Editing Nazi Party (section)

=== After taking power: intertwining of party and state ===
The Nazis embarked on a campaign of {{lang|de|[[Gleichschaltung]]}} (coordination) to exert their control over all aspects of German government and society. During June and July 1933, all competing parties were either outlawed or dissolved themselves and subsequently the [[Law Against the Formation of Parties]] of 14 July 1933 legally established the Nazi Party's monopoly. On 1 December 1933, the [[Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State]] entered into force, which was the base for a progressive intertwining of party structures and state apparatus.{{sfn|Kuntz|2011|p=73}} By this law, the SA—actually a party division—was given quasi-governmental authority and their ''[[Stabschef]]'' became a cabinet [[minister without portfolio]]. By virtue of the 30 January 1934 [[Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich]], the {{lang|de|Länder}} (states) lost their sovereignty and were demoted to administrative divisions of the {{lang|de|Reich}} government. Effectively, they lost most of their power to the {{lang|de|[[Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany|Gaue]]}} that were originally just regional divisions of the party, but took over most competencies of the state administration in their respective sectors.{{sfn|Schaarschmidt|2014|pp=104–05}}

During the [[Night of the Long Knives (1934)|Röhm Purge]] of 30 June to 2 July 1934 (also known as the "Night of the Long Knives"), Hitler disempowered the SA's leadership—most of whom belonged to the [[Strasserism|Strasserist]] (national revolutionary) faction within the NSDAP—and ordered them killed. He accused them of having conspired to stage a ''coup d'état'', but it is believed that this was only a pretense to justify the suppression of any intraparty opposition. The purge was executed by the SS, assisted by the Gestapo and Reichswehr units. Aside from Strasserist Nazis, they also murdered anti-Nazi conservative figures like former chancellor von Schleicher.{{sfn|Evans|2015|p=98}} After this, the SA continued to exist but lost much of its importance, while the role of the SS grew significantly. Formerly only a sub-organisation of the SA, it was made into a separate organisation of the NSDAP in July 1934.{{sfn|McNab|2013|p=20}}

Upon the death of President Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of party leader, head of state and chief of government in one, taking the title of {{lang|de|[[Führer]] und Reichskanzler}} by passage of the [[Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich]]. The [[Hitler's Chancellery|Chancellery of the Führer]], officially an organisation of the Nazi Party, took over the functions of the Office of the President (a government agency), blurring the distinction between structures of party and state even further. The SS increasingly exerted police functions, a development which was formally documented by the merger of the offices of {{lang|de|[[Reichsführer-SS]]}} and Chief of the German Police on 17 June 1936, as the position was held by [[Heinrich Himmler]] who derived his authority directly from Hitler.{{sfn|Kuntz|2011|p=74}} The {{lang|de|[[Sicherheitsdienst]]}} (SD, formally the "Security Service of the Reichsführer-SS") that had been created in 1931 as an intraparty intelligence became the ''de facto'' intelligence agency of Nazi Germany. It was put under the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA) in 1939, which then coordinated SD, Gestapo and [[Kriminalpolizei|criminal police]], therefore functioning as a hybrid organisation of state and party structures.{{sfn|Delarue|2008|pp=x–xi}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H12704, Bad Godesberg, Vorbereitung Münchener Abkommen.jpg|thumb|Adolf Hitler in [[Bonn]] in 1938]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
|+ NSDAP election and referendum results in the [[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]] under [[Nazi Germany]] (1933–1938)
|-
!Election
!Votes
!%
!Seats
|-
![[November 1933 German federal election|November 1933]]
|39,655,224
|92.1
|{{Composition bar|661|661|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|-
![[1936 German election and referendum|1936]]
|44,462,458
|98.8
|{{Composition bar|741|741|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|-
![[1938 German election and referendum|1938]]
|44,451,092
|99.0
|{{Composition bar|813|813|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|}