Hermann Beck

This article focuses on the complex relationship between National Socialists and reactionary nationalists, including members and supporters of the conservative German National People’s Party and the conservative bourgeoisie between 1929 and the onset of World War II. Commonalities—such as a shared extreme nationalism, a preference for authoritarian solutions, support for rearmament, and strong revisionist goals regarding Versailles—are deceptive. The Nazis’ social revolutionary ideology fuelled their animosity towards the conservative establishment and led to ongoing political tensions. The Nazi-conservative relationship was lopsided since, despite Nazi attacks, conservatives sought to minimalize friction and basked in the illusion that the Nazis could be tamed despite clear signs to the contrary. With few exceptions, conservatives continued to cooperate with the National Socialist regime, even after the writing was on the wall in 1933.

This chapter on the period of the Nazi seizure of power focuses on the events between 30 January 1933, when Hitler became chancellor, and the Röhm purge in June 1934, with an emphasis on political developments in the winter and spring of 1933. Highlighting the repressive decrees of February 1933 that blazed the trail for a semi-legal takeover of power, culminating in the Reichstag Fire decree, the chapter then examines the results of the 5 March 1933 elections, the Nazi takeover of the German states, repressive measures against the Left, widespread grass-roots violence, and the NSDAP’s revolutionary actions, capped off by the Enabling Act. The Nazi Gleichschaltung policy—the ‘bringing into line’ of social groups from trade union, professional, artisan, civil service, and retail merchants’ associations to sports and leisure clubs, suppressed any potential opposition. Widespread censorship and repression of public criticism grew in intensity, from the introduction of the ‘Perfidy Ordinance’ to public book burnings. Less well known is the widespread anti-semitic violence of the late winter and spring 1933. This chapter shines a spotlight on the attacks, pillory marches, and murders that fueled this violence, as well as the (non-)reaction of German society. Despite repression and violence, many Germans expressed enthusiasm for the “national awakening” promised by the new regime, which initially enjoyed immense popularity. This popularity survived the spell of disillusionment and dissatisfaction that set in during the autumn and the chaos of the Röhm purge in June 1934, which ultimately consolidated the position of the Nazi Party, giving it free rein.