GDS3a - How Effectively Did The Nazis Control Germany?

Question 1

Who were the 6 main opposition groups to the Nazis?

Answer 1

Trade unions
Young people (anti-Hitler organisations)
The churches
Right-wing groups
Left-wing groups
The army

Question 2

Quick summary of young people opposing Hitler

Answer 2

Anti-Nazi students and teenagers:
- picked fights with members of the Hitler Youth
- distributed pamphlets and broadsheets
- scrawled graffiti on walls
Examples = the white rose, the edelweiss pirates

Question 3

Quick summary of left-wing groups opposing Hitler

Answer 3

Communists + Social Democrats maintained underground networks
Anti-Nazi actions included:
- distributing pamphlets
- creating posters and slogans
- printing illegal newspapers
Strikes amongst industrial workers were encouraged
Example = the red orchestra

Question 4

Quick summary of right-wing groups opposing Hitler

Answer 4

Conservative opposition groups included:
- army officers
- aristocrats
They organised secret meetings to discuss how Germany would be governed after Hitler’s removal
Example = the kreisau circle

Question 5

Quick summary of how the army opposed Hitler

Answer 5

Military plans to overthrow Hitler during the late 1930s were impeded by the successful AND BLOODLESS takeover of Czechoslovakia
When Germany’s military fortunes changed after their awful defeat at Stalingrad 1943, senior army officers planned to assassinate Hitler
Example = 20 July bomb plot

Question 6

Quick summary of the churches opposing Hitler

Answer 6

Both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches opposed Hitler after he:
- closed many Catholic churches and monasteries
- abolished the Catholic Youth Organisation
- forced the merger of the 28 Protestant groups in Germany into the National Reich Church in 1936
Initially Hitler signed a Concordat with the Pope (P promised not to get political, H promised not to interfere with church) BUT after Catholic Youth Organisation banned, Pope issued a letter attacking Hitler
Example = the confessing church

Question 7

Why might the Nazi method of control be seen as successful?

Answer 7

There were no significant uprisings or rebellions during their rule
Unlike the putschs that were common at the start of the Weimar Republic

Question 8

What were the role of informers and how did it help the Nazis keep control?

Answer 8

Local Nazi officers reported on the reliability of local residents, while everyone was encouraged to be vigilant and report anti-Nazi talk/activities
Some cases involved husbands reporting on wives, children reporting on their parents
The system created a sense of paranoia and a climate of fear that made people very nervous to even rebel in their own homes
It also allowed private scores to be settled

Question 9

What does a ‘police state’ mean?

Answer 9

Constant surveillance by police and government
Mainly controlled by a police force that exercised and extreme level of control over society

Question 10

How was the SS set up and what did it do?

Answer 10

3 tiers -> general SS = policing, security, inspections, arrests
-> death’s head units = ran concentration and death camps
-> waffen SS = elite army corps
Led by Himmler
They had extensive powers to arrest, detain without charge, search and confiscate property
They were responsible for running the concentration camps and implementing the Final Solution

Question 11

What is a capital offence?

Answer 11

Crime punishable by death
E.g. telling anti-nazi jokes, listening to a foreign radio station

Question 12

What was the Gestapo and what did it do?

Answer 12

Secret state police
Brought under general control of Himmler/SS in 1936 (after Hitler became Chancellor)
Most feared arm of the law by ordinary citizens
Could spy on Germans by
- tapping telephones
- intercepting mail
- using information from a network of informers
Arrests could result in being sent to a concentration camp without trial

Question 13

What were concentration camps?

Answer 13

Large scale prisons for critics/opponents of the Nazi regime
Other groups were also sent there -> including gypsies, beggars, gays, work-shy
Conditions were basic with harsh discipline -> many deaths from beatings and torture
Prisoners were used as slave labour -> working in quarries, agriculture, forestry
DURING THE FINAL SOLUTION -> these camps were used for the mass killing of the Jewish population

Question 14

How did the Nazis change the judicial system? What effect did it have?

Answer 14

Nazis took over the existing court system
Magistrates/judges were required to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler
Jewish judges/lawyers were sacked
Special courts were set up for dealing with political crimes
IMPACT
- capital offences increased from 3 to 43 between 1933 and 1934
- minimum age for death penalty reduced to 16
- telling anti-nazi jokes, listening to foreign radio stations = death sentence

Question 15

What was the White Rose? What did it do? What happened to it?

Answer 15

Prominent anti-Nazi group led primarily by university students -> Sophie + Hans Scholl
They wrote and distributed 6 pamphlets total around Germany that encouraged people to resist fascism + Hitler’s regime
Started in 1942, made their last pamphlet in 1943
Leaders Sophie + Hans Scholl, were executed in 1943 -> after being convicted of treason by the People’s Court

Question 16

What were Trade Unions and what did they do? What happened to them in the Nazi regime?

Answer 16

Organisations made up of members who were mainly workers
Their aim was to protect its members in the workplace -> including principles of equality, justice, respect for all workers
They would organise strikes, protesting for their basic worker’s rights to be restored (during the regime)
Unions were abolished in May 1933
They were replaced with the German Labour Front

Question 17

Why did Trade Unions oppose the Nazis? How successful were they?

Answer 17

They wanted to protect their worker’s rights, which Hitler (as a dictator) had shown complete disregard for -> they also stood for freedom (which went against Nazi ideas)
They were quite unsuccessful as Hitler banned them in 1933 -> depriving workers of legal representation

Question 18

Why did the White Rose oppose the Nazis? How successful was it?

Answer 18

Made up of university students who were becoming more aware of the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime -> they were well educated so knew eugenics, other Nazi discrimination was incorrect
Felt a moral obligation to stand up against regime
They only lasted a year before being killed BUT their pamphlets were impactful, and they’re still globally well-known to this day

Question 19

What was the Confessing Church? What did it do?

Answer 19

Anti-Nazi protestant group led by pastor (Martin) Neimöller
1934 -> rebelled against Reich Church, declaring the Church was not an organ of the state
They resisted relatively quietly:
- preached on Church autonomy (but didn’t actively rebel)
- some illegally hid Jews

Question 20

Why did the Confessing Church oppose the Nazis? How successful were they?

Answer 20

Protestant leaders wanted church autonomy -> thought state was infringing on the freedoms of the church (specifically its right to declare its own doctrine)
They opposed Nazi discrimination, believing everyone is equal in the eyes of God
Not very successful -> didn’t do a lot to resist the Nazis, most members who tried to encourage people to defend Jews were unsuccessful
HOWEVER a few members did save Jewish lives (by hiding them)

Question 21

What was the Catholic Church’s opposition to the Nazis?

Answer 21

Cardinal Von Galen led the opposition
He led Catholic protests against Nazi euthanasia during WW2
He delivered 3 very famous sermons that condemned the -> arrests of Jews, confiscation of Church property, involuntary euthanasia programme
Helped draft Pope’s 1937 anti-Nazi encyclical

Question 22

How successful was Von Galen?

Answer 22

Successful -> 3 sermons became very famous (drew global attention to Nazi regime + spread anti-Nazi message), inspired the White Rose (so inspired others to rise up)
Unsuccessful -> didn’t actively rebel against Nazis, didn’t manage to stop their euthanasia programme

Question 23

What was the Kreisau Circle? What did they do?

Answer 23

Anti-Nazi group of professionals, army officers, and academics
Led by Count Von Moltke
They held meetings and planned to create a new social order based on Christian principles
July 20 1944 -> attempted assassination of Hitler (July Bomb Plot) - planted a bomb in Hitler’s military headquarters - killed 4 people but failed to kill Hitler BUT this was the closest anyone had got to killing him

Question 24

What was the Nazi response to the July Bomb Plot?

Answer 24

Arrested and executed many members of Kreisau Circle, including Count Von Moltke
200 members of the plot were killed -> many were hanged slowly, executions were filmed
Then reasserted their power by arresting over 7,000 people -> executed 5,000 of them in the following months

Question 25

What happened in the July Bomb Plot?

Answer 25

20 July 1944 Count Stauffenberg left a bomb in a briefcase in a conference room in East Prussia (where Hitler was having a military meeting) Plan was known as Operation Valkyrie An attending officer had nudged the briefcase to the other side of the table which protected Hitler from the full force of the explosion Hitler survived (with negligible injuries), but 4 others were killed The attempted coup in Berlin was stopped by soldiers still loyal to Hitler WITHIN 24 HOURS THE SS/GESTAPO HAD REGAINED CONTROL

Question 26

How did the Nazis try to control young people?

Answer 26

By 1933 - all youth organisations except Hitler Youth were banned 1939 - Hitler Youth made compulsory for boys ages 14 to 18 Hitler Youth trained children to be soldiers -> so most working class children left schools at 14, were forced to be trained as soldiers and drafted into army

Question 27

Who were the Edelweiss Pirates and what did they do?

Answer 27

Young people that gathered in their own gangs in their towns -> over 3,000 teenagers total identified as Edelweiss Pirates They would create and physically defend their own social spaces They started off doing fun things that Nazis had made illegal, meeting up with Pirates from other cities As the war progressed, their actions grew bolder - sabotaged Nazis on a small scale, helping Jews + army deserters + pows - painted anti-Nazi slogans on walls - shoved allied propaganda into mailboxes

Question 28

Why did were the Nazis scared by the Edelweiss Pirates? How did the Nazis threaten them and did it work?

Answer 28

Edelweiss Pirates had mostly come from the Nazi education system -> but they still chose to rebel even though they were constantly being fed propaganda (Nazis feared their indoctrination wasn’t effective enough, may lead to full scale revolt) Nazis threatened them with: - weekend imprisonment - reform school or labour camp - criminal trial and hanging - youth concentration camp Threats didn’t work for the most part, many Pirates continued defying the Nazi regime

Question 29

What was the Red Orchestra and what did it do?

Answer 29

Group of people providing intelligence to the Soviet government, formed in mid-1930s It was a loose network of resistance groups, mostly made up of communists - but the members had varying political and economic backgrounds (factory workers to gov. officials) They printed/distributed anti-Nazi propaganda, and documented Nazi violence They also stole important documents and leaked confidential information

Question 30

What was the Nazi response to the Red Orchestra?

Answer 30

1942 - executed Harnack, founder of the group, when they caught him passing information about German war plans to Russia Many other members were arrested and killed -> in total over 50 members were executed Although some rings tried to continue after the arrests, they were very small scale So by 1944 the network had been mostly dissolved

Question 31

What was the Holocaust?

Answer 31

The systematic murder of approx. 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime during WW2

Question 32

What was the Aryan race?

Answer 32

Hitler’s idea that German people made up a race that were naturally superior in terms of -> intelligence, physique, work ethic Qualities of a ‘pure’ Aryan included: - healthy + fertile - blond hair + blue eyes - slim + tall - loyal to Nazi regime + had traditional (conservative) values

Question 33

Why did the Nazis persecute many groups of people?

Answer 33

To preserve the purity of the Aryan race, Hitler believed it was essential to maintain its separateness from other races He also thought Germany was overburdened with undesirables (e.g. work-shy or disabled), thought they were a drain on the resources of the state - as they contributed little yet cost vast amounts of money, which could be better used to support the fit and healthy

Question 34

Why did the Nazis dislike the Jews?

Answer 34

- considered to be racially inferior - used as scapegoats by the Nazis for all of Germany’s problems Hitler had a personal vendetta: - believed in a famous Russian report that claimed to expose an international Jewish conspiracy against Christianity, and they wanted to take over the world - blamed the Jews for his own personal suffering when he failed to get into art school

Question 35

What was the stereotypical image of Jews promoted by Nazi propaganda?

Answer 35

Dark features Long noses Communists Overly wealthy and deceitful Greedy and fat

Question 36

What were the main 5 ways in which the Jews were persecuted?

Answer 36

Nuremberg laws = 1935 Laws limiting the rights/freedoms of Jews = 1933 - 1939 Kristallnacht = 1938 The Final Solution = developed during WW2 Death marches = 1944+

Question 37

Nuremberg Laws

Answer 37

1935 Reich Citizenship Laws = deprived Jews of German citizenship, taking away many rights/protections Law For The Protection of German Blood and Honour = outlawed marriage between Jews and non-Jews

Question 38

4 laws limiting the rights/freedoms of Jews

Answer 38

Happened from 1933 to 1939 - forced to register and wear a yellow star of David on their clothes - Jewish lawyers/teachers/doctors/judges lost their jobs - banned from sports clubs, public parks + swimming pools - curfew of 8pm - Jewish children banned from German schools

Question 39

Kristallnacht

Answer 39

November 1938 Night of Broken Glass = nationwide pogrom organised by the Nazis Pretext -> assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a Jewish man -> used as an excuse for Kristallnacht - synagogues were burned - 91 people killed - over 30,000 Jews taken to concentration camps - Jewish homes/businesses were attacked and looted

Question 40

What is a progrom?

Answer 40

A nationwide persecution of a specific group in society, can also be an organised massacre Example = Kristallnacht

Question 41

Ghettoisation

Answer 41

1939+ As Nazis took over more of Eastern Europe, they created ghettos to segregate and contain Jews These were sections of cities where Jews had to live, enclosed by high walls and barbed wire fences They were overcrowded - thousands died from starvation and disease

Question 42

Einsatzgruppen

Answer 42

1941+ German death squads As the German army took over more land, these squads would round up Jews They would lead Jews into remote areas and make them dig their own mass grave before being shot

Question 43

The Final Solution

Answer 43

Developed during WW2 -> WAS NOT HITLER’S OG PLAN Idea was to construct death camps to exterminate Jews At arrival - the old/weak/sick/young were sent to the “showers” for execution Healthier/stronger people were set to work Approx. 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust, most of them in death camps They were usually killed in gas chambers by dropping toxic gas pellets through vents in the ceiling

Question 44

Death marches

Answer 44

1944+ As Allies advanced on Germany, Jews were removed from concentration camps They were forced to march hundreds of miles - without food or water - to the camps in Germany Thousands died from cold + hunger + being shot by guards

Question 45

Why were Roma + Sinti gypsies persecuted?

Answer 45

- considered racially inferior, not part of Aryan race - shunned traditional family life/community - nomadic, so failed to integrate into Nazi society - didn’t contribute to German society as they didn’t pay taxes and were self-employed

Question 46

What was the stereotypical image of gypsies presented by Nazi propaganda?

Answer 46

Dark features Superstitious Involved in criminal activities Untrustworthy

Question 47

How were gypsies persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 47

200,000 of them were murdered - around 5/6 of gypsies in Germany Some killed in mass shootings, others in death camps Auschwitz - they were in a special compound called the “gypsy family camp” SS medical researches conducted medical experiments on twins and dwarves from said “family camp”

Question 48

Why were homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 48

- shunned traditional family values/life - wouldn’t produce children to add to German population and military - seen as mentally disabled - considered to be weak and unfit to join the military

Question 49

How were homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 49

Male homosexuality was illegal in Germany - thousands of gay men were put in concentration camps They were marked with pink triangle badges + were one of the most abused groups in the camps Nazis wanted to find a cure for homosexuality, so used gay inmates for medical experiments - these yielded no scientific knowledge (no shit sherlock) and caused mutilation/death

Question 50

Why were the mentally ill persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 50

- couldn’t contribute much to German society - considered to be a drain on resources - weren’t fit to serve in the military - could weaken the Aryan race by passing on hereditary disabilities to their children

Question 51

How were the mentally ill persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 51

Sterilisation was mandatory for families with hereditary illnesses Over 350,000 disabled people were sterilised Secret euthanasia program - Operation T4 - began in 1939 - for mentally disabled children Around 5,000 children were killed in special nursing homes Over 70,000 mentally ill adults were gassed

Question 52

Who were ‘asocials’ and why were they persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 52

Examples = criminals, beggars, prostitutes, homeless, etc. - didn’t contribute positively to German society - weren’t fit to serve in the military - bad influence on others in society - drain on resources - shunned traditional values

Question 53

How were ‘asocials’ persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 53

Sent to prison (not just criminals, but homeless and prostitutes) Half a million homeless/beggars/alcoholics were sent to concentration camps in 1939 Once there, many were worked to death or killed by guards

Question 54

What is a totalitarian state?

Answer 54

A type of rule where the government controls all aspects of public and private life with the help of propaganda and fear All aspects of public/private life include: - politics and government - the economy - social, cultural, religious activites - judicial system

Question 55

Arguments for Nazi Germany being a complete totalitarian state (give 4)

Answer 55

Gestapo ensured any opposition was removed OR never became a serious threat to the regime Dictator ruled + successfully controlled the judicial system and almost all aspects of politics Lots of government regulation/intervention in the economy, especially in industries connected to the war Nazis implemented the German Labour Front and Strength Through Joy, these controlled the workforce and most adults - hence control over society -> also they controlled mass media (e.g. cinema)

Question 56

Strength Through Joy

Answer 56

Nazi organisation that organised leisure for adults in Germany Meant that adults could go to the cinema more often (subsidised by state) People could also save up for a Nazi cruise

Question 57

Arguments for Nazi Germany NOT being a completely totalitarian state (give 3)

Answer 57

Failed to completely remove all opposition groups (e.g. edelweiss pirates) Economy was mainly controlled by private enterprise - most industries were relatively independent - hence Nazis failed to gain complete control of the economy Nazis never managed to control the Catholic Church + tried and failed to form a new church - hence they had little control over religion

Question 58

What were the Nuremberg Rallies?

Answer 58

Extravagant celebratory Nazi rallies Thousands attended these, lots of propaganda, speeches by Nazi officials, etc.

Question 59

What was the People’s Receiver?

Answer 59

Special Nazi radio that couldn’t broadcast foreign stations It was very affordable, most people had it