G The Nazi Totalitarian State 1933 - 1939

Question 1

Hitler’s stages in taking control of Germany

1-4

Answer 1

1. Became Chancellor
2. Used the power of Chancellor to ensure a majority in elections
3. Used huge support to pass the Enabling Act
4. Renewed the Enabling Act in 1937 ending the Weimar Republic.

Question 2

How was a Totalitarian State created between March 1933 and August 1934

Answer 2

• May 1933 : Trade Unions were banned. Offices were broken into and officials arrested.
• May - July 1933 : Political Parties were banned. Communist and Social Democratic newspapers were also destroyed.
• By 1934… Local government had been organised to make sure that Nazi governors ran every region of Germany.
• 30th June 1934 : The Night of the Long Knives. Hitler heard that Rohm, the leader of the SA, was planning to rival his leadership - so he killed him and other SA members.

Question 3

The different ways (5) that control was kept in Nazi Germany

Answer 3

1) Fear
2) The demand of absolute loyalty to Hitler. A “Cult of the Fuhrer” was created around him.
3) Propaganda
4) The banning of ideas
5) A strong Police State

Question 4

Why did Hitler turn on the SA?

Answer 4

• Hitler believed that their leader, Ernst Rohm, was a threat. - Rohm had merged an army veterans group with the SA. These men were more loyal to Rohm and believed Hitler undervalued them.
• Rohm was also very critical of Hitler’s policies. He thought Hitler was too close to rich businessmen and Rohm wanted to see more socialist government action.
• He wanted to do more to help the working class. Rohm was more Socialist in his thinking, whereas Hitler was more nationalist in his leading, so Rohm was a rival with different ideas.

Question 5

Night of the Long Knives - 30th June 1934

Answer 5

Hitler arranged a meeting with Rohm and 100 SA leaders at a hotel. When they arrived they were arrested, imprisoned and shot.

Question 6

Night of the Long Knives - 1st July 1934

Answer 6

Rohm was killed in his prison cell after refusing to kill himself.

Question 7

Night of the Long Knives - What happened to Von Papen?

Answer 7

Von Papen was placed under house arrest after complaining of what was happening to another member of the Nazi high command, Goering. His phone was cut off. A signal was sent that he was powerless.

Question 8

Night of the Long Knives - What was the result of the killings?

Answer 8

The SS became more important than the broken up SA and the German army were forced to swear loyalty to Hitler and no one else.

Question 9

Why was the police state set up in Germany?

Answer 9

Set up to ensure the total control of the German population.

Question 10

The SS

Answer 10

Expanded from Hitler’s private army to 240,000 men. The SS had different “branches” outline below (SD, Gestapo) .

Question 11

The SD

Answer 11

The SD were a security force that kept index cards on anyone thought to oppose the Nazis.

Question 12

Gestapo

Answer 12

They existed to identify any and all critics of the Nazi Party. They spied on people, tapped phones and used informants to identify suspects. In 1939 alone, 160,000 people were arrested.

Question 13

Concentration camps

Answer 13

People were placed in these when suspected of being opponents of the Nazis. The first camp was opened at Dachau in 1933.

Question 14

How the judges were controlled…

Answer 14

All judges had to be members of the Nazi Party.

Question 15

How the law courts were controlled…

Answer 15

Courts became the people’s courts meaning that fair trials were suspended and sometime Hitler imposed sentences himself.

Question 16

How was religion controlled in Nazi Germany?

Answer 16

At first the Nazis tried to reassure and encourage, but then used the full force of the Police State.

Question 17

Catholic Churches at first

*Key event = Concordat 1933

Answer 17

At first…
Hitler agreed to let Catholic Churches worship freely if they did not criticise the Nazis.

The Catholic Church agreed its priests would not interfere in politics and ordered German bishops to sweat loyalty to the Nazis.

Question 18

Catholic churches as the 1930s continued

Answer 18

Catholic Priests were harassed and arrested.

Catholic schools began to be shut down.

Catholic youth groups were banned.

In 1937 - the Pope (head of the Catholic Church) officially criticised the Nazis.

Question 19

Protestant churches

Answer 19

Protestant leaders who supported Hitler’s views were allowed to continue providing Church services.

Some Protestant Church leaders allowed Nazi flags to hang inside Churches.

The Nazis insisted that no Jewish Old Testament readings be used in services.

Question 20

Some Protestant leaders spoke out against the Nazis…

Answer 20

Pastor Martin Niemoller set up the Pastors’ Emergency League to campaign against the actions of the Nazis.

In 1937, the PEL was banned and Niemoller was sent to a Concentration Camp.

Question 21

Who was head of propaganda in Nazi Germany?

Answer 21

Joseph Goebbels was the head of propaganda in Nazi Germany

Question 22

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - The peoples receiver

Answer 22

Cheap Radios made accessible so everyone could hear Hitler’s speeches.

Question 23

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - The Chamber of Culture

Answer 23

Set up in 1933, to make sure all art and music was to the taste of the Nazis.

Question 24

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - The Nuremberg Rally 1934

Answer 24

Used to promote Nazi values. A “hollywood” style film was made of it called “The Triumph of the Will”

Question 25

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - The Berlin Olympics 1936

Answer 25

All events and the stadium was designed to show Nazi efficiency. The stadium was deliberately designed to look like a Roman coliseum.

Question 26

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - Radio

Answer 26

All radio stations were put under Nazi control.

Hitler made speeches that were advertised as “must listen” events.

Speakers were placed in public places like town squares so that people could listen to Hitler’s speeches.

Question 27

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - Art

Answer 27

Weimar art, like that of Otto Dix, was made unacceptable.

Art needed to be straight-forward and reflect romantic ideas about Germany’s past and values like loyalty, family, self-sacrifice and discipline.

Question 28

The Propaganda State in Nazi Germany - Press

Answer 28

Journalists were sometimes told what they could not publish (censorship)

Journalists were given regular meetings with the government where they were told what stories to publish.