1933-39 Flashcards
what event allowed hitler to enact emergancy decree?
-the Reichstag fire allowed hitler to declare an emergency and rule by decree
what did Hitler use his emergency decree powers to do?
- allowed Hitler to abolish most civil liberties
- allowed the Nazis to arrest, intimidate and purge his political enemies
- Communists and labour union leaders were the first to be arrested, using the SA to arrest and break up communist meetings
- a few days after the fire, the Nazis won 288 seats in the Reichstag, showing how the Nazis thrived in panic.
what act allowed Hitler to rule by decree?
the enabling act - passed with 441 votes to 94
the act allowed Hitler to pass laws without the Reichstag’s approval for 4 years
how did Hitler achieve the one party state?
- the Catholic centre party disbanded in return for Hitler agreeing not to interfere in catholic schools and youth movements
- all communists and socialists were put in prison
- local parliaments were reshuffled to have Nazi majorities
- 1933 - law against formation of parties
- December 1933 - Nazis won 92% of the vote
what was the night of the long knives june 1924?
- this was the purge of significant SA and political figures who could challenge Hitler’s power.
- also aimed to discipline the SA
why did Hitler carry out the night of the long knives?
- at the time, there were 2 million members of the SA, and the SA wanted to take over the smaller military
- Hitler didnt want to annoy the military as he believed they had the power to overthrow him and he needed them for his ambitious foreign policy
- he also believed that the SA were the only group who could stop him achieving dictatorship
who was killed during the night of the long knives?
Hitler ordered the SS to murder around 400 people, mostly SA leaders such as Rohm, but also political opponents like Von Schleicher
what was the result of the night of the long knives?
This destroyed all opposition to Hitler within the Nazi party, gave more power to the loyal and brutal SS and discouraged further opposition from challenging Hitler
what other event in 1934 increased the power of Hitler?
- Hindenburg dies, transferring presidential powers over to Hitler, making him Fuhrer
- he made the army swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler
what was the policy of Gleichschaltung?
- This meant all aspects of life had to be within the Nazis ideals
- Trade unions were abolished in may 1933 and all workers had to join the DAF and encouraged to join the strength through joy scheme
- Concordat signed with the Catholic church allowing Hitler to increase power without opposition from Catholic Church
- Peoples Courts set up where judges had to swear oath of loyalty to Hitler
what events of anti-semitism where throughout this period?
- 1933 - unsuccessful boycott of Jewish shops
- 1935 - nuremburg laws - legal citizenship taken away from Jews and illegal for non-jews to marry a jewish person
- 1938 - night of broken glass
- 1939 - jews were forbidden to own a business, or even a radio
what was the night of broken glass?
- Jewish homes, Businesses and synagogues were attacked throughout Germany
- Almost 100 Jewish people were killed and 30,000 were sent to concentration camps
- Around 7500 Jewish shops damaged or destroyed and 400 synagogues were burned to the ground
what was the volksgemeinschaft and what are some of the policies which contributed to it?
- the volksgemeinschaft or ‘peoples community’ was a way of the Nazis to create a sense of uniformity amongst its members (aryans)
- an example of a policy was a paid bank holiday called may day, to celebrate the german workers, intended to win over the workers
what were some of the policies towards women?
- gave an award called the Mother’s Cross for women who had large amounts of Children
- gave newly weds a loan of 1,000 marks
- helped create the idea of a perfect german family, contributing to the Volksgemeinschaft
what were the Nazis policies towards the youth?
- provided youth groups such as the Hitler youth and the league for german maidens which indoctrinated children and prepared boys for future wars and girls for future motherhood
- taught children racial theories and eugenics in school
how did Hitler increase employment?
- he began huge infrastructure projects including the 1936 olympic stadium and the autobahns (80,000 jobs) which provided many people with employment
- rearmament was responsible for majority of pre-war growth which created millions of jobs
- National Labour Service (NLS) meant all young men spent sixth months in NLS and then were conscripted into the army. they counted as employed
what was invisible unemployment?
-germany claimed to have full employment by 1939, but they excluded many groups such as the 1.4 million men in the army, Jews whose jobs were given to non-jews, women whose jobs were given to men
what was the policy of autarky?
- Hitler wanted Germany to become an autarky, meaning they produced everything that it needed.
- this was a failure as they still ended up importing around a 1/3 of their raw materials
- Ersatz goods were cheap German substitutes for goods
what were the Nazis economic effects on different groups?
- Big business wages rose by 50%, by 1937, monopolies controlled 70% of production
- Agricultural prices rose by 20%
- 20% of small businesses closed down
what policies were targeted at industrial workers?
- the labour front replaced trade unions and was in charge of setting wages, which they often followed the wishes of the employers
- Strength through joy - gave workers rewards for their work - cheap holidays, cinema trips etc.
- Beauty of Labour - encouraged factory owners to improve conditions
how did industrial workers standard of living fall?
those working in rearmament industries experienced a fall in real wages and an increase in the number of hours worked by 15%. also, there was a significant rise in serious accidents in factories and workers could be blacklisted by employers if they questioned their working conditions
Evidence of gestapo repression of workers
After a 17 minute strike in 1936, 7 ring leaders were rounded up by the gestapo and imprisoned
How many communists (KPD) were killed in 1933?
About 10% of the membership
Example of how hitler shaped his government to be all compliant
In a meeting in 1937, hitler announced his plans to invade Austria and Czechoslovakia. Defence minister General Bloomberg and commander in chief general Fritsch conveyed their doubts and they purged around 3 months later
What did goebbels set up for propaganda
The RMVP for propaganda which has 14,000 people working for it
How many newspapers did the Nazis own?
By 1934, they owned 82% of the newspapers
How many radios were there? And how did hitler control them
By 1939, 70% of households had a radio, which was controlled by the Reich Radio Company
How many films were produced
Over 1000
How did the reichstag fire allow hitler to crush the communists
They persuaded the cabinet to suppress the communist party, 4,000 communists including basically all the party leadership were immediately arrested
By the summer, over 100,000 communists, social democrats and trade unionists were arrested
How did the failure of the Weimar government help hitler to eradicate democracy so quickly?
- they ruled by decree since 1930 anyway, so the enabling act and emergancy decrees weren’t very radical
What is an example of fear in the civil service
The Nazis passed a law (law of the restoration of the civil service) which gave them control of the civil service. In order to keep their jobs at a time of high unemployment, 1.6 million people joined the nazi party from January to May
What policy did this intense nationalisation of everything come under
Gleichschaltung (streamlining)
How was gleichschaltung successful?
According to Stargardt, two thirds of the population signed up to at least one of the parties mass organisations
What is an example of terror not leading to actual indoctrination
Many people signed up to Nazi ideals and organisations to protect themselves. These were described as ‘beefsteak Nazis’ as they were ‘brown on the inside (Nazi), but red on the inside (communist)
How many members of the edelweiss pirates were there
5,000, showing either success of hitler youth, or the success of Nazi repression
How important did hitler perceive the youth
To hitler, ‘he alone, who owns the youth, gains the future’
Evidence of strength through joy scheme
By 1938, around 10 million had enjoyed a state financed holiday
A quote showing the extent of gestapo
An SPD agent in Berlin in 1937 said that ‘every staircase now has an informer’
