The Nazi Consolidation of Power (1933–1934)

Becoming Chancellor was only the beginning

When Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, he had gained an important government office, not complete control of Germany. President Hindenburg remained in office, the Reichstag still existed, and opposition parties, trade unions and regional governments could obstruct Nazi ambitions. The professional army was another powerful institution whose support Hitler needed.

Consolidation of power meant removing these obstacles and making Nazi rule secure. During 1933–1934, Hitler combined emergency powers, legislation, violence and cooperation with influential groups. Institutions that might have checked the government were weakened, taken over or persuaded to cooperate.

The Reichstag Fire opened the way to emergency rule

On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building burned down. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was arrested. Responsibility for the fire remains debated, but its political importance is clear: Hitler exploited it to portray communism as an immediate threat to Germany.

The Nazis claimed that the fire marked the beginning of a communist uprising. This frightened people who feared revolution and helped Hitler present repression as a necessary defence of public order.

Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, using the President’s emergency powers under Article 48 of the Weimar constitution. It suspended constitutional protections including freedom of speech, press and assembly, privacy, and protection against arbitrary arrest.

These changes had practical consequences. Political opponents could be detained without trial; communist newspapers were banned and party offices attacked. Thousands of communist and socialist leaders were arrested. Police and Nazi paramilitaries could disrupt opposition campaigning while claiming emergency authority.

This was a crucial suspension of the protections of the Weimar constitution, rather than its complete abolition in one step. It weakened opposition and prepared the ground for further changes.

The March election did not give the Nazis a majority

The election on 5 March 1933 took place amid repression and intimidation. The SA and SS acted as auxiliary police, attacking and intimidating left-wing opponents. Nazi campaigning repeatedly warned of a communist revolution, while opponents struggled to campaign freely.

Even under these conditions, the Nazis won only about 44% of the vote, gaining 288 of the Reichstag’s 647 seats. They did not win an outright majority on their own.

Hitler therefore still relied on other means of securing parliamentary control. Cooperation with the nationalist DNVP helped him command a majority, while excluding communist deputies weakened the opposition further. He also sought support from the Catholic Centre Party, promising to protect the rights of the Catholic Church.

The election mattered because Hitler could claim popular approval while using intimidation, exclusion and political deals to obtain powers that the Nazi vote alone had not delivered.

The Enabling Act weakened parliamentary government

On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act. Nazi stormtroopers intimidated deputies, while communist deputies were excluded. Centre Party support helped secure its passage.

The Act empowered the Cabinet to make laws without obtaining approval from the Reichstag or Hindenburg. Those laws could depart from the Weimar constitution. Parliament therefore lost its central role as a check on government legislation.

The distinction from the Fire Decree is important. The decree removed individual freedoms and allowed repression; the Enabling Act gave the government a route to change laws without parliamentary consent. Together, they made it much easier to dismantle democratic institutions.

The Act retained formal restrictions. It was not simply a lawful grant of unlimited personal power to Hitler. Nazi dictatorship developed through the use of these powers alongside intimidation and the disregard of remaining restrictions.

Bringing institutions into line

The Nazis used Gleichschaltung, meaning coordination or bringing into line, to make institutions serve Nazi rule. Their aim was to prevent independent centres of authority from challenging the national government.

Regional governments were brought under Nazi control. On 31 March 1933, a coordination law redistributed seats in regional parliaments using the March election results, excluding communist seats. This weakened regional independence and extended Nazi influence beyond the national government.

Control of policing was also important. In February 1933, Göring established an auxiliary police force made up largely of SA members and removed opponents from the police. Nazi activists now possessed official powers of detention and arrest. The establishment of the Gestapo in April provided another instrument for pursuing opponents.

The Nazis also removed people they regarded as disloyal from institutions such as the civil service and education. Consolidation involved changing who exercised authority, not merely passing new laws.

Destroying organised opposition

On 2 May 1933, the Nazis closed trade union offices, confiscated their funds and imprisoned their leaders. Independent unions were replaced by the German Labour Front, or DAF, and workers lost the right to strike.

Trade unions had allowed workers to organise collectively and had links with the socialist and communist movements. Destroying them weakened the possibility of coordinated resistance. It also pleased employers who opposed strikes and union influence.

Opposition political parties were also eliminated. On 14 July 1933, the Law against the Formation of Parties declared the Nazi Party Germany’s only legal political party.

Germany had become a one-party state. Opponents could no longer legally organise a rival party or compete for power through elections. This was different from simply winning an election: the Nazis removed the possibility of a lawful alternative government.

Why Hitler chose the army over the SA

Hitler also faced tensions within his own movement. The SA had helped the Nazis rise through street violence and intimidation, but its leader, Ernst Röhm, had ambitions that threatened Hitler’s alliances.

By June 1934, the SA numbered nearly three million men, compared with the professional army’s 100,000, the limit imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Röhm wanted a further revolution that would displace traditional elites, and a new ‘people’s army’ replacing the professional army and its officer leadership. Army commanders therefore saw the SA as a threat to their position.

Hitler needed the professional army’s support for consolidation, rearmament and future military expansion. Army leaders demanded action against the SA, and threatened military intervention if the regime’s radical elements were not controlled. Hitler chose cooperation with them rather than support for Röhm’s ambitions.

Other Nazi leaders, including Göring and the SS leaders Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, encouraged Hitler to act by spreading claims that Röhm was planning a coup. These claims provided a justification for the purge, but Röhm and his commanders were not actually planning to seize power.

The Night of the Long Knives secured army cooperation

During the Night of the Long Knives, 30 June–2 July 1934, Hitler ordered a purge of the SA leadership. The SS, led by Himmler, carried out the killings. SA leaders were arrested on 30 June, and Röhm was shot in prison on Hitler’s orders on 1 July.

The purge extended beyond the SA. The Nazis also murdered other political rivals, including Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler’s predecessor as Chancellor, and Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi leader. It removed potential challengers both within the Nazi movement and among conservative nationalists.

These were murders outside the law, not the outcome of lawful trials. On 3 July, the Cabinet passed a law retrospectively presenting the killings as emergency action to save the nation. This demonstrated how violence and legislation worked together: the regime committed murder and then claimed legal justification for it.

The purge cemented Hitler’s alliance with the army leadership by protecting the professional army against Röhm’s plans. The SA continued to exist, but never recovered its former political influence. The SS was rewarded for its role and became independent of the SA in July 1934.

Hindenburg’s death and Hitler’s personal authority

President Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934. With the army leadership’s approval, Hitler and his Cabinet had prepared to combine the offices of President and Chancellor. Hitler now became Führer and Reich Chancellor, removing the separate presidency that had stood above him when he first entered government.

A plebiscite, or public vote, on 19 August 1934 confirmed the change. The army also swore a new oath of loyalty to Hitler personally, rather than to Germany’s constitution. This tied military obedience directly to him and showed the importance of collaboration with a powerful institution: Hitler secured the army’s backing rather than destroying it.

The overall pattern was cumulative. Emergency repression weakened opponents, legislation reduced constitutional checks, independent organisations were destroyed, and the purge secured army cooperation. Hindenburg’s death then allowed Hitler to unite the highest offices and complete the central steps towards personal dictatorship.