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The fuehrers democratic weapon
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What is a plebiscite?

• Easy, a plebiscite is a referendum!
• Okay, a referendum is where a vote takes place on
  a particular question e.g. Do you agree that I
  am the rightful Fuehrer of Germany?
• So, a plebscite could be described as being a
  democratic weapon because it can be democratic,
  or in Hitlers case it can appear to be
  democratic.

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There were four major referendums that Hitler
conducted

• The first was on Nov. 12, 1933, in which the
  German people were called upon to ratify Hitler's
  decision to withdraw from the Geneva Disarmament
  Conference and the League of Nations. Ninety-six
  percent of registered voters turned out to vote,
  and 95 of them ratified the withdrawal. It was
  even reported, that 2,154 of 2,242 inmates at the
  Dachau concentration camp voted "yes" to
  withdrawal!

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Now we are going to focus on the second of these
plebiscites in detail.

• In 1934, after the Night of the Long Knives,
  nothing stood between Hitler and absolute power
  in Germany, except 87-year-old German President
  Paul von Hindenburg, who now lay close to death
  at his country estate in East Prussia.

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• Hitler, of course, decided that he should succeed
  Hindenburg, but not as president, instead as
  Führer (supreme leader) of the German people.
  Although he was already called Führer by members
  of the Nazi Party and popularly by the German
  public, Hitler's actual government title at this
  time was simply Reich Chancellor of Germany. So
  on August 2nd 1934 Hitler passed a law making
  himself undisputed dictator of Germany Der
  Führer

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• The law was technically illegal since it violated
  provisions of the German constitution concerning
  presidential succession as well as the Enabling
  Act of 1933 which forbade Hitler from altering
  the presidency. But that didn't matter much
  anymore. Nobody raised any objections. Hitler
  himself was becoming the law.

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• Immediately following the announcement of the new
  Führer law, the German Officer Corps and every
  individual soldier in the German Army was made to
  swear a brand new oath of allegiance
• "I swear by God this sacred oath I will render
  unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the
  Führer of the German Reich and people, Supreme
  Commander of the Armed Forces, and will be ready
  as a brave soldier to risk my life at any time
  for this oath."

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• The unprecedented oath was to Hitler personally,
  not the German state or constitution, as were
  previous Army oaths. Obedience to Hitler would
  now be regarded as a sacred duty by all men in
  uniform, in accordance with their military code
  of honor, thus making the German Army the
  personal instrument of the Führer.

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• On August 7, during Hindenburg's elaborate State
  funeral, General Werner von Blomberg, caught up
  in the pomp and circumstance of the moment,
  offered to have the Army officially refer to
  Hitler as "Mein Führer" instead of the customary
  "Herr Hitler." Hitler immediately accepted
  Blomberg's offer.
• After the funeral, the Nazis prepared to hold a
  nationwide vote (plebiscite) giving the German
  people an opportunity to express their approval
  of the Führer's new powers and thus legitimize
  Hitler's position in the eyes of the world.

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• The Nazis published Hindenburg's alleged
  political testament giving an account of his
  years of service to the Fatherland and containing
  complimentary references to Hitler. The testament
  was almost certainly Nazi forgery and was
  skillfully used as part of the intensive
  propaganda campaign to get a big 'Yes' vote for
  Hitler in the coming plebiscite.

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• On August 19, about 95 percent of registered
  voters in Germany went to the polls and gave
  Hitler 38 million "Ja" votes (90 percent of the
  vote). Thus Hitler could now claim he was Führer
  of the German nation with the overwhelming
  approval of the people.
• By using a plebiscite, Hitler, at long last, had
  achieved total power in Germany.

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• Two weeks later, during the annual Nazi rally at
  Nuremberg, the Führer's grand proclamation was
  read "The German form of life is definitely
  determined for the next thousand years.."

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• Hitler had summoned movie director Leni
  Riefenstahl to film the 1934 Nuermburg Rally. Her
  film, "Triumph of the Will," ensured that
  Hitlers assumption of total power was a
  propaganda success.

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So Hitler used two more major plebiscites The
third plebiscite was held on March 29, 1936, for
the purpose of ratifying Hitler's military
occupation of the Rhineland, which, according to
the Treaty of Versailles, was to have remained
demilitarized. 99 of registered voters went to
the polls, and 98.8 voted "yes" to the
occupation. The fourth plebiscite was held on
April 10, 1938, in order to ratify Hitler's
Anschluss, (annexation) of Austria. Over 99 of
registered voters voted "yes" on that
question. For Hitler plebiscites were a useful
method of claiming popular support. While there
is no doubt that Hitler was very popular in
Germany for much of his rule, the historian
treats such evidence with a degree of caution -
why?