Was Hitler a weak dictator or master of the third reich?
...eas, led by Kershaw, which my personal opinion would fall with. Hitler may have been lazy and ramble about his ideology, but he was powerful too. Hitler was the key activator of policies, which reflected his vision. He was the legitimator of policies, but not necessarily the initiator. Hitler was personally very popular, which was sustained by powerful propaganda, created by Goebbels. Kershaw coined the term “the Hitler myth” for this carefully cultivated image of Hitler. It was widely believed due to propaganda, but also due to successful polices, the remembrance of past humiliation and failures of the Weimar Republic, and the German tradition of having a supreme leader. Hitler was the flawless leader on the surface. He was often uninvolved in policies, but nothing was done without his permission. Hitler was crucial in determining what policies went ahead in Germany. Without his central ideas, a lot of policies would not have been implemented. To keep up his image as supreme leader, Hitler could not be involved in factional disputes. He appeared to be the mediator, but also if policies failed, they could not be blamed on him, but were on his subordinates. All of his officials worked along the lines of the Fuhrer’s wishes, and whenever he did intervene, his view was unchallenged. All of the officials beneath him competed to “work towards the Fuhrer”, as the key to power was personal favour with him. It must be remembered that there were very few uprisings against Hitler, and his rule was never openly confronted. Hitler’s party operated under a polycratic system of government, whereby there were many bodies underneath him all aiming to impress him, hoping to gain his favour by creating new policies that fell within his ideology. These bodies also created a feudal system, whereby the head of the agencies created a dominance of Nazi leaders, all loyal to Hitler, and all wanted to gain his favour, which led to many arguments amongst them. This, furthermore, created a chaotic system of government. These overlapping bodies, all in competition, made it difficult to know where power or responsibility for certain matters lay. Everyone relied on Hitler, and by working towards him, combined with the arguments amongst officials, there was no clear power structure. Confusion was only solved when Hitler intervened. This chaotic system of government is what made later policies in the Nazi regime more radical. With trying to impress Hitler and win his favour, his officials crafted more and more extreme policies. These all tied in with his ideology, but became more radical as officials tried to further win Hitler’s favour, which could only be done by creating more extreme and shocking policies, for example, the most extreme being the holocaust. This “cumulative radicalisation” (adopting increasingly radical policies) may have satisfied Hitler’s radical ideological goals, but it seemed to have no restrictions and is viewed as being one of the major downfalls of the Third Reich and indeed, Hitler himself. From 1933, the Nazis were the only party in Germany. Most government officials were Nazi, and increasingly so as Hitler’s rule continued. Power was created by the relationship with Hitler, but some members, whose power increased, encouraged abuse of it and lording over their areas. They were resented and nicknamed “Little Hitlers”. In particular there was the Gauleiters who were regional party bosses, ensuring that people in their Gau (district) kept in line. Each Gauleiter was influential in determining how Germans experienced Nazi rule. They attended top national meetings and communicated with Hitler, claiming to be committed to him. However, as the nickname suggests, these Gauleiters had quite a large influence, often successfully resisting central government instructions. It is in this was Hitler is viewed a s a weak dictator, as people, such as the Gauleiters could influence policy and almost dictate their own regions. Intentionalist historians view the importance of the secret state police used in Nazi Germany, for maintaining control over the masses, as very significant. As they view Hitler as weak, they believe the successes of the government came about due to the vast amount of Nazi officials, and the groups working for the Nazis. From an outsiders view, the Gestapo, SS and SD asserted authority and power of the ordinary German citizen by use of terror. This again is representative of a totalitarian regime. However, evidence suggests that most German citizens supported the regime, did not encounter repression, and even assisted the Gestapo! Hitler is therefore viewed as weak because it was not necessarily his influence, but that of groups under him or even the German peoples own attitudes, that sustained his rule. By 1936, after having the police bodies organised by each individual district, Himmler (Chief of Police) had centralised the police force in Germany. A confusing variety of repressive agencies developed, and in time overlapped in their work. The SA was disarmed and restructured after the Night of the Long Knives, and many members were purged. This became a subservient body but remained an intimidatory force against potential opposition. It made way for the SS, which developed in to the main terror instrument of the regime as well as adopting various other roles. The most important security agent of the regime was the Gestapo, which covered all German states. This, alongside the SS was the most powerful and feared organ of repression in Germany. Furthermore there was the SD, which was the internal security and intelligence service of the SS headed by Heydrich; and the RHSA (Reich Main Security department), which tried to draw together State and Party Security apparatus into one organisation. Nazi Germany is sometimes nicknames the “SS State” as the SS group (the Schutzstaffel) were a vast organisation, highly involved in many aspects of the Third Reich. It was authorised to act as auxiliary police, with the ability to take suspects in for protective custody after the Emergency Power Decree of February 1933. All of its energies were directed against enemies of Nazism, political and radical, and later was in charge of concentration camps and extermination camps. In this way, it is viewed that the SS practically ran the country, and Hitler was weak. Hitler’s policies and aims could only have been sustained due to the terror and control the SS had over the people. Along with the SS, the Gestapo had an image that brought dread to the enemies of the regime. Structuralist historians put forward the view that the Gestapo intimidated the population, and furthermore German citizens of the time excused this as a reason for the passivity and broad acceptance of the regime at the time. However, later it has been argued that this was a myth. The Gestapo was weaker than first thought; it lacked the personnel to enact central directives, it recruited from existing police forces with very few SS members and officers were often bogged down by paperwork. The image of power served to intimidate potential opposition, but it was in fact voluntary denunciations and co-operation from the public that made the Gestapo more constructive. These were often inspired by personal, not political influences, and tended to be less about Nazi faith. Hitler is viewed, because of this as su...