Adolf Hitler's Directives, or Führer Directives (''Führerbefehle''), were instructions and strategic plans issued by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
himself. They covered a wide range of subjects, from detailed direction of the
German Armed Forces' operations during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, to the governance of
occupied territories and their populations.
History
After
seizing full power, Hitler quickly began to make plans to fulfil the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
' agenda of territorial expansion. As he did so, he wanted to ensure the maximum participation of the German people in the execution of the plans. However, the failure of the Nazis' attempted
coup in 1923 made the Nazis realize that force was not always the best solution. The failure taught the Nazis that mass participation also required legal basis, in order to ensure the public co-operated as a
civic duty
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to ...
.
Hitler had put this lesson into practice as soon as he became
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
, successfully convincing
the President to issue
Reichstag Fire Decree
The Reichstag Fire Decree (german: Reichstagsbrandverordnung) is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State (german: Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat) issued by Germ ...
and
Reichstag to pass
Enabling Act
An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to c ...
, which gave the Chancellor the power to make laws without the approval of the Reichstag. He used this power to great effect during the war, issuing orders in the form of executive instructions, the Führer Directives, which ensured that his orders had a legally-sanctioned obligation to be obeyed.
Under the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
system, the Directives were absolutely binding. They were to be followed to the letter and superseded any other law, including the Constitution. However, they should not be confused with the Führer's Orders, issued late in the war, which were more precise and low-level, and could be written or oral. They were as binding as the more general Directives.
The Directives
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuhrer Directives
Military plans
World War II documents