Working Towards the Fuhrer Working Towards the Fuhrer Very often, and in many places, it has been the case that individuals, already in previous years, have waited for commands and orders. Unfortunately, that will probably also be so in future. Rather, however, it is the duty of every single person to attempt, in the spirit of the Fuhrer, to work towards him. Anyone making mistakes will come to notice it soon enough. But the one who works correctly towards the Fuhrer along his lines and towards his aim will in future as previously have the finest reward of one day suddenly attaining the legal confirmation of his work Werner Willikens Prussian State Secretary of Agriculture Hitlers Style of Government Emergency powers of Enabling Act meant that Hitler had to sign laws into being Access to Hitler crucial Bureaucratic competition Hitler liked the Darwinist competitive element and felt that it made for better laws Radicalisation of Fascist program as years passed Foreign Affairs Preference Liked to Appear Above Domestic squabbling Gleichschaltung Co-ordination of State Control Diagram page 188 of Hite, Hinton
Hitlers Lackadaisical Style Hitler alone made all the important decisions he never involved himself in details and let other get on with carrying out his big decisions. He almost never wrote things down he would gather other top Nazis together at lunch or for late evening chats and they would have to listen then go away and try to carry out his wished as best they could. Hitler did not work hard he got up late (10am), had a long lunch, some afternoon appointments and then watched films in the evening. Hitler rarely stayed in one place for long he moved between his Reichschancellory in Berlin and his house on BERGHOF in Bavaria. Favouritism Access to the Fuhrer was the key to power Divining Hitlers Will? Consolidate regime Rearmament National Revival Foreign Affairs Volksgemeinschaft Lebensraum Racial Purity Self-sufficiency
Write a paragraph outlining the Fuhrers will for each of these priorities Hitlers Totalitarian Contradictions Keeping the Reichstag Sign Laws as per the Enabling Act Renew the Enabling Act every Four Years Huge Advertising and Election Campaigns Use of Plebiscites Courting of Foreign Correspondents Guns and Butter Darres Fat Climbdown
If Hitler and the Nazis were so in control of Germany, explain why they bothered with any of these Hitlers Diplomatic Revolution Plan something Audacious Eg Break a Treaty of Versailles Condition Ignore cautious traditional naysayers Maintain Absolute Secrecy until everything is ready Present the Fait Accompli In Reichstag for added legitimacy Propaganda offensive Present Germany as the wronged nation Hold a Plebiscite to Confirm Triumph Case Studies Re-introduction of Conscription Saar Rhineland
Dr Hans Heinrich Lammers 1879 - 1962 Chief of Reich Chancellery 1933 1945 National Conservative Civil Servant DNVP to 1932 Nazi from 1932 Hitlers Legal Adviser Controlled access to Hitler Could promote or Kill any proposals All draft legislation had to go through Lammers De Facto leader for months at a time Rudolph Hess 1894 - 1987 Sycophantic and Loyal Edited Mein Kampf Deputy Leader of Nazi Party Minister without Portfolio Deputy Fuhrer from 1933 Third behind Goring from 1939 Overloaded with responsibilities Became meaningless Treated with suspicion Flew to Britain in 1941 Heinrich Himmler 1900 - 1945 Head of SS 1929 Head of Political Police 1933 Head of Prussian Gestapo 1934 Head of Police 1936 Set up Dachau 1933 Huge influence with Hitler Pandered to racial purity prejudices Loyal, brutal and ambitious Terrorised Opponents and Allies alike Built SS into a huge State within a State
Himmler Speech to SS Officers, 1943 "Our principle must be absolute for the SS man: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and to no-one else. What happens to the Russians, what happens to the Czechs, is a matter of utter indifference to me. Such good blood of our own kind as there may be among the nations we shall acquire for ourselves, if necessary by taking away the children and bringing them up among us. Whether the other people live in comfort or perish of hunger interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture. Whether or not 10,000 Russian women collapse from exhaustion while digging a trench interests me only in so far as the tank ditch is completed for Germany." Hermann Goering 1893 - 1945 Prussian Prime-Minister and Minister of Interior Head of Luftwaffe Ostentatious and Corrupt Head of Four Year Plan 1936 Re-armament Autarky Cuts across existing ministries Economic, foreign exchange, labour, raw materials, prices, Competed with Hess, Himmler & Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels 1897 - 1945 Minister of Enlightenment & Propaganda If you tell a lie, tell a big one Experimental Colour film Parades Womaniser Chastised by Hitler for bringing Nazis into disrepute Many Rivals and enemies within Nazi Party Poison dwarf Loss of some influence once Nazis achieved power Hence anti-Jewish campaigns Krystalnacht 1938
Reinhard Heydrich 1904 - 1942 Head of SD SS Security Service Intelligence and counter-intelligence Competed with Military Intelligence Himmlers Second in Command Blonde Aryan However, doubts over Jewish ancestry Used by rivals to undermine him Virulently anti-semitic Chaired Wannasee conference Einsatzgruppen Commander 1939 Assassinated 1942 in Czechoslovakia Martin Bormann 1900 1945? Hesss Deputy In charge of Nazi Finances and Administration Behind the scenes Frequently close to Hitler Replaced Hess when Hess went AWOL Hitlers Secretary in 1943 Capable of preventing Himmler, Goebbels and Goering from seeing Hitler Dr Fritz Todt 1891 - 1942 Civil Engineer to SS Colonel 1931 Inspector General of German Roads and Highway System 1933 Grew it into Ministry of Construction Todt Organisation All Transport Autobahns Military Fortifications Seigfried Line Forced Labour Camps Minister of Armaments and War Production 1940 Became Pessimistic with War with Russia Declining confidence of Hitler Frustrated at equipment inconsistencies and poor planning Killed in Air Crash 1942
Albert Speer 1905 - 1981 Hitlers Architect Hitler an architectural enthusiast Designs for Berlin and for Nuremburg Speer promoted into inner circle Minister for Armaments and War Production, 1942 Responsible for remarkable increase in war production despite round the clock bombing and all out war Used Hitlers confidence in ministerial bickerings
Robert Ley 1890 - 1945 Nazi Party Chief of Organisation 1932 Succeeded Strasser Headed DAF on break up of Trade Unions Frustrated at having power of DAF pulled from under him Hitler more interested in Re-armament and production levels Conditions and pay whittled away The Reich Drunkard Loud, coarse and alcoholic Wilhelm Frick 1877 - 1946
Reich Minister of the Interior Responsible for Racial Laws Advocated Administrative Reform and Clarification Ignored by Hitler Lost power to Himmlers Police Department Officially replaced by Himmler in 1943 Became Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia Everything which is useful for the nation is lawful; everything which harms it is unlawful Joachim von Ribbentrop 1893 - 1946 Wealthy wine exporter Purchased von from a relative Late Nazi - joined in 1932 Lent his Berlin home to Hitler in 1933 Incompetent and Vain Special Plenipotentiary to Britain Infuriated career diplomats To break Stresa Front Naval 35% deal Ambassador to Britain in 1936 Foreign Minister 1938 Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939 Shocked the World Influence Bernard Rust 1883 - 1945 Dismissed as teacher 1930 for molesting a student Reich Minister of Science, Education and Popular Culture 1934 Purged educational establishments of undesirable teachers Made Nazi party membership compulsory for teachers Extensive redesign of curriculum to conform with Nazi volksgemeinschaft Deeply loyal to Hitler Hjalmer Schacht 1877 - 1970 Hitlers Banker Respected Nationalist Economist President of Reichsbank Minister for Economic Affairs Rehabilitated Nazi Economics Mefo Bills p 216 Allowed re-armament to be undertaken Not an Anti-Semite Jews an important economic sector! Resigned in 1937 when full war preparation was undertaken Implicated in Hitler assassination plot 1944 Ends war in concentration camp Richard Darre 1895 - 1953 Reichsminister of Food and Agriculture Friend of Himmler Idealised Peasant Instrumental in turning Nazis from an Urban to a Rural party Blood and Soil Difficulties supplying food World Wide Depression Markets cut off Guns and Butter problem Brought Hitler problems not solutions Relieved of position 1942
Debate Topic Hitler was an effective Dictator! Open For (1) Open Against (2) Rebuttal For (3) Rebuttal Against (4) Cross Examination For (5) Cross Examination Against (6) Conclusion For (7) Conclusion Against (8)
Nazi Government Nominally maintained Weimar Ministerial System Cabinet meetings held but declining p195 Hitler disliked collegial government Discouraged meetings between ministers Ministries re-organised All Ministers Nazis by 1937 Conservatives eased out Access to Hitler essential Lammers Head of Chancellery Hess Head of Nazi Party Force of Character essential to promote own Ministery The Radicalisation of Nazism Consolidation needs to be completed Hindenburg Weimar Institutional Restraints Removed Competitive Government No Collective Responsibility Favouritism Rewarded Radical Proposals more likely to be noticed by Hitler Hitlers Rising Popularity Foreign Affairs Takes Credit, avoids blame Nazi Hubris Believe own propaganda and infallibility Believe Plebiscite results Intimidation SS, Gestapo Lack of Concerted Opposition Internally and externally The Regimes External Critics Group Grievances Advantages In Opposing Nazis Disadvantages In Opposing Nazis Jews Sopade Churches Youth Groups Foreign Governments The Regimes Internal Obstructionists Were there any brakes on Nazi Radicalisation? Group Grievances Advantages to Slowing Nazis Disadvantages to Slowing Nazis Some Army High Command Some Career Diplomats Some Civil Servants Traditional elite