11 - Church and minority groups Flashcards
Explain why the Nazis were able to prevent opposition from the Church (3 points)
1 - Reich Church (1936)
2 - Concordat with the Pope
3 - Limitations to opposition
Explain why the Nazis were able to prevent opposition from the Church - the Reich Church
- Protestant churches that wanted to work with the Nazis combined to form Protestant Reich Church
- leader was the Reich Bishop of Germany
- only Protestant pastors who supported Hitler’s views were allowed to continue providing Church services
- Nazi swastika was displayed in churches to create a clear link between church and state
Explain why the Nazis were able to prevent opposition from the Church - the Reich Church analysis
- allowed the Nazis to influence Church teachings to promote their ideas
- many Protestants that had been concerned with the perceived ‘anti-Christian’ Communist threat were happy to work with the Nazis
Explain why the Nazis were able to prevent opposition from the Church - Concordat with the Pope
- agreed freedom of worship for Catholics and not to interfere with Catholic schools in Germany
- Church agreed that priests would not interfere in politics and ordered German bishops to swear loyalty to the National Socialist Regime
Explain why the Nazis were able to prevent opposition from the Church - Concordat with the Pope
By the time the Nazis started to suppress Catholic activities, it was too late for the Church to encourage opposition from their congregations.
Explain why the Nazis were able to prevent opposition from the Church - limitations to opposition
- arrest of dissenting pastors and priests: Pastor’s Emergency League established the rival Protestant ‘Confessing Church’ after refusing to join the Reich Church. 800 pastors who gave anti-Nazi sermons were arrested and sent to concentration camps
- refusal to conform rather than active opposition: many Germans did not want to actively challenge the regime. Much of the Church was to preserve their traditions from political interference rather than to challenge Nazi leadership
Explain why there were changes to the lives of minority groups in Germany in the years 1933 to 1939 (3 points)
1 - Nazi ideology
2 - legal discrimination and persecution
3 - state sponsored violence
Explain why there were changes to the lives of minority groups in Germany in the years 1933 to 1939 - Nazi ideology
- racial ideas: believed in ‘racial purity’ and aimed to create a ‘master race’. Groups not considered to be descended from the Aryan race (e.g. Jews, Slavs and Roma gypsies) were considered to be ‘contaminating’ the ‘racial purity’ of the German people
- also wanted to remove perceived ‘genetic weaknesses’ = targeted disabled people
- social expectations: homosexuals seen as resisting their responsibility to have children and lowering the ‘moral standards’ of Germany
- propaganda: to promote these views, Nazis gained control of press, education, and the Arts. Propaganda used to label Jews as ‘vermin’ and ‘filth’. Slavs presented as being ‘sub-human’.
Explain why there were changes to the lives of minority groups in Germany in the years 1933 to 1939 - legal discrimination and presecution
- employment restrictions: Jews banned from government jobs, Jewish teachers and civil servants were sacked (April 1933). Being Jewish was a legitimate reason to be fired from a job
- exclusion from public facilities: 1934, local councils banned Jews from parks and swimming pools
- boycott of Jewish businesses (March 1933) - SA sent to paint Star of David or the word ‘Jude’ on doors and windows of Jewish businesses. Armed SA men stood outside with banners to discourage people from going inside
- the Nuremberg Laws (September 1935) (details on another flashcard because this is getting too long)
The Nuremberg Laws (September 1935)
- laws officially limited the freedom of Jews in Germany
- Reich Law on Citizenship = classified Jews as subjects rather than citizens - removed right to vote, right to hold political office, and their right to a German passport
- Reich Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour = forbade marriage and sexual relations between Jews and German citizens
Explain why there were changes to the lives of minority groups in Germany in the years 1933 to 1939 - state sponsored violence
- Kristallnacht (November 1933) - gangs of SA and Hitler Youth members smashed and burned Jewish property and attacked Jews. Official figures listen 814 shops, 171 homes, and 191 synagogues destroyed. Over 100 Jews killed
- concentration camps - after Kristallnacht, 20,000 Jewish ‘trouble-makers’ were sent to concentration camps. By 1938, 8,000 homosexuals had been imprisoned, and approx 5,000 died
- violence against disabled people - Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring (1933) forcibly sterilised people who were mentally ill, alcoholic, deformed, epileptic, deaf, or blind. 1939, T4 programme ordered that babies and juveniles with severe mental or physical illnesses should be killed. Over 5,000 children were killed
