This timeline for Nazi Germany covers the major domestic events between 1933 when Hitler was appointed Chancellor to the year World War Two broke out – 1939. From 1933 to 1934 Hitler consolidated his power so that by the end of 1934 he held supreme power throughout Nazi Germany.
1933
January 4th: Papen met Hitler at the home of German banker Kurt von Schroeder.
January 15th: An election in the state of Lippe saw the Nazi Party win 38,000 votes out of a possible 90,000 – 39.6%.
January 22nd: Oskar Hindenburg, son of the President, and Otto Meissner, Chief of the Presidential Office, met Hitler.
January 28th: Schleicher resigned as Chancellor when Hindenburg refused to grant him another dissolution of the Reichstag.
January 30th: Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany
February 1st: Hitler announced his ‘Proclamation to the German People’ and promised new elections for March 5th. Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag.
February 4th: A decree ‘For the Protection of the German People’ gave Hitler the power to ban political meetings and the newspapers of his political rivals.
February 17th: Goering issued a decree that ordered the police to make “good relations” with nationalists associations (SA + SS) but to make free use of their weapons against the Left.
February 22nd: Goering united the SA, SS and Stahlhelm into one single police force.
February 23rd: The first restrictions on homosexual rights groups were introduced.
February 27th: The Reichstag building was burned down.
February 28th: ‘The Emergency Decree for the Protection of People and State’ was passed, which led to the suspension of civil rights, a ban on the left wing press and the rounding up and arrest of communist and socialist leaders.
March 5th: Elections to the Reichstag were held. The Nazis gained 288 seats (43.9% of the votes). The German National Party gained 52 seats (8% of the votes). Combined, this gave the Nazis a majority of support in the Reichstag.
March 6th: Communist and Socialist Party headquarters were occupied by the state police as were trade union headquarters. Buildings housing publishing companies associated with the left wing were also occupied.
March 9th: All states that were previously not loyal to the Nazis now had Nazi-loyal state administrations.
March 13th: Joseph Goebbels set up the Reich Propaganda Ministry.
March 15th: The German press received its first directive from Goebbels.
March 20th: Himmler announced the establishment of a concentration camp at Dachau.
March 21st: The newly elected Reichstag sat for the first time.
March 22nd: The Interior Ministry set up a racial hygiene department.
March 23rd: The Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag that gave Hitler huge personal power.
March 28th: The first open attacks by the SA against Jewish businesses occurred. Gleichschaltung was introduced – the forcible removal of all known opponent to the Nazis.
April 1st: An official one-day boycott of Jewish shops took place. Literature produced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses was banned.
April 7th: A law for the ‘Restoration of the Professional Civil Service’ was introduced that banned all Jews and non-Germans from public service.
April 26th: The Gestapo (Secret Police) was established by Goering.
May 1st: Hitler gave his ‘Day of German Labour’ speech.
May 2nd: Trade unions were banned
May 6th: The Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Workers’ Front) was introduced to replace trade unions.
May 10th: ‘Un-German’ books were publicly burned.
May 19th: The Reich government took on the task of regulating workers contracts.
June 22nd: The Social Democrat Party was officially banned.
July 5th: All political parties other than the Nazi Party were banned.
July 14th: A ‘Sterilisation Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases’ was passed.
July 20th: Hitler agreed a Concordat with the Papacy.
September 23rd: Work on the first autobahns was started.
October 14th: Hitler pulled Nazi Germany out of the League of Nations and the Disarmament Conference.
November 17th: The Nazi Party won 92% of the votes cast in an election.
November 27th: Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) and the Beauty of Labour organisations were introduced.
December 1st: A law was passed that safeguarded the unity of the party and the state.
1934
January 20th: A law was introduced ‘for the ordering of national labour’. Decisions made in the workplace were weighted in favour of the management and against the workers.
January 24th: Alfred Rosenberg was appointed ideological supervisor of the Nazi Party.
January 26th: A German-Polish non-aggression pact was signed.
January 30th: the independence of the state governments was abolished. The ‘Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich’ was passed.
March 21st: ‘The Battle for Work’ started.
April 20th: Himmler was made Acting Chief of the Prussian Gestapo.
April 24th: A People’s Court was established to deal with treasonable offences.
June 17th: Von Papen, Vice-Chancellor, denounced what the Nazi Party had introduced into Germany.
June 20th: The SS is made independent from the SA and put in the hands of Himmler who is appointed Reichsfűhrer of the SS.
June 25th: Austrian Nazis murdered Austrian President Engelbert Dollfuss in the hope that the Austrian Nazi Party can take control of the country.
June 26th: Von Papen was appointed German envoy to Austria.
June 30th: Night of the Long Knives occurred when the leadership of the SA was wiped out along with some of Hitler’s political enemies.
August 2nd: President Hindenburg died. Hitler declared himself both Chancellor and President. The armed forces in response to the Night of the Long Knives swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Hjalmar Schacht was appointed Minister of Economics.
August 19th: A plebiscite was held in Nazi Germany asking the public if they approved of Hitler’s powers. 90% said ‘yes’.
October 8th: A Winter Relief scheme was established.
October 26th: A special party/government department was set up to deal with abortions and homosexuality. Homosexuals were arrested across Nazi Germany.
1935
March 17th: Compulsory military service was introduced.
June 26th: A law introducing compulsory labour service was introduced.
September 15th: The Reich Citizenship Act (the Nuremberg Laws) forbade Jews to marry German nationals.
1936
April 4th: Goering was appointed Commissioner of Raw Materials.
August 1st: Start of the Berlin Olympic Games.
August 16th: End of the Berlin Olympics.
August 28th: The mass arrest of Jehovah Witnesses began.
September 9th: A second Four Year Plan was introduced to make Germany self-sufficient.
October 19th: Goering was put in charge of the Four Year Plan.
December 1st: The Hitler Youth movement became a state organisation. All non-Nazi youth movements were banned.
December 13th: ‘Spring of Life’ (Lebensborn) was set up.
1937
February 10th: The national bank and the railway system were both put under the control of the state.
March 9th: The mass arrest of “habitual criminals” started.
1938
January 19th: The ‘Faith and Beauty’ organisation was set up for women aged between 17 and 21.
April 22nd: The employment of Jews in businesses was banned.
November 9th: Kristallnacht – Night of the Broken Glass.
December 3rd: The start of the closure of all Jewish businesses occurred along with their compulsory sale to ‘Aryans’.
1939:
January 21st: Schacht was dismissed as President of the Reichsbank.
August 27th: Food rationing was introduced.
September 4th: War Decrees were introduced.
October 14th: Clothing coupons were introduced.