Previous

Gleichschaltung - control over the state

     

July 1933: Hitler announced that the Nazi revolution was over and “must be followed by the inward education of man” & transformation of Germany → Gleichschaltung’ ('bringing into line') of society. Aim = align all aspects of life w. National Socialism.

   

Six Ways to Control Germany

1. One-Party State

    •   (23 March 1933): Made Hitler all-powerful Fuhrer.

    •  Law against Formation of Parties (14 July 1933): Nazis = only legal party. Other parties banned; leaders imprisoned.

    •  Nazi Party members got privileges (jobs, houses). Some joined for business benefits.

2. Terror

    •  Nazis controlled local govt & police (Gestapo & SS est. 26 April 1933). Germans encouraged to report dissent.

    •  Minor ‘crimes’ (anti-Nazi graffiti, banned books) → arrest, concentration camps.

    •   (‘clan punishment’): entire families punished for 1 member’s crime.

    •  Night of the Long Knives (13 June 1934): Hitler purged Nazi Party opponents.

3. Propaganda

    •  Josef : Led a propaganda campaign = cult of Hitler. 1936 Olympics = propaganda success.

    •  Methods: Bands, book-burnings, censorship, cinema, loudspeakers, rallies, newsreels, posters, Volksempfänger (''; 2/3 of households owned by 1941).

    •  Aim = glorify Hitler, create sense of success & unity.

4. Youth

    •  Anti-Nazi teachers/professors replaced; school lessons = hidden Nazi indoctrination (eg: maths problems re cost of disabled people).

    •  : Boys trained in war games & Nazi ideas.

    •  BDM (League of German Girls): Girls taught to be good mothers, love Hitler.

5. Workforce

    •  2 May 1933: Trade Unions banned; leaders imprisoned;

    •  Nazi Deutsche Arbeitsfront ( – DAF) replaced them, reducing pay & banning strikes.

    •  Reichsarbeitsdienst ( – RAD) = public works programmes.

    •  Strength through Joy: Rewards for workers (cinema, holidays).

6. Religion

    •   (Church Struggle): Religion = ideological enemy to be replaced w. Nazism. NB Nazis failed to destroy religion; Church attendance ↑ under Nazi rule.

    •   Roman Catholics:

          ◦  1933 : Promised Church neutrality if it stayed out of politics (immediately broken).

          ◦  1933: Catholic newspapers banned.

          ◦  1934: Catholic leader Klausener assassinated.

          ◦  1935-36: Monks tried for ‘perversions’; Catholic Youth Clubs restricted.

          ◦  1937: Pope’s statement: criticised Nazis → Hitler imprisoned Catholics, closed presses.

    •   Protestants:

          ◦  1934: Nazis formed under Nazi bishop Ludwig Müller.

          ◦  1936: Confessing Church (led by Niemöller) opposed Nazis.

          ◦  1937: Niemöller, pastors arrested; banned.

    •   Jehovah’s Witnesses:

          ◦  1935: Watchtower Society dissolved.

          ◦  1939: 6k Witnesses sent to camps.