The Beginnings of Concentration Camps for Jews | The Abyss Ep. 4 | Full Documentary

[Music] the nightmare of a new order his people and race crimes against humanity a world of chaos and destruction this is the story of Humanity's Darkest Hour [Music] the abyss foreign 1933 a Nazi film crew documents the early days of Iranian bug concentration camp near Berlin these are supposedly insights into the daily life of political prisoners it's too good to be true there was widespread coverage in a lot of the rest of the world of a lot of the violence and Terror that the Nazis were carrying out particularly the new concentration camps they responded with this sort of sanitized presentation of concentration camps or the denial of the violence that they were causing in a way that we would today call fake news the Nazis present the first concentration camps as places of re-education in 1933 most of the prisoners are their political opponents Communists and social Democrats discipline hard work and a modest lifestyle are to reform them [Music] one of the early prisoners is Social Democrat Member of Parliament Gerhart Sega as early as 1934 he speaks out about the torments in Iranian book it's the truth behind the propaganda I'm sure it's unnecessary to say what's missing from the public version the groans of abused prisoners pictures of the detention cells in short the truth of the hell that is oranian book in December 1933 after nine months of imprisonment Sega escapes in Exile at the end of 1934 he publishes this report about Iranian book in Revenge for his escape the Gestapo arrests zika's wife after International protests they release her she joins her husband in the USA from the very start in 1933 concentration camps are the symbol of Hitler's rule a naked threat of violence against anyone who does not Bend to the dictatorship by Autumn 1934 Hitler has Consolidated his power now he feels secure Hitler always directed the nsdap's energies against a single opponent defeating it before moving on to the next opponent and in the process he made sure his supporters were brutal and violent but never so brutal as to endanger his Coalition with the conservatives foreign [Music] the consolidation of power begins on January the 30th 1933 with Hitler's appointment as rice Chancellor observers expect he'll be a weak head of government and he won't last long in the last three elections in November 1932 roughly a third of Germans voted for the nsdap that means Hitler still depends on outside support especially from the conservatives and nationalists around Vice Chancellor Franz von Papa Hitler's cabinet doesn't command a majority in Parliament his power depends entirely on decrees issued by the 85-year-old Reich president Paul Von Hindenburg Hindenburg believes he can use Hitler for his own ends Hindenburg and the coachery around him think they can use the mass support the Nazis have got to affect the changes they want to make the constitution in a more authoritarian Direction these people think democracy is finished this complete flop it's failed it's not working in Europe there's a widespread belief that only strong governments independent of parties and Parliament can really solve problems [Music] since the beginning of the 1920s several democratic governments have been replaced by authoritarian or fascist regimes 11 of the democracies established after the first world war no longer exist Hitler now insists on new elections he hopes will give him an absolute majority he will use the power of the state to neutralize his political opponents Hermann Goering makes it abundantly clear that the first steps to dictatorship have been taken the second most powerful man in the nsdap now the provisional Prussian interior Minister justifies the coming Terror isms as head of the Prussian interior Ministry gurring can use the police to pursue the Nazis political opponents at the end of 1933 he appoints 50 000 police auxiliaries in Prussia sa and SS men can now hunt Communists and trade unionists with all the authority of the state above all that meant their opponents their victims could no longer report violent attacks of the police the Nazis leave no doubt as to where all this is leading when a Jewish lawyer Mikhail Siegel tries to secure the release of a client in custody he's beaten up by the SS they take his shoes cut off his trousers hang a sign around his neck and parade him through the center of Munich but these pictures appear only in foreign newspapers even the most restrained criticism of the new regime has become rare in German papers [Music] suddenly on the evening of February the 27th the reichstag is in Flames an arrest is made inside the building the young Dutchman marinus Van de Luba admits he set the fire he claims he acted alone the national socialists don't want a single perpetrator they want a communist conspiracy besides Van Der Lube four members of the Communist International who happened to be in Germany are arrested too the trial of the alleged arsonists starts in September 1933. during the trial Hermann Goering takes the witness stand to him the verdict is clear in advance the Foreign Press follows the trial closely the result is disappointing for the Nazis the court acquits the four Communists on the grounds of insufficient evidence [Music] thank you fandeluber is sentenced to death under a law passed specifically for this one case in January 1934 fandelube is beheaded still not known today whether he was part of a conspiracy you have to emphasize the Nazi propaganda was so effective because of prevailing attitudes it invoked a serious threat coming from the Communists and that was a view that found broad Acceptance in society if you say we're not starting it we're reacting to it you'll get a lot more support and that's exactly what the Nazis did right from the start the fire is the cue to start hunting down political opponents that same night thousands are arrested the Communist party is banned a wave of violence engulfs the country right from the start people who were visibly politically opposed to the regime were being arrested rounded up beaten up taken into sellers pulped by the sa it was very very clear that real political opposition was not possible just one day later the terror was declared legal Reich president Hindenburg signed the decree for the protection of the people and the state which remained in force until 1945. basic rights like freedom of speech are suspended this is a really fundamental change this literally tears the heart out of the Weimar Constitution it destroys individual rights it's a thing that really enables Hitler's dictatorship the Nazi Terror receives an apparently Legal Foundation but the tone remains radical but can I cannot be thankful here is from February and March 1933 the national socialists carry out a Clean Sweep with all the powers of the state because Hindenburg has given them carte blanche the first concentration camps are set up bare improvised violence these were Barracks places are having to be standing empty people were simply locked up or stuck in the cellars they were tortured held quite arbitrary and at the same time the nsdap of fighting an election supported by the right president Hindenburg and Hitler together for Germany's future at the reichstag elections on March the 5th 1933 Hitler mobilizes a large number of people who have never voted before the social Democrats and the Catholic Center party almost maintain their vote in spite of Terror and oppression the KPD vote 12.3 percent is declared null and void the Nazis reached 43.9 percent even with all the intimidation they still have no absolute majority Hitler still needs his conservative Coalition partners foreign Frederick Sackett sees the election as a turning point he writes to Washington democracy in Germany has received a blow from which it will most likely not recover Germany has been submerged in a great Nazi wave the much vaunted Third Reich has become reality [Music] broad sections of Germany's population welcomed the end of the Republic the Democrats have surrendered if you look at the year 1933 you see a situation where two-thirds of the population voted against the Republic in the last election they either voted communist or national socialist or for other right-wing parties that were against the Republic that's a very good basis for an authoritarian regime the Germans have seen years of Street battles between the Nazis and the left Which democracy could do nothing to stop foreign as a political tactic Nazi supporters often provoke the fights by marching through working class areas now people of all classes are voting nsdap there's no feeling that Hitler will be able to end the violence eventually and that Hillary has the means he's Has the strength he has the party organization he has the will to stop the violence which many people really blame the Communists for and not the Nazis Communists are mainly young men many of them unemployed their fight for a worker's State on Soviet lines scares many middle-class Germans it forces them into the arms of the nsdap and its Brown tyranny out of fear for the red alternative of course one can't be so naive naive a dangerous enemy is no longer there because it can't show itself but it's such a blessing that we no longer see the hammer and sickle a diary entry from 1933 by Louisa solmitz a housewife and mother in Hamburg she's never been an enthusiastic supporter of the Weimar Republic her enthusiasm for Hitler is not dimmed by the fact that her husband is of Jewish descent [Music] she ignores the Nazis anti-Semitism as long as she can [Music] very many Germans were perfectly comfortable with the violence against the political left they had no objection to seeing Communists arrested and locked up besides the persecution and murder of political opponents Hitler is consciously using the new technologies of film and radio to consolidate his power in February 1933 millions of Germans hear his live broadcast from Berlin's Sport Palace there's lots of emotion and precious little content and yet Louisa solmits is very taken with his speech Muslim [Applause] basti Nazis in East when the Nazis did first and foremost was to Anchor that Narrative of national rebirth in German Society and everything that emphasized National community in the place of Division National Resurgence instead of national humiliation everything the broad hope of better times that was the great Narrative of the national socialism and German Society was only too happy to believe it even some representatives of Christian churches have long supported the Nazis one example is the Protestant priestenfelder in Berlin a party member since 1929. he preaches in support of the nsdap [Music] shortly after Hitler's rise to power he holds a Thanksgiving service during which he describes Hitler as a Flawless individual molded out of Purity piety energy and strength of character sermons like that awaken expectations and Hitler responds promising he will govern according to Christian principles Till There Was himself no kind of Christian but he understood what country he was seeking to run and he understood that Christian principles were very important to a great majority of Germans in 1933 the National Socialist movement throngs into the churches displaying all its symbols and its uniforms on February the 5th there's a memorial service in Berlin Cathedral for Hans Eberhart mikovsky and sa man killed in a street fight his burial is like a state funeral the Fallen have given their lives all for the man that God gave us to be our fura this is your akimosenfelder's sermon he sees no contradiction between Christian teachings and Nazi ideology in 1932 hostenfelder found the German Christians organization promoting nationalistic populism and anti-Semitism it becomes ever more influential in the Protestant church in 1933 husenfelder becomes Bishop of Brandenburg building a career in the Third Reich few of the people who made it to positions of power were really capable often it was down to connections pure and simple there were set ratios for the percentage of SA or SS members to be employed in the new organizations that wasn't always possible in the Civil surface you couldn't simply walk into a senior administrative post with your middle school certificate and so many state-owned companies employed National socialists instead in the spring of 1933 the news spreads like wildfire more and more Germans want to join the nsdap out of conviction or opportunism people hear that and they say well we may not like Hitler but we're not going to be rid of him any day soon the trains leaving the station if we don't get aboard we'll be left behind when Hitler takes power in January 1933 there are 850 000 members of the nsdap thank you [Music] by the end of April that figure has tripled 2.6 million on the 1st of May 1933 membership is closed to new members until May 1937. [Music] a few days after the March 1933 elections Nazi supporters marched through hoof on the river zala they occupy the town hall to impose a new mayor and fly a swastika Banner from the tower there are similar events in many parts of the Reich where provinces and communities are still democratically governed illegal occupations of government buildings like this one in Munich on March the 11th are presented as imposing the will of the people the government in Berlin forces several provincial governments to resign by invoking the reichtag fire decree Reich kommissars Nazi appointees replaced them protests against this violation of the rule of law are in vain characteristic of the whether Nazis seized power that there's this twin track approach that they had massive physical violence and Terror on the streets with a kind of pseudo-legal justification for it the first politicians leave Germany among them Social Democrat members of parliament and party officials Ludwig marum an SPD politician from karlsruhe believes flight is cowardly he wants to continue serving the people who elected him to the reichstalk but with the administration and police increasingly dominated by Nazis arbitrary arrests are commonplace Ludwig Marram is arrested and paraded through karlsruhe's City Center then the Jewish parliamentarian is taken to kislau concentration camp marham believes that the Nazis will finally respect Justice and the rule of law he writes to his wife from the camp I have got over the trauma of the parade through the streets of karsrua after stalwartley surviving that I don't know if there's anything I couldn't endure [Music] in 1934 Ludwig Marram is strangled by concentration camp guards his family flees abroad diversity is no longer desired in Hitler's Germany now that political opposition has been sidelined every aspect of life is to be subordinated to the rhythm of the so-called National community it was coordinated into the Nazi movement so if in a town you had a local Catholic melvice choir a Protestant Male Voice Choir a working-class Male Voice Choir all of these will be incorporated into a Nazi male voice kind the same went for stamp collecting but anything you can imagine and that's what the knights are called Goliath shelter anyone who stands in the way of this glass Shelton is removed as the Hungarian Journey this Stefan law hunt discovers to his cost he's been living with his family in Germany since 1921. his editor-in-chief of the Munich Illustrated press a popular periodical known for its unpolitical photo stories on March the 13th 1933 Laurent is arrested taken to Munich's Police Headquarters and thrown into a cell he keeps a secret diary I've been in prison for six days now why I don't know when will I be released I don't know what will become of me I don't know for prisoners in protective custody there was no law of habeas corpus you could be arrested without any reason or disappear into some camper rather for years Laurent spends six months in protective custody he writes outside a new Germany is coming into being but in the loneliness of a cell there's no trace of the intoxication of the masses here you see the naked face of national socialism the desire for Revenge hatred lawlessness three steps One Way three steps back how small Germany has become only the intervention of the Hungarian government can secure his release after leaving Germany he publishes an account of his time as a prisoner of Hitler's regime and continues a successful journalistic career in Britain and the USA in 1933 the entire Board of the Publishers that own his newspaper are also arrested the Nazis took control over the press and the media by various means particularly by financial means by buying up them up by closing down and censoring all kinds of magazines and newspapers what they wanted was the press to get their message across in July 1933 with a new editorial board in place the Munich Illustrated press publishes the first report about Dachau concentration camp the propaganda pictures give the impression of a benign re-education camp where political prisoners are reformed through hard work and discipline the camp authorities take visitors on guided tours and pull the wool over their eyes the National Socialist Party newspaper quotes a Dutch clergyman the reports of regular mistreatment belong in the realm of fantasy it seems to me that some of the inmates are better off in dhakau than they would be at home National Socialist propaganda strategy towards the concentration camps in 1933 was purely one of camouflage disguise and deception of course nobody saw the inmates being beaten up or killed in reality they were places of Oppression torture and Terror work makes you free is the cynical slogan on the gates of the camp in reality the prisoners are humiliated beaten tortured and murdered [Music] is the first concentration camp purpose built by the Nazis it will function until the end of the war more than 40 000 people will die here Dachau is the model training camp for SS Personnel this is where they learn the regime of Terror [Music] usually empathy and compassion prevent us from behaving utterly brutally towards our fellow humans but by their use of language by their ceaseless condemnations and lies the national socialists turn their enemies into a group that were no longer considered human and that makes us capable of unbelievable brutality during the war doctors in Taha carry out experiments on human beings they expose prisoners to low air pressure to simulate the effects of high altitude flight on buffafa Pilots all this happens in the middle of Germany right under the eyes of the population anyone can see the truths of Hitler's rule [Music] the concentration camps and this should be stressed were not something that the Germans didn't know about or the world didn't know about they were in the newspapers the regime wanted to make it clear we have a way to fight our enemies and this is not something arbitrary but re-education and that way you could inform people about the policy while simultaneously concealing what was really going on in the concentration camps in Spring 1933 the National Socialist dictatorship is not yet fully entrenched Hitler now demands the reichstag pass the law to remedy the distress of people and Reich the so-called enabling law this allows the regime to issue legislation on its own without Parliament with a combination of threats and Promises Hitler persuades most deputies to disempower themselves only the SPD refuses the Communists are already banned it looks legitimate in fact it's the end of the separation of powers this law actually does several things it doesn't only give Hitler the reichstag's law making authorities but it actually frees him to a great degree from the control of President Von Hindenburg so this is this is a really significant step towards consolidating his dictatorship Hitler disposes of democracy via decrees and legislation in July 1933 the nsdap is declared Germany's only party most of the others are dissolved the SPD are now banned along with the Communists they both continue their work Underground Germany is a one-party state the whole thing was carried out formally in a legal context actually a pseudo-legal context with legalities stretched to its absolute limits [Music] readers of National Socialist newspapers have long known that the colonel of Nazi ideology is anti-Semitism the injustices of capitalism the economic crisis corruption all this is supposedly the fault of the Jews the hatsheet deshdoma is especially aggressive to make themselves electable to the middle classes the Nazis reign in their anti-Semitism in public until 1933 but after Hitler takes power the extremists drop any semblance of restraint from 1933 onwards Nazi functionaries give free reign to their hatred of Jews in cookshoffen Jewish businessman Oscar dankner and his alleged non-jewish lover operated through the streets wearing humiliating placards Ma the initiative Came From Below without instructions from above sport for instance some Sport and gymnastics clubs began Banning Jews as early as February March and April 1933. they were not welcome in football clubs they were not welcome in gymnastics clubs it all happened in the provinces all that happened before there was any edict from above foreign this systematic anti-Semitism in Germany raises concerns abroad in Britain and the U.S there are protests and calls to boycott German Goods the Nazis cite this as proof of the Jews International influence the national socialists are determined to give a clear signal that they will not be intimidated by pressure from abroad in fact the precise opposite the Nazi regime calls a nationwide boycott of Jewish doctors lawyers and businesses for April the 1st shop windows are plastered with hate slogans and placards and customers are prevented from injury in the country's the boycott is mainly successful in towns and cities it's largely ignored at the beginning the new roles the national socialists wanted everyone to play were not really entirely accepted by the German people not everyone realized in the spring of 1933 that Jews would no longer be normal citizens [Music] the boycott is intended to last a whole week after a single day it's called off but discrimination and persecution continue this is a very typical development in Nazi Germany where something doesn't seem to go down well with the public the activist element is toned down called off but then a legalization follows very rapidly the National Socialist regime starts to marginalize the Jewish minority with legislation a certificate of Aryan that's to say non-jewish descent is required to practice a number of professions starts on April the 7th 1933 with the law for the restoration of the professional civil service non-aryan state employees are forced to retire laws follow aimed at Jewish Pharmacists and doctors lawyers teachers and professors we're somewhere around one percent or a little under of the population and so for 99 of Germans what happens with Jews is not that important one way or the other the government's really able to operate in a space here where it's largely free of the constraints of public opinion just because the issue for most Germans is not that important most people are more concerned with the dire economic situation and their own welfare foreign [Music] since 1931 Germany has been badly hit by the economic crisis businesses have closed millions are unemployed the economic crisis has long since become a social crisis almost every German family was directly or indirectly affected by unemployment there was mass unemployment men hanging around on the streets with nothing to do desperate to feed their families and even people who were in work were afraid they could lose their jobs in 1932 5.6 million people are unemployed in the German Reich that's an unemployment rate of 30 percent in Denmark it's 28 percent in Sweden over 20 percent in Britain 15 and in the USA 25 are unemployed the global economy is slowly recovering from the 1929 crash the Nazis take credit for the first signs of recovery but in reality they're benefiting from International developments Hitler decrees May the first traditionally marking the workers struggle a paid national holiday National workers day Berlin's templehof Airfield hosts the first great propaganda rally of the Nazi regime it effectively portrays the supposed closeness of the regime with the workers but the Nazi's true face shows through in Hanover Walter balhauser photographs sa men occupying a trade Union office on National workers day raising the swastika and burning the red flag the next morning may the second sa troops ransack Trade Union offices and workers Savings Banks throughout the rush if house it was a punch in the face of the Social Democratic workers movement on the one hand they looted its properties and on the other they've reached out to its members to win their loyalty the national socialists certainly wanted to justify their claim to be a Workers Party so they actively courted the workers on May 10 1933 the trade unions are replaced by the German labor front it's subsidiary strength through Joy is to keep the workers happy with excursions and holidays so I mean what is novel about the Nazi regime after 1933 is simply the scale and the energy with which they embark on the program of National Economic mobilization and the front end of this is civilian work creation of different types and a commitment if you like to raise ordinary Germans out of the misery of unemployment and to restore the prosperity of the countryside government contracts create new jobs especially in the construction industry in Berlin a new subway line is built along unto din Linton elsewhere entire districts are torn down and rebuilt as here in hamburg's Old Town the nsdrp demons every day the nsdap can point to examples of recovery we're making progress it really does seem that way building building academies for the training of Finance officials New Ministries the huge airport at templehof there are airports in Stuttgart and Munich it's the same everywhere parallel projects running simultaneously economic recovery through job creation in 1933 President Franklin D Roosevelt's Administration starts federal work programs too public construction work to stimulate purchasing power and create demand in the economy at the same time a national minimum wage and Social Security are introduced the success of the New Deal wins Roosevelt re-election in 1936 massive State intervention and laws benefiting the workers strengthen American democracy the National Socialist regime banks on public works too the propaganda industry is especially proud of the new Reich Auto barns they weren't the Nazis idea but no one mentions that the Autobahn the idea of dedicated high-speed roads for cars are really an idea of the moment the Italians build the outer Strada in the same period it's an adjustment of society to the new technology of the motor vehicle and so no teams of Engineers and construction companies have begun to sketch ideas of a German National Road system already in the late 1920s there were autobahns in Germany before 1933. the first linking cologne and Bonn was opened in 1932. further stretches were planned from Hamburg to Basel via Frankfurt or from Berlin to Italy via Munich but a shortage of funds meant that they weren't built during the Weimar Republic the Nazis are only able to start work quickly because the plans already exist in September 1933 hundreds of unemployed men are filmed lining up at frankfurt's Labor exchange and marching to the first construction site secret reports compiled by social Democrats in Exile in Prague reveal what's really happening at the construction sites for the ceremonial opening of work on the schmoenstettin Auto Barn they transported 65 unemployed men from stateen to the site filmed them for the newsreel and then drove them back to the city the main aim was to build something big a symbol a symbol casting concrete that could embody the power and the dynamism of the new state the employment figures improve from 5.6 million unemployed in mid-1932 they're down to 4.8 million in 1933 and only 2.7 million in 1934. positive developments in the labor market reassure many who till now have had their doubts about the National Socialist regime but the autobahns hardly play any role in the recovery by the end of 1933 barely 4 000 people are employed on the super highways the Autobahn is a job creation engine only in the minds of the propagandists [Music] Hitler's economic policy is financed by debt and at first its real aim is concealed what we know now from The Archives of the third rise is that the hard core behind that program right from the very beginning was the program of rearmament from the very beginning it has priority with the regime by 1934 it's already coming to dominate everything else in fact it's projects with a hidden military purpose like building new airports as here at Berlin's templehof that really stimulate the economy [Music] in 1933 the Reich air Ministry is created Hitler makes World War one ace hermann-gering Reich Aviation minister [Music] companies get contracts to build new aircraft all hidden preparations for war as a way to stimulate the economy and to win land and resources has already been set in Motion in East Asia in 1931 Japan conquers Manchuria ostensibly to liberate the population from Chinese rule the Japanese empire is nationalistic and authoritarian and has a powerful military the International Community condemns Japan's invasion of Manchuria in March 1933 Japan quits the League of Nations it's already preparing the next campaign against China [Music] Hitler is still far from Ready for War in 1933 the German Reich has a professional Army of just a hundred thousand men it's allowed no tanks no combat aircraft and very few warships these restrictions go back to the 1919 Versailles treaty Hitler has denounced the disgrace of Versailles in countless speeches now he wants to ditch the treaty's constraints as far as possible in his first foreign policy speech he talks of Peace but he means placing Germany on an equal military footing with the other European powers [Applause] from 1933 Hitler pursued a revisionist and expansionist foreign policy but this policy was hemmed in by various International commissions and commitments they represented real obstacles so he tried to free himself from all of them Hitler takes Germany out of the League of Nations and wants the decision endorsed by new reichtag elections in November 1933. once again the regime relies on propaganda Hitler is looking for still broader support his speech to workers in Berlin is broadcast throughout Germany please at the November elections there is just a single list of candidates the reason they held the election was to give themselves further legitimacy and to show that the whole nation is behind us all the people it's not just half of them as in the March elections participation runs at 95 percent Hitler's single list receives 92 percent of the vote [Music] beyond the propaganda and the terror the result signals support for Hitler's foreign policy 95 are in favor of quitting the League of Nations [Music] of course voters aren't told the long-term goal of these policies War [Music] Hitler's entry into government in January 1933 Unleashed a mood of euphoria among many conservative journals with Hitler and Hindenburg they hope for the reconstitution of the old order and the symbol for that is the day of potstar but the old Elites will learn that Hitler has no interest in restoring the rule of the aristocracy the Army and big business Major General Ferdinand Von Brado writes in his diary if only Hitler would restore order in his ranks so much hate and anger is spreading from there into the people it's disturbing the broader lines of progress many sadly very many of his people don't amount to much it's no secret that many top Nazi officials and many ordinary sa men too have shamelessly enriched themselves since the Takeover schatzmeister between 1934 and 1941 the right treasurer of the nsdap prosecuted almost 11 000 party members for misuse of party funds or property after all if they were victims before 1933 as the party had always told them they were then they felt they had the right to be compensated now and if that didn't happen they just helped themselves the Nazis see the state as their property to be pillaged houndstorm goes especially far as Chief of Staff of the sa Stormtroopers he's one of Hitler's closest confidants in 1934 Rome pushes for more influence for his paramilitary force that has many more men than the regular army the Stormtroopers who'd been kind of bully boys the thugs of the Nazi men beating up their opponents throwing them into a concentration camps during the season of power they don't have anything left to do by 1934 the opposition had all been completely crushed the four million young men in the Stormtroopers it's a huge movement violent undisciplined creating Mayhem everywhere in Rome tried then to organize it into a substitute Army a kind of mass revolutionary militia the high command of the army the righteous there are ready to fight back at the same time conservative forces around Vice Chancellor Franz von papen publicly criticized the Nazi leadership in his diary Ferdinand fondrado welcomes this development we're not against the regime but against its excesses there's something indefinable in the air wanted to strengthen conservative influence in the government originally they thought that they could Corral the national socialists but now they were themselves totally isolated so now they criticized arbitrary rule the abolition as the rule of law Etc in summer 1934 Hitler is under pressure conservatives want more power the rice Fair insists he tames the sa and Rome demands that the sa becomes a People's Army Hitler knows that to wage war he needs the professionals and with the best will in the world he can't do it with this bunch of thugs so he's in a dilemma what's he going to do Hitler solves his problem his way the most radical way possible by having the entire leadership of the sa killed Hitler even has his old comrade Ernst home shot more than a hundred people are killed not just opponents within the party but also senior conservative figures like major general fondrado he is murdered by SS men on the night of July the 1st 1934. [Music] Hitler's official explanation is that Rome was planning a coup foiled at the last moment a law is passed to make the murders retrospectively legal in defense of the state the illusion of legality is maintained and many Germans still want to believe it we want to live in a world that is predictable and just where we know if we do this that will happen and when something is declared legal then it must be right and so anyone who suffers under such decrees must have done something to deserve it [Music] a month later on August the 2nd 1934 president Hindenburg dies at the age of 86. Hitler combines the two roles of Reich Chancellor and head of state will henceforth be known as the fur every Soldier swears an oath of personal loyalty to him Hitler has total power [Music] even in retrospect it's shocking to see how quickly Hitler is able to move out of the box that Von Popin thinks he's in and move into a position of absolute Authority what Hitler was able to do was harness his considerable skills of political cunning and ruthlessness and he made use of Terror and violence in a way that no one had expected that he would be able to do Hitler can now be prevented from attaining his criminal goals only by an intervention from abroad or by an assassination attempt s will fail

Channel: criminals and crime fighters

Views: 531,032

Keywords: the abyss, adolf hitler, nationalism, full documentary, nazi history, nazism, third reich, history documentary, nazi documentary, nazi hitler, germany, history, nsdap doku, nsdap, political system, politics, radicalization, nazis in germany, rise of hitler, German Wehrmacht, hitler power, global power, global power germany, industrial power, nazi ideology, concentration camps, persecution of jews, jews, Antisemitism, jewish people, germany nazis, thirdreich

Id: cVk_UkJz_pk

Length: 52min 12sec (3132 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 22 2023