National Socialism and the Second World War

The seizure of power in 1933

On 30 January 1933, Reich President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Reich Chancellor. National Socialist rule began with that. It lasted until the end of the war in 1945. At the time, the Reich President was the head of state of the Weimar Republic.

In a short time, the National Socialists abolished democracy. They set up a dictatorship, that is, rule without free elections and without real control by parliament and the courts. Power lay with the Nazi leadership. The so-called “Third Reich” was precisely this dictatorship.

Anyone who voiced criticism had to expect persecution. Many people lived in fear.

Rule without freedom

In the Nazi state there was no democracy and there were no free elections. The election in March 1933 took place under pressure and on unequal terms. Afterwards other parties were banned or dissolved themselves. In the end only the NSDAP (Nazi Party) remained.

The regime involved, among other things:

• the banning of parties
• press censorship, that is, state control of newspapers and the media
• arbitrary arrests
• the persecution of Jews
• a policy of state racism

Freedom of the press, the free development of the personality and effective protection of human dignity were missing.

The Second World War and the end of the war

The Second World War began in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland. It lasted until 1945. The First World War, by contrast, lasted from 1914 to 1918.

On 8 May 1945, the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht came into force. That ended the war in Europe. Adolf Hitler had taken his own life at the end of April 1945. His death alone did not end the war, however.

The war cost millions of lives. For many countries in Europe, the end of the war meant the end of occupation and oppression.

Racism and the pogrom night of 1938

The Nazi state was marked by state racism. Under National Socialist racial ideology, people were excluded, stripped of their rights, persecuted and murdered. The persecution of Jews was a central part of this.

Jewish people were stripped of their rights, forced out of professions and deported to camps. In the Holocaust, the National Socialists murdered around six million Jews from all over Europe. Sinti and Roma, people with disabilities and political opponents were also persecuted and murdered.

In the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, National Socialists and their supporters destroyed synagogues, Jewish shops and homes all over Germany. The riots are often called the “Reichspogromnacht” (November pogroms). They were organised by the state and were directed against the Jewish population.

Resistance: the assassination attempt of 20 July 1944

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg became known through the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. On 20 July 1944, he brought a bomb into Hitler's headquarters. The attack failed; Hitler survived. The coup attempt that followed also failed.

Stauffenberg belonged to a group of men and women who opposed the regime. 20 July is seen today as a symbol of German resistance against National Socialism.

Remembering today: 27 January and Stolpersteine

Since 1996, 27 January has been the national day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism. On this day in 1945, the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp was liberated.

Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) are small brass memorial plaques set into the pavement in front of people's former homes. They commemorate, with names and dates, people who were persecuted or murdered by National Socialism.

SourcesDeutsches Historisches Museum: NS-Regime und Zweiter Weltkrieg↗Deutsches Historisches Museum: Etablierung der NS-Herrschaft↗Deutscher Bundestag: Der 8. Mai 1945 in der deutschen Erinnerungskultur↗Bundesarchiv: Ernennung Adolf Hitlers zum Reichskanzler↗Bundesarchiv: Reichspogromnacht↗