The German Question, Part One Hundred Seventeen

Hitler Rules Germany, Part One/C
"Consolidation of Power/Hitler Gets Full Power"

The Nazis banned German labor unions, and in their place, they established the "German Labor Front" ("Deutsche Arbeitsfront"). The Labor Front set policies for workers and employers, and strikes were forbidden. Labor front officials also arranged special low cost tours and cruises for worker vacations.

Now that the Nazis had achieved their "revolution" of gaining power, a split in the party began to become more obvious. Remember, the Nazi Party had both "Socialist" and "Worker" in its full name, "The National Socialist German Workers Party," and the true "socialist" wing of the party wanted that part of the party's ideology to be implemented in German society. As part of this continued "revolution," there was talk of the Nazi Stormtroopers,* which by then had a couple of million active members, actually taking over the German military. The army was extremely conservative, and such talk made German military leaders very uneasy. The head of the Stormtroopers was Ernst Röhm (also spelled "Roehm"), and he coveted the notion of his becoming the head of the German military. By that time too, the Stormtroopers were also making many in the public nervous, as they bullied or assaulted civilians known, or thought to be, Nazi opponents. The rowdy and often crude behavior of many in the SA made the more conservative elements of the government, as well as businessmen, protest to Hitler.

Hitler was only somewhat interested in the "socialist" aspects of the party, and he knew he needed the support of the German military if he were to remain in power, and then to begin a reversal of the Versailles Treaty. In late June of 1934, Hitler and the most trusted part of the "SA," a branch known as the "Schutzstaffel," began a purge of the "SA" and certain party leaders, claiming a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The "Schutzstaffel," which simply means "defense, or protection staff," was responsible for Hitler's protection dating to when he gave speeches in numerous beer halls in Germany. Although little known at that time, it would become all too familiar in the years ahead under its better known initials, the "SS." How many people were killed during the purge is not really known, but certainly dozens, and perhaps hundreds. Röhm was killed, as was former German Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife, and former Nazi leader Gregor Strasser, who had been more inclined to the socialist side of the party. Hitler's dramatic action against members of his own party showed everyone that he was in charge, and that he would not hesitate to act ruthlessly. With the Stormtroopers subdued, conservative forces, including President von Hindenburg, approved the action. (The Stormtroopers lost their overall prominence in the Nazi movement, but the organization remained to provide "muscle" and for ceremonial purposes at Hitler's public speeches and at Nazi rallies. Many prominent Nazis held some high ranking position within the Stormtroopers, although these positions were often more "honorary" in nature. The organization never again held the power it had had up until the purge.)

On August 2, 1934 Paul von Hindenburg, nearing age 87, died. Hitler's last obstacle was gone. He now took over the presidency, combining it with the chancellorship. The German military had to swear an oath to Hitler personally, not to Germany. Hitler was now truly the Führer of Germany.

* The Stormtroopers were actually a Nazi organization called the "Sturmabteilung" (storm or assault detachment), or "SA" for short.

WORD HISTORY:
Fuehrer-This word came into English during the first half of the 1930s because it was the title used by Hitler for himself, and it simply means "leader;" obviously patterned after Mussolini's title, "Il Duce," "the leader." Since English does not use the umlaut; that is, the two dots over certain vowels to indicate a variation in pronunciation from the standard vowel, we spell the word with the "ue," which can also be used in German, but much more commonly in German it is "Führer," with the "u" with umlaut being the equivalent of "ue." For those learning German, the word is masculine, making it "Der Führer." The word goes back to Indo European "per/por," with the basic idea being "go/going, passage/pass over." This gave the Old Germanic spinoff "faranan," with the meaning "travel, go."^ From the idea of "traveling/going," came the further development of "lead;" that is, "travel takes; that is, leads you somewhere," and this gave Old Germanic a variation of "faranan," which was "forijana," with the meaning "to lead." This then gave Old High German "fuoren/fuoran," and then later "vueren," then modern "führen," and the noun was derived from this verb. Low German Saxon has "föhren," with several related meanings, including "to lead."

^ This is the source of numerous English words, for example: "fare," "the charge you pay to travel" or also "a person who pays for travel, most often in a taxi;" "farewell," which means "travel well;" that is, "have a good/safe trip;" "fare," as in "how are you faring?" (Literally, "how are you going along"); "wayfarer" ("someone who travels"), "seafarer" ("one who travels by sea"), and "ferry" ("a boat that transports people, usually for pleasure travel"). The other Germanic languages have various forms of the Old Germanic word too, for example, German has "fahren," the cognate equivalent to English "fare," and the German verb means "to travel, to drive," and the noun "Fahrer," which means "driver," "Fähre," "ferry (boat)," "Fahrrad" meaning "bicycle," and the phrase "Fahrrad fahren," "bicycle riding, ride a bike."