KQ4: What Was It Like To Live In Nazi Germany?

Question 0

How was maths taught under the Nazi regime?

Answer 0

Angles were taught with dropping bombs, and money by working out how much would be saved by the state if there were no German invalids.

Question 1

How did the Nazis control schools to ensure that young people would fulfil their ‘proper’ adult roles?

Answer 1

> All politically and racially ‘unreliable’ teachers were sacked to give children the ‘right’ ideas.
All teachers had to swear loyalty to Hitler and join the Nazis’ Teachers’ League.
A new national curriculum was introduced and centrally imposed in government-controlled schools. Bernhard Rust became Minister for Science and Education in 1934.
Amount of time dedicated to PE was tripled for boys and girls.
Great emphasis was placed in history and biology to show the greatness of the Nazis and teach ‘race science’.
Old history textbooks were destroyed and replaced by one official Nazi version, that gave the ‘Nazi’ account of history.

Question 2

Why would Hitler wish to concentrate on young people?

Answer 2

The young people were the future.
To keep the Nazis’ power going, Hitler had to ensure that those Nazis of the future were as dedicated to the cause as possible.

Question 3

Why might young girls have had to memorise the details of the Treaty of Versailles, German customs and stories?

Answer 3

So that these could be passed onto their children, ensuring that Nazis traditions were not forgotten.

Question 4

What was the organisation called that was in charge of channeling natural youthful rebellion?
What was the sister organisation called?

Answer 4

The Hitler Jugend (Youth)

The League of German Maidens

Question 5

Why were boys made to join the Hitler Youth?

Answer 5

To ready them for war.

Question 6

Why were young girls made to join the League of German Maidens?

Answer 6

To prepare them for motherhood and being the best wives possible for their husbands.

Question 7

In what year was it made compulsory for a young German to be in an extra-curricular group?

Answer 7

1936

Question 8

Describe some activities of the Hitler Youth.

Answer 8

Many activities focused on sports so that boys could be built up into strong men and would be able to both fight in wars and pass on their genes. These included wrestling, gymnastic and chariot racing.
They also attended rallies, suited in army-like uniforms to profess their beliefs and symbolise the force they had become. It also gave the boys ideas of discipline and unity.
They often practised carrying dead comrades, as a way of getting used to the idea of death and war.

Question 9

What arguments are there to say that the Nazi Youth Policy was not a complete success?

Answer 9

> By 1940 there were still about 1 million youths who were not in Nazi youth groups.
82% is a high figure for membership of any organisation, but what is to say that these members were enthusiastic, or just joined for a quiet life?
Young people may have purely joined youth groups for the activities, rather than the groups political aspects. Belonging to groups such as the Boy Scouts was already a strong tradition beforehand.
Existence of youth resistance groups such as the Edelweiss Pirates, White Rose and Swing Youth.

Question 10

What evidence is there to suggest that Nazi youth policy was a success?

Answer 10

> Strong anecdotal evidence of young people worshipping Hitler like a pop star.
Gestapo records indicate that some young people were prepared to report their parents for acting against the Nazi Party.
Young people swore an oath when they joined a group to follow Adolf Hitler to the death. This was shown in most peoples willingness to fight in the Second World War.

Question 11

Why did the Nazis encourage families to grow food at home?

Answer 11

They believed families should be self-sufficient, in order to prepare for the war.

Question 12

Why were women so important to the Nazi regime?

Answer 12

Without women, you can have no children. Women were key in indoctrinating their children, although they may not realise it, with Nazi ideology.

Question 13

What did the 3 K’s stand for?

Answer 13

Kinder = Children
Küche = Kitchen
Kirche= Church

Question 14

How did the Nazis persuade women to conform to their ideas and fulfil their roles within the Third Reich?

Answer 14

> Laws forced women out of various state and professional jobs- they could not be doctors or teachers.
The Motherhood Cross System encouraged women to have large families: gold for 8 children, silver for 6 and bronze for 4.
Marriage loans meant that couples could get married, and the more children they had, the less they had to pay back.
Employers were encouraged to give all jobs to men.
At school, girls were given lessons in cooking and childcare.
Propaganda persuaded women to follow their ideals.

Question 15

What negatives and coercive steps did the Nazis take to control women and force them into their roles?

Answer 15

> Equal right and opportunities won by women under the Weimar Republic were removed.
Abortion was made illegal.
Contraceptive advice and family planning clinics were reduced.
‘Unfit’ women were sterilised (included being deaf or colour blind).
No women were allowed to hold important posts within the party.
Block Wardens would report women who were not following Nazi ideas (e.g. High fashion and smoking).

Question 16

Who was intended to be the ‘perfect’ Nazi woman, an inspiration to all mothers?

Answer 16

Gertrude Scholtz-Klink, who had four children and an Aryan background.

Question 17

What is there to say that the policies concerning women were not completely successful?

Answer 17

> Many women didn’t want to give up their jobs. The economy was doing well and the war effort meant that the number of working women rose.
Women were cheaper to employ than men and so employers were keen to retain them.
Many Nazi policies during the war confused women: they were told to work but still have four children if they were married or single.

Question 18

What was Germany like before Hitler came to power?

Answer 18

> Deep in economic depression
7 million were unemployed
Was a democracy but governments were always weak due to too many parties and coalitions.

Question 19

What did Hitler build to link the nation back together and open up a whole new set of jobs?

Answer 19

Autobahns (motorways)

Question 20

What does the ‘Beauty of Labour’ mean?

Answer 20

If you do a job well, it gives you pleasure.

Question 21

What were the popular economic policies that helped the Nazis to maintain control?

Answer 21

> Reducing unemployment
Promoting Self-Sufficiency
Rearmament

Question 22

What did the New Plan involve?

Answer 22

> Limiting imports
Trade agreements with individual countries
Channelling government spending
Reducing unemployment

Question 23

How did the Nazis reduce unemployment?

Answer 23

> Government spending on construction (e.g. Autobahns and public buildings)- 37.1 billion was spent in 1938.
Rearmament created jobs in manufacturing.
The car industry was aided with the introduction of a Volkswagen for every family.
Private firms were subsidised.
The National Labour Service (RAD)was expanded and in 1935 it was made compulsory for men aged 18-25 to serve for six months.
Government figures did not include the ‘invisible unemployed”- Jews, RAD and women.

Question 24

Why was the National Labour Service not all that it seemed?

Answer 24

Low wages, discomfort, boring jobs.

Question 25

What was the German Labour Front (DAF)?

Answer 25

A Nazi trade union for all workers that aimed to promote goodwill between the workers and the government. It was therefore a very important organisation in the Nazi ‘People’s Community’.

As a result of strikes being made illegal, wages remained low and the hours of work rose.

Question 26

Describe the DAF’s Strength Through Joy programme.

Answer 26

This arranged subsidised leisure activities for workers such as film shows, theatre visits and sports events. There was even a ‘Strength Through Joy’ band that toured the country.
However, it was a myth for most. Few German workers actually experienced the subsidised holidays.

Question 27

Why were small farmers disappointed with the Nazis during the 1930s?

Answer 27

nazis wanted to increase agricultural production for a self-sufficient Germany but at the same time keep food prices low.

Question 28

What was the purpose of Goring’s Four Year Plan in 1936?

Answer 28

To get Germany ready for war.

Question 29

Who was Hjalmar Schact?

Answer 29

The president of the Reichbank. He aimed to reduce unemployment and make Germany self-sufficient. This was known as Autarky.

Question 30

Why did Schact resign as Minister of the Economy in 1937?

Answer 30

Hitler refused to slow down the rearmament programme even though Schact argued the economy was not yet ready. He was replaced by Hermann Goring.

Question 31

When did the Second World War begin?

Answer 31

It started on 1st September 1939 with Hitler’s invasion of Poland.

Question 32

Briefly describe how Germany gained more territory from 1939 onwards.

Answer 32

They gained territory by using short, sharp bursts of war (blitzkrieg). The Nazis relied on each conflict being short and on the element of surprise.

Question 33

How did the system of rationing help German people during the war?

Answer 33

Extra rations were given to key workers and expectant mothers. It is estimated that 40% of Germans actually ate better as a result of rationing.

Question 34

What did Germans rely on to stay alive when the rationing system broke down completely towards the end of the war?

Answer 34

The black market

Question 35

What did total war mean for Germans?

Answer 35

> All non-Germans had to work in armament factories.
Age limit for compulsory labour for women was raised to 50.
All places of entertainment part from cinemas were closed (for propaganda).
The Volksturm was formed (the People’s Army). All males aged 16-60 who did not already serve in some kind of military unit had very basic training and were sent to the front line. They wore civilian clothes with black armbands.

Question 36

What does total war mean? When was it proclaimed?

Answer 36

Total war is when the government takes special powers to focus all the country’s effort on the war.
It was proclaimed by Josef Goebbels in February 1943.

Question 37

How did Albert Speer improve the efficiency of the war economy?

Answer 37

He improved the way that information was gathered, and prioritised production of certain key items such as tanks and aeroplanes. He stopped the waste of raw materials that did not directly aid the war effort and closed down some research projects. Factories worked around the clock and as a result, German war production reached it highest output in 1944.

Question 38

What became an increasingly important part of the German war effort?

Answer 38

Slave labour.

Question 39

What evidence is there to suggest that Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust?

Answer 39

> He started the Nazi Party on the basis of antisemitism.
Laws against the Jews originated with Hitler and the Reich Chancellery and even though the detail was left to minor officials, Hitler would’ve checked and approved the final drafts.
Hitler showed his approval of acts like Kristallnacht by doing nothing.
Hitler constantly talked about the Jewish problem.

Question 40

What evidence is there to suggest that Hitler was not responsible for the Holocaust?

Answer 40

Hitler was not present at the Wannsee Conference, a meeting called by the SS in January 1942 to find a solution to the Jewish problem, whilst Himmler, Heydrich and Eichmann were. There the idea of the Final Solution was arrived at (placing all Jews in concentration camps).