Klagges overruled him. After the national power grab of the Nazi party in January , Braunschweig, sooner than elsewhere, experienced dismissals, arrests of political opponents, street violence, and book burning. Gassner first hid and then fled the state, resigned while in Bonn, and was arrested upon his return to Braunschweig. On May 1, , Klagges announced on the steps of the university that Nazi party member Paul Horrmann was its new president. By then, democracy and university autonomy were dead.
This question has been discussed extensively by local historians—and by the protagonists themselves after At least three factors came together. First, the divide between the center-right the alliance parties in the coalition and the center-left the SPD, or social democrats was deeper in Braunschweig than elsewhere in Germany, probably due to the experience of an SPD-only government from to Second, the street violence and verbal intimidations by Nazi groups, including paramilitaries, created an atmosphere of fear.
Even before the national power grab, individuals who had spoken out against the Nazis were anxious about their personal safety. In their own statements after , centrist and center-right politicians argued that they tried to contain the Nazis by integrating them into government, which they expected would eventually undermine their voter support.
That was a costly miscalculation. My interest in this history is very personal. Not only is Braunschweig my hometown, but my grandfather was a junior professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig, working closely with Gustav Gassner, the president who stood up to the Nazis but was imprisoned and went into exile in Turkey.
Recognizing the importance of learning from history , and family memories in particular, I believe this history holds important lessons on the rise of Nazism in Germany—and thus also on how similar excesses can be prevented in the future. For voters, be informed and engaged. Evidence of any accomplices was never found. The Nazi leadership was quick to arrive at the scene. Not a moment must be lost! Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down. It formed the basis for the dictatorship.
The civil rights of the German people were curtailed. Freedom of expression was no longer a matter of course and the police could arbitrarily search houses and arrest people.
The political opponents of the Nazis were essentially outlawed. In this atmosphere of intimidation, new elections were held on 5 March The streets were full of Nazi posters and flags. Nevertheless, the great victory hoped for by the Nazis did not materialise.
With Meanwhile, the arrests and intimidation were on the increase. The government banned the Communist Party. By 15 March, 10, communists had been arrested. In order to house all these political prisoners, the first concentration camps were opened. The circumstances in the camps were atrocious. People were ill-treated, tortured, and sometimes killed. Jews and well-known Germans in particular had a rough time of it.
SS guards at the Dachau camp, near Munich, for instance, took four Jewish prisoners outside the gates, where they shot them dead. The guards then claimed that the victims had tried to escape. On 23 March , the Reichstag met in Berlin. The main item on the agenda was a new law, the 'Enabling Act'.
It allowed Hitler to enact new laws without interference from the president or Reichstag for a period of four years. The building where the meeting took place was surrounded by members of the SA and the SS, paramilitary organisations of the NSDAP that had by now been promoted to auxiliary police forces. In his speech, Hitler gave those present the choice between 'war and peace'.
It was a veiled threat to intimidate any dissenters. Other opponents such as the ex-Chancellor General von Schleicher, were also murdered. Methods of increasing control By Hitler was a step closer to his goal of having complete control of Germany. The crushing of opposition The Reichstag Fire. The Reichstag on fire. In Germany, six million are unemployed by June Economic distress contributes to a meteoric rise in the support for the Nazi Party.
As a result, the Nazi Party wins the votes of almost 40 percent of the electorate in the Reichstag German parliament elections of July The Nazi Party becomes at this point the largest party in the German parliament.
November 6, Nazis lose support in parliamentary elections In the Reichstag German parliament elections of November , the Nazis lose almost two million votes from the previous elections of July. They win only 33 percent of the vote. It seems clear that the Nazis will not gain a majority in democratic elections, and Adolf Hitler agrees to a coalition with conservatives. After months of negotiations, the president of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, will appoint Hitler chancellor of Germany in a government seemingly dominated by conservatives on January 30, Hitler stayed in power from until he died by suicide in We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia.
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