Hitler as a Totalitarian Dictator

Hitler as a Totalitarian Dictator

Before I begin to answer the question, "to what extent was Hitler a

totalitarian dictator", I must first expand on the meanings of these

two widely used political terms. In the "Reader's Digest Great

Encyclopaedic Dictionary", the definition of totalitarian dictator is

as follows: "Totalitarian (adjective). Of, pertaining to, régime which

permits no rival loyalties or parties and arrogates to itself all

rights including those normally belonging to individuals." In short,

totalitarian means a political system that has complete control over

all aspects of people's lives. The very same tome that I previously

quoted from contains this definition of dictator: "Dictator (noun).

Absolute ruler, usually temporary or irregular, of a State; person

with absolute authority in any sphere." These terms elaborated on, I

will attempt to explain and dissect all aspects of Hitler's

dictatorship and comment on how each of them contributed to Hitler's

complete control.

On the twenty-seventh of February 1933, the Reichstag burnt down. The

Reichstag was much like the House of Commons, with the Reichstrat

acting in a similar way to the House of Lords. A Dutch communist by

the name of Marius Van de Lubbe was caught near to the scene in

possession of matches and firelighters. He was taken away by the Nazis

and 'questioned'. He is reported to have confessed, and was tried for

treason. This gave an excuse for the Communist party to be banned from

the government an thus eliminated opposition to Hitler as the

Communist party was the second largest in Germany, and contributed to

his rise to complete control by providing him...

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Taking in to account all of the sections of the essay, I believe that

Hitler did not have absolutely complete control of Germany. Referring

back to the definitions of the words 'totalitarian' and 'dictator', a

totalitarian dictator must have supreme authority in all spheres. I

believe that these terms are in a sense virtual - it is nigh on

impossible for someone to control all aspects of people's lives even

if nearly all of them are controlled. With this in mind, I conclude

that Hitler was to the greater extent a totalitarian dictator, and

that it would be a fitting term for him. However, because there were

many rival factions and groups that opposed him and were not

completely destroyed, he did not have complete and absolute authority

in every single sphere and therefore was not a complete totalitarian

dictator.