Germany - 1934In July of 1933, Pope Pius XI signed a concordat with Hitler (see photo to the right) that was supposed to guarantee the legal status and ongoing protection of the German Catholic Church. This turned out to be a disappointment as Catholic leaders and parochial schools continued to be harassed. But it got the Catholic Church off his back for the time being.
1934 was a year when Hitler claimed and consolidated his power.
First, Hitler eliminated those he considered to be major threats to his rule. On June 30 and July 1 (the Night of the Long Knives), hundreds of people were killed at Hitler's orders, including Ernst Rohm, leader of the Storm Troopers (SA). Rohm was murdered by Theodor Eicke and Eicke was rewarded by being made inspector of concentration camps.
Then, on August 2, President Hindenburg died. Within an hour of his death, the government announced that the offices of president and chancellor would be merged. Hitler would be, not only the Nazi Party Chief, but also head of state and supreme commander of the military.
Hitler was now the nation's ultimate authority. Soldiers were required to swear a personal oath of loyalty, not to Germany, but to Hitler.
* 1934 - Professor Ernst Bergmann issued his "Twenty-Five Points of the German Religion." These stated "that Christ was not a Jew but a Nordic warrior put to death by Jews, and whose death spared the world from Jewish domination; Adolf HItler is the new messiah sent to Earth to save the world from the Jews.
* 1934 - The Institute of Hereditary Biology and Race Research is established at the University of Frankfurt am Main by Dr. Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer to study racial and hereditary issues.
* 1934 - The American Christian Defenders (the World Alliance Against Jewish Aggressiveness) is founded in the United States by an anti-Semitic propagandist, Eugene N. Sanctuary.
* 1934 - Early in the year, Hitler Youth members are sent throughout Germany to intimidate members of Catholic youth groups.
* January 1 - The Nazis remove Jewish holidays from the official German calendar.
* January 24 - A Lutheran minister opposed to the Reich Church is beaten by Nazi hoodlums.
* February 24 - Anneliese Frank, a German native, joins her family in Amsterdam. She is three years old.
* April - The Volksgericht (People's Court) is established to deal with enemies of the state. There is no trial by jury and no right of appeal.
* April 7 - Several thousand Americans attend a pro-Nazi rally in Queens, New York.
* May 1 - The Nazi periodical, Der Sturmer, reminded its readers that during the Middle Ages, Jews were accused of ritually murdering Christian children to use their blood for religious rites.
* May 2 - Congressman Louis T. McFadden gives an anti-Semitic speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
* May 17 - Thousands of people attend a pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, sponsored by the German-American Bund.
* August 5 - In Constantine, Algeria, 100 Jews are killed in an anti-Semitic progrom.
* August 19 - A plebiscite is held on Hitler's expanded powers. Almost 90% of voters approve. Most Germans will support Hitler's actions until near the end of the war.
* September - In Denmark, a collaborationist SS organization, National Socialist Youth, is established.
* October 1 - Hitler secretly orders a rapid increase in the German Army and Navy and the creation of an air force.
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