Berlin 1933 episode 3

Berlin 1933 episode 3 – In a dramatic display of power and propaganda, Adolf Hitler orchestrates a magnificent and grandiose celebration in Nuremberg, symbolizing the growing dominance of his regime within Germany. This event not only showcases the might of the Nazi party but also reflects the increasingly isolated stance of Germany on the international stage. The country, under Hitler’s rule, finds itself more and more alienated from the global community as its internal policies and aggressive posturing become apparent.

 

 

During this period, any form of political dissent or opposition within Germany is ruthlessly suppressed and declared illegal. This authoritarian move cements Hitler’s unchallenged control over the nation. In a notable incident highlighting this oppressive atmosphere, a visibly enraged Hermann Göring takes the stand during the highly publicized Reichstag fire trial. Göring’s testimony and demeanor during the trial exemplify the intense political climate and the regime’s aggressive tactics against perceived enemies.

As the year draws to a close, the United States Ambassador to Germany, William E. Dodd, makes a significant visit, encountering a Hitler who is increasingly belligerent and seemingly eager for conflict. This meeting underscores the growing tensions and the ominous direction of Hitler’s foreign policy objectives.

The transformation of Berlin over the course of the year is stark and unsettling. Once a vibrant and diverse city, it now stands as a shadow of its former self, completely engulfed in the ideology of the Nazi party. The city’s cultural and political landscape has been overhauled to align with the singular vision of one political party, one ideology, and one leader – the Führer, Adolf Hitler. This transformation marks a chilling and definitive shift in the history of Berlin, as it becomes the epicenter of Nazi power and propaganda.

Berlin 1933 episode 3 – The Rise of Hitler’s Germany: Grandeur, Isolation, and the Silencing of Dissent

In 1933, Adolf Hitler staged a grand celebration in Nuremberg, displaying the Nazi Party’s growing power in Germany. Yet as the regime’s influence increased domestically, the country was becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage. Within Germany’s borders, Hitler systematically eliminated political opposition and expanded the Nazi police state. By the year’s end, the nation had undergone a stark transformation now firmly under Hitler’s control.

The Nuremberg Rally: A Spectacle Propagating Nazi Ideology

On September 1933, Hitler hosted a massive rally in Nuremberg, attended by over half a million Nazi supporters. The annual Nürnberg Rally was orchestrated into a spectacle glorifying the party and attracting Germans to its nationalist cause. This elaborately choreographed event entailed marches, speeches by Hitler and other Nazi leaders, and displays of propaganda. Through this grandiose affair, the Nazis disseminated their ideology to the populous and demonstrated the regime’s firm grip over the country.

The rally’s visual magnificence and patriotic slogans nurtured a sense of national rebirth in a country battered by its World War I defeat and subsequent economic travails. Images of crowds cheering fanatically for Hitler and the Nazis promoted solidarity under the regime’s banners. This manufactured fervor attracted non-members toward the party fold. The event also exhibited the organization and might of the Nazi paramilitary groups like the SS and the SA. Overall, the rally provided a platform to propagate party ideology on a mass scale.

Global Alarm Over Hitler’s Bellicosity

While Hitler increased his stranglehold domestically, his aggressive foreign policy fostered global unease regarding Germany’s intentions under Nazi rule, leading to the nation’s political isolation. His decision to withdraw from the 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations signaled German rearmament and militarization would proceed unchecked. This alarmed France and other European powers.

Additionally, Hitler’s warlike rhetoric and territorial demands, especially regarding the Rhineland and other neighboring regions, raised suspicions abroad about his expansionist ambitions. The regime’s withdrawal from multilateral initiatives and lack of cooperation with former wartime enemies worried international observers. Calls for ethnic Germans living outside the country to unite with the fatherland stirred instability in those regions. This aggressive irredentism further isolated Germany.

Overall, the Nazi regime’s diplomatic unilateralism generated distrust among world powers. The global community grew increasingly estranged from Hitler’s Germany as the specter of another catastrophic war haunted Europe. Their apprehensions proved well-founded in retrospect after Germany’s invasions sparked World War II.

Göring’s Fury at the Reichstag Fire Trial – Berlin 1933 episode 3

Amidst growing totalitarianism, an incendiary event in 1933 enabled Hitler to eliminate political opposition through coercive means. The February arson attack on the Reichstag parliament building was swiftly pinned on Communist agitators. Hitler exploited the crisis to pass an emergency decree clamping down on civil rights.

In the subsequent trial, Nazi minister Hermann Göring vented his fury at the defendants, seen as dissidents jeopardizing Germany’s recovery. His verbal assaults exemplified the regime’s vitriol toward dissenting voices. The spectacle of the trial and Göring’s polemics sent an unequivocal warning that anti-Nazi resistance would be met with retaliation.

With the public inclined to accept Communist guilt, the defendants were given severe sentences. More importantly, Hitler leveraged the crisis to pass the Enabling Act, which granted him dictatorial powers and banned all political parties except the Nazis. Over the following months, Communist, Socialist, and liberal leaders were arrested; their newspapers shuttered. By year’s end, the Nazis had detained and purged political opponents en masse, entrenching their dictatorship.

The Gestapo: Ruthlessly Silencing Dissent

Among Hitler’s first moves after the Enabling Act’s passage was the establishment of a formidable anti-resistance apparatus in the form of the Gestapo. The Nazi secret police had sweeping authority encompassing arbitrary arrest, surveillance, and even torture to eliminate perceived security threats.

The Gestapo meticulously compiled extensive registers on known and potential dissidents. Its officers infiltrated socialist and liberal circles to uncover plots against the regime. Respected community leaders, like German cleric Martin Niemöller who criticized Nazi policies, were prosecuted. Punishments ranged from imprisonment in concentration camps to execution.

These harsh tactics had a chilling effect on wider society, ensuring even ordinary citizens were afraid to openly voice dissent. Through these actions, the Gestapo helped Hitler crush internal opposition and exert totalitarian control. Its far-reaching powers stifled resistance, allowing Nazi ideology to monopolize German life.

The Persecution of Jews and Hitler’s Quest for Conquest

As Hitler eliminated political threats in 1933, he also escalated persecution of Jewish citizens, a long-standing pillar of Nazi ideology. This oppression intensified over the decade, culminating in the Holocaust’s mass killings. Abroad, Germany pursued aggressive expansionism, overrunning European neighbors by 1939 to achieve Hitler’s vision of national revival.

Marginalizing Jews: Arbitrary Arrests and Economic Coercion

Nazi hostility toward Jews intensified in 1933 as SA paramilitaries stand outside Jewish-owned stores, discouraging Germans from patronizing these businesses. This facilitated the April boycott where SS troops also targeted and vandalized Jewish commercial sites. Together, these measures economically marginalized Jews, supplementing legalized discrimination like civil service employment bans.

The regime also resorted to arbitrary arrests of Jews, especially targeting intellectuals, professionals, and community leaders to undermine solidarity. Overall, these coercive acts reinforced the social ostracism of German Jewry. They foreshadowed graver actions like Kristallnacht’s organized vandalism of Jewish sites in 1938 and eventually, mass extermination campaigns.

The Church’s Acquiescence Amid Rising Anti-Semitism

The Catholic Church’s response to increasing anti-Jewish radicalism remained largely muted in 1933, foreshadowing its later passivity during the Holocaust. Despite moral concerns, high-ranking clergy offered no meaningful resistance to Nazi racial ideology and policies.

Lower-level clergy directly exposed to SA violence toward Jews showed more unease but limited their reactions to piecemeal protests. However, Church media outlets gradually temporized their criticisms over 1933 to avoid state reprisals. This demonstrated the Church’s vulnerability to regime pressure, which silenced condemnation despite devout members’ shock at unfolding oppression.

Overall, institutional Catholicism’s reluctance to decisively counter anti-Semitism facilitated the Nazis’ pursuit of ever-escalating racial goals, culminating in genocidal extermination. The Church prioritized self-preservation over intercession as state-backed hatred metastasized.

Rearmament and Territorial Revision: Catalysts of Conflict

As internal dominance grew, Hitler directed Germany’s revival via extensive rearmament and aggressive territorial expansion, policies that undermined European order and peace. Though the 1919 Treaty of Versailles imposed strict limits on Germany’s postwar military, Hitler openly challenged these, announcing rearmament plans in 1933. The regime then scaled up weapons production and conscription.

Regionally, Hitler supported ethnic German nationalist groups’ agitations to forcibly reassign border territories to Reich control, beginning with the Saar region and later the Sudetenland. This “unification” rhetoric cloaked Germany’s true expansionist aims. Britain and France anxiously appeased each annexation, fearing war. But their hesitance only fueled Hitler’s ambitions and demands.

By 1939, territorial revision evolved to outright invasion with Germany forcefully occupying Czechoslovakia. Weeks later, German troops also entered the disputed Danzig corridor in Poland, sparking declarations of war from Britain and France. Yet in 1939 alone, blitzkrieg offensives also overcame Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These actions belied Hitler’s quest to “unify” ethnic Germans; instead, his acquisition of lebensraum (living space) for a Third Reich across Europe triggered the Second World War.

US Envoy Dodd: Hitler ‘Itching for Conflict’

American ambassador William Dodd offered valuable firsthand perspectives on pivotal early Nazi moments. After attending the excessively theatrical 1933 Nuremberg Rally, Dodd recounted his unease at Hitler’s glorification while dissenting voices faced violent suppression. That year he also described ominous political purges, train carriages filled with prisoners, and even corpse-strewn streets as the regime eliminated opposition groups, actions hidden by censorship.

By 1937, Dodd’s initial hope that moderates could temper extremists proved overly optimistic, writing presciently, “Hitler does not wish peace unless Germany gains European domination.” Discussing later territorial seizures, he noted Hitler was “burning with desire for war which he feels will make him the chief power in Europe.”

Dodd’s unique vantage point chronicled the regime’s rapid consolidation domestically and aggression abroad. His portrait of Hitler unwilling to moderate expansionist objectives accurately depicted the Führer as, ultimately, “an Austrian [peasant] …itching for a fight.” Events proved Dodd astute in gauging that only armed conflict could satiate Hitler’s appetite for mastery. Neither appeasement nor allied rival deterrence could forestall this epic global clash.

The Gestapo: An Ever-Present Menace to German Society

The Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) emerged as a ubiquitous enforcer of loyalty and compliance with Nazi dictates across German society. Relying on denunciations from ordinary citizens and a growing network of informants, the secret police expanded surveillance to identify and arrest any “security threats.”

Its sweeping and arbitrary powers enabled intimidation tactics that cowed wider society through disappearances of shady individuals overheard questioning policies or prominent dissenters like outspoken mayors. Left unchecked, local officers increasingly employed unauthorized abuse such as extralegal torture against detainees during interrogations. After investigation and extraction of forced confessions, prisoners were dispatched to concentration camps for “re-education” featuring lethal conditions and brutalization.

By 1939, acceding to activist officers, Gestapo oversight expanded from a narrow political police role toward increased social interventions against broader target groups. Victims now included “work-shy” individuals, Roma “itinerants,” and Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused oaths to Hitler.

More commonly, enforcement shifted towards rigid crackdowns on non-conformists unwilling to demonstrate sufficient patriotism, targeting Swing Jazz teens, non-participating spectators at rallies, and church youth hiking on Sundays. Constant threat of arrest for trifling transgressions environmentally conditioned obedience across German society.

The Holocaust’s Mass Extermination and the Outbreak of World War II

As Hitler secured absolute control within Germany, his quest for lebensraum ultimately catalyzed World War II, bringing catastrophic devastation across Europe. This concluding phase also witnessed the Holocaust’s horrific mass killings, the regime’s most heinous genocidal act representing the apex of its radical anti-Semitic ideology.

Kristallnacht Pogrom: Harbinger of Extermination

The 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom marked a significant escalation in Nazi violence toward Jews. Lasting two days, mobs led by party officials vandalized Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues across Germany and Austria. The rioters’ unchecked destruction presaged a regime now bent on eliminationist solutions to its proclaimed Jewish Frage (Jewish Question).

The pogrom directly claimed over 90 Jewish lives but far more devastating was the arrest and imprisonment of 30,000 Jewish men in concentration camps. Though after international outcries many were released over the subsequent year, the regime henceforth institutionally segregated German-Jewish populations from mainstream society as a transitional phase preceding systematic murder.

SS Einsatzgruppen and Death Camps: The Genocide Intensifies

Following the 1939 invasion of Poland, SS death squads (Einsatzgruppen) operated with impunity in newly occupied territories in the East, executing ethnic Poles and Jews by the thousands in mass shooting actions throughout the countryside. Local Eastern European collaborators also frequently joined the battalion-strength SS units as they perpetrated elimination of educated elites and community leaders as part of the racial colonization.

Shocked observers reported back regularly to Britain about witnessing roving execution squads murdering Jewish families or wiping out entire village populations. However, once Germany stabilized most territorial conquests under administrative control by early 1940, systematic killings shifted from these mass field actions towards industrialized genocide via stationary death camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka constructed in remote locations.

Almost all European Jews perished, whether confined in disease-ridden urban ghettos and starved, or deported in cattle cars for immediate gassing. Ultimately six million total were slaughtered, representing two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. This unprecedented genocidal act stands amongst humanity’s greatest evils.

The Third Reich’s Downfall

Germany’s early conquests convinced many observers by 1940 that Hitler had achieved mastery of Europe; Allied resistance seemed hopeless. However, later that year the defiant British denied him victory. And in 1941, Hitler’s massive invasion of the Soviet Union became disastrously stalled by weather and stiff Russian defenses near Moscow, marking the offensive’s first significant reversal.

With industrial overstretch and Allied bombing depleting resources, the influx of US manpower and materiel slowly tipped the war’s balance during 1942-43. Fighting multi-front battles against an implacable Red Army resurgence from the East and joint American-British-Canadian forces relentlessly advancing from Sicily to Normandy after D-Day, Germany’s overextended forces fought with fanatical futility, hoping to bleed her enemies into offering a negotiated armistice.

Trapped with crumbling fronts and intense Soviet pressures enclosing Berlin itself, Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. One week later Germany surrendered unconditionally, ending both the 12-year Nazi regime and 6-year global conflagration it birthed. An utterly devastated Germany faced both physical wreckage and moral horror at Nazi-authored devastation across Europe and genocidal crimes.

Conclusion Berlin 1933 episode 3

The year 1933 proved pivotal as the Nazi consolidation of absolute power in Germany correlated with increasing bellicosity and racism externally, leading ultimately to global war and genocide. Initially, moves like the Nazification of culture and public life attracted non-ideologues drawn towards the regime’s charismatic dynamism promising national rebirth. However, the horrific consequences and violent costs later revealed about the regime’s totalitarian nature and eliminationalist racial programs rebounds through history as cautionary lessons.

Perhaps the enduring lesson is how an apparently civilized society can facilitate a minority-seizing radical regime. Their simplistic, emotional solutions seduced a desperate populace rendering it willing to abandon democratic principles and institutions for security promises and scapegoating of marginalized groups during an economic crisis. Thus, vigilance remains imperative to counter demagogues appealing to man’s worst impulses.

Frequently Asked Questions – Berlin 1933 episode 3