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The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933. The Machtergreifung in a New Light

2010; Oxford University Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/gerhis/ghq022

1477-089X

Raffael Scheck,

German History and Society

This book focuses on the relationship between the German Nationalist People's Party (DNVP) under Alfred Hugenberg and the NSDAP in the period between the formation of the Hitler cabinet on 30 January 1933 and the self-dissolution of the DNVP five months later. It confirms that the alliance between DNVP and NSDAP helped the Nazis rather than the DNVP in the period immediately following the seizure of power; soon, the DNVP became dependent, and faced increasing bullying and hostility from the NSDAP. The central argument is that the experience of the DNVP reveals that the Nazis had a strong anti-bourgeois animus and therefore were not like other right-wing parties. The research is based largely on the DNVP files in the Berlin section of the German Federal Archives, the Prussian State Archives, and some local archives and newspapers. The strength of the book lies in the primary source research for the first half of 1933. Beck has unearthed important material that shows a pattern of Nazi intimidation against the DNVP and its member organizations, particularly following the passing of the Enabling Act on 23 March 1933. In the context of the Nazi infiltration of professional organizations dominated by DNVP members, and the general climate of rising terror and intolerance, the DNVP became the last hope for some people who were persecuted by the Nazis, and for many of those who hoped to preserve the state of law (Rechtsstaat). This was a vain hope in the context of mounting Nazi pressure on the DNVP and in light of the DNVP's own lack of commitment to the state of law as long as the terror primarily targeted other groups, as indeed comes to light in a particularly depressing way in a chapter on the DNVP and the Jews after the Nazi takeover.