How did the Nazis turn Germany into a totalitarian state and reshape society between 1933 and 1939?
Analyse the consolidation of Nazi power and the nature of the Nazi state, 1933-1939
How Hitler consolidated power, built a terror state and reshaped German society and the economy before 1939, with dates, figures and historiography.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
What this dot point is asking
This depth study focuses on the machinery of dictatorship and the nature of the Nazi state, rather than the earlier story of Weimar's collapse.
Consolidation came with startling speed. The Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933 was blamed on communists and used to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, suspending civil liberties. After the March 1933 election the Enabling Act of 23 March 1933 allowed Hitler to make laws without the Reichstag, the legal basis of dictatorship. Through Gleichschaltung (coordination) trade unions were banned in May, other parties were dissolved, and by July 1933 the Nazi Party was the only legal party. The Night of the Long Knives on 30 June 1934 destroyed the SA leadership, including Ernst Rohm, reassuring the army and big business. When Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of Chancellor and President as Fuhrer, and the armed forces swore a personal oath of loyalty to him.
The regime reshaped society. The Hitler Youth and League of German Girls indoctrinated the young, while the slogan "Kinder, Kuche, Kirche" (children, kitchen, church) pushed women out of work and towards motherhood. The churches were pressured through a concordat with the Vatican in 1933 and the creation of a Nazi-aligned "German Christian" movement, though figures such as Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted. Workers were given organisations such as the Strength Through Joy leisure scheme in exchange for losing independent unions.
Economic recovery underpinned popular acceptance. Hjalmar Schacht's policies and large public works, including the autobahns, cut unemployment, and from 1936 the Four Year Plan under Hermann Goering drove rearmament and the pursuit of autarky (self-sufficiency) in preparation for war. Recovery was real but increasingly geared to military spending and concealed strains.
Racial policy was central from the start. Persecution escalated from the boycott of Jewish businesses in April 1933 to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped Jews of citizenship and banned marriage with non-Jews. The Kristallnacht pogrom of 9 to 10 November 1938 saw synagogues burned and thousands arrested, marking a violent radicalisation. Other groups, including Roma, the disabled (murdered later in the T4 euthanasia programme), homosexuals and political prisoners, were also targeted. This persecution before 1939 set the stage for the genocide that would follow once war began.
Historians debate how the dictatorship worked and how far Germans supported it. Intentionalists such as Karl Dietrich Bracher stress Hitler's central design and ideology. Structuralists such as Hans Mommsen and Martin Broszat emphasise the chaotic, competing agencies and "cumulative radicalisation" of policy. Historians of everyday life (Alltagsgeschichte) ask how ordinary Germans experienced and accommodated the regime. For TASC source work, weigh terror against consent, and central direction against institutional chaos, when judging the nature of the Nazi state.