The “Steps” to Totalitarianism: Nazi Germany’s 12-Year Reign of Terror

*Stolpersteine* from Berlin with approximate translation: Here lived Max Moishe Butow, born 1890, deported October 1941 Lodz/Litzmannstadt, murdered March 7, 1942

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

—Edmund Burke, 18th Century Irish statesman

In connection with THE THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE, a play I’m writing about the Holocaust, I’ve been grappling with questions of the Nazis’ 12-year reign of terror from 1933 to 1945. I’ve been reviewing the lead-up to Nazi control starting with World War I:

WWI officially ended on Nov. 11, 1918, and the Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany on June 28, 1919. In this treaty Germany lost the right to the Rhineland — the industrial region of Germany along the Rhine River. A little less than 17 years later, on March 7, 1936, the German army unilaterally re-militarized the Rhineland. The treaty sanctions against this unilateral takeover were not triggered by the other signatories to the Treaty of Versailles.

What I think is important to remember is that this date in 1936 is three years after Hitler democratically became chancellor in January 1933 and then almost immediately seized dictatorial control. The first concentration camp of Dachau was opened two months later in March 1933, and then the Nuremberg racial laws were announced in September 1935.

This re-militarization of the Rhineland without opposition might be called the thin edge of the wedge – the first step in Germany’s world domination plans. And 2 1/2 years later in September 1938 Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of England, gave away Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland in exchange for the promise of “peace in our times.”

If you are watching the Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale” (based on Margaret Atwood’s novel), you will have seen in flashbacks how that fictional totalitarian society moved forward in stages to subjugate different groups of people. And the stages of the Nazis’ takeover of Germany and subsequent subjugation of groups of people are equally terrifying.

Here is a brief outline of some of the most important milestones up to the U.S. entering WWII:

January 30, 1933: Hitler is named chancellor of Germany by president Paul von Hindenburg. Almost immediately Hitler seizes totalitarian control.

Two months later — March 22, 1933: Dachau — the first Nazi concentration camp — opens near Munich.

September 15, 1935: Nuremberg racial laws against Jews are introduced. Two months later these laws are extended to include Roma (Gypsies) and blacks.

March 7, 1936: Germany military re-occupies the Rhineland in violation of WWI’s Treaty of Versailles.

March 12, 1938: Anschluss (annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany.

September 29, 1938: Britain’s Neville Chamberlain cedes the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany.

March 15, 1939: Nazi Germany swallows up the rest of Czechoslovakia.

August 23, 1939: Germany and Russia sign non-aggression agreement, which secretly provides for joint invasion of Poland.

One week later — September 1, 1939: Germany invades Western Poland followed by Russia’s invasion of Eastern Poland — the start of World War II in Europe — a little over 20 years since the end of World War I in Europe.

One year and 10 months later — June 22, 1941 — Operation Barbarossa: Germany breaks non-aggression pact with Russia and advances into Russian-occupied areas.

December 7, 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, causing isolationist U.S. to declare war on Japan. Germany then declares war on the U.S., which brings the U.S. into the fight against the Nazis in Europe.

If you review this timeline, you will note how much subjugation by the Nazis took place before the actual war began on September 1, 1939. This brief “history lesson” should be food for thought for all of us today.