1. HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany Lecture 7: Hitler and the Führer State 11 October 2012

2. Historiography on Hitler Who makes history? Individuals OR structures? Who was Hitler? A strong OR a weak dictator? → Intentionalist, programmatist, Hitlerist school/approach/interpretation ≠ → Structuralist, functionalist school/approach/interpretation

3. Schools & Studies (1) Intentionalist, programmatist, Hitlerist school/approach: A. Bullock (Hitler, 1952) J.C. Fest (Hitler, 1973) S. Haffner (The Meaning of Hitler, 1979) K.D. Bracher (The German Dictatorship, 1970) Structuralist, functionalist school/approach: M. Broszat (The Hitler State, 1969) H. Mommsen (Beamtentum im Dritten Reich, 1966) I. Kershaw (The Hitler Myth, 1987)

4. Schools & Studies (2) Integrated school/approach/interpretation: Ian Kershaw (Hitler, 1998) = Merge of intentionalist + structuralist approaches

5. Hitler’s style of government Showing image of statesman & Führer Disregarding government & bureaucracy Opposing daily routine work Expressing Bohemian work + life style Permitting only limited direct access to him Issuing dictatorial orders (Führerbefehle) = No master-plan: Mostly intuitive actions

6. Dualism of State and Party (1) Consolidation/coordination of NS power in Germany’s federal States (1933): Sandwiched: SA terror + NS pressure Police forces partly taken over by SS Dismissal of elected States’ governments Appointment of special Commissioners (Reichsstatthalter = NSDAP district Gau leaders)

7. Dualism of State and Party (2) → Dominant position of NSDAP district Gau leaders in States → Permanent conflicts: States’ bureaucracies ≠ regional/local NSDAP branches → Growing rivalry in better ‘working for Hitler’ ►Dualism of State + NSDAP = First Step into Polycracy

8. Polycratic system (1) Rivalling Power groups: NSDAP: ‘The Party’ (Die Partei) SA (Sturmabteilung) : Storm Detachment SS (Schutzstaffel) : Defence Unit/Elite Guard SD (Sicherheitsdienst) : Security Service Army (Wehrmacht) Big Business Higher levels of government offices

9. Polycratic system (2) Gradual power shift of rivalling groups: SA ☻→ SS ☺ + Army ☺ (1934) Bureaucracy ☻→ NS Special Administrations ☺ Judiciary + Police ☻→ SS ☺ Big Business: peace years ☺ → war ☻

10. Polycracy: Reasons (1) Intentionalist school: A pure chance A consequence of H’s ‘divide and rule’ strategy Structuralist school: The inevitable result of H’s government style H’s unwillingness + inability to regulate systematically power relations

11. Polycracy: Reasons (2) Integrated school/approach: I. Kershaw (Hitler, 1998): H’s chaotic style of government H’s dialectic interplay with structures H’s responsibility for creating ‘political climate’ of NS dynamic-destructive actions

12. Conclusion NS propaganda slogan ‘unity of party and state’ ≠ Dualism / Polycracy → Improvisation, conflict, bureaucratic chaos → Forms of ‘survival of the fittest’ (Social Darwinism) → Hitler not mediating but issuing dictatorial orders → NS constitution never realized = Strong unified Führer State: Only propaganda !