3. changing lives (1933-39) Flashcards
economy & society in 1933
-6 million unemployed
-no one would give germany a loan
-hitler was elected on a promise to give the german people ‘work & bread’
hitler’s economic aims:
-drag germany out of the world recession & push autarky
-get rid of Jewish industrialist and give their businesses to aryans
-solve unemplovment
-transform the economy to focus on rearming
autarky
self sufficiency
how did hitler execute his new plan? (&results)
-limited imports
-made trade agreements with other countries
-production increased by 50% by 1935
what was the RAD?
national labour service
what did the RAD do?
-created jobs for men (18-25)
-eg: building schools and hospitals, planting forests and building
motorway (autobahn)
why were the downsides of the
RAD ignored?
the downsides (only given pocket money as wages) were outweighed by free meals, living in camps and the pride of helping the nazis as they were better than life with no job
what did men in the RAD wear?
military uniform
what was unemployment in 1933 and 1939 (germany)?
1933: 6 million
1939: 300,000
why was the fall of unemployment not as it seemed?
jews and women were forced out of their jobs and their jobs were given to the unemployed but their names went unrecorded on documents
what did hitler replace trade unions with?
german labour front (DAF)
what were changes to how jobs worked?
-bosses couldn’t sack workers on the spot
-workers were banned from leaving a job without government permission
-only job centres could arrange new jobs
-workers were abolished from bargaining for higher wages
how long did Germans work on average?
60-72 hours a week
who worked on the DAF?
dr Robert Ley
how much was the average factory worker earning by 1936?
35 marks a week, 10× more than the dole money in 1932
why was strength through joy
(KdF) created?
-dr robert ley thought that the 3,740 hours of free time in a year shouldn’t be wasted as people with nothing to do would become bored and frustrated, therefore they would become bored and frustrated workers
what were some leisure programmes arranged?
-a cruise to canary island (62 marks/2 weeks wages)
-walking holidays in the mountains (28 marks)
how were people encouraged to be loyal to the nazis through the strength through joy programme?
only hard-working and loyal nazi members were given the chance to go on holiday
what were qualities of the ideal
nazi woman?
-no smoking
-no dyed hair
-no revealing clothes
-not slim but physically robust
what 3 values did women need to uphold?
-children, church, cooking
what did goebbels say the mission of women was?
to be beautiful and bring children into the world
what was the role of men in nazi
germany?
to be productive and creative in politics and war
the 1000 year reich
-hitler believed that his actions would create a nazi empire that would last 1000 years
-he needed women to have as many children as possible to support this
how was motherhood encouraged?
-honour cross of the german mother for women with large families
-loan of 1,000 marks for new marriage, 250 marks wiped off the loan for every child born
what was the impact of the encouragement of motherhood on women’s lives?
-women went into agriculture & industry (5.2 million by 1938)
-number of employed women rose (more money needed for bigger families)
-marriages increased
-birth rates rose in the early 1930s then fell again by 1939
-1939: few women had professional jobs
-women in higher education fell
how did education indoctrinate the young? (education)
-textbooks rewritten to showcase greatness of nazis
-history celebrated german victories, disasters were blamed on communists & jews
-biology studied differences between races and explained the greatness of
aryans
-teachers had to go on compulsory training during school holidays to put across nazi ideas in their lessons
youth group examples
hitler youth, league of german maidens
by 1938 how many germans belonged to hitler youth groups?
8 million
what training did hitler youths do?
-read maps
-sports
-acrobatics
what were girls taught to do?
cook & clean
when was membership of the hitler youth made compulsory?
1939
what were the successes of hitler youth groups?
-8 million joined
-many obeyed the Nazis instead of their parents and denounced their parents to the SS
why was hitler fixated on the youth of germany?
-they were the future of germany (soldiers or mothers)
-he thought that the young were easy brainwash
nuremberg laws
1935:
-prohibited germans from marrying or having sexual relations with non-jews
-prohibited Jews from attending schools or universities, holding government jobs, practicing law or medicine or publishing books
-took away voting rights
-jews no longer german citizens
kristallnacht (why, what & result)
-november 9, 1938
-when mobs throughout germany destroyed jewish property and terrorized jews
WHY: (nazis demonised jews & isolated them from the public) a polish jew shot a german diplomat on the 7th november
WHAT: synagogues burnt, homes & businesses’ destroyed, 100 jews killed directly. jewish community fined to pay for damages. some Jews commited suicide, some died in hospital. jewish men and boys were send to cc camps. in following months, 30,000 german jews were arrested & taken to cc camps
RESULT: no murder charges for the Nazis, more concentration camps, increased violence against jews
Where did jews migrate to after kristallnacht?
shanghai, USA, great britain
kinder transport
-rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of WWII
-UK took in nearly 10,000 predominantly jewish children from nazi germany without their parents
-the children were placed in british foster homes, hostels, and farms
what was the international reaction to kristallnacht?
sight outrage after the first days, then nothing
why were the nazis anti-semitic?
-economic jealously - jewish communities had historically been involved in money lending and banking
-jews were used as a scapegoat for the loss of WWI
-historical anti-semitism made jews easy targets and a way to gain favour with people who already disliked the jews
volkswagen scheme
-gave germans the opportunity to buy a car over a long period of time
-paid 5 marks a week till 750 marks were in the bank, car was never given
how did rearmament help unemployment fall in germany?
-in march 1935, compulsory military service started for young men and an air force was set up
-46 billion marks were spent on weapons and equipment meaning more work was given for creating tools
how much did the army grow?
100,000 in 1933 -> 1,400,000 in 1939
how was germany made self-sufficient?
scientists found artificial substitutes for food and materials
untermenschen
“subhuman creatures” those hitler did not believe he needed to treat humanely (jews, black people, gypsies, vagrants, homosexuals and those with mental illnesses)
who in nazi germany was sterilised/euthanised?
disabled people
