GRADUALISM AND RADICALISM Flashcards
WHAT were the 3 phases of escalation in Nazi Germany?
1) Consolidation (1933-34): legal revolution
2) Gradualisation (1934-37): Nazi regime secure, but there was still a worry about powerful groups like the army and Church, and about public opinion at home/abroad.
3) Radicalisation (1938-39): radical persecution of ‘racial enemies’ began
WHAT was the Volkisch movement?
An ethno-nationalist set of beliefs originating from the late 19th century which combined patriotism, Christianity, the rejection of urbanisation and later ideas linking anti-Semitism to race and science
DEFINE ‘Eugenics’.
A pseudo-scientific belief that human traits could be improved by hereditary ‘manipulation’ (birth control, forced abortion, compulsory sterilisation, racial segregation)
WHAT was Social Darwinism and race theory?
Applied natural selection to theories about human society to justify ideas about racial superiority and eugenics
WHERE did Social Darwinism and race theory originate from?
- Widely discussed in 19th century Europe
- Used for justifying European imperialism, arguing that ‘advanced’ Europeans had the right to rule over ‘inferior’ or ‘backward’ colonial people
HOW did the Nazis apply Social Darwinism to their policies?
- Stressed the need to ‘purify’ the stronger races by sterilising or eliminating the weaker ones
- This view allowed no compromise (justification for the murder of Jewish women and children, as well as men)
WHAT was Volksgemeinschaft?
- ‘People’s community’
- A national community excluding those not considered ‘volk’
- More defined by exclusion of racial enemies, rather than inclusion of those in the community
HOW did someone qualify as part of the German ‘volk’?
Through loyalty to Nazism and the Fuhrer, and through racial purity
HOW did the Nazis use the idea of Volksgemeinschaft in their racial policy?
Excluded many from the German community and stressed the idea that all un-German elements had to be eliminated
WHAT 3 categories of people were to be excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft?
- Political enemies
- ‘Asocials’ (those who didn’t fit social norms)
- Racial enemies (those of a different race, and those with hereditary defects)
WHAT was Lebensraum?
- ‘Living space’
- The idea that Germany needed to expand eastwards for land, food and raw materials
WHERE did the idea of Lebensraum originate from?
- Europeans in the late 19th century proposed opening up space for the ‘superior white race’
- Many Germans felt the country was over-populated, and that Germany’s desitny was eastwards, through conquest
HOW did the Nazis apply Lebensraum, in regards to racial policy?
Lebensraum would allow the Germanisation of eastern lands, bringing ‘lost Germans’ back to the Reich. The east would also provide a battleground for a war of racial annihilation (Slav peoples) and the crushing of Bolshevism (Russia)
WHO were the Roma/Sinti?
Two gypsy tribes. The Sinti predominated in Germany and Western Europe, while the Roma were mainly in Austria, Eastern Europe and the Balkans
HOW did the Nazis treat the Roma/Sinti peoples pre-1939?
- In 1935, it was ruled that the Nuremberg laws applied to them, as well as Jewish people
- The SS began to locate and classify the Roma and Sinti in centralised files
- Registration and segregation after 1938, under the Decree for the Struggle Against the Gypsy Plague
WHEN was the Decree for the Struggle Against the Gypsy Plague passed?
1938
WHAT was the Decree for the Struggle Against the Gypsy Plague?
A law that registered Roma and Sinti people and led to their segregation
HOW did the Nazis treat Roma/Sinti peoples after 1939?
- Many were deported from Germany to Poland
- They were put in designated areas, and if anyone tried to leave, they would be sent to concentration camps
- They were systematically murdered in and out of the death camps
HOW MANY Roma/Sinti were killed under Nazi control?
Estimates are between 250,000 and 500,000– about 25-50% of the total Roma/Sinti population in Europe.
WHAT colour badge was assigned to the Roma/Sinti in concentration camps?
Brown
WHO did the Nazis class as ‘asocials’?
Social outcasts, including: criminals, the ‘work-shy’, tramps and beggars, alcoholics, prostitutes and homosexuals
WHAT did the Nazis do to ‘combat’ homeless people?
- Mass round ups in 1933, 1936 (in Berlin before the Olympics), and 1938.
- Initially, they were categorised into the ‘orderly’ and ‘disorderly,’ with only the ‘disorderly’ being sent to concentration camps
- By 1938 the treatment was harsher.
WHAT was the difference between ‘orderly’ and ‘disorderly’ homeless people, according to the Nazis?
- The ‘orderly’ were fit and willing to work (and not criminals). They were given a permit and forced to work for accommodation.
- The ‘disorderly’ were those who had committed crimes, and seen as unfit to work. They were sent to concentration camps from 1933.
WHEN was the ‘asocial colony’ established?
1936
WHAT was the ‘asocial colony’?
An area in northern Germany where, under the Nazis, ‘asocials’ (e.g. criminals, homeless people, alcoholics, etc.) were sent to be re-educated so that they could be integrated into normal society.
WHAT colour badge was assigned to ‘asocials’ in concentration camps?
Black
WHAT colour badge was assigned to ‘habitual criminals’ in concentration camps?
Green
WHY were the Nazis against homosexuality?
It was at odds with Nazi views of masculinity, and male homosexuals were seen as failing in ‘reproductive duties’
HOW did the Nazis treat homosexuals?
- From 1933, there was a purge of homosexual organisations, clubs and literature
- From 1934, the Gestapo began to compile lists of gay people
- Many were arrested and sent to concentration camps after released from prison
- In the concentration camps, they were treated particularly harshly by guards and many were subjected to ‘voluntary castration’ to ‘cure’ them.
HOW MANY men were arrested for homosexuality, and how many were convicted?
A total of around 100,000 were arrested, and 50,000 convicted
WHAT percentage of homosexuals died in the camps?
An estimated 60%
WHAT colour badge was assigned to homosexuals in concentration camps?
Pink
HOW did the Nazis initially combat less populous religious sects?
Most were banned in 1933, with the bans only lifting when the sects could demonstrate their willingness to cooperate with the regime
WHY were the Jehova’s Witnesses a threat to Nazism?
- They were the only religious sect to show uncompromising hostility to the Nazi state
- Refused to take a loyalty oath to Hitler, give the Hitler salute, take part in Nazi parades and refused conscription.
- Even in concentration camps, they disobeyed orders.
HOW MANY Jehovah’s Witnesses had been imprisoned by 1945?
Around 10,000 (there was a total of 30,000 in Germany)
HOW successful was Nazi policy against less populous religious sects?
- Overall, it was quite effective as most groups were either banned, or Nazified.
- Some groups were devoted Nazis (e.g. the Seventh-Day Adventists)
- However, the Nazis continually failed to break the resistance of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some even converted to their beliefs in the concentration camps
WHAT small religious sect was devoted to Nazism?
The Seventh-Day Adventists
WHAT colour badge was assigned to ‘Bible Students’ in concentration camps?
Purple
WHAT was the Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny?
The Sterlisation Law: introduced compulsory sterilisation for certain categories of ‘inferiors’, with later amendments permitting the sterilisaton of children over 10 years old
WHEN was the Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny passed?
1933
WHAT was the name of the sterilisation law and WHEN was it passed?
The Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny (1933)
HOW MANY people were sterilised during the Third Reich?
400,000 in total
WHEN was euthanasia legalised for mentally and physically disabled people under the Nazis?
1939
HOW MANY babies were euthanised by the Nazis due to disabilities?
At least 5,000
HOW MANY mentally ill patients were gassed from 1939-1941?
72,000
WHAT is the euthanasia programme also known as?
The Aktion T4 programme
WHY did the Aktion T4 programme temporarily stop?
After almost 2 years of secrecy, it was exposed in 1940. The papacy made an official complaint against it in December 1940, and Archbishop Galen of Munster preached against it in August 1941. After the public outcry, the programme was eventually halted in 1941.
WHEN was the Aktion T4 programme halted?
August 1941
WHAT is the significance of the Aktion T4 programme being temporarily halted?
It was the only time that such a radical Nazi scheme was ended due to public outcry. The involvement of the Catholic Church shows its power. The lack of resistance from the Catholic Church against the persecution of Jewish people has been a widely discussed topic.
