Focus Study 2: The Nazi state 1933-1939
The methods by which the Nazi regime consolidated power between January 1933 and August 1934, including the Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act, Gleichschaltung, the Night of the Long Knives, and the death of Hindenburg
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Core Study dot point on the Nazi consolidation of power. The Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act, Gleichschaltung, the Night of the Long Knives, and the death of Hindenburg, with the verdict of Kershaw and Bracher.
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What this dot point is asking
NESA expects you to know exactly how the Nazi regime moved from a coalition government on 30 January 1933 to an unchallenged one-party dictatorship by 2 August 1934. Section I frequently asks for the consolidation of power as a sequence: name the legal and extra-legal steps and explain how each removed a check on Hitler's authority.
The answer
Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933 in a coalition cabinet of three Nazis (Hitler, Frick, Goering) and eight conservatives. Within 18 months, every institutional rival had been neutralised.
The Reichstag Fire and the Reichstag Fire Decree (February 1933)
On the night of 27 February 1933 the Reichstag building burned. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was arrested at the scene. The following day, President Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree (Decree for the Protection of People and State) under Article 48. It suspended freedom of speech, assembly, and the press, and permitted indefinite detention. Thousands of communists, social democrats, and trade unionists were arrested. The KPD was effectively destroyed before the 5 March election.
The Enabling Act (24 March 1933)
The Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich gave the Cabinet, in practice Hitler, the power to enact laws (including laws contradicting the constitution) without Reichstag approval for four years. The Act passed 444 to 94. The KPD deputies had been arrested or driven into exile; the SPD voted against; the Catholic Centre Party voted in favour after Hitler promised a Concordat with the Vatican (signed by Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, in July 1933).
Gleichschaltung (coordination), 1933-1935
A wave of legislation brought every parallel institution under Nazi control.
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (7 April 1933) removed Jews and political opponents from the civil service, universities, and the judiciary. Trade unions were dissolved on 2 May 1933 and replaced by the German Labour Front (DAF). The SPD was banned (22 June 1933). The Law against the Formation of New Parties (14 July 1933) made the NSDAP the only legal party. The Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (30 January 1934) abolished the Landtage and centralised regional government under Nazi Reichsstatthalter.
The Night of the Long Knives (30 June to 2 July 1934)
By 1934 the SA under Ernst Rohm had grown to roughly 3 million members and was demanding a "second revolution," including the absorption of the Reichswehr. Hitler, pressured by the army leadership and by Himmler and Goering, ordered the SS to murder the SA leadership. At least 85 people were killed, including Rohm, former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, and the Catholic activist Erich Klausener. The killings were retrospectively legalised by the Law Concerning Measures of State Self-Defence (3 July 1934).
The death of Hindenburg (2 August 1934)
President Hindenburg died at 9am on 2 August 1934. Within hours, the offices of President and Chancellor were merged. Hitler became Fuhrer und Reichskanzler. Every member of the Wehrmacht swore a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler. A plebiscite on 19 August 1934 endorsed the change with 89.9 per cent approval.
Historiography
Ian Kershaw (Hubris, 1998) frames the process as "working towards the Fuhrer," in which institutions anticipated Nazi demands and coordinated themselves.
Karl Dietrich Bracher (The German Dictatorship, 1969) calls it a "legal revolution" because the regime used the Weimar constitution's own emergency powers to dismantle constitutional government.
Hans Mommsen emphasises the chaotic, cumulative character of the takeover rather than a master plan.
Consolidation timeline
| Date | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Jan 1933 | Hitler appointed Chancellor | Coalition cabinet |
| 27 Feb 1933 | Reichstag Fire | Pretext for emergency powers |
| 28 Feb 1933 | Reichstag Fire Decree | Civil liberties suspended |
| 5 Mar 1933 | Reichstag election | Nazis win 43.9 per cent |
| 24 Mar 1933 | Enabling Act | Cabinet legislates without Reichstag |
| 7 Apr 1933 | Law on Civil Service | Jews and opponents purged from public office |
| 2 May 1933 | Trade unions dissolved | DAF replaces them |
| 14 Jul 1933 | Law against new parties | NSDAP only legal party |
| 30 Jan 1934 | Law for Reconstruction of Reich | Landtage abolished |
| 30 Jun 1934 | Night of the Long Knives | SA leadership murdered |
| 2 Aug 1934 | Hindenburg dies; Hitler becomes Fuhrer | Army swears personal oath |
How to read a source on this topic
Section I sources on consolidation are usually photographs (Reichstag Fire, Potsdam Day ceremony of 21 March 1933, Hindenburg with Hitler), legal documents (the Enabling Act, the Reichstag Fire Decree), and contemporary newspaper coverage. Three reading habits.
First, note whether the source is from before or after the Enabling Act (24 March 1933). The Enabling Act is the constitutional break. Sources from before are negotiating a coalition; sources from after are operating under dictatorship.
Second, identify the staged elements. Potsdam Day (21 March 1933), where Hitler bowed to Hindenburg at the Garrison Church, was a propaganda set piece designed to reassure conservatives. The photograph captures performance, not policy.
Third, watch for surviving opposition. Otto Wels' SPD speech against the Enabling Act (23 March 1933) and the Niemoller declaration are evidence that opposition was visible and silenced, not absent. Use such sources to complicate the "legal revolution" thesis.
Examples in context
Example 1. The Reichstag Fire Decree (28 February 1933). Signed by Hindenburg under Article 48 the morning after Marinus van der Lubbe's arrest, the decree suspended civil liberties, allowed indefinite detention, and authorised the Reich government to override the Lander. Karl Dietrich Bracher (The German Dictatorship, 1969) treats it as the constitutional turning point. Richard J. Evans (The Coming of the Third Reich, 2003) draws on the 1933 trial records and the 1958 verdict on van der Lubbe to argue the fire was the act of a single arsonist exploited rather than staged by the Nazis.
Example 2. The Night of the Long Knives (30 June to 2 July 1934). The murder of Ernst Roehm, around 85 SA leaders, and political opponents including Schleicher signalled the army's preference for the SS over the SA. Ian Kershaw (Hubris, 1998) reads Carl Schmitt's defence of the killings, "the Fuhrer protects the law," as the formal collapse of legal rationality. The army's oath of personal loyalty to Hitler (2 August 1934) followed Hindenburg's death and bound the Wehrmacht institutionally.
Try this
Q1. Source A is the Enabling Act (24 March 1933), Article 1 transferring legislative power to the Reich Cabinet for four years. Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain how the Nazis dismantled Weimar parliamentary democracy in 1933. [5 marks]
- What the marker wants. Identify the two-thirds threshold, KPD exclusion, SPD vote against; pair with Reichstag Fire Decree and Gleichschaltung.
Q2. Evaluate the extent to which the Nazi consolidation of power between January 1933 and August 1934 was a legal revolution. [25 marks]
- What the marker wants. Weigh formal legality (Enabling Act, decrees) against extra-legal violence (camps, SA terror); use Bracher, Kershaw, Evans.
Q3. Compare the views of Karl Dietrich Bracher and Hans Mommsen on the nature of the Nazi seizure of power. [10 marks]
- What the marker wants. Bracher (legal revolution, top-down) versus Mommsen (cumulative radicalisation, polycratic state); judgement.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of NESA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2020 HSC (verbatim)10 marksWhy were the Nazis able to consolidate power in the period 1933 to 1934? In your response, integrate evidence from Sources C and D.Show worked answer →
A band 6 response for 8 marks needs four substantive stages and at least one historian.
- Reichstag Fire (27 February 1933)
- Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was arrested at the scene. The Reichstag Fire Decree (28 February 1933), issued under Article 48, suspended civil liberties and allowed mass arrest of KPD deputies. This crippled the opposition before the March election.
- Enabling Act (24 March 1933)
- Formally the Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich. It allowed the Cabinet to enact laws without Reichstag approval for four years. Passed 444 to 94 after SA intimidation and the support of the Catholic Centre Party in exchange for a Concordat with Rome (July 1933).
- Gleichschaltung (coordination), 1933-1935
- Trade unions were dissolved (2 May 1933) and replaced by the German Labour Front under Robert Ley. The SPD was banned (June 1933). The Law against the Formation of New Parties (14 July 1933) made the NSDAP the only legal party. The Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (January 1934) abolished the Landtage.
- Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934)
- Hitler ordered the SS to murder SA leader Ernst Rohm and at least 85 others, including former Chancellor Schleicher. The army stood aside; on Hindenburg's death (2 August 1934), every soldier swore a personal oath to Hitler as Fuhrer.
- Historian
- Ian Kershaw (Hubris, 1998) describes "self-coordination" by institutions anticipating Nazi wishes. Karl Dietrich Bracher (The German Dictatorship, 1969) calls the process a "legal revolution." Markers reward dates, the legal instruments, and a named historiographical position.
Practice (NESA)5 marksExplain the significance of the Night of the Long Knives in the consolidation of Nazi power.Show worked answer →
A 5-mark response needs three significances developed with evidence.
- Removal of the SA threat
- Ernst Rohm and the SA (3 million members by 1934) demanded a "second revolution" and the absorption of the Reichswehr into the SA. This alarmed both the army and conservative elites. Rohm's murder removed the most radical wing of the Nazi movement.
- Army loyalty
- The Reichswehr provided weapons and transport for the purge. After Hindenburg's death (2 August 1934), every soldier swore a personal oath of loyalty to "the Fuhrer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler." This bound the army to Hitler personally until 1945.
- Legal endorsement of murder
- The Law Concerning Measures of State Self-Defence (3 July 1934) retrospectively declared the killings lawful. Justice Minister Franz Gurtner endorsed it. The state had openly become a murderous instrument.
- Rise of the SS
- Heinrich Himmler's SS, previously subordinate to the SA, became the dominant security organisation. This established the SS as the institutional backbone of the racial state.
Kershaw describes 30 June 1934 as the moment the regime "tore up the rule of law in plain sight." Markers reward all four points and at least one historian.
Related dot points
- The conditions that gave rise to dictatorship in Germany, including Hitler's rise to power 1919 to 30 January 1933, the failures of the Weimar Republic, and the collapse of parliamentary politics
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Core Study dot point on Hitler's rise to power. The Weimar weaknesses, the 1923 Munich Putsch, the impact of the Depression, the 1932 elections, the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933, and the verdict of historians including Kershaw, Bullock, and Evans.
- The nature of the Nazi state 1933 to 1939, including the role of terror and propaganda, the polycratic structure of government, economic policy, and the impact on women, youth, and churches
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Core Study dot point on the nature of the Nazi state. The polycratic structure, the role of the SS and Gestapo, propaganda under Goebbels, economic recovery under Schacht and the Four-Year Plan, and the historiographical debate between intentionalists and structuralists.
- The development of Nazi racial policy 1933 to 1939, including the Nuremberg Laws (1935) and Kristallnacht (1938), and the historiographical debate over the path to the Holocaust
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Core Study dot point on Nazi racial policy 1933 to 1939. The 1933 boycott, the Nuremberg Laws (1935), Kristallnacht (1938), the historiographical debate between Dawidowicz and Mommsen, and the path from persecution to the Final Solution.