Life In Nazi Germany

Question 1

What was the Gestapo?

Answer 1

This group formed the political police of Germany. They were tasked with investigating, interrogating and torturing those the Nazis didn’t believe fitted until their perfect society e.g. communist opponents and criminals.

Question 2

What is the purpose of propaganda?

Answer 2

This was used by the Nazis to spread their ideas and allows them to control the press and what information Germans had access to.

Question 3

What is the law for the protection of the people and the state?

Answer 3

Passed in 1933 this law allowed the Nazis to imprison communists and other political opponents as well as creating the first concentration camps.

Their newspapers were shut down and supporters were beaten up by the SA.

Question 4

What is the Night of the long knives?

Answer 4

This event took place in June 1934 and led to the Murder of some SA leaders and other Nazi opponents.

Ernst Rohm wanted a second revolution, and to control the army (and combine it with the SA), which would make him the most powerful man in Germany.

The army believed Hitler supported them with the night of the long knives, and they would support him.

Question 5

What is Gleichschaltung?

Answer 5

This means co-ordination and the Nazi takeover of all aspects of German Government and life, e.g trade unions, state governments, education.

Question 6

What is Fuhrer?

Answer 6

The name given to Hitler when president Hindenburg died and he amalgamated the position of chancellor and president.

The army swore a personal oath to him, not Germany.

Question 7

What is the enabling act?

Answer 7

Passed in 1933, this allowed Hitler to rule Germany without consulting the reichstag for 4 years.

Question 8

What is the Reichstag fire?

Answer 8

This fire burned the Reichstag to the ground on 27 January 1933

Blamed on communists (specifically Van Der Lubbe), this event allowed Hitler to get Article 48 powers to pass the law for the protection of the people and state.

Question 9

Who was the minister of popular-enlightenment and propaganda?

Answer 9

Dr Joseph Goebbels.

His role was to promote acceptable Nazi culture and censure and stop harmful ideas.

Question 10

What forms did propaganda take?

Answer 10

Rallies
Annual Nuremberg rallies. Light, sound and costumes were used to create a unique atmosphere.

Media
Most newspapers were bought by Eher Verlag, the Nazi publishers. By 1939 they owned 69% of newspapers. Journalists had to be approved by the Nazis.

The editors law held editors responsible for what they put in their papers.

All radio stations were brought under Nazi control.

People were encouraged to buy cheap radios that could only pick up Nazi broadcasts.

Question 11

What is Censorship.

Answer 11

Removing other sources of information so the people can only listen to Nazi propaganda.

Question 12

What was the German faith movement?

Answer 12

The group sought to move Germany away from Christianity towards a religion based on Germanic paganism and Nazi ideas.

Hitler was seen as a new God.

Yeah most people didn’t take this seriously,

Question 13

What was the confessional church?

Answer 13

Established by Protestant ministers who wanted to keep their church free of Nazi ideas.

Question 14

Who was Robert Lay?

Answer 14

Leader and creator of the German Labour front (DAF) which controlled Workers’ pay and hours of work.

Question 15

Who were the Edelweiss pirates?

Answer 15

An opposition youth group who didn’t support Nazi ideas and used to fight with the Hitler youth.

Question 16

Who were the swing youth?

Answer 16

An opposition youth group that listened to banned music and radio stations whilst holding illegal dances in their houses.

Question 17

Who was Niemollar?

Answer 17

A former U boat captain, this German was placed in a concentration camp for speaking out against the Nazis.

Question 18

Who was Himmler?

Answer 18

This man was the leader of the SS and a very close friend of Hitler.

Question 19

Who was Hindenburg?

Answer 19

This man was the president of Germany until his death in August 1934. He had appointed Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933.

Question 20

Who was the SA?

Answer 20

Also known as the brown shirts this group had become the militant/ violent wing of the Nazi party.

Question 21

Who was the SS?

Answer 21

Hitlers own personal bodyguards made up of pure blood Aryans. After 1934 they took over control of policing in Germany.

Question 22

What was the SdA?

Answer 22

Beauty for Labour

An organisation that was formed to improve the working conditions for German workers in the factories.

Question 23

What was the white rose group?

Answer 23

This was a student organisation that opposed the Nazis during WW2 by circulating anti-Nazi messages and propaganda. The leaders were tortured, put on trail and then had their heads removed.

Question 24

How was rationing during WW2?

Answer 24

This became necessary in Germany during WW2 as supplies for the war effort were considered more important than goods for the average German. This meant that everything that Germany produced was being used to fight the war and rationing became worse.

Question 25

When was the attempt to assassinate Hitler?

Answer 25

July 1944. Operation Valkyrie

Senior German army officials believed that if they killed Hitler they could bring the war to an end.

Question 26

How did the church oppose Hitler?

Answer 26

Individual churches did not oppose Nazi policies, only Nazi interference in their organisations. It was left up to individual Christians to oppose Nazis.

In 1937, an order banning crucifixes from classrooms was withdrawn after public protest, one of the very few cases when a Nazi law had to be changed.

Many priests and pastors spoke out against Nazi policies. Several of these were executed or sent to concentration camps.

Question 27

What was the Concordat?

Answer 27

The Protestant Reich church (set up by Nazis) signed an agreement with the Roman Catholic Church to keep their influence out of Germany. The pope agreed not to interfere with politics in Germany.

Question 28

How did censorship impact German people?

Answer 28

There was strict censorship, with cinema, theatre, music, literature, radio and art being banned if it didn’t conform to Nazi ideas, such as Tarzan, Jazz, and 20,000 books being burnt in Berlin.

Complaining about the government was illegal and making anti-Hitler jokes resulted in a death penalty.

This damaged German culture.

Question 29

How did propaganda impact German people?

Answer 29

Likely worked best when reinforcing ideas Germans already believed in (like anti-semitism), and not so much when introducing radically new ideas.

Studies show that many Germans ignored anything that showed the Nazis in a bad light. They new what was going on and chose to ignore it. If this is true propaganda could be considered highly effective.

Question 30

How effective was opposition?

Answer 30

Most Germans supported the Nazis, and Hitlers popularity was never seriously challenged, as the police state and propaganda made opposition difficult.

Nevertheless, there were many resistance movements and even attempts to assassinate Hitler.