Germany Under the Nazis 1934-45

Question 1

How did Hitler combat unemployment?
What was invisible unemployment?

Answer 1

Huge part of Nazis’ appeal = promised to make Germany’s economy strong again. Hitler aimed for full employment and by 1939 there was virtually no official unemployment in Germany.

Began huge programme of public works, incl building hospitals, schools, and public buildings such as the 1936 Olympic Stadium. The construction of the autobahns created work for 80,000 men.
Rearmament was responsible for bulk of economic growth 1933-38. Started almost as soon as Hitler came to power but was announced publicly in 1935. This created millions of jobs for German workers.
Introduction of the National Labour Service (NLS) meant all young men spent 6 months in the NLS and then conscripted into the army.

Invisible unemployment:
Although Germany claimed to have full employment by 1939, many groups of people were not in the statistics, incl:
- The 1.4 million men in the army at this time.
- Jews who were sacked and their jobs given to non-Jews.
- Women who were encouraged to give up their jobs to men.

Question 2

What was the policy of autarky and was it successful?

Answer 2

The policy of autarky attempted to make Germany self-sufficient, so would no longer be necessary for Germans to trade internationally.

1937 - Hermann Göring = Economics Minister with the job of making Germany self-sufficient in four years. The measures he introduced, such as tighter controls on imports and subsidies for farmers to produce more food, were not successful. By the outbreak of WWII Germany was still importing 20 per cent of its food and 33 per cent of its raw materials.

Question 3

What were the impact of Nazi economic policies on the German people?

Answer 3

• Big businesses wages rose by 50%
  
  • 20% of small businesses closed
  • Agricultural prices rose by 20%
  • Agricultural wages rose more quickly than those in industry

Question 4

How did Nazi economic policies affect industrial workers?

Answer 4

Before 1933 - Nazis had lacked support amongst workers - tended to vote for communists/Social Democratic Party.

Needs of German rearmament made it important that workers were productive and controlled, so the Nazis set up three organisations that would manage German workers:
- The Labour Front. = Nazi organisation that replaced Trade Unions (banned). Set wages + nearly always followed the wishes of employers, rather than employees.
- Strength Through Joy. This scheme gave workers rewards for their work - evening classes, theatre trips, picnics, and even very cheap or free holidays.
- Beauty of Labour. The job of this organisation was to help Germans see that work was good, and that everyone who could work should. It also encouraged factory owners to improve conditions for workers.

Question 5

How did Nazi economic policies affect workers in non-armament industries?

Answer 5

The living standards of German workers in the non-armaments industries did not really improve under the Nazis. From 1933 to 1939:
- wages fell
- the number of hours worked rose by 15 per cent
- serious accidents in factories increased
- workers could be blacklisted by employers for
- questioning their working conditions

Question 6

What were the Nazi’s policies towards women, in terms of marriage and family?

Answer 6

Believed women’s lives should revolve round 3Ks: Kinder (children), Kuche (kitchen) and Kirche (church).

Marriage + family:
Hitler wanted high birth rate so that Aryan pop = grow. Tried to achieve by:
- introduce Law for the Encouragement of Marriage - gave newlywed couples loan of 1,000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had
- giving an award called the Mother’s Cross to women who had large numbers of children
- allowing women to volunteer to have a baby for an Aryan member of the SS

Question 7

What were the Nazi policies towards women, in terms of employment and appearance?

Answer 7

Employment:
Measures introduced - strongly discouraged women from working, incl:
- the introduction of the Law for the Reduction of Unemployment, which gave women financial incentives to stay at home
- not conscripting women to help in the war effort until 1943
However, female labour was cheap and between 1933 and 1939 the number of women in employment actually rose by 2.4 million. As German economy grew, women were needed in the workplace.

Appearance:
Women were expected to emulate traditional German peasant fashions - plain peasant costumes, hair in plaits or buns and flat shoes.
Not expected to wear make-up/trousers, dye their hair or smoke in public. Discouraged from staying slim - thought that thin women had trouble giving birth.

Question 8

What were the Nazi aims and policies towards the young?

Answer 8

Young people were very important to Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler spoke of his Third Reich lasting for a thousand years and to achieve this he would have to ensure German children were thoroughly indoctrinated into Nazi ideology.

To this end, from the age of 10 boys and girls were encouraged to join the Nazis’ youth organisation, the Hitler Youth (the girls’ wing of which was called the League of German Maidens). Membership from age 10 was made compulsory in 1936 and by 1939 90 per cent of German boys aged 14 and over were members.

The Hitler Youth:
- Aim: prepare German boys to be future soldiers
- Military-style uniforms
- Activities centred on physical exercise and rifle practice, as well as political indoctrination

The League of German Maidens:
- Aim: was to prepare German girls for future motherhood
- Uniform of blue skirt, white blouse, heavy marching shoes
- Undertook physical exercise, but activities mainly centred on developing domestic skills such as sewing and cooking

Question 9

How did the Nazis control the young through education?

Answer 9

As well as influencing the beliefs of young Germans through the Hitler Youth, schools indoctrinated young people into the political and racial ideas of Nazism.

All teachers had to join the Nazi Teachers’ Association, which vetted them for political and racial suitability.

The curriculum was altered to reflect Nazi ideology and priorities:
- History - lessons included a course on the rise of the Nazi Party.
- Biology - lessons were used to teach Nazi racial theories of evolution in eugenics.
- Race study and ideology - this became a new subject, dealing with the Aryan ideas and anti-Semitism.
- Physical Education - German school children had five one-hour sports lessons every week.
- Chemistry and Mathematics - were downgraded in importance.

Aim: brainwash children so that they would grow up accepting Nazi ideas without question.

Question 10

How did Hitler take control of the churches?

Answer 10

1933 = approx 45 mil Protestants and 22 mil Catholics in Germany. Hitler saw Christianity = threat + potential opposition to Nazism as it emphasised peace. Nazis tried to control Churches with policies and bargaining.

Control of the Churches:
State Reich Church established to unify different branches of Protestantism. Enabled the Nazis to use ‘German Christians’ within to promote Nazi ideas.
1933 - Hitler agreed a Concordat with Pope - said would not interfere in running of Catholic Church if stayed out of political matters. Hitler still attempted to infiltrate the Church and spread their propaganda.

Question 11

What were the Nazi attempts to suppress the Churches?
What were the impacts of the Nazi actions?

Answer 11

Nazi attempts to supress the Churches:
Reich Church attempted to ban use of Old Testament in religious services - considered a ‘Jewish book’.
Nazis attempted to stop Catholics using the crucifix in church = unsuccessful. Catholic schools + youth organisations = supressed - German children educated in state schools + taught Nazi curriculum + expected to join Hitler Youth. Catholic newspapers = banned + 400 Catholic priests sent to Dachau concentration camp.

Impacts:
1937 - Hitler = forced to return control of the Church to the old Protestant leadership, in return for a promise that the Church would stay out of politics.
Attendance at Catholic churches increased substantially under the Nazis, especially during World War Two, showing that Hitler’s attempts to reduce the influence of religion in Germany was ultimately unsuccessful.
Both Protestant and Catholic clergy played a large role in opposing Hitler and the Nazis, for which they often paid a high price.

Question 12

What was the Police State?

Answer 12

To maintain his power, Hitler needed organisations that could control the population to ensure absolute loyalty to the Führer.

After the demise of the SA on the Night of the Long Knives, there were three main interlinked organisations (+ regular German police force) involved in controlling German people through spying, intimidation + if necessary imprisonment:
- Schutzstaffel (SS) - Led by Heinrich Himmler = most important + oversaw the others. Initially set up as Hitler’s personal bodyguard service = loyal to the Führer. Later set up concentration camps where ‘enemies of the state’ were sent.
- Gestapo - Nazis’ secret police force = monitor German population for opposition/resistance. Greatly helped by people informing on their fellow citizens.
- Sicherheitsdienst (SD) - Intelligence gathering agency of the SS = responsible for the security of Hitler + other Nazis = led by Heydrich.

Himmler’s - Head of the police state
Sight – The SS
Gradually – The Gestapo
Spreads – The SD

Question 13

How did Nazis control the police system?

Answer 13

Nazis quickly swept away many freedoms that Germans had enjoyed under the Weimar constitution. The party’s control of the legal system made opposition to the regime very difficult indeed:
- Judges had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler and were expected to act always in the interests of the Nazi state.
- All lawyers had to join the Nazi Lawyers’ Association, which meant they could be controlled.
- The role of defence lawyers in criminal trials was weakened.
- Standard punishment for crimes were abolished and so local prosecutors could decide what penalties to impose on those found guilty.

These changes more than halved the number of criminal offences between 1933 and 1939, whilst the number of crimes that carried the death penalty increased from 3 to 46. Many convicted criminals were not released at the end of their sentences but instead were moved to the growing number of concentration camps being established by the SS.

Question 14

How were Hitler and the Nazi Party a constant presence in ordinary life?

Answer 14

Hitler + Nazi Party = constant presence in ordinary life w:
- Swastika appearing on every gov uniform + public building.
- Photos of Hitler everywhere.
- Greet each other w ‘Heil Hitler’ raised arm salute.

Question 15

How did Goebbel’s Ministry spread propaganda?

Answer 15

Gov dept responsible for all this was Ministry of Enlightenment + Propaganda, by Dr Goebbels. Aimed to brainwash people into obeying Nazis + idolising Hitler.

Methods included:
- Censorship of the press: All newspapers = controlled by gov + could only print stories favourable to Nazi regime.
- Control of radio broadcasts: sold very cheaply so most Germans could afford one. All radio output controlled by ministry through Reich Broadcasting Corporation.
- Mass rallies: Public displays of support for Nazism = music, speeches + demonstrations of German strength - biggest one held each year in August at Nuremberg.
- Sports events: Berlin hosted 1936 Olympics - Nazis used as opportunity to showcase success of regime + demonstrate superiority of Aryan race.
- Loudspeakers blared out propaganda: Much of the info Germans received reinforce message of Aryan racial superiority + demonised Jews + other ‘enemies’ of the regime.

Question 16

How did the Nazis control art, architecture and literature?

Answer 16

Art:
Weimar period had seen a flourishing of German art, much of which was abstract. Hitler saw this modern art as ‘degenerate’ and over 6500 works of art were removed from display across Germany. Hitler encouraged ‘Aryan art’ instead, which showed the physical and military power of Germany and the Aryan race.

Architecture:
Hitler = very interested in architecture and believed it could be used to project the power of the Nazi regime. The most important architect of the period was Albert Speer, who redesigned Berlin, as well as designing the stadium in Nuremberg where annual rallies were held.

Literature:
Nazis ceremonially burned thousands of books in 1933 that were viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism. These included books written by Jewish, pacifist, classical, liberal, anarchist, socialist, and communist authors.

Question 17

How did Nazis control music and film?

Answer 17

Film:
To make sure that film served the goals of propaganda, the Nazi Party gradually took over film production and distribution. A state-run professional school for politically reliable film-makers was founded, and membership of an official professional organisation (Reichsfilmkammer) was made compulsory for all actors and film-makers. The Nazi leaders often used film stars, like Lil Dagover, to help promote the popularity of the party in Germany.

Music:
In classical music, works by Jewish composers like Mendelssohn and Mahler were banned and the works of the German composer Wagner were promoted, gaining huge popularity. The Nazis were strongly opposed to jazz music, which they referred to as Negro music and called it degenerate.

The Nazis’ interest in and influence on all of these areas demonstrates the extent to which the party sought to control German life and win over the population to the Nazi cause.

Question 18

What was the extent for support of the Nazi regime?

Answer 18

It is difficult to know exactly how popular the regime was as Hitler’s police state made it very difficult to express opposition and Nazi propaganda portrayed the Führer as his people’s saviour.
However, it is clear that the Nazis were the most popular party when they came to power and many Germans welcomed the stability and economic growth an authoritarian regime brought.

In general, Germans were happy to trade the freedom and democracy of Weimar for the certainty and security Hitler brought. His regime restored Germany’s international prestige through rearmament and the dismantling of the Treaty of Versailles. The sheer scale of propaganda - especially that directed towards German children - meant that many more Germans became active Nazi Party members and were convinced of Hitler’s greatness.

Question 19

What was the opposition from churches?

Answer 19

Protestantism:
Many Protestant pastors formed the Confessional Church in opposition to Hitler’s Reich Church. Leader was held in a concentration camp during the period 1937-1945 and a total of 800 clergy were sent to camps.
Another Protestant pastor and member of the Confessional Church, Dietrich Bonhöffer, was linked to the 1944 bomb plot and was executed.

Catholicism:
Despite the Concordat, some Catholic priests opposed Hitler. In 1937, the Pope’s message ‘With Burning Concern’ attacked Hitler as ‘a mad prophet with repulsive arrogance’ and was read in every Catholic Church.
The Catholic Archbishop of Munster, von Galen, led a successful campaign to end euthanasia of mentally-disabled people.
400 German Catholic priests were imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp by the regime.

Question 20

What was the opposition from the youth?

Answer 20

Main youth opposition group was the Edelweiss Pirates, based in the Rhineland. They reacted to the discipline of the Hitler Youth by daubing anti-Nazi slogans and singing pre-1933 folk songs. In 1942 over 700 of them were arrested and in 1944, the Pirates in Cologne killed the Gestapo chief, so the Nazis publicly hanged 12 of them.

The White Rose group was formed by students at Munich University in 1943. They published anti-Nazi leaflets and marched through the city in protest at Nazi policies. Its leaders, brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, were arrested to and sentenced to the guillotine.

During the war, ‘Swing Youth’ and ‘Jazz Youth’ groups were formed. These were young people who rejected Nazi values, drank alcohol and danced to jazz. The Nazis rejected jazz music as degenerate and called it Negro music, using their racial ideas against this cultural development. These youths were closely monitored by the Gestapo, who regularly raided illegal jazz clubs.

Question 21

What was the opposition from workers?

Answer 21

Perhaps the most widespread and persistent opposition to the Nazi regime came from ordinary German workers, often helped by communists, who posted anti-Nazi posters and graffiti, or organised strikes. In Dortmund the vast majority of men imprisoned in the city’s jail were industrial workers. Workers went on strike over high food prices in 1935 and during the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

Question 22

What were the Nazi racial beliefs?

Answer 22

Hitler and the Nazis had firm views on race. They believed that certain groups were inferior and were a threat to the purity of the Aryan race. There were many groups who were targeted for persecution, including Slavs (Eastern Europeans), gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled - but none more so than the Jews.
Black people were also persecuted in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories. They suffered forced sterilization, medical experimentation, incarceration, brutality and, sometimes, were murdered. However, there was no systematic program for their elimination as there was for Jews and other groups.

Nazi racial beliefs
The Nazis’ racial philosophy taught that Aryans were the master race and that some races were ‘untermensch’ (sub-human). Many Nazi scientists at this time believed in eugenics, the idea that people with disabilities or social problems were degenerates whose genes needed to be eliminated from the human bloodline. The Nazis pursued eugenics policies vigorously.

Question 23

What was the Nazi’s policy of persecution?

Answer 23

Policy of persecution:
Sterilisation - In order to keep Aryan race pure, many groups prevented from reproducing, inc mentally + physically disabled, were sterilised, as were ppl w hereditary diseases.
Children born to German women + French African soldiers in Rhineland at the end of WWI = ‘Rhineland Bastards’ + sterilised.

Murder of people w disabilities - Nazis’ false belief in genetic superiority led to persecution + murder of ppl w disabilities. Euthanasia = act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering. However, this is very different to the Nazi euthanasia programme = systemic + state sponsored murder of people w disabilities. 200,000 people w disabilities were murdered by the Nazi regime.

Concentration camps - Homosexuals, prostitutes, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies, alcoholics, pacifists, beggars, hooligans and criminals were often rounded up and sent away to camps. During World War Two 85 per cent of Germany’s gypsies died in these camps.

Question 24

How did the Nazis persecute the Jews?

Answer 24

1933:
Nazis organised boycott of Jewish businesses.
Books by Jewish authors = publicly burnt.
Jewish civil servants, lawyers + teachers sacked.
Race science lessons were introduced, teaching Jews = sub-human.

1935:
Nuremberg Laws formalised anti-Semitism into Nazi state by:
Stripping Jews of German citizenship.
Outlawing marriage + sexual relations between Jews + Germans.
Taking away from Jews all civil + political rights.

1938:
Jews could not be doctors.
Jews had to add the name Israel (men) / Sarah (women) to name.
Jewish children forbidden to go to school.
Kristallnacht - 9 November. SS organised attacks on Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues in retaliation for assassination of German ambassador to France by a Jew.

1939:
Jews were forbidden to own a business, or even a radio
By the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, the Jews were stateless, their employment options in Germany were severely restricted and they feared for their safety.

Question 25

Why was Kristallnacht seen as a turning point?

Answer 25

Many Jews saw the events of Kristallnacht as a turning point. Up until then there had been a progressive erosion of their rights but Jews had not been physically threatened or attacked. When their businesses and homes were destroyed and their synagogues were burnt down, many concluded that their time in Germany was up. Those who were able to fled and a scheme to evacuate Jewish children to Britain, called the Kindertransport, began.