The German word Gleichschaltung listen Ⓗ Ⓘ (literally "synchronising", synchronization) is used in a political sense to describe the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control over the individual, and tight coordination over all aspects of society and commerce. Another possible translation is "making equal". One goal of this politics was to enforce a specific way of doctrine and thinking to everybody, eliminating individualism. Image File history File links De-Gleichschaltung-pronunciation. ... Synchronization is coordination with respect to time. ... Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The concept of Totalitarianism is a typology or ideal-type used by some political scientists to encapsulate the characteristics of a number of twentieth century regimes that mobilized entire populations in support of the state or an ideology. ...

The Nazi party's desire for total control required the elimination of all other forms of influence. The period from 1933 to around 1937 was characterized by the systematic elimination of non-Nazi organizations that could potentially influence people, such as trade unions and political parties. Those critical of Hitler's agenda, especially his close ties with the industry were suppressed or intimidated. The regime also assailed the influence of the churches, for example by instituting the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs under Hanns Kerrl. Organizations that the administration could not eliminate, such as schools, came under its direct control. The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... A political party is an organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. ... A church building (or simply church) is a building used in Christian worship. ... Hanns Kerrl (December 11, 1887 - December 12, 1941) was a German Nazi politician. ...

The Gleichschaltung included also the formation of various organisations with compulsory membership for segments of the population, in particular the youth. Boys served as apprentices in the Hitlerjugend ("Hitler Youth") beginning at the age of six, and at age 10, entered the Jungvolk ("Young Folk") and served there until entering the Hitler Youth proper at age 14. Boys remained there until age 18, at which time they entered into the Arbeitsdienst ("Labor Service") and the armed forces. Girls became part of the Jungmädel ("Young Maidens") at age 10, and at age 14 were enrolled in the Bund Deutscher Mädel ("League of German Maidens"). Girls remained in the BDM until age 21 and, upon reaching the age of 18, were sent to serve their Landjahr — a year of labor on a farm. In 1938, membership in the Hitler Youth numbered just under 8 million. The German Nazi party established the Hitler Youth (in German: Hitler-Jugend or HJ) in 1926. ... The Deutsches Jungvolk (German Youth) was a subdivision of the Hitler Youth for boys aged 10 to 14. ... After the Nazi Gleichschaltung in Germany in 1933, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (frequently used in its abbreviated form, BDM) (League of German Girls) was the all-German party organization for girls between 14 and 18 years of age, as the girls segment of the Hitler Youth. ...

For workers, an all-embracing recreational organization called Kraft durch Freude ("Strength through Joy") was set up. In Nazi Germany, even hobbies were regimented; all private clubs (whether they be for chess, soccer, or woodworking) were brought under the control of KdF and, in turn, the Nazi Party. The Kraft durch Freude organization provided vacation trips (skiing, swimming, concerts, ocean cruises, and so forth). With some 25 million members, KdF was the largest of the many organizations established by the Nazis. Kraft durch Freude (abbreviated KdF and meaning strength through joy), was a large state-controlled leisure organization in Nazi Germany, a part of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), the national German labour organization. ...

Specific measures

In a more specific sense, Gleichschaltung refers to the legal measures taken by the government during the first months following January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. In this sense, the term was used by the Nazis themselves. January 31 goooz booz Gregorian calendar. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... (help· info) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. ... The German head of government has been known as the Chancellor (German: Kanzler) ever since the creation of the post. ...

1. One day after the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933, the increasingly senile President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg, acting at Hitler's request, issued the Reichstag Fire Decree. This decree suspended most human rights provided for by the 1919 constitution of the Weimar Republic and thus allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for general terrorizing by the SA to intimidate the voters before the upcoming election.
2. In this atmosphere the Reichstag general election of March 5, 1933 took place. These yielded only a slim majority for Hitler's coalition government and no majority for Hitler's own Nazi party.
3. When the newly-elected Reichstag first convened on March 23, 1933, (not including the Communist delegates, since their party had already been banned by that time) it passed the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz), transferring all legislative powers to the Nazi government and, in effect, abolishing the remainder of the Weimar constitution as a whole. Soon afterwards the government banned the Social Democratic party, which had voted against the Act, while the other parties chose to dissolve themselves to avoid arrests and concentration camp imprisonment.
4. The "First Gleichschaltung Law" (Erstes Gleichschaltungsgesetz) (March 31, 1933) gave the governments of the Länder the same legislative powers that the Reich government had received through the Enabling Act.
5. A "Second Gleichschaltung Law" (Zweites Gleichschaltungsgesetz) (April 7, 1933) deployed one Reichsstatthalter (proconsul) in each state, apart from Prussia, which had already been under Nazi control since the Preußenschlag of July 20, 1932. These officers were supposed to act as local presidents in each state, appointing the governments. For Prussia, which comprised the vast majority of Germany anyway, Hitler reserved these rights for himself.
6. The trade union association ADGB (Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund) was shattered on May 2, 1933 (the day after Labor Day), when SA and NSBO (Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation) units occupied union facilities and ADGB leaders were imprisoned. Other important associations were forced to merge with the German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF)) in the following months.
7. The Gesetz gegen die Neubildung von Parteien ("Law against the establishment of political parties") (July 14, 1933) forbade any creation of new political parties.
8. The Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches ("Law concerning the reconstruction of the Reich") (January 30, 1934) abandoned the concept of a federal republic. Instead, the political institutions of the Länder were practically abolished altogether, passing all powers to the central government. A law dated February 14, 1934 dissolved the Reichsrat, the representation of the Länder at the federal level.
9. In the summer of 1934, Hitler instructed the SS to kill Ernst Röhm and other leaders of the Nazi party's SA, former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and several aides to former Chancellor Franz von Papen in the so-called Night of the Long Knives (June 30, 1934/July 1, 1934). These measures received retrospective sanction in a special one-article Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense (Gesetz über Maßnahmen der Staatsnotwehr) (July 3, 1934).
10. At nine o'clock in the morning of August 2, 1934, Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg died at the age of 86. Three hours before, the government had issued a law to take effect the day of his death; this prescribed that the office of the Reichspräsident should be united with that of the Reichskanzler and that the competencies of the former should be transferred to the "Führer und Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler", as the law stated. Hitler henceforth demanded the use of that title. Thus the last separation of powers were abolished.

Thus, Hitler was then absolute dictator of Germany until his suicide in 1945. The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Reichspräsident (Reich President) was the German head of state during the period of the 1919-1933 Weimar Republic and the title was later briefly revived in 1945. ... Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, known universally as Paul von Hindenburg (October 2, 1847 – August 2, 1934) was a German Field Marshal and statesman. ... A German newspapers final issue, announcing its own prohibition (Verbot) by the police authorities on the basis of the Reichstag fire decree The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung in German) is the common name of the decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... Flag of Weimar Republic, 1919–1933 This article outlines political events from 1918 until the collapse of the Republic in 1933. ... This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... The seal of SA The â–¶ (help· info) (SA, German for Storm Division and is usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organisation of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. ... The Reichstag (German for Imperial Diet) was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a cabinet in parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the German law passed in 1933 at the beginning of the Third Reich. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with SPD (disambiguation). ... A concentration camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, enemy aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Germany is a Federal Republic made up of 16 States, known in German as Länder (transliterated as Laender in English, singular Land). ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the Miocene ape, see Proconsul (genus) Under the Roman Empire a proconsul was a promagistrate filling the office of a consul. ... A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, which successfully claims the monopoly of the use of force. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa, German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: PrÅ«sai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad... The Preußenschlag (Prussian coup) was one of the major steps towards the destruction of the German Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the rise of Adolf Hitler to power. ... July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa, German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: PrÅ«sai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Labour Day (or Labor Day) is an annual holiday that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. ... The seal of SA The â–¶ (help· info) (SA, German for Storm Division and is usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organisation of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. ... The Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganization (Nazi Operating Cell Organization) was an organization of workplace groups for the Nazi Party formed in 1931. ... The German Labour Front (German Deutsche Arbeitsfront (abbr. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... January 31 goooz booz Gregorian calendar. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Reichsrat was one of the two legislative bodies in Germany under the Weimar constitution, the other one being the Reichstag. ... The infamous double-sig rune SS insignia. ... Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Röhm (often written as Roehm in English) (November 28, 1887, Munich; July 1, 1934, Munich-Stadelheim prison, murdered) was a German military officer and commander and co-founder of the Nazi Sturmabteilung or storm troopers (the SA). ... The seal of SA The â–¶ (help· info) (SA, German for Storm Division and is usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organisation of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. ... Kurt von Schleicher (4 April 1882–30 June 1934) was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (October 29, 1879–May 2, 1969) was a German politician and diplomat. ... The Night of the Long Knives (June 30 and Sunday July 1, 1934) (German, Nacht der langen Messer), also known as Reichsmordwoche or the Blood Purge, was a lethal purge of Adolf Hitlers potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung (SA; also known as storm troopers or brownshirts). ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense (in German: Gesetz über Maßnahmen zur Staatsnotwehr) was issued by the Reich government on July 3, 1934 to post-legalize the killings of Ernst Röhm and many others in the so-called Night of the Long Knives (June 30, 1934). ... July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The President of Germany (German: Bundespräsident, formerly Reichspräsident) is Germanys head of state. ... Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, known universally as Paul von Hindenburg (October 2, 1847 – August 2, 1934) was a German Field Marshal and statesman. ... This page deals with the combination of two companies into one. ... (help· info) (Fuehrer in English when umlauts are not used) is a proper noun meaning leader or guide in the German language. ... The separation of powers (or trias politica, coined by French political thinker Montesquieu) is a model for the governance of the state which requires the division of political power between an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary. ...

Legislation

• Reichstag Fire Decree
• Enabling Act
• Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense

A German newspapers final issue, announcing its own prohibition (Verbot) by the police authorities on the basis of the Reichstag fire decree The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung in German) is the common name of the decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag... This article is about the German law passed in 1933 at the beginning of the Third Reich. ... The Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense (in German: Gesetz über Maßnahmen zur Staatsnotwehr) was issued by the Reich government on July 3, 1934 to post-legalize the killings of Ernst Röhm and many others in the so-called Night of the Long Knives (June 30, 1934). ...

See also

• Nazi Germany
• Adolf Hitler
• Totalitarianism
• Centre Party (Germany)

Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... (help· info) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. ... Totalitarianism is a typology employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. ... The German Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei or merely Zentrum), often called the Catholic Centre Party, was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. ...

Philology

This compound word is better comprehended by those who speak other languages by listing its predecessory uses in German. The word gleich in German means alike, equal, or the same; schaltung means something like switching. The word Gleichschaltung had two uses in German for physical, rather than political, meanings: A compound is a word (lexeme) that consists of more than one free morpheme. ...

1. A locking clutch; manual clutches on cars usually do not press the plates one against each other, so they lose about three percent of power; some race cars use locking clutches in which the driven plate travels at the same speed as that connected to the engine; hence it wears out faster.
2. A certain means of wiring an alternating current electrical generator, and AC electric motors, so that when the generator is made to turn at a given speed, or even turned a certain angle, each motor connected to it will also turn at that speed, or to the same angle. This is the meaning which is most commonly referred to explain this word: the political party is considered the generator, and every member of a professional group or society is considered a motor wired to it. See selsyn.

However because of the Nazi associations of the term, its use for these physical meanings has largely been abandoned after the war. A clutch is a subcomponent of an engines transmission designed to allow engagement or disengagement of the engine to the gearbox or whatever apparatus is being driven. ... City lights viewed in a motion blurred exposure. ... An electrical generator is a device that produces electrical energy from a mechanical energy source. ... The synchro is a type of rotary electrical transformer that is used for measuring the angle of a rotating machine such as an antenna platform. ...

Sources; further reading

• Karl Kroeschell, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte 3 (seit 1650), 2nd ed. 1989, ISBN 3-531-22139-6
• Karl Kroeschell, Rechtsgeschichte Deutschlands im 20. Jahrhundert, 1992, ISBN 3-8252-1681-0
• Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online: Die Errichtung des Einparteienstaats 1933, http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/innenpolitik/einparteienstaat/index.html