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Between 4 and 8 May 1945, most of the remaining German armed forces unconditionally surrendered. The German Instrument of Surrender was signed 8 May, marking the end of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II in Europe. [147] Popular support for Hitler almost completely disappeared as the war drew to a close. [148]
However, support for the Nazis had fallen to 33.1%, suggesting that the Nazi surge had passed its peak—possibly because the worst of the Depression had passed, possibly because some middle-class voters had supported Hitler in July as a protest, but had now drawn back from the prospect of actually putting him into power.
German business leaders disliked Nazi ideology but came to support Hitler, because they saw the Nazis as a useful ally to promote their interests. [68] Business groups made significant financial contributions to the Nazi Party both before and after the Nazi seizure of power, in the hope that a Nazi dictatorship would eliminate the organised ...
The Nazis devised the Enabling Act to gain complete political power without the need of the support of a majority in the Reichstag and without the need to bargain with their coalition partners. The Nazi regime was unique compared to its contemporaries, most famously Joseph Stalin 's, because Hitler did not seek to draft a completely new ...
This vision allowed Hitler to maintain popular support amongst German soldiers right up until the end of the war and inspired fierce devotion and loyalty. [67] [68] Fritz argues that the concept was appealing to the German military even before Hitler assumed power, as they saw it as a way to create a more cohesive and effective combat force ...
Like Swiss banks, American car companies deny helping the Nazi war machine or profiting from forced labor at their German subsidiaries during World War II. [9] "General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland," according to Bradford Snell. "The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland.
Nazi Germany was established in January 1933 with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, followed by suspension of basic rights with the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act which gave Hitler's regime the power to pass and enforce laws without the involvement of the Reichstag or German president, and de facto ended with ...
This declared the NSDAP the country's only legal political party, and mandated imprisonment for anyone supporting or seeking to establish another party organization; the Nazi Party stood alone and a one-party state was established. [4] Hitler now sought to extend the Party's grasp over all the levers of state power and administration.