NSDAP. While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, setting out his plans for Germany. After he was released, the Nazis stuck to the law and tried to gain power by means of elections. They benefited from the economic crisis and the the Nazis used the crisis to condemn the government and the Versailles Peace Treaty. Their strategy worked and in the 1928 elections, the NSDAP gained 800.0000 votes and in 1930 the number had increased to 6.4 million.
The Nazi leaders were young, not like the greying politicians of the established parties and Hitler’s image as a strong leader appealed to people as he promised to put an end to political discord. The Nazis focused on voters from all walks of life — not just one or two groups, like workers or Catholics. But in the 1932 elections, the NSDAP didn’t receive enough votes to come into power. However, in 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg gave in to pressure from (mostly) the NSDAP and appointed Hitler chancellor. So although Hitler was not elected by the German people, he still came to power legally.
The National Socialists celebrated their victory, but Hitler was still far from being all-powerful at that time. The new government’s cabinet only had two NSDAP members, but Hitler succeeded in getting them appointed to important positions. Many, if not most, Germans were indifferent to the events. They had seen many governments come and go and didn’t expect the new government to last long.
It wasn’t long before Hitler claimed more power. A fire in the Reichstag, the parliament building, played a key role. The fire, on February 27, 1933, had flames shooting through the roof. The German guards overpowered the suspected arsonist, a Dutch communist. (He was executed after a show trial in 1934 — no evidence of any accomplices were ever found.)
The Nazi leadership was quick to take advantage of the fire, proclaiming, “This is the beginning of the Communist revolt, they will start their attack now! Not a moment must be lost.” Hitler shouted, “There will be no mercy now. Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down.”
The next morning, President Von Hindenburg promulgated the Reichstag Fire Decree. It formed the basis for a dictatorship. Freedom of expression was no longer a matter of course and the police could arbitrarily search houses and arrest people. The political opponents of the Nazis were essentially outlawed.
New elections were held in March of 1933 in the newly created atmosphere of intimidation. The streets were full of Nazi posters and flags, but even so, the NSDAP only received 43.9% of the votes. However, arrests and intimidation were increasing and the government banned the Communist Party and started arresting communists. In order to house all the political prisoners, the first concentration camps were opened. People in the camps were badly treated, tortured, and sometimes killed.
Shortly after the March election (in 1933) the Reichstag met in Berlin. The main item on the agenda was a new law, the “Enabling Act.” It allowed Hitler to enact new laws without interference from the president or Reichstag for a period of four years. The building where the meeting took place was surrounded by members of the SA and the SS, paramilitary organizations of the NSDAP, that had by this time been promoted to auxiliary police forces. Hitler gave a speech in which he gave those present the choice between “war and peace.” It was a veiled threat to intimidate any dissenters — the process by no means was democratic. With 444 votes in favor and 94 against, the Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act that formed the basis of the Nazi dictatorship until 1945.
With Hitler becoming so powerful, it was time for the Nazis to bring society in line with the Nazi ideal. The process was known as Gleichshaltung. Many politically-suspect and Jewish civil servants were dismissed, trade unions were forcibly replaced by the Deutsche Arbeitsfront — allowing the Nazis to prevent workers from organizing any opposition. All political parties were banned —Germany became a singe-party state. Cultural and scientific “cleansings” were carried out and everything “un-German” had to disappear, with all books written by Jewish, left-wing, or pacifist writers being burned.
As the Nazis took over, their destructive energy was mainly directed against their political opponents — with the exception of German Jews. As a group, the Jews did not oppose the ambitions of the Nazis, but they were the constant victims of violence, harassment, and oppression.
After taking power, Hitler and the Nazis turned Germany into a dictatorship. Step by step, Hitler managed to erode democracy until it was just a hollow facade. And Hitler continued to strengthen his hold on Germany for the twelve years that the Third Reich existed…..
This is a depressing story and it seems that the world would have learned something from it — but look around and see what you think. This blog entry could possibly soon be written in the present tense by merely changing some names and locations — a frightening thought. It seems like we just can’t learn from our mistakes.
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