Chapter 3: Case study: Nazi Germany and the Holocaust Flashcards
Hillers consolidation of power from 1933 and 1934
There was a democratic election in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party won the largest share of the vote. Hitler was appointed s Chancellor Hindenburg was the President and Head of State
How did Hitler start to consolidate heir power
by creating a dictatorship
What happened when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany
he turned Germany from a democracy into a totalitarian dictatorship
What did Nazis call Germany?
The Third Reich
What is the Third Reich
an empire which they aid would last a thousand years
Steps were taken to consolidate NAzi power between 1933 and 1934
The Gestapo was established to get rid of all opposition using any means they thought necessary. Which was led by Heinrich Himmler
To govern Germany, the Nazi Party had to make people believe that Hitler had all the answers to the question by using propaganda or terror and the Nazi told people what to think
All soldiers in a democracy swear an oath of loyalty to the country they serve, not to a political party or a person
The Reichstag passed the Enabling Act which allowed the cabinet to pass laws without the Reichstags permission which gave Hitler the powers of a dictator
The two pillars of Nazi ideology
- The rejection of individual rights in favour of the totalitarian state of power
- The belief in the superiority of a pure Aryan race. The Nazis wanted to create a healthy and racially pure society. Hitler had a clear notion of the nature, role, and appearance of the pure Aryan
What were nazis racial beliefs
in the theories of social Darwinism and scientific racism and the Aryans were superior
According to Nazi racial ideology…
Aryans were superior and belonged at the top of society and Jews and certain other members of the German population were considered inferior or unfit and belonged to the bottom of society
What did racial propaganda cause?
made the jews look unpleasant as possible and it became easier for germans to accept what they would have rejected
The Nazi views of jews
The Nazi party program made clear that only persons of German blood could be citizens of the Third Reich. Like other countries that practiced Social Darwinism and eugenics, Nazi Germany forbade mixed marriages between superior Aryans and subhuman Untermenschen
What did Joseph Goebbels describe the jews
the Jews as the destroyers of civilization, the worlds enemies, international communists, criminals, aliens, sexual perverts, parasites, the incarnation of evil, profiters, exploiters, vermin, and the decay of humanity
What did Nazis ideology do to jews
demonised and dehumanised the jews
Antisemitism in Germany
was not unique to the Nazis in Germany. Jews had been persecuted throughout histories and there was a strong tradition of European anti- Semitism on which the Nazis were able to build
How did jews see themselves as in Germany
They saw themselves as an integral part of Germany. Many german jews had fought for Germany in WW1 which came as a surprise that the was no place for German jews within german society
What did the Nazi define the German nation as
the highest creation of a race with naturally good health and aggressive, intelligent, courageous trits
Everybody who did not fit the NAzi definition of Aryn was “other”. The Nazis thought the others were impure subhuman who did not deserve to live
What did Nazis racial policies lead to
There was no policy of annihilation. Repressive laws were introduced in order to make the lives of Jewish people intolerable so that they would leave the country
it led to the holocaust which was the genocide of the Jewish people. The Nazis deliberately exterminated 6 million jews
What is Euthanasia
the act of ending the life of a person suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition
What did Hitler’s programme aim to do?
deliberately kill people whom he considered to be unfit
the children were the first target. Children who were disabled in any way were removed from their families. Their families were told that they would be placed in a special hospital to improve their health. The children were then given large doses of sedatives which killed them
Euthanasia in adults
A panel of doctors would determine which unfit people would be killed. No medical histories or examinations took place. Initially, these people were killed with a lethal injection but as the numbers increased this was found to be inefficient. The Nazis then made use of mass gassing with carbon monoxide
What did Nazis think about the black community
were inferior and targeted its members for Hitler’s sterilisation programme. 4oo children of mixed African American descents were forcibly sterilised
Who was also considered to be a threat to Aryan Blood
the Sinti and Rome
What happened to Gypsies
they were sterilized and prohibited from marrying Aryan Germans
What did the Nazis do to gypsies during WW2
they hunted down gypsies and reported them to slave labor and death camps
Which political opponents were targeted by the Nazis
communists
socialists
social democrats
trade unions leaders
What did Hitler do to homosexuality
he banned homo because the nazis thought they were a threat to the Aryan breeding policy.
They were sent to prisons and concentration camps where many died from hunger, disease, exhaustion, exposure to the cold, and brutal treatment
Who were Jehovahs witness
were a religious who were pacifists and refused to be conscripted into the arm
1938 Kristallnacht
In retaliation for the murder in Paris, Nazi thugs destroyed Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. Over 30000 Jews were sent to concentration camps and 91 Jews were killed. This event became known as Kristallnacht because of all the broken glass that littered the streets. The Jews were forced to pay for all the damages and were excluded from schools, universities, cinemas, and sports facilities
1939 The outbreak of WW2
German Jews were placed under curfew and their radios were confiscated. Jews in German-occupied Poland were resettled and moved into ghettos. special units of the SS that operated in German-occupied territories murdered thousands of jews
1941 Invasion of USSR
When Germany invaded the USSR in 1941, treatment of the Jews got worse. The Einsatzgruppen shot over 500 000 Soviet Jes. All Jews were forced to wear yellow started
1942-45 From murder to genocide
The mass deportation of Jews from Germany and all German-occupied territories to concentration camps in eastern Europe
1942 Wannsee conference
At the Wannsee conference, Nazi leaders decided on a final solution to the Jewish problem. This was a mass genocide, the extermination of the whole Jewish race. They built death camps largely in Poland, where Jews were to be worked to death or gassed. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in what came to be the Holocaust
What was the acceleration of persecution
Kristallnacht The outbreak of WW2 Invasion of the USSR From murder to genocide Wannsee conference
What were the end result of Hitlers fundamental belief and ideological conviction
Mass murder of the Jews
Two examples of his program of extermination
- The decision to kill the Jews in the labour camps and ghettos, although they were cheap, important and irreplaceable labour force
- Transporting Jews to the death camps by rail, although the trains were urgently needed to transport soldiers and ammunition to the war front
Who was Rudolph Reder
one of the only two jews to survive Belzec, one of the death camps
Types of people in Nazi Germany who reacted to the implementation of racism
Rescuers
Perpetrators
Bystander
Resisters
Who was Oscar Schindler
was a member of the Nazi Party and a friendy with many SS men. He was a German businessman in Poland who profited from his connections with the Nazis
What earned oscar a special among rescuers
The actions oscar took to protect jews during the holocaust.
What did oscar do to help his jew workers get out of difficult situations
He used his charm and friendship with the SS
Why did oscar decide to help the jews
He became appalled by the murder of many Jews who worked for him and went out of his way to take care of them
What was the impact of Oscars efforts
he saved 1000 jews
