Resolute Continuation of “Gleichschaltung”

1934 was marked by the Nazi regime’s consolidation and expansion of power. The “policy of Gleichschaltung” was resolutely continued. For instance, the law on the “Restructuring of the Reich” of January of 1934 abrogated the states’ sovereign rights and thus federal structures as well. From then on, the German Reich was a centralized unitary state.

In January of 1934, Alfred Rosenberg was put in charge of with supervising the overall intellectual and ideological education of the Party and every coordinated organization as well. This was noteworthy because Rosenberg, who had left the Protestant church, advocated an explicit anti-Christian ideology of blood and soil. Hitler had so far always relativized its significance for the Nazi movement for tactical reasons. Rosenberg had thus had to declare his “magnum opus”, “The Myth of the 20th Century” from 1930 merely to be his personal opinion.