The article, authored by a historian from the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University, delves into the term 'gleichschaltung', a German word that originally described a technical movement in the same direction but took on a more ominous meaning during the Weimar Republic. It refers to the processes of centralization that aimed to eliminate federalism in Germany. Following their rise to power, the Nazis adopted this term to define the law from April 1933 that subordinated the individual German states to the Reich.

As the Nazis expanded the use of 'gleichschaltung', it came to symbolize the forced or violent unification of institutions, where competing organizations were either dissolved or integrated into overarching bodies. This process ensured a political monopoly for the Nazi party (NSDAP) while also significantly undermining labor unions by establishing entities such as the German Labor Front and the Reich Chamber of Culture, which mandated membership for all professionals in the arts and culture sectors.

The term 'gleichschaltung' thus encapsulates a critical aspect of the Nazi regime's strategies for controlling German society by dismantling pluralism and instituting a totalitarian state apparatus. The implications of this historical analysis serve as a warning and reminder of the dangers of centralized power and the suppression of diversity in governance.