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The German word Gleichschaltung (literally "Synchronising"; synchronization) is used in a political sense to describe the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of authoritarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The term itself is a typical Nazi euphemism.The Nazi party's desire for total societal control required the elimination of all other forms of influence. The period from 1933 to around 1937 was characterized by the systematic elimination of non-Nazi organizations that could potentially influence people, such as trade unions and political parties. The regime also assailed the influence of the churches, for example by instituting the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs under Hanns Kerrl. Organizations that the administration could not eliminate, such as the schools, came under its direct control.
In a more specific sense, Gleichschaltung refers to the legal measures taken by the government during the first months after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. In this sense, the term was used by the Nazis themselves.
- One day after the Reichstag fire on February 27February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 307 days remaining, 308 in leap years. Events 1560 The Treaty of Berhick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland 1594 H, 1933, the increasingly senile President of GermanyThe President of Germany (German: Bundesprasident is the head of state of Germany. The office today is largely ceremonial, and to prevent the problems that occurred with the Weimar Republic, the Basic Law carefully limits the President's power. Powers In Paul von HindenburgPaul von Hindenburg (full name Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( October 2, 1847 August 2, 1934) was a German general and politician born in Posen in Prussia (now Poznan, Poland), as the son of the Prussian Robert von Beneckendorff und von Hinde, acting at Hitler's request, issued the Reichstag Fire DecreeThe Reichstag Fire Decree (in German, Reichstagsbrandverordnung is the commonly used abbreviation for the law that was passed by the Nazi government in direct response to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933. It took the government only one day to pass. This decree, of very questionable constitutionality, suspended most human rightsHuman rights natural rights are rights which some hold to be "inalienable" and belonging to all humans, according to natural law. Such rights are believed, by proponents, to be necessary for freedom and the maintenance of a " reasonable" quality of life. provided for by the 1919Events January January 1 Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company January 5 Spartacist uprising Socialist demonstrations in Berlin turn into attempted communist revolution with Spartacist League in the forefront January 9 Spartacus constitutionThe Constitution of a given organisation defines its form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules. To view particular constitutions, refer to the list of national constitutions. The term comes from Latin constitutio which referred to any of the Weimar RepublicThe period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (in German Weimarer Republik ). It is named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after Germany's defeat in World War I. and thus allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for general terrorizing by the SA to intimidate the voters before the upcoming elections.
- In this atmosphere of terror, the Reichstag general elections of March 3, 1933 took place. Surprisingly, these yielded only a slim majority for Hitler's coalition government and no majority for Hitler's own Nazi party.
- When the newly-elected Reichstag first convened on March 23, 1933, (not including the Communist delegates, since their party had already been banned by that time) it passed the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz), transferring all legislative powers to the Hitler government and in effect abolishing the remainder of the Weimar constitution as a whole. Soon afterwards the government banned the Social Democratic party which had voted against the Act, while the other parties chose to dissolve themselves to avoid arrests and concentration camp imprisonment.
- The "First Gleichschaltung Law" (Erstes Gleichschaltungsgesetz) (March 31, 1933) gave the governments of the Länder the same legislative powers that the Reich government had received through the Enabling Act.
- A "Second Gleichschaltung Law" (Zweites Gleichschaltungsgesetz) (April 7, 1933) deployed one Reichsstatthalter ( proconsul) in each state apart from Prussia, which had already been under Nazi control since the Preußenschlag of July 20, 1932. These officers were supposed to act as local presidents in each state, appointing the governments. For Prussia, which comprised the vast majority of Nazi Germany anyway, Hitler reserved these rights for himself.
- The Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches ("Law concerning the reconstruction of the Reich") ( January 30, 1934) abandoned this concept. Instead, the political institutions of the Länder were practically abolished altogether, passing all powers to the central government. Consequentially, another law dating February 14, 1934 dissolved the Reichsrat, the representation of the Länder at the federal level.
- In the summer of 1934, Hitler instructed the SS to kill Ernst Röhm and other leaders of the Nazi party's SA, former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and several aides to former Chancellor Franz von Papen in the so-called Night of the Long Knives. These measures actually received retrospective sanction in a special one-article Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense (Gesetz über Maßnahmen der Staatsnotwehr) ( 3 July 1934).
- At nine o'clock in the morning of August 2, 1934, Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg died at the age of 86. Three hours before, the government had issued a law to take effect the day of his death; this prescribed that the office of the Reichspräsident should be united with that of the Reichskanzler and that the competencies of the former should be transferred to the " Führer und Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler", as the law stated literally. Hitler henceforth demanded the use of that title. Thus the last feeble remains of separation of powers were abolished.
