Hitler's dictatorship — Reichstag Fire to Fuhrer
When Hitler took office on 30 January 1933 he had a cabinet of three Nazis among eight conservatives, no Reichstag majority, and a Vice-Chancellor (Papen) who believed he had ‘hired’ him. Eighteen months later he was Fuhrer, the SA was decapitated, the army had sworn a personal oath of loyalty to him, and every other political party was illegal. This lesson tracks how Hitler turned the Chancellery into a dictatorship between 30 January 1933 and 2 August 1934 — using legal forms, manufactured emergencies and one weekend of state murder.
The Reichstag Fire, 27 February 1933
A month after Hitler's appointment, the Reichstag building burned down. A young Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was found at the scene with matches and firelighters. Most current historians accept he acted alone, but the Nazis exploited the fire as if it were the start of a Communist uprising. The next morning, 28 February, Hindenburg signed the Decree for the Protection of the People and State. It suspended freedom of speech, assembly and the press, allowed unlimited detention without trial, and permitted the central government to take over state powers. Roughly 4,000 KPD activists were arrested in the first wave.
The decree was passed using Article 48 of the Weimar constitution — the same emergency provision Hindenburg had used to govern Germany since 1930. Once signed, it was never repealed. The legal foundation of the Third Reich was a single emergency decree justified by a single act of arson.
The Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933 was probably the work of a lone Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe. The Nazis used it to justify the Decree for the Protection of the People and State on 28 February. That decree suspended civil liberties for the entire life of the regime — it was never repealed.
The March 1933 Election and the Enabling Act
A new Reichstag election had already been called for 5 March 1933. With KPD candidates in jail and SA squads breaking up SPD meetings, the Nazis still won only 43.9% of the vote — not the majority Hitler had wanted. With the DNVP's 8.0% on top, however, he had a working coalition. The new task was the Enabling Act: a constitutional amendment letting the cabinet pass laws without the Reichstag or the President for four years. Because it changed the constitution, it required a two-thirds majority.
On 23 March 1933, in the Kroll Opera House (the Reichstag was still ruined), the Act was put to the vote. The KPD's 81 deputies were already in jail or fled. The Centre Party was bargained into voting yes by Hitler's vague promise to protect Catholic schools. Only the SPD's 94 deputies voted against. The final vote was 444 in favour, 94 against. Hitler now ruled by decree on the cabinet's signature alone — legally, with the Reichstag's own consent.
The Act was a constitutional amendment with five articles. The crucial one was Article 2, which let the Reich government pass laws that ‘deviated from the constitution’. Within four months it had been used to outlaw trade unions (2 May 1933), ban the SPD (22 June), and dissolve all other political parties (14 July, declared a one-party state). It was renewed in 1937 and 1939 and remained in force until 1945. The Enabling Act made Hitler a legal dictator. It did not make him Fuhrer — that came in August 1934.
Gleichschaltung — Bringing Germany Into Line
From spring 1933 the Nazis pursued Gleichschaltung — literally ‘coordination’ or ‘bringing into line’. Federal state governments were placed under Reich Commissioners (April). Trade unions were broken on 2 May 1933 — the day after Labour Day rallies, the SA stormed union offices and arrested leaders. Their assets were transferred to a new state body, the German Labour Front (DAF), under Robert Ley. Strikes were illegal. Wages were set by Reich Trustees of Labour.
In June and July 1933 the SPD was banned and the remaining parties dissolved themselves. On 14 July 1933 a Law Against the Formation of Parties declared the NSDAP the only legal party in Germany. The civil service was purged of Jews and political opponents under the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (April 1933). Within six months Germany had a one-party state, no independent unions and a politicised bureaucracy — all without overturning the formal constitution.
The Night of the Long Knives, 30 June 1934
By 1934 Hitler faced one remaining problem inside the Nazi movement itself. The SA, now four million strong under Ernst Rohm, wanted a ‘second revolution’. Rohm wanted the SA to absorb the Reichswehr (army) and become a true revolutionary force. The Reichswehr generals refused to be subordinated to street-fighting brownshirts. With Hindenburg dying, Hitler had to choose between the army and the SA — and he chose the army.
Between 30 June and 2 July 1934 the SS, on Hitler's orders, murdered the SA leadership. Rohm was shot in his cell at Stadelheim Prison. At least 85 people were killed; some estimates run to 200. Old enemies were settled along the way: Schleicher and his wife were shot at home; the Catholic conservative leader Erich Klausener was murdered in his office; Strasser was killed in Gestapo custody. On 13 July 1934 Hitler defended the killings to the Reichstag, calling himself ‘the supreme judge of the German people’. The SA was reduced to a propaganda formation; the SS rose under Himmler.
The Reichswehr leaders had a deal. Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg had agreed in spring 1934 that if Hitler removed the SA threat, the army would back him as Hindenburg's successor. The purge delivered on this. Within five weeks Hindenburg was dead and the army swore the Hitler Oath of personal loyalty to the Fuhrer in person. The Reichswehr had bought Hitler's protection from the SA at the price of its own independence as a state institution.
Hindenburg Dies; Hitler Becomes Fuhrer
On 2 August 1934 President Hindenburg died, aged 86. Within hours Hitler announced that the offices of Chancellor and President would be merged. He took the new title Fuhrer — head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief in one person. The same day every officer and soldier of the Reichswehr swore a personal oath of loyalty — not to the constitution, not to Germany, but to Hitler personally. A 19 August plebiscite endorsed the merger of offices with 88% of the vote.
Eighteen months after his appointment Hitler had used law (the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act), state violence (the SA purge) and contingency (Hindenburg's death) to turn a coalition Chancellor of three Nazis among eleven into the unchallenged dictator of a one-party state. The Weimar constitution was technically still in force. In practice it had ceased to exist.
The Enabling Act of 23 March 1933 made Hitler a legal dictator. The Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934 destroyed the SA threat and bought army loyalty. The death of Hindenburg on 2 August 1934 let Hitler merge the offices of Chancellor and President, taking the title Fuhrer. Three different acts — do not confuse them.