Gleichschaltung
In Nazi terminology, Gleichschaltung (German pronunciation: [ˈɡlaɪçʃaltʊŋ]), translated as "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", "synchronization") was the process by which Nazi Germany successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of society.
Claudia Koonz uses the term to explain the transformation of ordinary Germans — who had not, before 1933, been more prejudiced than their counterparts elsewhere — from indifferent bystanders into collaborators with persecution.
Among the goals of this policy were to bring about adherence to a specific doctrine and way of thinking and to control as many aspects of life as possible.
The apex of the Nazification of Germany was in the resolutions approved during the Nuremberg Rally of 1935, when the symbols of the Party and the State were fused (see Flag of Germany) and the German Jews were deprived of citizenship (see Nuremberg Laws), paving the way for the Holocaust.
Overview