Changing lives 1933-39

Question 1

What percentage of the country was unemployed prior to Hitler becoming Chancellor?

Answer 1

25%

Question 2

Why did Hitler need to decrease this immediately?

Answer 2

It was politically dangerous - the poor and hungry may turn to other parties.

Question 3

What are the 4 ways the Nazis reduced unemployment?

Answer 3

1. National Labour Service (RAD).
2. Conscription & Rearmament.
3. Invisible unemployment.
4. Public works.

Question 4

What was the National Labour Service?

Answer 4

All young men 19-25 had to join for 6 months.

Jobs: Building schools, hospitals, planting trees and repairing roads.

Conditions: Uniforms, live in camps & had to parade. Many complained of low pay & poor food.

Question 5

What was conscription & rearmament?

Answer 5

1935- Conscription was introduced for 18-25 year olds and over 72,000 workers were involved in aircraft construction (Spending on arms & equipment rose from 3.2 to 26 billion marks causing a big need for workers)

The army grew from to 1.4 million by 1939.

Question 6

What was Invisible Unemployment?

Answer 6

The Nazis cheated statistics to show that unemployment had dropped, they made it ‘invisible’

Women & Jews were forced out of their jobs & these were given to men (not included in the statistics)

Those in prisons & concentration camps were taken off of statistics.

Part time workers classified as full time workers & soldiers were also ‘workers’.

Question 7

What was Public Works?

Answer 7

The ‘autobahn’ (motorway) project was a key method to reduce unemployment.

The Nazis planned to build 7000 miles of motorways to improve transports. By 1935 125,000 men were building new autobahns.

Question 8

The Nazis convinced the workers their living standards improved because…

However…

Answer 8

They had a job and their wages increased.

Hours increased and prices went up more than their wages.

Question 9

What are the 3 ways the Germans ‘improved’ workers living standards?

Answer 9

1. The German Labour Front (DAF)
2. Strength Through Joy (KdF)
3. Beauty of Labour (SdA)

Question 10

What was the German Labour Front (DAP)?

What did it take away?

Answer 10

It replaced trade unions with this to protect workers right, all workers had to join or they couldn’t work.

Right of workers to campaign for better pay, strikes banned, those who refused sent to concentration camps.

Question 11

What was strength through joy (KdF)?

Answer 11

Provided leisure activities for workers that everyone could afford e.g:

1. Luxury holidays for cheap
2. A savings scheme (5 marks a week) to help workers buy a Volkswagen - however no cars were actually made due to their focus on rearmament
3. Free evening classes in cookery
4. Cultural nights like plays, theatre, films were popular

Question 12

What was the Beauty of Labour (SdA)?

Why didn’t people want to join?

Answer 12

They complained to improve better facilities for workers e.g better toilets, changing rooms, showers & canteens.

Workers had to built these extra facilities without pay so it was unpopular.

Question 13

What changes did the German Labour Front introduce?

Answer 13

1. Strikes were made illegal
2. Workers couldn’t leave a job without permission
3. Working hours were increased to 60+ a week
4. Workers couldn’t ask for higher wages

Question 14

What did Hitler say to influence women?

Answer 14

“Having children is the greatest honour a woman can bestow on Germany, for she secured the future of the Aryan race”

Question 15

What did Goebbels say to influence women?

Answer 15

“Women are in no way inferior to men. They just operate in different spheres. They are different but equal”

Question 16

What did Hess say to influence women?

Answer 16

“The ideal German woman is one who, above all, is capable of being a mother”

Question 17

What were the Nazi ideals for women?

Answer 17

• Schools taught girls sport to make them ‘fit’ and ‘attractive’
• Young girls encouraged to play with dolls to encourage motherhood
• Women were banned from high-paying jobs
• Expected to adopt a ‘natural’ look
• Advertisement for women to join cooking clubs as well as childcare and sewing

Question 18

What was the Mother’s Cross?

Answer 18

Bronze: 4-5 children
Silver: 6-7 children
Gold: 8 children

Mothers of 10 children had to name Hitler as Godfather of the child and if a boy, name him Adolf.

Question 19

When did the divorce laws change and how?

Answer 19

1938

If a woman would not, or could not, have children or they had an
abortion, the husband could divorce her and marry another woman.

Question 20

When was the Hitler youth set up?

Answer 20

1933

Question 21

When was the League of German Maidens?

Answer 21

1930

Question 22

What was school life like?

Answer 22

• Schoolbooks had to have a photo of Hitler at the front with a quote.
• Art textbooks had portraits of people with Down Syndrome, comparing the ‘deformed humans’ with modern art.
• Race studies where they were taught how to classify different racial groups.

Question 23

True or false: Jews were cowards and pacifists and refused to fight.

Answer 23

False, Jews fought in the German army. Some received the Iron Cross for bravery.

Question 24

True or False: Jews were communists.

Answer 24

False, German Jews belonged to the full spectrum of political parties.

Question 25

What is Eugenics?

Answer 25

The science of selective breeding. It became a school subject.

The Aryans were encouraged to reproduce while ‘undesirables’ were sterilised so they couldn’t have children.

Question 26

Why did the Nazis support anti-semitism?

Answer 26

• Jewish religion stood out as different.
• Some Christian’s blamed Jews for the death of Christ.
• Jews were financially successful, creating jealousy.

Question 27

What date was Kristallnacht?

Answer 27

November 9th 1938

Question 28

What was Kristallnacht? (The Night of Broken Glass)

Answer 28

Nazi leaders unleashed a series of Pogroms against the Jews - the SA & Hitler Youth shattered the windows of 7,500 Jewish stores, hence the name and looted their goods.

30,000 Jewish males were rounded up and taken to concentration camps.

After this night, the Nazis ordered the Jewish community to pay 1 billion marks.

Question 29

Why did the Nazis discriminated against homosexuals?

Answer 29

They were seen as immoral, against Nazi policies as the ideas were against the purity of the human race.

Question 30

Why did the Nazis discriminate against Gypsies?

Answer 30

They moved place to place which was against Nazi ideas of stability. They were seen as smelly and disease-ridden.

Question 31

Why did the Nazis discriminate against disabled people?

Answer 31

They were seen as threats to the perfect bloodline. Propaganda was aimed against them & how much they cost to keep alive - they were sterilised so they couldn’t reproduce.