Hitler

Question 1

RTP Timeline

Answer 1

1933 - Jan 28 - Von Schicler resigns, recomneds Hitler for PM
Jan 30 - Hindenburg appoints Hitler
Feb 27 - Reichstag Fire
March - Enabling Act
April - Gestapo est
May - Trade Unions banned
June - concordat, Law aginst the formation of new parties
Oct - leaves LoN, rearmament

Question 2

Weimar Republic Political Conditions

Answer 2

• Ebert signs an armistice leading to the ‘stabbed in the back’ myth
• Ge lost 13% of territory and all colonies in ToV
• 6 weak gov’ts b/w 1924-29
• ToV forced 6.6m pounds in reperations, hyperinflation, 75% of iron ore lost due to Fr occupation of the Rhine, industry only 47% of pre-war levels

Question 3

Hitler Ideology and Aims (RTP)

Answer 3

• Superiority of German race, anti-semitism, anti-communist, ‘ational community’
• Aimed to:
  1. Fight communism
  2. Secure a purely Aryan state
  3. Promote national socialism
  4. Lebenstraum

Question 4

Conditions in Ge 1929-33

Answer 4

• Terror implemented by SS and SA, who have legal control
• Pachan, 1st camp, built in March 1933, over 100k prisoners by the end of 33
• Violent March election in which 69 died
• June 1934 - Night of Long Knives, 400 SA killed by SS
• Mostly supported by working, middle class

Question 5

Historiography

Answer 5

Ritter - “(weimar) collapsed in 1933 due to its inability to win the confidence the general public”
Kershaw - “Chance luck and tragic miscalculations were a major factor in bringing Hitler to power”
Anderson - “The gov’t believed they could control Hitler in his new position … Hitler managed to outmaneuver the gov’t and established a single party state.”

Question 6

7 steps of Hitlers Consolidation of Power

Answer 6

1. Single-Party State: Law Against the Formation of New Parties(1933), declares himself Fuher after Hindenburg died in 1934, merges chancellor and president
2. Terror: reporting of ‘Grumblers’ thousands arrested
3. Propaganda: Goebels developed ‘Cult of Hitler’, 1936 olympics seen as a propaganda coup, 14.5k under Goebels
4. Youth: “Your child belongs to us already”, 1935, teachers replaced, new curriculum, boys go to Hitler Youth, girls go to BDM
5. Workers: German Albour front est, “Strength Through Joy” bribed workers
6. Religion: Religious leaders against Hitler sent to camps
7. Racism: 1935- Nuremberg Laws and Racial Purity Laws, 1938 - Kristallnacht, 7500 homes destroyed, 91 Jews killed, 30k arrested

Question 7

How did Hitler create a SIngle-Party State

Answer 7

• Evans “testified to the complete failure of the Nazis, even under a semi-dictatorship to win over the majority of the electorate”
• Feudal States: 1933, dissolved regional parliament, replaced with Nazi governors, 1934 state gov’ts become central
• Political Parties: “destroyed” Communists with Reich fire, all parties dissolved by June 1933, July 1933 Catholic party banned
• Trade Unions: “the once powerful German trade unions movement had disappeared almost w/o a trace” Evans
• Civil Service: Oct 1933, 10k sworn in to “strive as German jurists to follow the course of our Fuhrer to the end of our days”

Question 8

4yr Plan

Answer 8

“Aim of the German Labour Front is to educate all Germans … to support the natural socialist state and indoctrinate them.”
“1. Armed forces must be operational within 4yrs
2. Economy must be fit for war withing 4yrs”

Question 9

Kershaw HSQs

Answer 9

” (church) Willingness to detatch the person of Hitler… from the evils of the system”
“Hitlers huge platform of popularity made his own power position even more unassailable”

Question 10

Economic Policies

Answer 10

Aims: 1. to reduce unemployment 2. economy for Lebenstraum 3. Autarky
- By 1939, 70% of houses had radios, public speakers
- In the 30s 90% adorded Hitler (german stat)
- 1934 New plan of bilateral trade agreements with the Balkans, creates mefo bills
-1936, growing deficit, 4yr plan failure, dependence on foreign supplies for 1/3 of raw material

Question 11

Policies on Women

Answer 11

Aims: 1. increase birth rate 2. Aryan couples 3. fitness and health 4. restricted education 5. restrict employment 6. enthusiasm
- in 1933 over 1/2 of Hitler voters were women
“most suitable place for women is in the family and her most glorious duty is to give children to the … nation”

Question 12

Policies on workers

Answer 12

“Organisations that kept alive the antagonism b/w employers and employees… were replaced by the German Labour Front” - Ley
“All workers will stand side by side with employers … no longer separated into groups” - DAF
- 2 organizations: “Beauty through Labour” - good conditions and “Strength through Joy” bribery

Question 13

Policies on Churches

Answer 13

• Initially guaranteed independence, but in 1933 they interfered and established the Reich Church
• Confessional Church established against Hitler with the support of 7-17k pastors
• Pope attacks Nazis in 37, speaking against euthanasia

Question 14

Foreign Policy

Answer 14

Rearmament: began in Feb 1933, leaves disarmamnet conference and LoN, conscription in 35
Expansion: wins Saar Plebscite in 1935, supports Franco, Invades Czech in Dec 37, Poland Sept 1 39
Diplomacy: Non-aggression Pact with Poland in 35, Anti-COminterm pact in 36