How Far Do You Agree That Hitler’s Regime Was a ‘Consensus Dictatorship’?

How far do you agree that Hitler’s Regime was a ‘consensus dictatorship’?



Hitler’s Regime was a consensus “dictatorship” in which allies such as Himmler and Goebbels had a lot of power. It was consensus due to the fact that Hitler aimed for “consent of the initiated” as stated by Robert Gellately. This was evident as many Germans “enjoyed their lives” suggesting that Hitler’s Regime was in fact a consensus dictatorship.

Eric A. Johnson claims that Germany was “regaining its pride” during the years of Hitler’s Regime. During the years of the Weimer Republic Germans suffered terribly, which was due to reasons such as hyperinflation and the fact that unemployment was so poor that 3 million were unemployed in 1930. Hitler ‘solved’ the problem by giving Men in Germany the jobs of Women and Jews, which led to many “finding employment” as stated by Johnson. Mefo Bills were also introduced by an economist called Schacht that stimulated the growth of the economy. This ultimately would have led to Germans agreeing with Hitler due to the beneficial change he brought with his Regime.

It was a consensus regime due to Hitler’s use of allies such as Goebells. Goebells had complete control over the media, thus he could prevent citizens being outraged by newspapers and such due to the fact that Goebells would filter anything that conflicted with Hitler’s Regime. An example was ‘The Night of the Long Knives’ where Goebells prevented newspapers showing the names of the people who died, he also made sure that Hitler’s justifications were well heard, thus the people of Germany still “slept soundly”.

Johnson and Gellately seem to agree with each other when suggesting the Hitler’s Regime was a Consensus dictatorship. Gellately claims that Hitler believed his regime must be “based on popularity” which is approved by Johnson as he claims that they “were still at peace” and “enjoyed their lives”. If Germans enjoyed their lives, it suggests that Hitler’s aim to create an...