Gleichschaltung

Gleichschaltung (from the German Gleichschalten, meaning "coordination" or "bringing into line") refers to the Nazi process of aligning all aspects of German society with the ideology and leadership of the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler. The term describes how the regime sought to create a centralized, one-party state by reducing political pluralism and subordinating institutions to party control.

The process unfolded primarily after Hitler’s rise to chancellorship in 1933 and accelerated through legal and administrative measures. The Enabling Act of March 1933 transferred legislative authority to the government, enabling rapid dictatorship. The Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service (April 1933) purged Jews and political opponents from the bureaucracy. The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and the Reich Chamber of Culture placed media, arts, and culture under state control. Independent professional associations were replaced or absorbed, and trade unions were dissolved in favor of the German Labour Front (DAF). The regime also centralized power over the states through instruments such as the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (January 1934) and the appointment of Reichsstatthalter (reig n/imperial governors) to oversee regional administration.

Education, youth organizations, and the legal system were coordinated to foster ideological conformity, and the police and judiciary were purged and brought into line with party aims. Gleichschaltung was a broad, ongoing transformation rather than a single event, culminating in a tightly centralized dictatorship that enabled the regime’s political control and its wider, repressive policies.