Attempts to Create a Volksgemeinschaft, 1933-1939. Flashcards
Racial doctrine and goal of Volksgemeinschaft
- ‘People’s community’ based on Nazi world view ‘Weltanschauung.’
- Insiders to populate lebensraum, outsiders to be segregated/ deported. Escalated as time went on.
- Outsiders were in 3 categories: Ideological, biological, social.
Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service
April 1933
-Affected Lecturers (1,200 dismissed [10%] 33% racial, 56% political)
Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring
July 1933
- 9 categories
- Schizophrenia, Manic Depression & Blindness, Huntingtons
- resulted in forced sterilisation (350,000 affected, 100 dead)
- Alcoholics included
October 1939
-Progresses to ‘Euthanasia.’
-by 1944 200,000 murdered.
Nuremberg Race Laws
September 15th 1935
Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour
-forbids marriage/sex between Aryan and non-Aryan Germans
Reich Citizenship Law
-Deprives Jewish people of their German Citizenship
Law for the Protection of the Genetic Health of the German People
- Certificates of ‘fitness’ to marry.
- Centres made for the ‘Propagation of Racial Knowledge’.
- Cranial measurements and ancestry checks to determine if you were Aryan or not.
1938- Antisemitism
- After the Anschluss in March, 150 000 more Jewish people are in Germany and Eichmann forces 45,000 to emigrate.
- April: Decree on the Registering of Jewish Property
- June-Oct: Series of Antisemitic decrees
- Jewish Doctors, Lawyers, & dentists forbidden form having Aryan clients.
- Jewish women must add ‘sarah’ to their name, and men ‘israel’. Identity cards stamped with a ‘J.’
- Excluded from schools, unis, cinemas, and spas.
- Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht- Dates & Details
- November 9th to 10th 1938.
- series of antisemitic riots that were ‘Unofficially encouraged.’
- 91 murdered
- 20,000 sent to camps
- Jewish community forced to pay 1 Billion RM in damages.
The Final Solution- Key dates
1940: -plans to transport 70,000 Jewish people to Madagascar.
1941: -War against USSR results in the ordering of ‘political killings.’
- 1/2 million Jewish people shot as a result.
- July or October: decision taken for the Final Solution
- Dec: Mass gassing begins at Chelmno
1942: -January Wansee conference plans the systematic killings of the Jewish community.
Figures detailing deaths at the hands of the Nazi party
- 200 000 murdered in the ‘euthanasia’ program
- 6 million Jewish people
- 3 million Polish
- 3 million Soviet POWs
- 1/2 million Roma
- Thousands of Homosexuals
HJ membership figures
1932: 108,000
1934: 3,500,000
1936: 6 million + (compulsory)
HJ Key dates
1926: created
1933: all other clubs and societies banned (apart from catholic ones)
1935: rally of 100,000 HJ members (900 15-18 yr olds became pregnant)
1936: Ban on all other organisations and HJ made compulsory.
Education: Key Dates
1933: Formation of NAPOLAs (21 by ‘38 & 39 by ‘43)
1936:
-NAPOLAs taken over by SS
-30% of teachers joined Nazi party
-Changes to curriculum
1937:
-pressure to join NAZI Teachers’ League
-97% were members
-Creation of Adolf Hitler Schools by R.Ley
1938:
-Teachers had to attend a month long Nazi training course
-2/3 attended by ‘38.
Higher Education: Lecturers
- Law for the restoration of the civil service did affect them
- 1,200 dismissed (10%), 33% racial & 56% political
- Had to give oath of support and attend 6 week training course.
Higher Education: Pupils
1933: 113,000
1939: 57,000
- had to join German Students’ League (CA- 25% didn’t)
- White Rose is an example of student resistance
Women in Politics
- 12 women Reichstag members in Weimar, none in Third Reich
- Women could be party members
- Protestant women, age 18-30, ‘most likely’ to vote Nazi..
NS Frauenschaft 1931
- 2.3 Million members
- coordinated all Nazi women’s groups
- ‘to promote the education and integration of all female forces for the good of the nation.’
DFW (Deutsches Frauenwork) 1933
- 6 million members
- Training for motherhood, efficient housework, thrifty recipes.
Women and Employment
- only 10% of judges and uni students were allowed to be women
- 1938: women under 25 made to do a duty year as either a farmhand or a domestic servant. 1940 saw 200,000 women taking a duty year.
- In the run up to the war women were again encouraged to work. Speer suggested all women employed in ‘43 but Hitler resisted as it would ‘affect morale.’
Marriage Loan
- 1000 RM loaned to newlyweds
- for every child born, 250 RM could be kept.
- 800,000 people took up this loan
- Originally only allowed if the woman didn’t work. CA- this changed after 1936 due to labour shortages.
Honour Cross of German Motherhood
- 4= Bronze 6=Silver 8=Gold
- 10th child had to be called Adolf and Hitler would be the godfather.
- Women could skip shop queues and get saluted by HJ.
Lebensborn (Well of Life)
- Founded in 1936 by Himmler
- originally created for SS men to have children with unmarried women.
- Actually used as more of a holiday home for Nazi couples.
- Only 8000 babies were born.
- (CA) Married SS men had, on average, 1.1 child each in 1939.
Abortion Laws
- No abortions for people pregnant with ‘a healthy Aryan Child.’
- CA, the Law for the prevention of hereditarily diseased offspring forced the sterilisation of many individuals.
Policies on women’s personal freedoms
- discouraged form wearing makeup or smoking
- Some Breslau party meetings banned entry to women wearing makeup
- Cafes had signs asking women to not smoke
- CA, Magda Goebbels smoked in public. Eva Braun also smoked though not in the presence of Hitler.
Big Business and Nazism - Relationship.
- Nazis opposed Communism, so did big business.
- The banning of trade unions was appreciated by Big business.
- Nazis would threaten business with the use of trade unions or legal charges if they were to oppose autarky.
- Coal companies specifically wanted foreign trade.
Daimler-Benz benefits
- new aeroplane factories funded by the state
- 1932-1941: production rose by 300%
RWHG benefits
- set up by the state to process low quality domestic steel ore.
- Private steel industry pressurised to invest 30 million each to the 400 million process. effectively financing a rival.
- If businesses resisted then they would be threatened with legal charges and soon back down.
- Largest industrial firm in Europe in 1939 but still failed to meet the production targets of 4 yr plan.
Small businesses and Nazism
- 1933: Law to Protect Retail Trade. (special taxes for larger stores, no new department stores.)
- No. of independent artisans fell from 1,645,000 to 1,500,000 from ‘36 to ‘39. (due to increased costs and fixed prices from big business.)
Agriculture and Nazism
- 1933: Entailed Farm Law
- Farms couldn’t be sold or mortgaged, tied to one person.
- Jewish people could not own farms
- +early tax concessions and low interest.
- -Difficult to get loans as couldn’t use the farm as collateral. - Labour shortage as rural pop. fell from 21% in ‘33 to 18% in ‘39.
- 4 yr plan
- subsidies on mechanisation (CA- focus on military)
- Reduced fertiliser prices.
- grants for new cultivated land.
Workers and Nazism- numbers & wages
1932: 6 million unemployed
1939: 35,000 unemployed
- wages frozen at ‘33 levels, employers got around this using bonuses etc.
- wages higher in the armaments industry, especially in comparison to agri.
- 1936: average wage was 35M which was 10x more than the unemployment benefits.
- estimated 18% reduction in wages due to ‘donations’ to Nazi campaigns in addition to taxes. (only 3% in Weimar.)
- Proportion of national income going towards workers declines. CA- This was hardly noticed.
DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront)
- Founded 6th May 1933 by R. Ley
- 1933: 5 million members 1939: 22 million members
- No involvement in wage bargaining
- CA: its use was threatened to keep big business in line.
KdF (Kraft durch Freude) ‘strength through joy.’
- improved workers’ leisure opportunities
- 1938: 10 million took KdF holidays, mainly within Germany. CA: at most, only 11% of annual overnight stays in Germany were financed by KdF.
Schonheit der Arbeit (Beauty of Work)
-improved working facilities
-DAF issued estimates:
No. of factory inspections = 67,000
No. of workroom improvements = 26,000
Provisions of canteens and restrooms = 18,000
Cost = 900 RM
Volkswagen Scheme
- subscription of 5 marks a week in order to eventually own a VW beetle.
- reduced inflation by increasing savings and decreasing domestic expenditure.
- no worker ever received a car as funds turned towards military production.
Nazism and Protestantism
- some Nazis favoured ‘positive Christianity’ which incorporated christian values w/ Nazi values.
- Hitler planned to introduce a German Faith Movement after ww2 to further the Volksgemeinschaft.
- July ‘33: Reich church set up to coordinate protestant churches. The Confessional Church broke away in protest.
- Nov. ‘33: Nazis supported ‘German Christians’ who aimed to remove all ‘un-german’ references from the bible.
- Protestant churches targeted by a Church Secession Campaign in the mid 30s. Success in that 100,000 gov. officials did leave church.
Nazism and Catholicism
July 1933: Concordat with the Vatican
- Pope Pius XI gave catholic party’s support in return for the Nazis not actively opposing the church.
- This would theoretically still allow the church to control education, youth, etc.
- CA: The Nazis breached the Concordat several times
1. Parents pressured to not send kids to faith schools
2. Priests often put on trial despite lack of reasoning.
3. An estimated 1/2 of priests harassed.
4. Nazis campaigned for the removal of crucifixes from schools. CA- restored after resistance.
