Germany (Fascism) Flashcards
CONTEXT AND MAIN CAUSES
very similar to Mussolini – extreme nationalism, advocated violence, hatred of new democracies, freedom for women, economic vulnerability»_space; rise of the Nazi party in 1933
the main cause of the rise:
- unemployment due to the Great Depression
- humiliation at the Treaty of Versailles (The War Guilt Clause 231 said that Germany had to take all the blame and pay reparations for the war)
- anticommunism
- antifeminism (limited women to the home and having racially pure babies
RISE OF HITLER AND THE NAZIS
intense German nationalism in terms of radical superiority, hatred for Jews as an alien presence, opposition to Communism»_space; Nazis won the election of 1932, and Hitler was legally appointed chancellor by Hindenburg in 1933; gained support from the middle class
THIRD REICH ACTIONS
- outlawed opposition political parties
- labor unions became illegal
- political opponents arrested
- state control of press, media, radio
HITLER’S RISE IN POPULARITY
- brought Germany out of the Great Depression through public works projects (super-highways, bridges, canals, etc.)
- appealed to rural and traditional values (not socialism nor communism)
- blamed the Jews for everything wrong with Germany (Mein Kampf 1920)
TREATMENT OF JEWS
Jews were blamed for everything wrong with Germany: seen as symbols of capitalism and foreign influence that undermined traditional values
Anti-Jewish Laws:
- excluded from universities, professional organization, and government jobs in 1933
- Nuremberg Laws in 1935 ended German citizenship for Jews, forbid marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans
KRISTALLNACHT
also known as the Night of the Broken Glass: because a German diplomat (Ernst vom Rath) was assassinated by a Polish Jewish teenager in Paris
> > Jewish businesses looted and ruined, thousands rounded up and sent to camps (no Holocaust yet)
