The National Socialist Dictatorship : Germany

Hitler soon rid himself of his allies. An “Enabling Act”, approved by all the middle-class parties, gave him practically limitless power. He banned all parties but his own. The trade unions were smashed, basic rights virtually removed and press freedom abolished. The regime exercised ruthless terror and violence against anyone who stood in its way. Thousands disappeared without trial in hastily constructed concentration camps. Parliamentary institutions at all levels were abolished or made powerless. When Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler assumed the roles of president and chancellor. By this p,e gained control as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, which up to then had still had a certain inner life of their own.

in the few years of the turbulent Weimar Republic, the majority of Germans had not acquired any deep-rooted affinity to democracy. More than anything else, years of political turmoil, violence between the various camps - including bloody street battles - and the mass unemployment engendered by the world economic crisis had shattered confidence in government. Hitler, on the other hand, succeeded with job-creation and armament production programs in rein-vigorating the economy and quickly reducing unemployment. He was helped by the fact that the world depression came to an end.

The fact that-initially Hitler was also able to achieve his foreign policy aims virtually without resistance further strengthened his postion. In 1935 the Saar region, until then administered by the League of Nations, returned to Germany, and in the same year the Reich regained its defense sovereignty. In 1936 German troops moved into the up to then demilitarized Rhineland. In 1938 Austria was joined to the Reich, and the Western powers allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland. All this made it easier for him to achieve his further aims, even though there were people from all walks of life who courageously resisted the dictator. Immediately after taking power, the regime began to carry out its anti-Semitic program. Step by step, the Jews were stripped of all human and civic rights. Those who could tried to escape the persecution by fleeing abroad.

The persecution of political opponents and the suppression of free speech also drove thousands out of the country. Many of the best German intellectuals, artists and scientists fled the country.