Detailed
Timeline: From Chancellor to Dictator
1 Reichstag Fire – 27th Feb 1933
The Reichstag burned down. A Dutch Communist named van der Lubbe was
caught red-handed with matches and fire-lighting materials. Hitler used it as
an excuse to arrest 4,000 Communist opponents that night, and as a major
platform in his election campaign. The fire was so convenient that many people
at the time claimed that the Nazis had burned it down, and then just blamed the
Communists. Modern historians, however, tend to believe that van der Lubbe did
cause the fire, and that Hitler took advantage of it.
2 General Election – 5th March 1933
Hitler held a general election, appealing to the German
people to give him a clear mandate. Only 44% of the people voted Nazi, which
did not give him a majority in the Reichstag, so Hitler arrested the 81
Communist deputies and joined with the Nationalist Party. Goering become Speaker
of the Reichstag.
3 Enabling Act - 23 March 1933
The Reichstag voted to give Hitler the power to make his
own laws. Nazi Stormtroopers stopped opposition deputies going in, and beat up
anyone who dared to speak against it. The Enabling Act made Hitler the dictator
of Germany, with power to do anything he liked - legally.
4 Local government - 26 April 1933
The Nazis took over local government and the police. The
Nazis started to replace anti-Nazi teachers and University professors. Hitler
set up the Gestapo (the secret police) and encouraged Germans to report
opponents and 'grumblers'. Tens of
thousands of Jews, Communists, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies,
homosexuals, alcoholics and prostitutes were arrested and sent to concentration
camps for 'crimes' as small as writing anti-Nazi graffiti, possessing a banned
book, or saying that business was bad.
5 Trade Unions banned - 2 May 1933
The Trade Unions offices were closed, their money
confiscated, and their leaders put in prison.
In their place, Hitler put the
German Labour Front which reduced workers' pay and took away the right to
strike.
6 Political Parties banned - 14 July 1933
The Law against the Formation of Parties declared the
Nazi Party the only political party in Germany. All other parties were banned, and their
leaders were put in prison.
7 Night of the Long Knives - 30 June 1934
The SA were the thugs who Hitler had used to help him
come to power. They had defended his meetings, and attacked opponents. By 1934
there were more than a million of them.
Historians have often wondered why Hitler turned on the
SA. But Hitler was in power in 1934, and there was no opposition left - the SA
were an embarrassment, not an advantage.
Also, Rohm, the leader of the SA, was talking about a Socialist
revolution and about taking over the army.
On the night of 30 June 1934 - codeword 'Hummingbird - Hitler ordered
the SS to kill more than 400 SA men
8 Führer - 19 August 1934
When Hindenburg died, Hitler took over the office of
President and leader of the army (the soldiers had to swear to die for Adolf
Hitler personally). Hitler called
himself 'Fuhrer'.
Explore:
There is a useful timeline and revision quiz via BBC Bitesize here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/germany/hitlerconsolidaterev1.shtml
