Germany -N Flashcards
Did the Nazi regime have support from the German people?
Had enough support to win seats in Reichstag
•However, difficult to gauge extent of support
•Unreliable nature of Nazi propaganda and public displays of support
•Many people did support the Nazi regime
•However, many others did not support Nazi regime
•Most continued with their lives
•Some opposition
•Gestapo reports suggest some scepticism towards Nazi regime
The Nazis got support from those who benefited from their regime, who were these people and how did they benefit?
Support from people who benefitted from Nazi rule
•Wealthy industrialists
•Felt Weimar governments too supportive of working class
•Banning of KPD and trade unions
•Middle classes
•Savings had value again
•Those who applied to ‘Germanise’ areas occupied in WWII
•Given homes and farmland
•Economic revival
•Cut in unemployment
•Rise in real wages
•Consumer goods
•Volkswagen
Support from Germans opposed to Treaty of Versailles who wanted Germany to assert power in Europe
•Had opposed Stresemann’s dealing with other powers to reduce reparations and improve relations
•Support from those hostile to ethnic minorities and left-wing politics
•Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies and communists victimised by Nazi regime
Various organisations established by the Nazis
•Rewarded conformity and encouraged support
•German Labour Front (DAF)
•Only ‘trade union’ allowed under Nazi regime
•Strength Through Joy (KDF)
•Organised free or cheap activities for workers and their families
•Youth organisations
•Hitler Youth (HJ)
•League of German Girls (BDM)
•Popular amongst many women
•Women rewarded for having more children
Initial support for Nazi involvement in WWII
•Encouraged by successes in early stages of WWII
•‘Hitler myth’
•However, support declined during war
•Military defeats
•Awareness of conditions on frontline
•Rationing
•Allied bombing
•Collapse of ‘Hitler myth’
Simple ideas repeated frequently
•‘One People, one Reich, one Führer’
•Image of Jews
•Manipulation of news and other information
•Designed to reinforce Nazi prejudices and emphasis success of Nazi policy
•Images of Jews in ghettoes used to reinforce ideas that Jews were dirty and sub-human
•Worked to ensure propaganda was accessible and pervasive
•Radios
•By 1939, over 70% of population owned radios
•By 1943, 1/3 of these were People’s Receivers
Development of ‘Hitler myth’
•Sought to present Hitler as:
•Hard-working
•Determined
•‘Man of the People’
•Genius
•Sacrificed personal happiness for will of Germany
•Regarded by Goebbels as greatest achievement
In1941,Goebbelsclaimedthecreationofthe ‘Hitler Myth’ had been his greatest achievement.
• ManydoubtedHitlerstill,despiteallhehaddone to consolidate power.
• TheHitlerMythwasdevelopedinordertoturn people to the Nazi way of thinking – part of Gleichshaltung and Volksgemeinshaft.
Hard Working and Determined
• ‘Man of the People’
• A genius, both politically and morally
• Sacrificed personal happiness for the will of Germany
The Reality?
• He was surrounded by officials who competed for his attention and implemented his will. He would present ideas and officials would take it and turn it into detailed policy.
• Didn’t like detailed discussion on policy – considered lazy and often rambled on to those around him
Who was Joseph Goebbels?
Joseph Goebbels was chief Nazi propagandist
•Worked as journalist and gained PhD
•Founded Der Angriff (‘The Attack’) (1927)
•Minister of Propaganda (from 1933)
•Oversaw Nazi propaganda
Doctor of Philology – became journalist
• Originally opposed Hitler, referring to him as ‘Bourgeois’
• In 1925, he demanded Hitler be removed from the party, yet sided with him a year later.
• In 1927, he founded the newspaper Der Angriff - The Attack
• In 1928, he became party Propaganda chief.
• Found his calling trying to promote Hitler and organising the Fuhrer cult
GOEBBELS: MASTER OF PROPAGANDA
Wanted strong, centralised government and obedient populace
•Use of violence against political opponents
•Intimidation by SA and SS
•Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934)
•Use of censorship and repression
•Created situation where vast majority of ordinary people too scared to oppose Nazis
•Reichstag Fire Decree (28 February 1933)
All forms of communication subject to Nazi control
•Control of radio
•Goebbels told all controllers of German radio stations that they served Nazi regime (25 March 1933)
How did the Nazis repress people?
All political parties banned except Nazi Party
•Made forming political party illegal
•Concentration camps set up to hold political prisoners
•Deterred political protest
•Oranienburg (1933)
•Over 500,000 non-Jewish people sent to camps for political crimes between 1933-1945
•Camp system expanded and became run by SS
Ran own security system alongside existing police and judicial system
•Police and judiciary purged of opponents
•Worked to create climate of fear
•People assumed Nazi Party officials looking for any infringement of rules
•People feared being reported to Gestapo
•People’s Court
•Court formed to try people accused of being traitors to Third Reich
•Two judges and five other members from Nazi Party, SS and armed forces
•Secret trials
•No right to appeal verdicts
Gestapo
•Secret Police
•Formed by Hermann Goering (April 1933)
•Operated independently of existing legal system
•Agents across Germany
•SS (Schutzstaffel)
•Began as Hitler’s bodyguard
•Developed into political police
•Ran concentration camp system
•Put in charge of Gestapo
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