Death of Democracy in Germany 1933 with the Rise of Hitler

Germany in the late 1920's and early 30's was a hotbed of political violence as the weak Weimar Republic, established after the Great War, demonstrated it's inherent weakness and lack of capability to govern. Emerging Nazis, trumpeting Adolf Hitler, were in a fierce combat, often with bloody riots, against the Communists and Social Democrats. There were also Monarchists who clung to the notion that the Hohenzollern dynasty might one day return as well as the Catholic party.

Nazi strategy was to crush the Social Democrats, perceiving them to be the greatest opposition threat. German Communists, however, also prioritized debilitating the Social Democrats and listed them as a greater oppositional fear than the Nazis, despite some KPD (Kommunist Party Deutschland) activists believing the Nazis should be the first priority.  Joining the Nazis against the Social Democrats was a major mistake that would lead to catastrophe for the nation in 1933. Communist leaders that saw the obvious outcome were silenced.

In the several parliamentary elections preceding Hitler's rise to power as Chancellor, Communists and Nazis used every opportunity to browbeat the Social Democrats and dwindle away their parliamentary numbers. But as soon as Hitler gained absolute power, following the February 27, 1933 Reichstag fire, The proverbial die was cast and within hours every Communist leader was arrested, primitive concentration camps had already been erected and were being rapidly filled with men and women considered enemies of the state, and the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) took over many city police stations such as in the large northern city of Hamburg, often considered the "red-est city" in the Republic.

Particular effort was placed on the destruction of key unions, such as those controlling shipping and the harbor docks, and Catholic groups that posed possible threats to Nazi rule. Often, this resulted in fierce fighting within city areas controlled by the Communists. Invariably, the Nazis rooted out all opposition and made prolific use of the axe, cutting off the heads of thousands of opposition activists. Some historians estimate that more Nazi enemies were beheaded during the Third Reich than during the French Reign of Terror. 

Communists and Nazis battled in the streets of many cities. Guns were plentiful, smuggled from Belgium and Russia. Ultimately, the Nazis won and proceeded to ruthlessly suppress Communist opposition.

The Nazi takeover and ultimate German reign of terror could have been avoided if Communist strategies had seen the primary enemy as Hitler and his Brown shirts. But Communist directives were coming from Berlin, Europe's Communist "hub" which was receiving marching orders through the Comintern and ultimately Stalin himself. In Russia it was a period of mistrust, purges, show trials, long sentences served in Siberian labor camps, or death in the dungeons of the Lubyanka. European leaders within the Communist organization often found themselves called to Moscow, never to return.

Everyday Germans faced a choice that involved not only politics but a way of life. Neighbors acting suspiciously were to be denounced to the local Gestapo. Good Nazi children entered the Nazi Youth organizations and the female auxiliary groups. If your family was not a member of the Party, you were literary an outcast. In schools, their children sat in the back of the class. Once Jews were identified, this became a norm in classrooms.

Nazi police stations tortured people mercilessly, attempting to obtain names of other Communists, families that helped hide activists. Once found, entire families: men, women, and children were brought in for questioning and, often, brutalized. *

We, in this enlightened century, have slowly forgotten the dark times that represented Germany in 1932 and 1933. Dachau concentration camp was already built in Munich. And by 1933 it was being filled. The camp was built in a Munich suburb, on a Munich city bus line. Residential buildings virtually surrounded the camp. How can the presence of Dachau be disputed?

The Nazi camp system was like a large octopus, reaching to every part of the Reich. The camp system often starting as transitional camps and hubs, much later leading to the death camps through out occupied Europe.

It only took a few years for Democracy in Germany to be quashed and be replaced by a totalitarian dictatorship. German people were desensitized and stood by as Jews and other "undesirables"  were taken away to camps or, in the east, shot en masse and dumped into graves. 

All it took was people believing a lie, supporting a system whose party leaders lied constantly and spread propaganda. Listening to opposing viewpoints meant arrest and possibly death (such as listening to BBC on the radio or other foreign stations). 

People who lived through that time still recall the horrors and warn that if not careful, it could happen again, even in a solid democracy.

*my grandmother was called to her local gestapo office for not displaying a portrait of Hitler in her living room.