As previously discussed, the social elements that had undermined the Weimar Republic, were quickly nazified as schools, the judiciary, the civil service and the media were brought under control.
Schools were subject to racial laws for teachers and later, students, with banning and burning of all un-German books under the censorship of curriculum, based upon Nazi indoctrination and the compulsory Hitler Youth . The judiciary was Nazified with the etsablishment of the Sondergericht, the Special court dealing with political crimes and treason, further entrenched by Hitler s power to dismiss criminal proceedings and the S.S punishing criminals thought to be treated lightly . With these integral social elements under strict Nazi control, any counter-revolution under the regime was effectively neutralised.
Finally the last stage of the Nazification of Germany, consisting of influence then control over the elements of force, or namely the Army and Police, consolidated power in Germany, indelibly under the iron fist of Nazism. Along with Hitler s appointment as Chancellor, Hermann Goring became Minister of the Interior and under his direction, large segments of the Police force were replaced with Nazi Storm Troopers, later extending to all Police being German Aryans with the Gestapo or the Secret Police being established to consolidate this power. The purge of the S.A, known as the Night of the Long Knives eliminated the rapidly growing threat of Ernst Rohm and his unruly Storm Troopers. Disenchanted with the abandonment of socialist elements of Nazi policy, Hitler saw the S.A as a threat to central Nazi power, culminating in the murder of prominent S.A leaders and anti-Nazis within and without the ranks of the S.A. This won him the support of the Reichswehr, assisting him in his bid to combine the offices of Chancellor and President and as part of this the entire Army swore a loyalty oath to Hitler as F hrer of the German State. As part of the Four-Year Plan, the frenetic rearmament of the Reichswehr began to dissolve the influence of the Officer Corps, the conservative element of the army as the ranks of the army swelled and new officers indoctrinated by Nazism, gained rapid promotion. This allowed Hitler to re-organise the Army; sub-ordinated under the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces to Nazi control, allowing a co-ordinated force to prepared for the assault on Eastern Europe. The last barriers to Nazi absolute power had been removed, and the Gleichschaltung policy completed, the Nazis were ready to lead Germany into war.
The intricacies and complexity of the primary and secondary factors which formed the basis of Nazi power are a contentious issue, but the compatibility of the ideological image of the German Worker s National Socialist Party with the cultural history of Germany in times of crisis is a primary contribution to the rise of the Nazi s. While this is apparent, it is important to note that Nazism was not an inevitable historical outcome, but the unique climate of the Weimar Germany in its economic, political and social instability was a vital element in propagating an environment which precipitated the advent of a social reaction such as extreme nationalism. With the establishment of heterogeneous support from the radicalised electorate, the Nazi policy of Gleichschaltung was highly effective in cementing power in a way that the democracy of Weimar Republic did not, the total centralisation of power in Germany, consolidating Nazi power to totalitarianism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Koppel Pinson Modern Germany – McMillan, New York, 1966
Martin Broszat Hitler and the collapse of Weimar Germany – Berg, Hamburg, 1987
Anne McCallum Germany 1918-1945-Democracy to Dictatorship – Rigby, Sydney, 1992
Craig Europe since 1815
David Martin The rise of Nazism as a popular force – Academic Essay
K.D Bracher The German Dictatorship – Penguin, Unknown Excerpt
Joachim Fest The Face of the Third Reich -Penguin Unknown Excerpt
N.B- Every effort has been made to acknowledge authorship, however in some cases the nature of the source does not permit full acknowledgment.