Hitler and Nazi Germany Flashcards
What is meant by the phrase ‘carrot and stick’ when studying Hitler’s Germany?
It is the phrase historians use to describe how the Nazis controlled the German people through a combination of rewards and incentives (carrot) and terror (the stick). For example, a secure job in an armaments factory, with the prospect of possibly winning a trip on the Nazi cruise liner would be classed as ‘carrots’, whereas the fear of being arrested by the Gestapo and transported to a concentration camp, for criticising Hitler, would be an example of ‘the stick’.
What name did the Nazis give to their German ‘master race’, which they believed was superior to all others.
The Aryan race.
Who was Hitler’s propaganda chief?
Josef Goebbels
Who were the SS?
Hitler’s black-shirted bodyguards who were seen as the elite within the Nazi forces. Only Nazis with ‘pure’ Aryan backgrounds and features could become part of the SS. They were led by Heinrich Himmler. They ran the concentration and death camps, and were an essential part of the ‘Final Solution’.
What did Hitler and the Nazis believe about the Jews?
They believed the Jews were racially inferior and had no place in Hitler’s Germany (Third Reich). Hitler made it clear in Mein Kampf (the autobiography which he wrote in prison after his failed attempt to seize power in Munich in 1923) that he hated the Jews and wanted them removed from Germany. However, the plans to exterminate the Jewish race were not laid down until 1941.
What were Hitler’s views on the role of women in Nazi Germany?
Hitler believed that a woman’s role was to be healthy, domestic and fertile, do that she could produce and raise Nazi children to ensure the future of the ‘master race’. He did not believe that girls should receive the same education as boys, as they were destined to be focused on he home, rather than the workplace. ‘Medals of Motherhood’ and financial rewards were offered to German women who produced more than 4 children. Women who failed to produce offspring were encouraged to allow their husbands to divorce them, so that the husband could be free to marry again - it was assumed that infertility would be the fault of the woman.
What was the name of the Nazi organisations for young people, who would continue to train and drill children in Nazi beliefs and activities out of school hours?
Hitler Youth. There were different sections of the Hitler Youth organisation for boys and girls, and for different ages.
Why did many Germans vote for Hitler and the Nazis in 1932?
Because Germany was in the depths of the Great Depression, and many Germans were unemployed. They had lost faith in the mainstream political parties, because they seemed unable to end the Depression and make Germany strong again. Hitler offered simple solutions to these problems focused on rearming and expanding Germany, and in the process, creating jobs. Many Germans began to believe the election propaganda which suggested that Hitler was the only hope for Germany. This said, it is still not the case that majority of Germans voted for Hitler.
How did Hitler and the Nazis create jobs in Nazi Germany?
By rearming Germany and reintroducing conscription into the German army. The Nazis also introduced huge public works programmes like building the autobahn (the world’s first motorways). These schemes helped create millions of jobs.
What was the Holocaust?
Genocide. The Nazis policy and attempt to exterminate the Jewish race from Germany and all the territories occupied by the Germans. In carrying out the Holocaust and establishing death camps, like Auschwitz, the Nazis killed at least 6 million Jews, as well as gypsies, homosexuals, political prisoners and people with physical or mental disabilities. The Nazis regarded all of these groups as ‘undesirables’.
What were the Nuremberg Laws of 1935?
These were Anti-Semitic laws which banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Aryans.
What and when was Kristallnacht?
The Night of Broken Glass on 9th November, 1938. It was a widespread and violent attack on Jews by SS, and was started when Goebbels announced that there should be ‘demonstrations’ against Jews following the shooting of a German official in Paris, by a young Jewish man. It was a turning point and marked a huge increase in violence against the Jews. On Kristallnacht 8000 Jewish shops and homes were attacked, synagogues were desecrated, about 100 Jews were killed and somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 were sent to concentration camps.
What were ghettoes?
Fenced off and SS patrolled areas of towns where Jews were forced to live, in cramped and appalling conditions, on below starvation rations when they were forced out of their homes. Many Jews died from starvation, disease and malnutrition in the ghettoes and many others died from exhaustion relating to enforced slave labour for the Nazis. Millions of Jews passed though the ghettoes on their way to concentration or extermination camps like Auschwitz and Dachau.
What was censored in Hitler’s Germany?
All aspects of the media were censored and controlled by Goebbel’s propaganda ministry, this included newspapers, magazines, leaflets and posters, film, art, theatre and radio. It was illegal to publish anything which had not been vetted by the Nazi government. Many writers and artists fled Germany as a result of these policies. Education was also closely controlled and censored. Only Nazi approved teachers could teach and all school-books were censored and produced by the Nazis, consequently they were filled with propaganda which reinforced Nazi beliefs on issues such as race.
