Timeline
When arguing Hitler’s consolidation of power, ensure you distinguish between this and his maintenance of power. There is no consensus on when one ends and the other begins so it is left up to you. However, my advice is that you use the period from February 1933 to August 1934, when Hitler combines the roles of chancellor and president.
1933 February, the Reichstag burns down. Hitler persuades Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree.
1933 March, the first concentration camp at Dachau opens. The Enabling Act is also passed. A law dissolved the regional parliaments and replaced them with Nazi dominated assemblies
1933 April, the Communist Party is banned. Reich Governors were created to oversee the government of each state. Law for the Re-establishment of the Civil Service was also passed (Jews and anti-Nazis removed).
1933 July – the Concordat with the Roman Catholic Church is signed. The Law Against the Formation of New Parties’ formally established a one-party state.
1934 January – regional parliaments were abolished; all state governments were formally subordinated to the central government.
1934 April, Hermann Goering forms the Gestapo with Heinrich Himmler taking charge.
1934 June/July, The Night of the Long Knives. Rohm and other SA leaders were arrested and some executed for treason.
1934 August, President Hindenburg dies and Hitler assumes the role, becoming dictator of Germany.
Reichstag Fire
There are different theories of who was responsible for the Reichstag Fire. As the Nazis used it for their own propaganda purposes, it can be argued that they started it and blamed a communist sympathiser. Indeed, Goering is reported as saying years later that he had planned the arson. However, Richard Evans disagrees, explaining that Van Der Lubbe had tried to set three previous buildings on fire and failed. With the Reichstag, he did not.
This is one view of the Reichstag Fire and the singer (David Rovics) compares it to 9/11. What is the message of the song?
Force and Terror
Hitler passed legislation to make him more powerful as soon as he became chancellor. He used force and persuasion to do this.
The Enabling Act: Hitler Seizes Absolute Power
A continuing debate for Nazi Germany scholars is whether the society helped Hitler carry out his ideological policies or he used force and terror to implement them. This article below is one viewpoint from Richard Evans, a superb perspective to use in any essay.
Coercion and Consent in Nazi Germany
Q. What does the following story about Nazi Germany tell you about the maintenance of power?
Night of the Long Knives
Propaganda
The Eternal Jew was both a poster and a movie-documentary produced in Nazi Germany. They were produced to reinforce the anti-semitic message across Nazi-occupied Germany.
BBC explanation of the ‘Eternal Jew Exhibition’
Foreign Policy
Be wary of focusing on land outside Germany’s former borders. The consolidation of power should focus on Hitler’s domestic policies.
Further Resources
How did the Nazi consolidate their power?
Führer
Aims and Results of Policies
Perspectives
Aims and Results of Policies
Other resources