Hitler's rise to power
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Ian Kershaw note the links between the Nazis and the German political and economic establishment, as well as the significance of the Night of the Long Knives in which Hitler purged much of the left-leaning elements (such as the Strasserites and Ernst Röhm) in the Nazi Party. This was done at the insistence of the SS, the German military establishment and conservatives.
Hitler's relationship with non-Nazi parties was complex and often involved shifting alliances. His rise to power was ultimately facilitated by conservative Franz von Papen and right-wing German President Paul von Hindenburg, while other groups on the political center and right-wing opposed him. The political left-wing opposed Hitler until the end, but its two main factions - the Social Democrats and the Communists - failed to agree on a common strategy to block the Nazis' rise to power.
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The final act
The Nazis came to power through an alliance with some traditional conservative factions, although they experienced opposition from others. Franz von Papen, a conservative former German Chancellor and former member of the Catholic Centre Party, supported Hitler for the position of Chancellor. Political and corporate engineering, which began immediately prior to 30 January presidentially appointed Hitler Chancellorship, continued through to 23 March Enabling Act and gave Hitler dictatorial power. This Act passed with the support of the corrupt and discredited Huguenbergian German National People's Party (DNVP), a few liberals, and all conservative and centrist deputies in the constitutionally-disabled and effectively rigged Reichstag. This remaining bloc easily defeated the sole opposition of the Social Democrats, because a large proportion of the Communists had been either arrested or murdered.Late 1932
Among the conservative forces who opposed Hitler, the most notable was Kurt von Schleicher, the chief Army political general and fixer who held the Chancellorship after von Papen's cabinet of barons, the failed aristocratic attempt at administration. Von Schleicher in late 1932 attempted to construct a "cross front" that would unite anti-Hitler factions on the right and center-left in the Reichstag. His failure to do so allowed Papen's second rise to power inside a Hitler coalition, and it was the failed but still power-hungry Franz von Papen who paved the way for this Decreed January/February Coalition and then for Hitler's MarchThe engineering of Hitler's
The maverick ex-Centre party leader and ex-chancellor von Papen was the chief engineer for Hitlerism. He squared the Industrial Magnates and business class, squared the Bankers, squared the weapon-hungry Officer class and, through his personal influence with President Paul von Hindenburg, squared the landed Junkers. Von Papen intrigued between Hindenburg's son Oskar and the still despised Adolf Hitler. He then squared the Church through his aristocratic Catholic credentials and Vatican contacts made during his own Chancellorship. Von Papen persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Hitler into the 30 January 1933 minority and appointed cabinet with the aim of ensuring that he, von Papen and the vested German political forces, would control Hitler. He is famous for saying that Now we have him where we can control him. Hindenburg accepted this DNVP/Nazi majority and rejected or did not understand the last minute von Schleicher threat of an Army putsch to resolve the crisis. Such a threat would, in fact, have saved the country from Nazism, but it was anathema to the terminating presidential ambition. (See Wheeler-Bennett.)
Hitler succeeds
Hitler achieved in this brief period a complete solution to all the most intractable parliamentary problems of Weimar Germany, and his concept of fulfilling the needs of others whilst entering into power succeeded in such a manner as to carry enormous propaganda value to the German people. The people had been suffering the torments of un-resolveable parliamentary conflicts through so many short-lived administrations that Hitler's masterstroke was overwhelming. In the November 1933 one-party Elections, Nazism gained 92.2% of the Electorate. A euphoria swept Germany in the intervening months as the long-awaited nationalist and economic saviour of the Reich fulfilled all his promises towards economic recovery.Preceding administrations had psychologically paved the way for dictatorship by having repeatedly acted without the consent or cooperation of the Reichstag. Dependent on flimsy alliances and existing under Decree Rule 48 for Presidential appointments, the Reichstag had one power alone, which was to precede a further and generally dreaded election with a vote of no confidence. The very concepts of democracy were subject to widespread disdain as a result of this inability to achieve lasting balance of administration.
Rhenish-Westphalian industrial magnates
Reported as bankrupt in December 1932, the NSDAP or Nazi Party was in fettle financial health by the middle of January because the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial magnates had assumed responsibility for its debts. These financial and industrial leaders had put the Nazi party back into the political arena after a large drop in the pro-Nazi vote in November 1932. In return, they had gotten promises to be paid back as, if and when Hitler came to power. It is reported that "without the formidable assistance of the industrialists the Nazi party would have foundered on the rocks of bankruptcy." (The Nemesis of Power by John Wheeler-Bennett, Macmillan 1953.)
The magnates petitioned President Hindenburg after the November elections seeking the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor. Amongst the 38 signatories of the petition were Hjalmar Schacht, Fritz Thyssen, Alfred Krupp, Siemens AG, Bosch and the heads of Hamburg-Amerika and the North German-Lloyd Shipping Lines. Hitler was assiduous in fulfilling his promises after achieving the chancellorship by eliminating the Communists, abolishing the trade unions, forcing no nationalization of industry and beginning rearmament on a huge scale.
Representing the industrial and financial force supporting Hitler, Hjalmar Schacht was accused at the Nuremburg trials, but cleared of the charges, of conspiracy to wage an aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced in the de-nazification proceedings. See also the Krupp Trial was a similar trial, away from Nuremburg, where more war criminals were tried.
See also
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