Germany Unit 4

Question 1

How did the Nazi control the Protestant Church?

Answer 1

-Reich Church, created in 1936, was a Nazified church which was lead by Ludwig Muller (Reich Bishop of Germany)

-Adopted Nazi style uniforms, salutes and marches and their slogan was “The swastika on our chests and the cross in our
hearts”

-Many Priests wanted to keep their job so they swore an oath to the Nazis. 17,000 priests stayed and less than 60 refused

Question 2

How did the Protestant Church resist the Nazis?

Answer 2

-Martin Niemoller, spoke out against Nazi interference, arrested and sent to concentration camp

-Pastors Emergency League (PEL), 1933, against ban on Jewish conversion to Christianity and ban of old testament

-Confessing Church, 1934, around 6000 pastors joined, 800 were arrested and sent to concentration camp

Question 3

How did the Nazis control the Catholic Church?

Answer 3

• The concordat, 1933, an agreement between the Nazis and the Catholic Church that stated the Catholic Church will not criticise the Nazis in exchange for the Nazis leaving Catholic schools and youth groups alone
• The Nazis broke the clause and Catholic schools and youth groups were closed and priests were harassed and arrested with many ending up in concentration camps

Question 4

How did the Catholic Church resist the Nazis?

Answer 4

• “With burning anxiety” speech, 1937, the Popes speech criticising the Nazis and its regime
• Cardinal Galen, spoke out against the Nazi euthanasia program

Question 5

How were woman treated under the Weimar republic?

Answer 5

• They had a lot more freedom and were allowed to do many things such as vote, sit in the Reichstag and work in more jobs
• Woman’s fashion changed drastically including changes such as short hair, shorter skirts and more revealing clothes

Question 6

How were woman treated under the Nazis?

Answer 6

• Introduction of the three K’s - Children, Church, Cooking - these were what was expected of woman under the Nazis
• The Nazis encouraged having children through many ways such as kicking woman out of jobs, introducing marriage loans to support younger woman getting married, introducing rewards such as the Mother’s cross and the Lebensborn program which encouraged “racially sound” woman to have children with SS members to create pure, Aryan babies
• The Nazis also promoted a traditional woman’s appearance with woman wearing no makeup and having plaits and buns

Question 7

How were young people treated under the Nazis?

Answer 7

• Hitler youth, for boys 10 - 18 years old, 100,000 members in 1932 and 3,500,000 in 1934, focused on physical abilities and used activities like camping and boxing, they were also taught the Nazi ideology like antisemitism and commitment to Hitler, they also did military activities such as shooting.
• The League of German Girls, split into 2 divisions - young girls league (14 and under) and the faith and beauty division (17 - 21), The girls were taught physical lessons and Nazi ideology too but they were also taught chores and how to be a woman in Nazi society which was further taught but more extremely in the faith and beauty division

Question 8

Young opposition in Nazi Germany

Answer 8

• Edelweiss Pirates - rebelled by drinking, having long hair, swearing, listening to jazz music, made anti-Nazi jokes and mixed with the opposite sex. In addition, they were violent towards Nazi members
• White rose movement - Group made by university students that spread anti-Nazi leaflets and spray painted anti-Nazi messages that exposed Nazi crimes and called for a resistance
• Swing youth - teenagers rebelling against the Nazis by listening to swing music illegally imported from the USA. They would get together and smoke, drink and listen to music. They were often from wealthy families

Question 9

What were the aims of the Nazi economic policies?

Answer 9

• Autarky - self sufficiency
• Reduce unemployment

Question 10

Autarky

Answer 10

• Hitler wanted Germany to produce everything it needed, hoped technology would allow rubber to be made synthetically instead of having to trade for it
• Ultimately failed as they were still importing 20% of food and 33% of its raw materials

Question 11

Reducing unemployment

Answer 11

• Expanding the armed forces and rearmament meant that more people were joining the military and therefore were decreasing the unemployment statistic
• Work programmes such as the Autobahns put many Germans to work helping build motorways all around Germany
• The invisible unemployed were groups of people removed from unemployment statistics to reduce the unemployment numbers. These groups included women, Jews and people in concentration camps