Nazi Germany timeline 1930-34

This Nazi Germany timeline contains a chronological list of significant events and developments in Germany between 1930 and 1934. This timeline has been written by Alpha History authors.

1930

January: Ernst Rohm, a loyal comrade of Hitler, takes up the leadership of the SA, at Hitler’s request.
May: Unemployment in Germany reaches four million, due to the industrial slump of the Great Depression.
May 11th: Austria’s largest bank collapses and declares bankruptcy, sparking a banking crisis in Germany.
July: The Bund Deutscher Madel (League of German Girls’) is established as a female alternative to the Hitler Youth.

1932

April 10th: Paul von Hindenburg re-elected president for another seven year term. Hitler obtains 37 per cent of the vote.
April 24th: The NSDAP becomes the largest party in the Landtag (state parliament) of Prussia.
June: The formation of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the intelligence-gathering division of the SS.
June 16th: Chancellor von Papen lifts a nationwide ban on the Sturmabteilung (SA).
July 31st: The NSDAP wins 230 of 608 Reichstag seats, the largest single return of any Weimar-era party.
August 13th: Now the leader of the Reichstag’s largest party, Hitler has a meeting with President Hindenburg.
August 13th: Hitler publicly declares that he will not accept any ministry in the government, other than the chancellorship.
August 30th: Hitler’s deputy, Hermann Goering, is elected president of the Reichstag.
October: Chancellor von Papen, unable to govern effectively, is forced to call another election.
November 6th: The election sees the NSDAP lose 34 seats, but the party still retains almost a third of Reichstag seats.
December 3rd: Hindenburg appoints Kurt von Schleicher as chancellor, replacing von Papen.

1933

January 30th: Hindenburg sacks von Schleicher and appoints Adolf Hitler as German chancellor.
February 2nd: Hitler meets with Reichswehr generals and promises them expansion and rearmament.
February 27th: Fire destroys part of the Reichstag building. Hitler blames communist revolutionaries.
February 28th: At Hitler’s insistence, President Hindenburg issues the Reichstag Fire Decree.
March 5th: Another Reichstag election sees the NSDAP increase its representation to 288 seats.
March 22nd: Dachau concentration camp opens and immediately begins receiving political prisoners.
March 23rd: The Enabling Act is passed, effectively allowing Hitler to pass laws without the Reichstag.
April 1st: Sturmabteilung and NSDAP leaders organise a one-day boycott of Jewish stores and businesses.
April 7th: The Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service. Jews banned from many government jobs.
April 25th: The Law to prevent Overcrowding in German Schools. Strict quotas placed on Jewish students.
May 2nd: Trade unions are officially banned by the Nazis. Four days later they are ‘replaced’ by the DAF.
May 6th: Formation of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), a compulsory workers’ union run by the Nazis.
May 10th: Hitler orders a campaign of public book-burnings, targeting “un-German” authors.
July 14th: The NSDAP is declared the only official political party in Germany; all other parties are banned..
July 14th: The Law to prevent Hereditarily-Diseased Offspring legalises compulsory sterilisation.
July 20th: The NSDAP signs a concordat with the Vatican which supposedly guarantees Catholic rights in Germany.
October 14th: On Hitler’s order, Germany formally withdraws from the League of Nations.
November 12th: A Reichstag election is held, though the ballot now contains only Nazi-approved candidates.
November 30th: Hermann Goering forms the Gestapo, a secret state police force, which is later absorbed into the SS.

1934

April 11th: Hitler signs an agreement with Reichswehr generals to downsize the SA and expand the military.
June 30th: The ‘Night of the Long Knives’, a purge of the SA that claims scores of lives, including Ernst Rohm.
July 3rd: The Law for the Simplification of the Health System. Citizens can report candidates for sterilisation.
August 2nd: The death of President Hindenburg. Hitler assumes his powers and becomes Fuhrer.
August 3rd: The Reichswehreid (military oath) is changed; soldiers now swear loyalty directly to Adolf Hitler.
August 19th: A public vote clearly endorses Hitler’s plans to combine the presidency and the chancellorship.
October: The first wave of arrests of German homosexuals, who are detained in Dachau and other camps.


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