Chapter 4: Nazi Germany 1933-39 Flashcards
How did Hitler set up the Nazi dictatorship?
The Reichstag fire: Hitler declared it the beginning of a communist uprising and persuaded Von Hindenburg to give him emergency powers to imprison without trial, using these powers to hunt down Nazi opposition
What was the Enabling Act (1933)?
Hitler wanted to pass the Enabling Act changing the Weimar constitution and needed 2/3 of the vote in the Reichstag; he won as most opposition to Nazis were either in prison or terrified of the SS and SA and the enabling act allowed Hitler to make laws without consulting the Reichstag
What was the Night of the Long knives?
There had been growing tensions between Rohm (leader of SA) and Hitler as Hitler viewed Rohm as a potential threat, so on the 29-30 June squads of SS men arrested Rohm and other leading figures in the SA claiming Rohm had been planning to overthrow him
How did the Nazi’s control the police?
They created the SD which was the SS’s own security service and the Gestapo, the secret state poli d who could arrest citizens and sent them to concentration camps without an explanation
How did the Nazis control propaganda and censorship?
The Nazis had Josef Goebbles as their head of propaganda who organised rallies like the Nuremberg rallies every year which brought excitement and giving citizens the belonging in a great movement
What were Nazi policies towards education?
Hitler wanted boys to become fit, strong and obedient (good soldiers) and he wanted girls to grow up to be good wives and have many Pure German (Aryan) children. Lessons consisted of telling stories about Weak ‘backstabbing’ politicians and dishonest Jews
What were the Nazi policies to young people?
Two key Nazi youth organisations: 1) Hitler Youth for boys where the main aim was political indoctrination of learning to be loyal to Hitler. 2) League of German Maidens for girls who were taught similar political indoctrination but with more emphasis on health, children and cooking
What were the Nazi policies towards women?
Women were expected to be proud to serve Germany by being mothers and producing many German babies, introducing financial incentives for married couples to have at least 4 children and they encouraged women to quit their jobs
What were the Nazi policies towards the Catholic church when the Nazis first got into power?
In the early Nazi regime, the Nazis and catholic church signed an agreement for the Catholic church ti keep control of its schools and in return the church would stay out of politics
What happened later for the Catholic Church later in the Nazi rule?
Hitler resented the fact that Catholics viewed the Pope as their leader and that their children went to Catholic run schools instead of Nazi run ones, so Hitler interfered more and more which led to Priests speaking out about the Nazis: they ended up in Concentration camps
What were the Nazi policies towards the Protestant Church and their impact?
At first, the Nazis tried to get all the Protestant churches to come together into 1 Reisch church, but many people stayed loyal to their original local church. Many Protestant pastors opposed Nazism completely and in 1934, Niemoller and Bonhoeffer (2 Protestant Priests) set up the Confessional church as a rival to the Reisch church: the nazis reacted furiously sending 800 pastors to concentration camps
What were the Nazi beliefs about race?
The Nazis had the belief that they were the superior (Aryan) race and that Germans were facing a massive threat to their racial purity from other races such as Jews. They also removed any race who were weakening the master race such as Gay people and disabled.
What were the Nazi racial policies?
The 2 main approaches were eugenics (promoting racial health of the Aryan race) and persecution (removing genetically unfit)
What were the Nuremberg Laws?
Introduced in 1935, the Reisch citizenship Law which took away German citizenship for German Jews and the Law of protection for German blood and honour which banned sex between Jews and Germans
What was Kristallnacht?
In November 1938, a Jew killed and German diplomat in Paris so some SS troops smashed up Jewish shops and workplaces leading to 91 Jewish deaths, hundreds of synagogues being burned and 20’000 Jews being sent to concentration camps
