Daily History Challenge · No. 78 · Monday 14 September 2026 · When?
Puzzle No. 78: When?
The event was Hitler's appointment and Nazi consolidation of power, in 30 January 1933 to August 1934.
The answer
On 30 January 1933 President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor at the head of a coalition government. The Nazis moved swiftly to entrench a dictatorship. After the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended civil liberties and enabled mass arrests of Communists and other opponents. On 23 March the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, allowing Hitler's cabinet to legislate without parliament or president. Through Gleichschaltung ('coordination') other parties were banned, trade unions dissolved, and the press brought to heel; on 14 July 1933 the Nazi Party was made the only legal party. The first concentration camp opened at Dachau in March 1933. The Night of the Long Knives (30 June to 2 July 1934) purged the SA leadership and other rivals. When Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, Hitler merged the presidency with the chancellorship to become Führer and commander of the armed forces, completing the transformation of Germany into a totalitarian state.