May 2, 1933

Gleichschaltung

Nazi forces seize Germany’s free trade unions

At exactly ten in the morning, Nazi detachments moved into union offices across the Reich on a secret timetable issued eleven days earlier.

Ten a.m., by the clock

At 10:00 a.m. on 2 May 1933, a centrally planned operation directed by Robert Ley began against the free unions affiliated with the General German Trade Union Federation, the ADGB.

Across Germany, SA, SS and National Socialist Factory Cell Organization personnel occupied ADGB offices and buildings, confiscated assets and placed officials in so-called protective custody.

The day before, the regime had staged a highly publicised National Labour Day for the workers whose offices it was about to seize.

Occupied, not shuttered

A contemporary U.S. diplomatic report said storm detachments occupied union offices and the workers' bank, and that union leaders, journal editors and bank directors were arrested — about fifty officials in the initial action, among them ADGB chairman Theodor Leipart.

Union employees who were not arrested were instructed to continue working under Nazi commissioners. The seizure replaced independent leadership rather than simply closing every office.

Attributing the operation to SA stormtroopers alone omits the documented participation of the SS and the NSBO.

Not a decree, and not the whole labour movement

This was not a statute promulgated by Hitler banning trade unions. It was a coordinated seizure organised under Ley and executed by Nazi Party formations, chosen after Nazi factory-cell candidates won only limited support in the March workplace elections.

The action centred on the ADGB free unions. Christian and liberal union organisations were absorbed over the following weeks, so the destruction of every union current was not completed in a single day.

By 4 May the remaining unions had submitted to NSBO commissioners, and on 10 May the German Labour Front was founded under Ley.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited

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