 Hello and welcome to our video summarizing all you need to know about Hitler and Nazi Germany. My name is Barbara and in this video we'll examine the rise of Hitler and the state of Nazi Germany. Do you remember that this is the third of a four-part video summary series? We'll examine Hitler's life and leadership in the first video, who the Nazis were in the second previous video, the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany in this current video, as well as life in Nazi Germany, as it affected especially women, young people and Jews. This video is really useful if you're studying this topic for your coursework or exams. So let's get started. Now when it comes to Hitler's consolidation of power, within two months of becoming chancellor, he acquired dictatorial powers under the enabling law. In six months Germany had become a one-party state and by August 1934, Hitler had merged the officers of chancellor and president, which previously were separate under the Weimar Constitution, into a new office he had created and he named himself the Führer. Now to understand his consolidation of power and how he used and manipulated the laws to his favor, it's important to understand how he used the laws through this timeline. Now on 4th February 1933, he curtailed freedom of speech by using article 48 of the Weimar Constitution to ban newspapers and political meetings that had what was classed as false information and of course this label is so broad that it was very easy to exploit. On the 27th February 1933, there was the Reichstag fire. Nobody exactly knows historically who set this fire off. However, the Reichstag went up in flames and Mariners van der Loop, a Dutch communist, was discovered there. He was arrested and Hitler used his arrest to claim a communist revolution had started. Van der Loop had no links to the KPD, who really were the only party which has left wing that rivaled support for the Nazis. However, Hitler used this as a pretext to crush any threat that the KPD posed to the Nazis, so therefore he arrested KPD deputies and banned them from the Reichstag, so he was really skillful in manipulating the situation. On the 28th February 1933, the emergency laws for the protection of people and the state to the Reichstag fire decree was implemented and this essentially suspended. In other words, it stopped all rights of citizens for the duration of what was seen as a state of emergency. And again, this is so vague that it was essentially exploited by Hitler to really characterize the majority of his leadership. On the 1st March 1933, there was the alignment of the lander. So the independence of the federal states, which were known as the lander, were curtailed and Germany's federal structure was undermined and power was centralized to Hitler and the Nazi party. On the 21st of March 1933, which was Potsdam day, the Nazis used the opening of the newly created and rebuilt Reichstag so the elections haven't been held on 5th March 1933 to demonstrate the unity of the nation, but also the historic continuity between the Third Reich, Prussia and the German Empire. So the opening of the Reichstag, which had been rebuilt, was moved up to the 21st of March and the main festivities were moved to Berlin to the Potsdam Garrison Church, where Frederick II, so known as Frederick the Great historically, and his father Frederick William I were buried. Former Crown Prince William was present as a guest of honor and representative of the Hohenzelon dynasty. On the 23rd of March 1933, the enabling law was passed and which handed all legislative powers to the government. This law was passed by 444 votes to only 94 which were opposed and really it was only the SPD who were formerly the leaders of government that opposed it. Hitler by that stage no longer needed Heidenberg's signature or Article 48 to use it. He was now free as a result of this enabling law to do as he pleased as the Fuhrer. On 7 April 1933, the law of the restoration of the professional civil service was passed and this enabled the government to dismiss any civil servants who were deemed as, and to quote, unsuitable or to quote, not of Aryan descent. Do bear in mind that Aryan means people who are blond head and blue eyed. This was seen as a really superior race in Hitler's eyes and he wanted to promote this race and of course he also wanted to demote other races that didn't fit into this. On 7 April 1933, the law on the admission to the practice of law was passed which restricted Jews from joining the legal profession. Between 1 to 2 May 1933, there was also the destruction of trade unions. So after granting a paid national holiday on the 1st of May to appease workers, the Nazis occupied union offices throughout the country. Key union officials were arrested and the Nazis announced the creation of the DAF. This out of force against the unions was taken without any legal sanction. Between June to July 1933, there was the disbanding of political parties. So the KPD was banned after the Reichstag fire. The SPD was then banned on the 22nd of June after protesting the enable law and the CCP, which was another party, dissolved itself voluntarily on the 5th of July. And on the 40th of July, the NSDAP, in other words a Nazi party, became the only legal party in Germany and any separate political activity would result in imprisonment for up to three years. On 30 June 1934, this was an important time because this was the night of the Long Knives. So after being convinced by Himmler that Ernest Röhm, who was the leader of the essay, was plotting a coup, Hitler used the SS to purge, in other words, kill or imprison essay leadership and also kill former enemies. On 2nd June 1934, Hitler became a Fuhrer. So this is when Hindenburg, who was the president, died on 2nd August. He merged the offices of chancellor and president and the army, grateful for Hitler's purge of the essay, swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler personally. Now his power was absolute.