Life in Germany 1933 - 1945: Absolute Control

Question 1

What were the names of the seven steps of becoming the Führer? Be sure to give t hem in the correct order. (4 from 1933, 3 from 1934)

Answer 1

1933:

1. The Reichstag Fire
2. March elections
3. The Enabling Act
4. Political parties and trade unions were banned

1934:

5. The Night of the Long Knives
6. Death of Hindenburg
7. Army oath

Question 2

How did Hitler take advantage of the Reichstag Fire of 1933?

Answer 2

1. The Reichstag fire was purpotrated by a lone communist, Van Der Lubbe.
2. Hitler used this to convince Hindenburg to grant him emergency powers through article 48 of the Weimar constitution.
3. This let Hitler arrest communists and other political opponents.

Question 3

Why were the election in 1933 good for Hitler? What month?

Answer 3

1. The March elections of 1933 gave Hitler the opportunity to bully opponents with the SA and use radio propaganda techniques to gain an advantage.
2. These elections also allowed Hitler to take advantage of the repression of communists that he arrested through Article 48.
3. This perpetuated the political instability as this was the third election in 9 months, further degrading the volk’s faith in democracy.

Question 4

What was the Enabling act and how was it introduced?

Answer 4

In a bid to dramatically increase his own power, Hitler tried to pass the Enabling Act which would allow him to pass laws without the consent of the Reichstag.

To get the act passed, a few things had to be done.

1. Hitler banned communists from voting.
2. The Reichspräsident Göring (a member of the Nazi party) changed the rules of the Reichstag so that communists didn’t count as members.

Question 5

How did the banning of political parties and trade unions lead to Hitler having more power?

Answer 5

This marked the end of any external opposition to the Nazis as democratic methods of removing the Nazis were gone.

Question 6

What was the Night of the Long Knives? Why was it done?

Answer 6

It was the killing of Ernst Röhm and 400 other SA leaders.

It was done because the power of the SA was beginning to rival Hitler’s and Röhm was demanding a merger of the SA and army. Also, army leaders didn’t like Röhm and demanded they be controlled because the army felt threatened.

After this there was almost no opposition to Hitler.

Question 7

How did Hitler exploit the death of Hindenburg to become president?

Answer 7

After the death of Hindenburg Hitler merged the position of Chancellor and President to become Führer.

Question 8

What were the two main Nazi methods of control and who was in charge of each?

Answer 8

• Terror led by Himmler

- Propaganda led by Goebbels

Question 9

What were the six methods of using terror to control the population?

Answer 9

• The SS
• The police
• Local wardens
• The Gestapo
• Concentration camps
• The courts

Question 10

Who were the SS?

Answer 10

Fanatical Nazis who were Hitler’s personal bodyguard. They could arrest people without trial and search houses whilst destroying any Nazi opposition they could find.

There were two subdivisions:

• Waffen SS were elite soldiers who joined the army
• The Death’s Head Unit ran the concentration camps

Question 11

Why were the police useful for controlling the population?

Answer 11

Since Nazis had complete control over them the police spent a lot of time helping informants and ignoring Nazi crimes as well as their usual duties.

Question 12

What were the local wardens?

Answer 12

They were appointed informants who were allocated to ‘blocks’ of which each town had many. They would find who didn’t participate in pro-Nazi celebrations and write reports on them to send to the Gestapo.

Question 13

Who were the Gestapo?

Answer 13

In a nutshell they were the Nazi secret police who spied on Germans.

They used:

• Phonetapping
• Informants

When the Gestapo found anti-Nazis they would:

• Imprison them
• Torture them
• Send them to concentration camps without trial

Question 14

What are concentration camps and how did their role evolve between the beginning and end of the Third Reich?

Answer 14

Concentration camps were places that enemies of the Nazis would be sent and be forced to work.

In the beginning they held only political opponents for short amounts of time. Prisoners would be tortured, forced to work and be asked questions.

By the late 1930s there were lots more types of prisoners (especially Jews and communists) and they would be forced to work for Nazi businesses and there were much more killings.

Question 15

How did the courts enforce terror on the German people? (2 reasons)

Answer 15

• All courts were forced to swear allegiance to Hitler and join the Nazi party so fair trials were impossible.
• New Nazi laws got many more people in prison/killed.

Question 16

What were the 6 ways propaganda was used to control the population after the Nazis got into power?

Answer 16

• Radio
• Films
• Books
• Rallies
• Posters
• Newspapers

Question 17

Why was the radio such an effective method of propaganda?

Answer 17

• The Nazis had mass produced cheap radios until 70% of Germans owned one in 1939.
• Nazis had complete control over broadcasting and broadcast speeches of Hitler whilst blocking programmes they didn’t like.

Question 18

How were films used as a propaganda technique?

Answer 18

• Feature films were strictly controlled as to what could be released.
• Nazi made films promoted their views e.g ‘The Eternal Jew’.

Question 19

What did Nazis do to books?

Answer 19

• Books that were deemed ‘anti-Nazi’ were destroyed e.g books written by Jews/communists.
• Any new book had to be censored by Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda.

Question 20

What were rallies like and what was the most important one?

Answer 20

• They were in huge stadiums with around 100,000 people.
• The Nuremberg rallies were an annual rally that had hundreds of thousands of party members and spectators. They included important Hitler speeches that announced new Nazi direction and human swastikas.

Question 21

What did propaganda posters contain and why were they used?

Answer 21

• They often contained anti-semitic images and images of Hitler/Aryan families.
• Their purpose was to spread Nazi doctrine to as many people as possible.

Question 22

What was the Nazi approach to newspapers?

Answer 22

• All newspapers that weren’t supportive of Nazis were shut down by Goebbels.
• Goebbels gave daily instructions to newspapers on what stories to write and what angle to take.
• Jews were banned from working on the newspapers.

Question 23

What deal did the Catholic Church and Hitler sign?

Answer 23

The Concordat. It guaranteed Nazis leaving the Catholic Church alone if the Catholic Church did not interfere with politics.

Question 24

When was the Berlin olympics and why was it useful?

Answer 24

-The Berlin Olympics of 1936 was a great propaganda exercise as Germany won most of the medals.

Question 25

What happened to the Protestant Church under the Nazis? What did the protestant church do to retaliate?

Answer 25

The Nazis merged the 28 Protestant Church groups and formed the Reich Church. A nazi was elected bishop and pastors had to swear allegiance to Hitler.

In response Martin Niemöller set up the Confessional Church in 1932 which opposed the Nazis. He was eventually sent to Dachau in 1938.

Question 26

Who were the five main groups who opposed the Nazis? What time period were they active?

Answer 26

• Former political prisoners 1933 - 1935
• Edelweiss Pirates 1938 - 1944
• The White Rose Group 1942 - 1943
• The Confessional Church 1933 - 1945
• Army officers (Operation Valkyrie) 1944

Question 27

What did the former political prisoners do and how did the Nazis respond? When were they active?

Answer 27

They organised secret meetings and strikes. They also handed out leaflets.

In response, Hitler passed the Enabling Act in 1933 and eventually most of them ended up in concentration camps.

They were active 1933 - 1935.

Question 28

Who were the Edelweiss Pirates, how did they tackle the Nazi regime and what was the response? How long were they active for?

Answer 28

The Edelweiss Pirates were mainly working class youths who opposed Nazism and the war.

They tackled the Nazi regime by handing out leaflets and beating up Hitler Youth. They also played music and went on walks.

The Nazis sent many of them to concentration camps and in 1944 hanged 12 of them.

They were active 1939 - 1944.

Question 29

Who were the White Rose Group? What did they do and how did the Nazis retaliate? Which years?

Answer 29

The White Rose Group were a small University group from Munich led by Hans and Sophie Scholl.

They tried to spread awareness of Nazi atrocities against minorities by handing out leaflets and creating graffiti.

After an informant spotted them Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested, tortured and executed. The group then quickly disbanded.

They operated 1942 - 1943

Question 30

What was the Confessional Church? How did they fight Nazism? What did the Nazis do back? What years did the church run for?

Answer 30

They were members of the old Protestant Church who broke off from the Reich Church and were led by Niemöller and Bonhöffer.

Nieömoller spoke out against anti-Semitic laws and other policy. Bonhöffer taught ministers that Nazism was evil and anti-religious.

The Nazis sent Niemöller to Dachau in 1938 where he survived. Bonhöffer was sent to Flossenbürg where he died in 1945.

The church operated between 1933 - 1945.

Question 31

What was Operation Valkyrie and what was the response?

Answer 31

Operation Valkyrie was a plot to kill Hitler with a bomb in 1944 because of cruel tactics used in the Eastern Front by the SS. Von Stauffenburg masterminded the plan, however it failed to kill Hitler.

Hitler killed/arrested 5000 of his known opponents including von Stauffenberg.