Controversy Historians and Their Points Of View

Question 1

Robert Gellately - Collaboration (4)

Answer 1

• Argued Regime was a ‘Consensus Dictatorship’
• Terror/Gestapo relied heavily on collaboration from people who supported the regime
• e.g Only 21 officers for the whole region of Wurzberg (1,000,000 people)
• The Support of ordinary Germans suggests that many believed in Nazi ideas and supported the Regime “Self- Surveillance”

Question 2

Martin Broszat - Popularity (3)

Answer 2

• Disputes argument that there was a lack of opposition within regime
• There was resistance from many Germans. E.g Some civil servants and some Generals who tried to stop Nazi Control of the Military
• Calls the idea of non-conformity and civil disobedience ‘Resistenz’. Develops this argument in the 1970’s

Question 3

Tim Mason - Popularity (2)

Answer 3

• There was a lot of working class discontent with the regime about declining living standards
• This pushed Hitler into war earlier than he had planned

Question 4

Karl Dietrich Bracher/ Richard J Evans - Popularity (2)

Answer 4

• Regimes terror apparatus made it impossible for Germans to express their dissatisfaction
• Therefore the lack of opposition was not necessarily an indication of consent

Question 5

Richard J Evans - Popularity (4)

Answer 5

• Specialisation of terror due to presence of SS, SA, Gestapo, SD (Intelligence branch of SS) and the Camps meant that the terror apparatus was very efficient
• Did not require lots of personnel due to huge informant network
• People denounced because they were scared of being denounced themselves
• all aspects of what Evans calls “The Social Milieu” - all forms of social interaction - were infiltrated by the Nazis and carried out surveillance on the population

Question 6

Structuralist school of thought + Historian who agrees with this

Answer 6

Nazi Germany was a coalition of several ‘power blocs’ that fought each other to gain control. E.g the Army, NSADP, big businesses, the Elites, the State beaucracy etc
Ian Kershaw, Martin Broszat

Question 7

Intentionalist school of thought

Answer 7

Hitler had goals and aims that he set out to achieve from the beginning, as some are outlined in Mein Kempf. E.g he intended from the start to eliminate the Jews.

Question 8

Functionalist School of thought

Answer 8

Hitler was influenced by those around him. Significant Nazi Policy arose as a result of Cumulative Radicalisation
by the other Nazi leaders.

Question 9

Michael Burleigh

Answer 9

Burleigh uses the term ‘Politcal Religion’ to highlight the way in which the Nazi regime became a kind of religious cult and the deification of Hitler.

Question 10

Klaus-Michael Mallman and Gerhard Paul

Answer 10

Coined the term ‘loyal reluctance’ to counter Broszat’s argument of ‘resistenz’. Mallman and Paul argue that acts of non-conformity were not acts of direct opposition to the regime but rather just symbolised indifference towards politics in general.

Question 11

Hans Mommsen

Answer 11

Develops idea of Cumulative Radicalisation based on the chaotic state.

Question 12

Eberhard Jackel and Klaus Hildebrand

Answer 12

That the Nazi state could be described as ‘Alleinherrschaft’ (solo rule) and that therefore the Nazi state was a monocratic state.

Question 13

Example for Hitler’s lack of interest in day-to-day government administration

Answer 13

Walter Darre, Agricultural Minister who tried for 2 years to get an appointment with Hitler and failed