To What Extent Was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian State?

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To what extent can Nazism in power be seen as totalitarianism in the period 1933-1939? Totalitarianism is often defined as a system of government where the state controls all aspects of life, individuals are subordinated to the state and any parties of differing opinion are suppressed, a description that fits the rule of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1939 perfectly. During Hitler’s rule, he embedded all these totalitarian characteristics as evident with the many features and atrocities of his reign like Terror and Repression through events like the Night of Long Knives, Policies that gave him complete control of all aspects of German lifestyle and Propaganda used to ensure people were subordinated to his totalitarian regime. Hitler ensured he would be an unchallenged dictator with no effective opposition in order to maintain power by eliminating enemies through acts of atrocity or through force through Terror and Repression, most notably the Night Of Long Knives. The aim of Night of Long Knives was to eliminate all who Hitler perceived as a threat to Germany and his cause like leaders of the SA and other ‘enemies’ like communists and Jews. The SA were seen as thugs that tainted the image of Hitler, communists were seen as a major threat as they believed in equality of all people while also appealing to the working class and Jews were seen as inferior to the purity of German race, all these factors contributed to the atrocities as Hitler looked to establish himself as Fuhrer. Following the Night of Long Knives, Hitler made it clear that he was the supreme autocratic ruler of Germany, he had complete control as he was able to get away with his evil act and had the power derived from his rise to dictatorship to decide whether people lived or died for his own benefit. The fact that Hitler was beginning to fear his place and revolt from the SA army is supported by SA
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