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 The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

' 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, to the governance of

occupied territories Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

and their populations.

History

After

seizing Seizings are a class of stopping knots used to semi-permanently bind together two ropes, two parts of the same rope, or rope and another object. Akin to lashings, they use string or small-stuff to produce friction and leverage to immobilize la ...

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 totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

' 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. Hitler had put this lesson into practice as soon as he became Chancellor, 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 carr ...

, 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 totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

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