Proportional Representation

Franchise Law, 27 April 1920

The Reichstag officials were elected according to the proportion of votes each party received in popular vote. Rather than candidates campaigning for election, a list of candidates was formed by each political party and people cast votes for parties rather than for people. For every 60,000 votes cast in an election for a particular party, one candidate on that party's list joined the Reichstag.

National and district lists existed, and if at least 13,000 votes remained in a district election after all candidates were elected, those 13,000 would be added to the national list. (But no party was allowed to have more delegates elected from the national list than from the district list - a party had to win at least 60,000 votes in one district for any candidate to be elected from the national list.)

Because of this system, the size of the Reichstag varied highly based upon voter turnout.

 Disadvantages  :

1) This system of proportional representation encouraged the proliferation of "splinter parties"

2) This system of weakened personal bond between voters and candidates: With the "party list" system, it was hard to know for whom you were voting

Gleichschaltung

'Coordination'

the process by which social and political insitutions were realigned to conform with National Socialist principles

"Systematic demolition of the republic's federal structure and the centralization of all power in Berlin" (Kitchen 65). Nazification of public space - professions, politics, clubs...

"SA thugs and party activists storming town halls and local government offices, chasing terrified officials away and hoisting the party's swastika flag" (65). Authorities in Berlin claimed this chaos was due to the inability of state governments "to maintain law and order [so] Article two of the Reichstag Fire Degree was used to replace [state officials] with loyal Nazis. Police chiefs were also replaced by the party faithful" (65).

- no plan = local SA took control.

SA

Sturmabteilung

'Attack Unit'/ 'Storm Troops'

"Brown-shirted storm section for NSDAP led by the "air ace" Goering (Kitchen 51).

First active paramilitary organization of the NSDAP -

Actively pursued an invasion program hoping to recruit members while attacking Communist/Social Democrat groups. (Rosenhaft)

Orchestrated the 'coordination' campaign by using intimidation and violence to push out non-Nazi state officials.

Night of Long Knives = purge of SA after Rohm affair

The Reichstag Fire Decree (28 February 1933) :

  the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State

9pm Feb 27th smoke seen billowing out of Reichstag - "Within minutes a dim-witted Dutch anarchist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was arrested in the Bismarck room and confessed to having set the building on fire. The National Socialists promptly announced that this was part of a Communist plot" (Kitchen 63). "The claim that the Communists were behind the faire was soon shown to be false, and an author suggesting Nazis were involved in the fire later suggested evidence was fabricated. "Most historians now believe that van der Lubbe acted alone, but the suspicion that the Nazis were involved still lingers" (Kitchen 63).

Hitler heard of fire and enraged, ordered Communist functionaries shot and KPD deputies in Reichstag hanged and Prussian Ministry of Interior drafted emergency decree Feb 28th : the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (Kitchen 63-64). "It rendered the state of emergency permanent and suspended all the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution. A number of crimes, among them aroson and treason, were made subject to the death penalty. Summary arrests were permitted and opponents of the regime could be flung into concentration camps under 'protective custody'... Wilhelm Frick as minister of the interior could now disregard the sovereign rights of the states if he deemed that law and order were in jeopardy. This was an important step towards dismantling Germany's federal structure and creating a national police force. Althoug the decree was ostensibly designed to meet a communist threat, and although...no evidence whatsoever [appeared] that the KPD was involved, it remained in force until May 1945, so that the Weimar constitution was effectively suspended" (Kitchen 64). KPD functionaries shot Feb 28th and about 7,500 arrested but KPD not banned so as to preserve leftist split between KPD and Social Democrats (64).

Ernst Röhm,

Head of the SA  1930-1934

- served in General von Epp's Freikorps and "played an enthusiastic part in the White Terror" (46).

- responsible for disarmament of Bavarian army and supplied weapons to extreme right wing groups with his position (Kitchen 46).

Organized the SA August 1921 - officers mostly from Ehrhardt's Organisation Consul (OC) - specialized in political murder, protecting Hitler and terrorizing political opponents. Local army units trained the SA in basic military skills. Goring first in charge to reign in Ehrhardt's men in 1923 but soon Ehrhardt withdrew his men from the SA - After failed Hitler putsch Rohm built new national paramilitary org called Vanguard designed to be independent from the NSDAP; Hitler decided to found another org totally loyal to him - the SS. (Kitchen 219)

1926 Hitler placed the Vanguard/ SA under Pfeffer von Salomon's control in hopes of controlling it (Kitchen 220), but it became too independent and by 1930 Hitler took control himself, instituted an oath of allegiance to himself, and gave control to Rohm (223).

Yet Rohm and the SA felt betrayed by Hitler's allegiance with old elites in rejecting the Young Plan (which would have reduced war reparations but forced Germany to still pay something) - Rohm hoped to build NSDAP based on the army while army hoped to bring SA under its control. (Kitchen 226)

Agreement made to unite SA, the Stahlhelm (veteran's paramilitary org) and other groups under Reichswehr ministry as reserve army - Rohm divided enlarged SA into 3 groups with SA and Stahlhelm as 'Active SA.' Rohm wanted control of eastern frontier and of national defense generally despite Hitler's desire to keep military experts in the field, and Hitler's favor of Rohm kept him from making a decision. He asked for compromise, which led to Reichswehr role as 'sole bearer or arms' and SA role in training for pre- and post-military training. "Goebbels was disgusted at Hitler's characteristic prevarication and did everything he could to bring about Rohm's downfall" (227). Despite bad-mouthing Hitler soon after and an SA general denouncing him, Hitler continued to prevaricate (227). A plot emerged with Reichenau, Heydrich, this general and eventually Himmler to denounce Rohm for supposedly plotting against Hitler, but Rohm had already talked with Hitler personally and was sent on medical leave for a month. June 1934 however von Papen made speech to try line between extremists (NSDAP) and conservative authoritarianism and Hindenburg's advice to Hitler was construed to mean the violent SA would have to be restrained. Hitler personally arrested Rohm at Bad Wiessee and discovered a couple of men in bed together at this same place; all 6 SA men at Bad Wiessee (except Rohm) were executed that evening. The next morning codeword 'Hummingbird' unleashed the 'Night of Long Knives' where dissidents of all sorts, including Rohm, were shot under the premise a coup had been under way (despite the fact most of the evidence had been fabricated). (228-29)

Heinrich Himmler

Reichsführer-SS and Chief of German Police

Joined NSDAP 1925 after joining with Rohm and Gregor Strasser "and worked as Strasser's secretary. He remained in Bavaria when Strasser moved to Berlin and did hitler's bidding with slavish devotion. Hitler rewarded his loyal myrmidon with a series of promotions" (Kitchen 220).

 SS created in response to Rohm's Vanguard org - Hitler wanted group totally loyal to him after the failed putsch so in 1925 he formed the Protection Squad. After two leaders who didn't work out Himmler appointed Reichsfuhrer SS January 6 1929 (Kitchen 220).

During 'Coordination' March 1933 Himmler made police chief in Munich and head of Bavarian Secret Police w/ Heydrich as assistant (Kitchen 65)

March 21 1933 decree issued making 'insidious attacks' on govt or NSDAP illegal, to be tried in party courts. "On the following day Himmler as head of the SS opened the first official concentration camp at Dachau, near Munich, to provide accommodation for those who transgressed this new law. SS-Oberfuhrer (Brigadier) Theodor Eicke was appointed commandant. There were already some 40 odd informal concentration camps built by the SA, the SS and the police...but this was clearly an inadequate means of dealing with 100,000 political prisoners. On June 20 1934 the SS was made solely responsible for the concentration camps, which were henceforth guarded by the SS Death's Head Units" (Kitchen 66).

Elite SS units called Special Commandos (SS-Sonderkommandos), later named Political Stand-by Groups (Politische Bereitschaftsgruppen), assisted local police chiefs in tracking down political opponents and in keeping the SA in order (Kitchen 224).

By 1934 with Frick's decision to end the federal system and amalgamate police forces Himmler was given control of all secret police (except Prussian police-Goring's territory) - despite his consent, Himmler was in competition with Frick as Minister of the Interior (where the interior ministry had been the only national police force). (Kitchen 226)

Gestapo was initially the arm of the Prussian police - SS infiltrate it and begin steering it toward Himmler's intentions. Himmler recognizes he's in a losing battle and hopes to team up with Goering against Frick. (class)

To gain favor with Goring, Himmler agrees after much persuasion to help in framing a Rohm putsch and presenting it to Hitler - Kitchen presents this as a move to gain control of the Gestapo, controlled by Goring at this point (228). June 30th Night of Long Knives

"On 24 April 1934 Goring appointed Himmler Inspector of the Gestapo in order to strengthen his hand against Frick. This was the first major step towards creating a national police force, a process that was completed in 1936" (Kitchen 74).

"Himmler believed that Germany's destiny lay in the east where Slav 'subhumans' were to be driven out and agricultural settlements founded for the younger sons of the peasantry" (Kitchen 221).

Expected SS to be 'racially pure' and to reproduce extensively - hopes not exactly realized re: families but he did convince RuSHA to create "a set of racial cirteria for admission to the SS" (Kitchen 232). Encouraged impregnation of unmarried women, who could give birth at SS Lebensborn clinics, and attempted to break SS men away from Christian religions toward neo-paganism (234). Known as a 'blood and soil apostle' who "wallowed in a mythical German past" (Kitchen 44) he pursued a supposedly original copy of 'Germania' by Tacitus in hopes of 'discovering a truly German past' (Sheridan's Hist:Idea of Europe course). He believed in Atlantis, sought the holy grail, and hoped to revive an ancient religion, which "Hitler found utterly absurd" (Kitchen 53)

 "In the final stages of the Third Reich Himmler and Gording were instantly dismissed when they tried to go their own way" (Kitchen 79).

Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany, 1925-1934

Elected president 1925 (Kitchen 36) directly by the people (class) - of an older generation, he had helped advise the Kaiser of the war's end in 1918 and pushed for negotiation based on Wilson's 14 points (Kitchen 20). As a monarchist and WWI vet, he was no republican and a war hero (class). By 1932 he and his close associates represented the interests of big business, the agrarians and the military; he "was known to dislike Hitler intensely" (Kitchen 55).

von Papen sought to oust Schleicher from the position of Chancellor (after 57 days and a failed welfare program) and planned to control Hitler - offered the office of Chancellor to Hitler but lacked the authority; only Hindenburg as President could appoint a Chancellor (Kitchen 55). After Hindenburg refused this appointment outright twice, von Papen arranged a meeting January 20, 1933 with Hindenburg's son Oskar and Hitler, where Oskar "was much impressed by what he heard" (Kitchen 56). Despite this Hindenburg refused the appointment until he had placed reliable conservatives into key cabinet positions (like the army minister); then, "convinced that Hitler's bid for a one-party dictatorship would fail for lack of parliamentary support, Hindenburg's objections were finally overcome" and January 30 Hitler was appointed Chancellor (Kitchen 57).

April 7 1933 Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service passed which excluded Jews (one Jewish parent or grandparent) - Hindenburg insisted Jews in the civil service before Sept 1st 1914, who had served in WWI, or whose father or son had been killed in the war should be exempted. This exemption was upheld but only until Hindenburg's death (Kitchen 101-102).

Hermann Göring, Minister-President of Prussia,

Commander of the Luftwaffe, Plenipotentiary for the Four-Year-Plan

First to lead the organization Rohm organized - the SA (Kitchen 46).

By 1933 had been chosen by von Papen and Hitler to act in Hitler's new cabinet as 'minister without portfolio,' one of only two Nazis in the first cabinet once Hitler took power (Kitchen 57) Also minister of the interior in Prussia and in April, air minister (Kitchen 60). As president of the Reichstag, he refused to allow Communist deputies to take their seat at the first Reichstag after Hitler's appointment as chancellor, which gave NSDAP and allies the majority vote (Kitchen 66-67).

Created the Gestapo in 1933 and in 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices. Göring's standing with Hitler was greatly reduced by 1942, with the Luftwaffe unable to fulfill its commitments and the German war effort stumbling on both fronts. Göring largely withdrew from the military and political scene and focused on the acquisition of property and artwork, much of which was confiscated from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler asking to assume control of the Reich. Hitler then removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest. After World War II, Göring was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the night before the sentence was to be carried out. (wikipedia)

Hitler sought to push for autarky and made Goring "Commissioner for the Four Year plan, which gave him absolute power over industry and labour, thus overriding all other ministries" except the ministers of munitions Todt and Speer (Kitchen 85).

Hosted an "ambition of becoming commander-in-chief of the armed forces" and resented the army for opposing expansion of the Luftwaffe - helped Hitler in 1938 to replace top army officials with men loyal to Hitler (Kitchen 87-88).

1937 Goring briefly appointed minister of economics - amalgamated the four year plan and the ministry of economics "and the ministry beacme the executive ogan of the Plan" although this did little to actually lessen shortages (Kitchen 125).

"In the latter stages of the war Goring spent most of the year hunting and playing with his electric trains in his vast palace Karinhall" (157).

RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), or “Reich Security Main Office,” est. 27 September 1939)

1939 Reichs Security Main Office - RSHA - unifies Security police in amalgamated state, criminal police and all other divisions - all become centralized in Berlin just in time for war (class)

Sept 27, 1939 Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) instituted with 6 sections : (Kitchen 241)

I Organization and law

II Ideological investigation

III Domestic intelligence

IV Enemies of the state

V Criminal investigation

VI Foreign intelligence

SD kept alive by Ohlendorf and associates despite overlap in roles - still separate party organizations. SD became largely concerned with foreign intelligence, then with forming murder squads - Einsatzgruppen

Einsatzgruppen

Special troops - units formed within the SD with the goal of liquidating the Polish intelligentsia and state elite. 5 Einsatzgruppen (each with at least 400 men) "followed behind the army and immediately set to work murdering tens of thousands of the Polish elites. By the end of September 1939 Heyrich boasted that only 3% of the Polish leadership remained alive" (Kitchen 246).

Arthur Nebe (Einsatzgruppe B commander) and Otto Ohlendorf (Einsatzgruppe D commander) "were the only section heads of the RSHA to play a major direct role in the mass murders in the Soviet Union....the rest remained in Berlin and left the actual killing to others. The men were recruited from all branches of Himmler's SS and police empire." They were however not forced to participate in the mass murders if they decided they could not (Kitchen 254).

After the Polish invasion, the number of Einsatzgruppen increased with the invasion of the USSR and Crimea - commanders demanded that "Einsatzgruppen should 'liquidate' the Jews in the areas under their command, insisting that they were a dangerous source of disease and supporters of the Soviet partisans" (256). "The army for its part was grateful for the work of the Einsatzkommandos dealing with 'partisans,' an umbrella term which soon came to include Jews, 'Asiatics', Gypsies and any other group that was felt to be objectionable.

'Aryanization'

Kaplan defines as "the complete takeover of Jewish assets" (21).

Began in 1933 with a series of boycotts of Jewish businesses offically sanctioned and unofficially organized, evolved into harassment, then emerged in the form of emigration taxes. Policy of 'Aryanization' culminated in economic ordinances passed after November pogrom 1938 where Jewish people were officially forced to sell firms and property to Aryans, assets were taxed and all money was ordered into blocked accounts controlled by the state (Kaplan 145-46).

This policy effectively destroyed the ability of the Jewish population to survive economically by forcing the sales of all Jewish businesses, preventing the employment of Jewish people in non-Jewish businesses, and evicting Jewish residents from Aryan-owned homes.

This was highly profitable to non-Jewish Germans, who bought up these businesses and properties which had defaulted (from owners whose businesses had been forcibly sold) at extremely low prices (Kaplan 21)

Operation T-4

Euthanasia program to eliminate the population with disabilities, mental illnesses or addiction problems

National Socialist Womanhood

Its activities included instruction in the use of German-manufactured products, such as butter and rayon, in place of imported ones, as part of the self-sufficiency program, and classes for brides and schoolgirls.[2] During wartime, it also provided refreshments at train stations, collected scrap metal and other materials, ran cookery and other classes, and allocated the domestics conscripted in the east to large families.[2] Propaganda organizations depended on it as the primary spreader of propaganda to women.[3]

The NS Frauenschaft reached a total membership of 2 million by 1938, the equivalent of 40% of total party membership. (Wikipedia)

Higher SS and Police Leaders

HSSPF's

Hoehere SS und PolizeiFuhrer - usually ended up leading Einsatzgruppen - regional leaders, usually role imposed upon SS- Oberabschnitt Fuhrers (party leaders of districts) and only obedient to direct orders from either Himmler or Hitler. (wikipedia)

The 'Edelweiss Pirates'

The origins of the Edelweißpiraten can be traced to the period immediately prior to World War II, as the state-controlled Hitler Youth was mobilized to serve the state, at the expense of the leisure activities previously offered to young people. This tension was exacerbated once the war began and youth leaders were conscripted. In contrast, the Edelweißpiraten offered young people considerable freedom to express themselves and to mingle with members of the opposite sex, whereas Nazi youth movements were strictly segregated by gender

The first Edelweißpiraten appeared in the late 1930s in western Germany, comprising mostly young people between 14 and 18. Individual groups were closely associated with different regions but identifiable by a common style of dress with their own edelweiss badge and by their opposition to what they saw as the paramilitary nature of the Hitler Youth.

Although they rejected the Nazis' authoritarianism, the Edelweißpiraten's nonconformist behaviour tended to be restricted to petty provocations. Despite this, they represented a group of youth who rebelled against the government's regimentation of leisure and were unimpressed by the propaganda touting Volksgemeinschaft ("people's community").

During the war, many Edelweißpiraten supported the Allies and assisted deserters from the German army. Some groups also collected propaganda leaflets dropped by Allied aircraft and pushed them through letterboxes. It is believed that they carried out several assassinations of Gestapo Officers.

Apart from gatherings on street corners, the Edelweißpiraten engaged in hiking and camping trips, defying the restrictions on free movement, which kept them away from the prying eyes of the totalitarian regime. They were highly antagonistic to the Hitler Youth, ambushing their patrols and taking great pride in beating them up. One of their slogans was "Eternal War on the Hitler Youth"

The Nazi response to the Edelweißpiraten was typically harsh. Individuals identified by the Gestapo as belonging to the various gangs were often rounded up and released with their heads shaved to shame them. In some cases, young people were sent to concentration camps or prison.^{[citation needed]} On October 25, 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered a crackdown on the group and in November of that year, a group of thirteen people, the heads of the Ehrenfelder Gruppe, were publicly hanged in Cologne. Some of these were former Edelweißpiraten. The Edelweißpiraten hanged were six teenagers, amongst them Bartholomäus Schink, called Barthel, former member of the local Navajos. Fritz Theilen survived.^{[citation needed]}

Nevertheless, government repression never managed to break the spirit of most groups, which constituted a subculture that rejected the norms of Nazi society. While the Edelweißpiraten assisted army deserters and others hiding from the Third Reich, they have yet to receive recognition as a resistance movement (partly because they were viewed with contempt by many of their former Youth Movement comrades, because of their 'proletarian' background and 'criminal' activities) and the families of members killed by the Nazis have as yet received no reparations. (wikipedia)

Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of Security Police and SD

Since Himmler claimed control of state police, Heydrich appointed as his assistant

Goals of Wannsee Conference: affirm authority of Reinhard Heydrich (and hence of Security Police) over Jewish question and put a stop to unauthorized killing of German Jews deported into Poland (not supposed to be killed yet). 2. Clarify who would be killed or not/ who would be deported. Focus = German Jews mainly. Which Jews first - schedule of action emerges. (class)

Volksgemeinschaft (“The Racial Community”)