Ben Wilson

Okay.

In other words, Hitler was always late for things.

He's always just hanging out in cafes, but now he actually shows up on time to appointments, which is a huge surprise to Rudolf Hess.

The finance minister, a man by the name of Krosig, found him, quote, polite and calm in cabinet meetings, well briefed with a good memory, able to grasp the essentials of a problem and concisely summarize lengthy deliberations.

All right.

So this is not the Hitler who will emerge later.

This is not the frothing, raving Hitler of popular imagination.

This is a man who had been preparing for this moment for years and who understood that the first phase of consolidation requires patience, discipline, and the appearance of normalcy.

He was the chancellor, but he did not have a firm grip on all aspects of government.

And until he did, he wasn't going to scare people without the ability to actually do damage to them.

Kershaw observes, quote, Hitler was in fact in no position to act as an outright dictator when he came into office on January 30th, 1933.

As long as Hindenburg lived, there was a potential rival source of loyalty, not least for the army.

But by the summer of 1934, when he combined the headship of state with the leadership of government, his power had effectively shed formal constraints on its usage.

So even though he's kind of playing good cop right now,

He does do some things to consolidate power and to repress opposition.

So Goering takes control of the Prussian police.

Prussia is the largest and most populous and most wealthiest region within Germany.

And actually the Schleicher government had done away with Prussian autonomy so that Prussia was ruled directly by the central federal government.

Which he thought was a good idea, but actually this just gives a ton of control to Hitler and to the NSDAP when they come into power.

So Goering takes control of the Prussian police.