Nazification of Germany 1930s: Hitler's Rise To Power 1920s, 30s (2)

- History Brief. This video gives a brief description of Hitler & the Nazi Party's Nazification of Germany during the 1930s.

- Gleichschaltung was in Nazi terminology the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied by Nazi Germany "from the economy and trade associations to the media, culture and education". The apex of the Nazification of Germany was in the resolutions approved during the Nuremberg Rally of 1935, when the symbols of the Nazi Party and the State were fused (see Flag of Germany) and German Jews were deprived of their citizenship (see Nuremberg Laws).

Terminology: The Nazis used the word Gleichschaltung for the process of successively establishing a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied by Nazi Germany.. "Consolidation. All of the German Volk’s social, political, and cultural organizations to be controlled and run according to Nazi ideology and policy. All opposition to be eliminated."

Legal basis: The Nazis were able to put Gleichschaltung into effect due to the legal measures taken by the government during the 20 months following 30 January 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. One day after the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933, President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg, acting at Hitler's request and on the basis of the emergency powers in article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, issued the Reichstag Fire Decree. This decree suspended most citizen rights provided for by the constitution and thus allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for terrorizing of other electors by the Sturmabteilung (SA) (Nazi paramilitary branch) before the upcoming election.

In this atmosphere the Reichstag general election of 5 March 1933 took place. The Nazis had hoped to win an outright majority & push aside their coalition partners, the German National People's Party. However, the Nazis won only 43.9% of the vote, well short of a majority. Despite not securing the necessary vote to secure any amendments to the existing federal constitution, the disaffection with the Weimar government's attempt at democracy was palpable & subsequent violence followed. SA units stormed the Social Democrats' headquarters in Königsberg, destroying the premises, even beating Communist Reichstag deputy Walter Schütz to death. Other non-Nazi party officials were attacked by the SA throughout Germany in a series of violent acts that escalated through the summer of 1933; meanwhile the SA's membership grew to some 2-million members.

During the debate on the Enabling Act, Social Democrat chairman Otto Wels spoke the last free words in the Reichstag: "Freedom and life can be taken from us, but not our honor." The subsequent passage of the Act did away with parliamentary democracy.

.. On 14 July 1933, the Nazis passed the "Law Against the Founding of New Parties", which declared the NSDAP as the country's only legal political party...

More, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung
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- Also: DENAZIFICATION, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification



- Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister.



- History Brief: Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power- This video gives a brief description of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany in the 1920s and '30s. Reading Through History.