2009/01/01 by Dietrich Orlow · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Italian Fascism and Post-war Society #European history and politics #German History and Society
paper · doi:10.1057/9780230617926_4
openalex publication_date 2009/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
In the mid-1930s the Nazis seemed to go from success to success, while the West European democracies appeared to lurch from crisis to crisis. No wonder that Western European fascists thought they could smell victory ahead. In reality, of course, this picture of fascist successes and democratic failures was largely wishful thinking. After the death of Reich president von Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler added the powers of the president’s office to those of the Reich chancellor. The Reichswehr and the Neo-Conservatives, grateful for what they perceived as Hitler’s help in beating back the Stormtrooper radicals, readily accepted the former corporal as head of the Reich and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The rulers of the Reich began to move against what they saw as the remaining obstacles to establishing Nazi totalitarianism. Among the prominent targets were the Christian churches and Germany’s Jews. The Nazis were determined to ultimately eliminate the churches as an institutional force in German society. Goebbels wrote in his diary, “Hitting the churches hard. We want to become a church ourselves.” 1 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.