How was Germany governed by Hitler Flashcards
What sort of Germany did Hitler want to create? and who supported and opposed it
A strong Germany
Strong Government –
no opposition
Every aspect of life controlled
Destroy Treaty of Versailles
Re-build the army
Prepare to invade Eastern Europe
Remove “burdens on society”
-Supported by…
Elderly – reminds them of old Germany
Army – creates strong military
Middle class – creates stable Germany
-Opposed by
The Young – dislike having lives
controlled
Political opponents and Communists
A Racial Germany
Eugenics programmes to
selectively breed Germans
Create a pure “Aryan” race –
blonde hair, blue eyes, strong
Remove “undesirable” races
from Germany
Remove Jews from Germany,
then Europe
-Supported by….
Very Young – taught in schools
Some “Aryan” looking people
Army – creates strong future soldiers
-Opposed by…..
Teenagers – have friends that are now
“undesirables”
Families – many have Jewish relatives
Volksgemeinschaft
(Peoples Community)
- Volksgemeinschaft was the
Nazi idea that every part of
German life should have
something to do with the
Nazi party. - No German should have
more than a few moments
per day when they aren’t
under Nazi influence. - Clubs, societies, leisure
activities and groups were
taken over by the Nazi’s
-Supported by:
The party – increases control
Families – they were given more money
under Volksgemeinschaft policies
-Opposed by….
The church – church activities taken over by
Nazis
Working class – many traditional societies
and clubs were taken over
How did the Nazi’s control the German People?
Through fear and propaganda
How did the Nazi use fear?
-The SS
*Originally Hitler’s personal bodyguard
*Later became enforcers of Hitler’s racial policies
*“Deaths head” SS men organised the holocaust
of Jews and the Concentration camps
*Waffen SS men were elite soldiers in WWII. Their
job was to follow the army and deal with
prisoners and “undesirables”
Effective because SS are Ayran and looked up to by Germans
-The Gestapo
*Nazi Secret Police force
*Agents wore no particular uniform - they were
designed to blend in
*They used informers and spies throughout
Germany
*They had the power to bug telephones, open
letters and put people in prison without trial.
Effective because
They dealt with
everyday
Germans
Concentration
Camps
*Created straight after Hitler got into power to
contain political prisoners and opponents
*Camps in Germany were basically for slave
labour.
*Rumours of shootings, beatings and deaths
reached most Germans.
*You had a sentence, but many inmates were
never seen again
Informers and
the courts
*Informers were used by the Gestapo to spy on
ordinary people and “inform” on anyone who
opposed Hitler.
*Children in the Hitler Youth were encouraged to
be informers.
*Courts were designed for televised “show trials”.
*Accused was always found guilty and allowed no
defence – was meant to be an example to others
Effective
because You never knew who
was an informer
How did the Nazis use propaganda to indoctrinate the German people?
Dr Josef Goebbels was instrumental to Nazi propaganda.
-As Reich Propaganda Minister, he controlled the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda. This was split into 12 departments; Legislation, Budget and Personnel, Propaganda coordination, Broadcasting, German Press, Film, Theatre, Foreign Press, Literature, Fine arts, Music and Folk culture. Due to its massive importance, there are Reich Propaganda offices in all regions.
TYPES OF PROPAGANDA PRESS
The Nazis controlled journalists, editors and publishers through compulsory membership. The Reich Press Chamber included the Reich Association of the German Press which kept a register of acceptable editors and journalists. In Oct 1933, a law made editors responsible for infringements of government directives, and the content of newspapers had to be pro-Nazi, otherwise, publication would be suspended. It became treason to spread false news and rumour (or anything against the Nazi State). Over time, the Nazi ownership of the media grew from 3% in 1933 to 69% in 1939 and to 82% in 1944.
Radio
Goebbels described the Radio as the ‘spiritual weapon of the totalitarian state’. In 1933, 50 broadcasts were transmitted, and in 1935 the estimated audience for Hitler’s key speeches reached 56 million (out of a population of just under 70 million). In 1934, the Nazis established a unified radio system and purged it of anti-Nazi elements. In 1935, there were 7 million radio sets in Germany and by 1943 this had increased to 16 million due to government subsidies and investment. Thus by 1939, 70% of households owned a radio. There were also communal loudspeakers in order to reach those who could not afford radios.
Film
From 1933 to 1942, the Nazi government increased its share in the major film companies and nationalised all of them. The Reich Film Chamber regulated the content of both German made and imported films, with many foreign films being banned. Films were classified under categories such as ‘politically and artistically valuable’, ‘culturally valuable’, a ‘film of the nation’ and ‘valuable for youth’. Over one thousand feature films were produced by Nazi producers. One of the most famous producers was Leni Riefenstahl who was commissioned to make detailed recordings of rallies and festivals. Their most famous films were Triumph of the Will, released in 1935 about the 1934 Nuremberg Rally and Olympia, released in 1938 about the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Some films glorified the struggle for power and three anti-semitic films were released in 1940 to stress the ‘Jewish problem’. The infamous film, The Eternal Jew, showed Jews as a parasitic race within the nation.
Over 1000 films were made
by Nazis.
Rallies
With the aid of disciplined mass movements often held at night, stirring music, striking flags and symbols, they created a powerful feeling of belonging, encouraging more supporters. The rallies were followed by Hitler’s charismatic speeches, often with a particular subject and purpose, as with the programmatic title which was given to the annual Nuremberg Rallies.
Festivals & Modifications to the Calendar
The Nazis also modified the calendar to create a cult of personality around Hitler and the Nazis. Key dates of the Nazi Party were celebrated, such as on 30 Jan ‘Day of the Seizing of Power’, 24 Feb Anniversary of the Founding of the Party, 20 Apr Hitler’s birthday, May (2nd Sunday) Mother’s Day, etc. On these days rallies were held in cities, while streets were draped with swastika flags. Those who failed to celebrate the festivals were reported to the Gestapo.
Sport
The mass sporting displays used as propaganda presented a strong and healthy nation. The 1936 Olympic Games also showed the strength of Germany as they won the most medals, and used the event to show off their military strength.
Autobahns
The fast-paced construction of autobahns showed the industrial might of the German nation. In 1942, 3870km had been completed. Photographers, the news, and even painters conveyed the message of a revived German nation working together for the common goal, symbolising the political strength, willpower and achievement of Hitler’s Germany.
Art
All working artists had to become members of the Reich Culture Chamber. A series of well-attended national and local exhibitions were held, with titles including ‘Autobahns of Adolf Hitler through the Eyes of Art’, ‘The Glory of Labour’, ‘German Father: German Land’, ‘Blood and Soil’ and ‘Race and Nation’. A series of massive sculptural muscle men paraded on or in front of Nazi buildings, reflecting the biologically pure and vigorous Aryan race.
Architecture
Hitler also drew up plans for a magnificent restructured centre of Berlin, aiming at creating a new world capital, Germania, in order to present a strong nation. Hitler’s plans aimed at displaying the architectural and industrial might of Germany, whilst also embracing traditional German heritage through architecture and creating a sense of community (Volksgemeinschaft).
Literature
In May 1933, the Nazi Party organised a cleanse of literature, called the Burning of Books ceremony, in which 20,000 books that were not approved by the Nazis were burnt.
Music
Music was controlled by the Riech Chamber of Music. Stirring music and tales of German heroes were used to create a sense of patriotism, and were especially played in marches and rallies.
Posters
Posters were a massive element of Nazi propaganda. They were widely used to promote Nazism and Hitler’s policy aims, namely antisemitism, anti-communism, domestic policies and Hitler’s strong leaders
How effective was propaganda?
- Helps to “brainwash”
people, especially young. - Gives people
entertainment while
spreading the message. - Gives people incentives
to follow the Nazis. - Turns people against Nazi
enemies. - Increases loyalty and
obedience
Which minority groups were prosecuted by the Nazi
-Jews
-Gypsies
-Disabled
-Drugs addicts and criminals
-Work shy
Why were jews prosecuted and what were the policies and outcomes
This is because Hitler believed that the jews must be removed from
good jobs to give Germans a chance and that their wealth should also go to
proper Germans
AIM:
to maintain the purity of the Aryan race.
to remove what the Nazis saw as the unfair economic power and social influence of the Jews.
POLICY:
(April 1933) Law for the restoration of the professional and civil service– removed Jews from positions within the government and public service jobs, such as teaching. There were other jobs, such as lawyering, which were banned for Jews.
Stripped Jews of their property, citizenship, wealth, and businesses and encouraged boycotts of Jewish businesses.
(September 1935) Nuremberg Laws– banned Jews and Germans from marrying and having sex, further deprived Jews of German citizenship and introduced the use of medical examination to identify those who were non-Aryan.
(9–10 November 1938) Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, resulted in the deaths and injuries of many Jews, while the businesses and property of Jews were destroyed, along with synagogues.
Initially, the Nazi government forced the emigration of Jews from Germany, but later on, they began to establish Jewish ghettos in Eastern Germany, and later began the mass killings as seen in the Holocaust.
OUTCOME:
In the end, 282,000 Jews emigrated or seeked refuge, whilst 700,000 Jews were killed from the start of WW2 till the end of the 1941. In total, following the end of the Second World War, it was found that 6 million Jews had been systematically murdered by the Nazis.
-additionally, By 1941, Hitler launched the Final Solution — the planned extermination of all Jews in Europe.
Jews were:
-Rounded up in ghettos
-Deported to concentration and extermination camps like Auschwitz
-Murdered in gas chambers, mass shootings, starvation, and forced labor
-Around 6 million Jews were killed.
✅ No other group was targeted for total extermination on such a massive scale.
*Jews suffered the most under Hitler because they were the main target of Nazi ideology, propaganda, and state policies. While many groups were persecuted, only the Jews faced a plan of complete destruction — the Holocaust — making their suffering the most severe in both scale and intensity.
How were gypsies prosecuted
AIM:
To rid Germany of what they called ‘the Gypsy plague.’ They believed that the Gypsies had to be removed as they were a threat to German society, causing a violent commotion on the streets.
POLICY:
The Nazis took steps to avoid the mixing of Gypsie blood with German blood pool and to facilitate Radicalisation.
In 1938, Himmler issued a “Decree for the struggle against the gypsy plague”.
In May 1940, the SS and police forces began to deport Roma and Sinti to German-occupied Poland. In 1941, German Police deported over 5,000 Sinti and Gypsies from Austria to a Jewish ghetto in Lodz, where poor hygiene conditions sparked a typhus epidemic. This was a common characteristic of the Nazi-German Ghettos.
Those who survived were deported to the death camp at Chelmno in early 1942 when Himmler ordered all Gypsies to be transferred to Auschwitz, and other death camps, where they were gassed.
OUTCOME:
By the end of the Second World War, 11,000 out of 20,000 gypsies at Auschwitz were gassed, although it is estimated that at least 130,500, or even up to 1.5 million European Romani were killed by the Nazis throughout the Holocaust period.
How were homosexuals prosecuted
AIM:
to remove homosexuals from Nazi Germany communities in order to promote heterosexual relations for reproduction and prevent the so-called spread of homosexual influence on German Society.
POLICY:
The Gestapo (the secret police) and Kripo (the criminal police department for the entire Reich) interrogated suspected homosexuals. They carried out a large number of arrests of gay men under paragraph 175 of the German Law which banned sexual relations between men.
The Nazis banned all homosexual and lesbian organisations, bars, meeting places, associations and removed gay media.
Homosexuals suffered an extreme degree of cruelty by their captors in concentration camps as they were forced into harsh, manual labour at concentration camps because it was believed to turn them straight.
OUTCOME:
Overall, between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals. Most of these men served time in regular prisons, but around 6,000 to 7,000 were sent to concentration camps in and forced to wear a pink triangle on their camp uniforms in order to classify them as homosexual offenders.
In the end, 60% of gay men imprisoned in concentration camps died.
How were the disabled prosecuted
AIM:
to prevent their unhealthy genes from weakening the Aryan race.
to rid them from society as they cost too much to be taken care of, and were perceived as socially useless by the Nazis.
POLICY:
In July 1933, the new Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring meant that anyone who suffered from chronic alcoholism, congenital feeble-mindedness, schizophrenia, manic depression, hereditary epilepsy, et cetera, could be sterilised according to the Hereditary Health Court.
A special unit of Nazi Doctors was established under Action T4 to kill disabled children. Government registered disabled children and their records were examined by 3 doctors who marked the files ‘+’ to die, ‘-’ to survive. Children were killed by starvation, lethal injection or by gas in mobile vans (known as ‘killer boxes’) or ‘gas chambers. This policy of Euthanasia was gradually extended to adults.
OUTCOME:
Over the next twelve or so years, approximately 350,000 people were sterilised and 100 died from what was called ‘Hitler’s cut’ and by 1944, 200,000 people — deemed mentally or physically disabled — had been murdered.
The Euthanasia Programme itself, which was used on disabled people, later contributed to the Holocaust as the T4 staff learnt techniques of execution which were later used in the Holocaust.
How were the work shy prosecuted
AIM:
to remove those who were seen as lazy and asocial from the Volksgemeinschaft.
to remove or force them to work as he wanted to increase the working population.
POLICY:
Hitler believed that asocial behaviour was purely biological.
Asocials were handled by the police rather than welfare agencies.
In the end, the Nazis began to murder all asocials in order to preserve the health of the ‘Elite’ Aryan race.
In 1933, half a million vagrants (meaning a person without a settled home or workplace, or possibly termed homeless) were round up and divided into 2 groups; “the orderly” and “the disorderly”. The orderly were given work, whilst those deemed disorderly were imprisoned in camps and forced to wear black triangles.
OUTCOME:
Over the rule of the Nazis, thousands of the ‘work-shy’ were sent to concentration camps.
In June 1938, the ‘National Campaign against the Workshy’ resulted in the imprisonment of around 11,000 ‘asocials’ in concentration camps where they were forced to work.
By the end of the Holocaust period, many ‘work-shy’ had been killed or died in concentration camps.
how was the prosecution of childless citizens
AIM:
to demoralise the state of being celibate, and instead incentivise giving birth, all the while ensuring racial purity.
to increase the Aryan birth rate and population.
POLICY:
-In June 1933, the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage was introduced, giving newlyweds a loan of 1,000 marks and allowing them to keep 250 marks for each child they had, on condition that the wife was unemployed.
-Ehestandshilfe (meaning “marriage assistance”) was a tax levied on unmarried people in Nazi Germany as part of the Nazi state’s policy of natalism. The taxes were used to contribute to the costs of the marriage loan system.
-The 2nd Nuremberg Law of 1935, Blutschutzgesetz (the “Blood Protection Law”), meant that marriage or sexual relations between Jews and “citizens of German or kindred blood” was forbidden.
-(December 1935) Lebensborn Programme– provided Aryan women with Aryan men to have sex with to increase the birth rate of racially pure children. Mothers who participated in the programme were provided with excellent maternity care. It also legalised and encouraged abortion for all ‘defective’ and non-Aryan children.
- The Marriage Law of 1938 meant that if a man already had 4 children with a woman, he had the right to divorce her so he could remarry and have more children. Also, couples could divorce if they were childless or had been separated for three years.
The Nazi’s started to persecute minorities from the moment Hitler got into power in the 1933. This happened in four
main stages.
What were they?
-1933 Propaganda –
Posters and films
designed to turn the
public against these
minority groups .
1933 – Sterilisation Law – People with certain
hereditary illnesses, e.g mental disability that can
be passed to children were sterilized (cant have
children). 350,000 men were forced to be
sterilized by 1945
-1934 – Concentration Camps – These were used at first to house
political opponents. Hitler then used them to house criminals and drug
addicts who kept reoffending. Anti-social families were also sent to the
camps to get them away from society, as were homosexuals.
-1939 – Euthanasia –
The Nazi’s started to secretly exterminate the mentally
handicapped in Euthanasia centres using either a lethal injection or gas vans.
72,000 were murdered this way, including 6000 babies and young children.
The Nazi’s justified this by pointing to how much money the country saved.
What were the aims of Hitler (and the Nazi’s) foreign policy
-To abolish the diktat and pursue self-determination
-To unite all German-speaking people
-To check the spread of communism
-To expand to the east for Lebensraum
-To revive the military and national pride
-To strengthen existing alliances for expansion
Why did Hitler want to abolish the diktat and pursue self-determination and how was it done
-Hitler’s justified his aggressive foreign policy with the unfair treatment Germany had received in the Paris Peace Conference. He argued that a ‘diktat’ (meaning dictated peace) had been imposed on their already weakened nation. Germany was stripped of land, splitting up the German-speaking people, given reparations that they were in no position to pay, and forced to sign the War Guilt Clause, even though they argued that all countries involved had a role in causing the War.
-Hitler was angered by the fact that the other defeated nations were given comparatively small sums of reparations to pay, whilst Germany had to pay hefty reparations of £6.6 billion.
-After coming to power, Hitler campaigned for one of Wilson’s 14 Points,which promised self-determination for all nations, even the defeated nations of the First World War, like Germany. As a result, in the coming years, he took back land that Germany had been forced to concede.
-Some key events include the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland, the Anschluss with Austria, the annexation of the Sudetenland (and also the whole of Czechoslovakia). This is because Hitler believed the treaty of Versailles was unjust, by the fact that ethnic German speakers that lived in the Sudetenland and in the Polish corridor and other regions were not allowed to be united with the German motherland.
What did Hitler do To unite all German-speaking people
-To achieve this, Hitler forced the Anschluss with Austria, annexed Czechoslovakia and remilitarised the Rhineland, taking control of territories with German speaking populations.
-For example, in September 1938, Hitler was demanding that the Sudetenland, who of the population, 50% (around 3 million) were Germans who claimed they were being oppressed and mistreated by the Czechs, was handed over to Germany. In the end, Hitler negotiated to receive the whole Sudetenland, following brief conflict, but a few months later, he occupied the whole of Czechoslovakia.
-Regarding the Anschluss with Austria, Hitler, who was Austrian, said as a personal note: “I, myself, as Führer and Chancellor, will be happy to walk on the soil of the country that is my home as a free German citizen.”
-Hitler was successful in achieving his aim of uniting all German speaking people. Regions with high German populations were incorporated into Germany, whilst German-speaking Austria was also incorporated through the Anschluss.
how did hitler check the spread of communism
-Hitler aimed to check the spread of communism, as he was anti-communist. This was indicated in Mein Kampf and Hitler actually believed that the Jews were responsible for communism.
-He wanted to expand into the USSR and defeat communism once and for all, however, he did not initially believe that the German Army was powerful enough to face the Red Army so he signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to gain time and continue developing the German Military before attacking the Soviet Union.
-However, once he did engage in conflict with the Soviets, it was clear that the USSR had also been taking time to develop themselves, and that Hitler had seriously underestimated the might of the communists. This was one of the significant factors which led to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.
explain the policy To expand to the east for Lebensraum
Hitler and the Nazis wanted to expand to the east for lebensraum as the population density of Germany had increased to more than double that of France and Britain. They believed that for a better quality of life (which he believed Germans had the right to, especially as the elite race) they needed to expand the German Reich.
Due to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had been looked down upon as a weak country, especially after their military was reduced to 100,000. Hitler believed that if Germany was to prosper again — with a stronger military and becoming self- sufficient of food and supplies — it would need to recover the land lost through a strong and effective military which would improve Germany’s national pride.
The Nazis also believed that in addition to expanding the German motherland to the east for Lebensraum, they had the right to have overseas colonies and rule over who they saw as subhumans in Africa.
Explain the policy to revive the military and national pride
Hitler aimed to gain colonies and land as for lebensraum and resources needed to make it stronger and allow it to achieve autarky by making plans to invade and seize Soviet land, and to gain African colonies. In order to be able to work towards this, Germany would need a large, strong and powerful military.
Hitler aimed to revive the German army and airforce to the level prior to the Treaty of Versailles. Restoring the military would not only increase their power, but also international prestige as the German army was a source of National Pride prior to the reductions of the Treaty of Versailles.
On March 16, 1935, Hitler announced that he would rearm Germany, in open violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Rearmament under the Nazis was extremely evident. In 1932, Germany had 30 Warships, 36 Aircraft and 100,000 Soldiers, with just 1% of Government Spending on Armaments. By 1939, Germany had 95 Warships, 8,250 Aircraft and 950,000 soldiers, and they were spending 23% of Government Spending on Armaments.
Explain the policy To strengthen existing alliances for expansion
-Hitler and the Nazis also aimed to create strong alliances for German expansion.
-The world was shocked when Hitler and Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact. They hated each other! Stalin hated Nazism and Hitler hated Communism. In the end, the countries turned on each other, so why did they Hitler sign the pact in the first place? Hitler signed the pact because he knew that the German military was not yet strong enough to face the USSR, so he wished to gain some time to continue building up their military. Hitler wished to use the assistance from military capabilities of the USSR to further expand the German Empire to achieve his goal of Lebensraum quickly and gain more supplies/resources/ar m to face the allies of Britain & France. Hitler knew that only Russia could keep Britain’s promise of protecting Poland, so he stopped an alliance between them by forming one with Russia himself, and in the end, Germany and Russia jointly invaded Poland on the 1st September 1939.
-Hitler also signed the Rome-Berlin Axis with Mussolini. In 1934, Mussolini had stopped Nazi Germany from expanding to Austria. Hitler claimed that he was trying to ‘put down the rebellion’ in Austria which was calling for German–Austrian unification, but in reality, he wanted to invade. To protect South Tyrol, which was under Italian control, Mussolini stationed soldiers at the Brenner pass, forcing Hitler to back down. This action earned him a lot of international prestige, but created tension with Hitler’s Germany.
-From July 1936 to April 1939, Mussolini and Hitler both supported and fought on the side of Franco, a fellow Fascist, in the Spanish Civil War. As a result, the two dictators, Hitler and Mussolini, were brought closer together. On the 22nd May 1939, Germany and Italy signed the ‘Pact of Steel’— a military alliance.
