3.2 IMPACT OF HITLER (Hitler's Germany) Flashcards
POLITICAL IMPACT
- REICHSTAG FIRE
- ENABLING ACT
- ONE PARTY RULE
- NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES
- CREATION OF FUEHRER POSITON
Political impact
REICHSTAG FIRE
FEB 1933
Marinus Van Der Lubbe
- Dutchman arrested near the building
- convinced Hindenburg invoke Article 48 and establish emergency powers
> convinced to sign Reichstag decree
- SA arrested comm shut down their newspapers
affected political parties in 1933 MARCH elections
Political impact
ENABLING ACT
MARCH 1933
won 44% of vote in election MAR 1933
- SUPPORT OF HUGENBURG’S NATIONALIST PARTY
> NAZIS HAD MAJORITY IN REICHSTAG
- PLANNED TO PASS ENABLING ACT > PASS LAWS WITHOUT PRESIDENT’S APPROVAL
23 MARCH ENABLING ACT VOTED ON
Political impact
ONE PARTY RULE
JULY 1933
- PASS LAW MAKING NAZI PARTY ONLY LEGAL POLITICAL PARTY IN GERMANY
- ONE PARTY STATE > ESTABLISH DICTATORSHIP
LEGAL DICTATOR
Political impact
NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES
JUN 1934
SS under Heinrich Himmler arrested SA leaders
- Ernst Roehm and other SA leaders 400 men executed in exchange for army’s allegiance to Hitler
Political impact
CREATION OF FUEHRER POSITION
AUGUST 1934
UPON HINDENBURG’S DEATH HITLER MERGED POSITION OF PRESIDENT WITH CHANCELLOR
- AUTHORITY TO INVOKE ARTICLE 48
ECONOMIC IMPACT
- RE-EMPLOYMENT
- RISE OF BIG INDUSTRIALISTS
- CONTROL OF TRADE UNIONS
4 ORGANISING WORKER’S LEISURE TIME - MILITARISATION
Economic impact
RE-EMPLOYMENT
5 million unemployed
Dr Hjalmar Schacht helped reorganize Germany’s finances so that new jobs could be created
- Nazi involved in Reich Labour Service
> agency to reduce unemployment
Schacht encouraged Hitler to initiate public works programmes
> building of roads motorways (autobahn) public buildings
Economic impact
RISE OF BIG INDUSTRIALISTS
under new plan of 1934 - industries important to Germany subsidized and imports were barred
> production of important products increased (oil steel coal)
Goering’s 4 year plan 1936
- prepare Germany for war in 4yrs
rearmament - boosted incomes of companies involved in production of war materials
Economic impact
CONTROL OF TRADE UNIONS
- abolish trade unions when Hitler in power
- workers forced to join workers organization controlled by Nazis
DAF Deutsche Arbeitsfront - German work front - workers strictly controlled by DAF
- Germany economy improving at expanse of workers
1939 workers worked 72 hours a week while wages restricted
Economic impact
ORGANISING WORKER’S LEISURE TIME
DAF set up schemes such as
Strength through joy - Kraft Durch Freude
- provided cheap cinema tickets
- organized cultural and sports events
“Beauty of Labour”
- set up to improve working conditions for workers
Economic impact
MILITARISATION
1935 Nazi introduced conscription for the army
- reduced unemployment drastically
- needed manpower for modern air force Luftwaffe
1939 1.4 million men in the army
SOCIAL IMPACT
- PROPAGANDA
- CENSORSHIP
- RISE OF SECRET POLICE
- PERSECUTION OF MINORITIES
- ROLE OF WOMEN
- HITLER YOUTH
Social impact
CENSORSHIP
INFO HOSTILE TO NAZI KEPT AWAY FROM GERMANS
set up Reich chamber of commerce in 1933
- dealt with media
Social impact
RISE OF SECRET POLICE
SS - huge organization, responsible for destroying Nazi enemy and carrying out racial policies
Death’s Head Units - responsible for concentration camps and carrying out mass genocide of Jews
SS Verfugungstruppe - Nazi party personal armed force
Gestapo - Nazi secret police force
- responsible for finding and removing threats to Nazi party and Nazi state
Jun 1936 Himmler in command of all local police force
1937 police especially Gestapo unlimited powers of arrest > taken into custody based on suspicion that they might commit a crime
STIFLE OPPOSITION
Social impact
PERSECUTION OF MINORITIES
April 1933 - Nazis called for national boycott of Jew businesses
> segregate and financially devastate them
1934 - Jewish shops marked with star of David
> SA men made sure Germans did not enter
1. Nuremberg laws
2. Holocaust during WW2
3. Gypsies, homosexuals, handicapped, disabled
NUREMBERG LAWS
1935 - Nuremberg laws > effectively excluded Jews from German society
- NOT ALLOWED TO BE GERMAN CITIZENS AND MARRY NON-JEWS
- STEPS TAKEN TO HUMILIATE AND SEGREGATE JEWS
1938 - Night of broken glass Kristallnacht
> more than 20,000 Jews arrested sent to concentration camps, end 1942 1.3 million Jews killed
> JEWS BEATEN AND KIILED
> LOOTED DESTROYED JEWISH SHOPS
> HOMES SYNAGOGUES BURNED
HOLOCAUST DURING WW2
WHEN WW2 ENDED, ESTIMATED 1/3 OF WORLD’S JEWISH POPULATION DIED
6 DEATH CAMPS IN POLAND TO EXPEDITE KILLING PROCESS
GYPSIES, HOMOSEXUALS, HANDICAPPED, DISABLED
VIEWED AS INFERIOR - UNTERMESCHEN (undesirable)
- SOCIAL PARASITES
- THREATS TO ARYAN BLOOD
- LAWS INSTITUTED TO AUTHORISE ARREST
- NAZIS WANTED TO USE EUGENICS TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF ARYAN RACE THROUGH EUTHANAISA PROGRAMME
GYPSIES - 1933 Law against dangerous habitual criminals used to arrest gypsies and send them to conc camps
HOMOSEXUALS - failing in their “duty to procreate”
> 1934 special gestapo division established to deal with homosexuals
Social impact
ROLE OF WOMEN
WEIMAR GOV - WOMEN RIGHT TO VOTE, EQUALITY IN AREAS SUCH AS MARRIAGE AND CIVIC MATTERS
NAZI - CONFINED WOMEN TO ROLES OF MOTHER AND SPOUSE
> EXCLUDED FROM POLITICS AND ACADEMICS
After 1933 elections, 37 female members of Reichstag to 0
Social impact
HITLER YOUTH
PARAMILITARY ORGANIZATION - YOUTH COUNTERPART OF SA
- YOUTH 14 TO 18 YRS OLD
- GROOM BRAINWASH YOUTHS TO BE FUTURE NAZI LEADERS
- 1000 MEMBERS IN 1923 2.3 MILLION IN 1933
Dec 1936 membership in Hitler youth compulsory for all Aryan German youths
League of German Girls
- INDOCTRINATED IN ANTI-SMITISM AND NAZI IDEOLOGY
