Did the Nazis ever have
plans for succession in the event that Hitler died? I'm not sure that they ever did. It was pretty much a moot point by April/May 1945.
Perhaps there would have been a power struggle between Goering, Himmler, and others at that point. Maybe whomever emerged out of that power struggle would have portrayed himself as fulfilling Hitler's goals, and they would have started the war anyway - but the war would have ended earlier, since none of the successors had either the leadership skills (certainly, not the political skills) or the strategic vision of Hitler.
In regard to the first part of the question: IMO, the Nazi regime would likely have lost much of its legitimacy among the German population, and would have likely disintegrated or be severely weakened, had Hitler died in 1938. It's not like people didn't know that Hitler was a potentially murderous megalomaniac by that point (
Mein Kampf laid out a lot of what he intended to do, and certainly, by 1938, Hitlers murderous streak was
already established e.g.The Night of the Long Knives).
I
could see, however, there being a divide within Germany (and even within the NSDAP) over whether Hitler's legacy was more positive or negative-at least, initially. The long-term historical ramifications of this, assuming that there's no WWII, no Holocaust, etc. - or at the very least, not nearly as many people killed, in a war that would likely have been shorter, if it had occurred at all, had Hitler died - are difficult to predict (of course
) but if anything, Germany might have actually been
less democratic for a somewhat longer period of time. I say that, because the Nazis would still be around, even though they would have lost a lot of power. Other parties would likely arise, but it becomes difficult to establish a unified vision of what the political system should even
look like at the most basic level.
There are other things to consider here, as well. What happens if Nazi Germany disintegrated but there's' no Marshall Plan or Nuremberg Trials? And what of the USSR - would Stalin have seized the opportunity to expand his sphere of influence at an earlier stage? I really can't say.
Those are just some of my thoughts for now.
