Life in Nazi Germany Flashcards
Describe the Nazi policy of autarky
Autarky mean self-sufficiency.
In 1932 it was a goal sought by the Nazis which maximized trade within its economic bloc and minimized external trade particularly with the then world powers such as Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France, with which it expected to go to war and consequently could not rely upon.
Why was Hitler able to gain popularity with male workers?
There are three main reasons why Hitler had been able to gain support from male workers.
Firstly the Weimar Republic had failed at solving the economic problem and people had lost faith in them. Therefore when a confident Hitler came along, they trusted and supported him.
Secondly, he blamed the Jews (November criminals) for the problems.
Finally and the most important reason, was because by 1938 Hitler had given ALL the unemployed jobs. He was very clever and he built roads and rearmed, but he was able to say that these were not threatening actions but just solutions to his unemployment problem.
Hitler gained a degree of popularity with workers through his public works and re-armament delivered lower unemployment which ensured popularity among the industrial workers. He also used propaganda to praise their efforts. The scheme ‘Strength Through Joy’ was popular as it gave cheap theatre and cinema tickets as well as cut-price cruises. Many had the opportunity to save up in a state scheme to buy a VW Beetle. Nobady actually recieved a Beetle though - when was broke out in 1939 all production was shifted into armaments!
The ‘Beauty of Labour’ scheme improved the workplace with the introduction of washing facilities and low-cost canteens.
Wages and conditions did not improve though, and there was a shortage of consumer goods in the shops, due to manufacturing being focused on arms. For young men conscripted into the Reich Labour Service, pay was poor and they had to wear a uniform and live in camps. As there were no trade unions, workers had no independent organisation to fight for better pay and conditions.
Describe how the Nazis tried to win the loyalty of young people in Germany.
They tried to win the loyalty of the youth by indoctrination in school through different curriculum for boys and girls. They also set up the Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens for children to join in their spare time. They also used propaganda.
What were the main features of the education of German children between 1933 and 1945?
The education of children was closely controlled by the government and this was designed to spread Nazi messages. This included the superiority of the Aryan race and antisemitism. Boys were also taught skills designed for a life in the military and girls were taught skills for homemaking and becoming mothers.
Explain why the Nazi regime tried to change the roles of women.
The Nazis had strong views about the place of women in society. They wanted women to produce lots of children. They were worried about the fall in the birth rate and Germany would only be strong again there were lots of children to become soldiers and workers. So the Nazis wanted women to give up their jobs and stay at home and have lots of children. It was also important for women to produce pure Aryans. The Nazis changed their views during the Second World War as they had to find ways of getting women into work as part of the war effort to produce armaments and to replace men fighting in the army.
Explain why some groups of young people opposed Nazi rule.
Some young people in Germany opposed Nazi policies especially as the second world
war progressed. This was because they disliked the police state that had been
established which tried to control their lives. The swing movement made up of middle class teenagers liked to listen to American music such as ‘jazz’ and the ‘jitterbug’. These had been banned by the Nazis. The Edelweiss Pirates were working class teenagers who sang songs which mocked Germany. They also taunted and attacked groups of Hitler youth. The Edelweiss Pirates also did not like the restrictions of the Nazi state especially the attitude
towards sex, which was frowned upon by the Nazis.
How far did people of Germany benefit from Nazi Rule?
This is a balanced answer.
GIVE REASONS YES
Begin with examples of those who did benefit and say
why.
Those who benefited (gained)
(1) 6 million unemployed when Hitler came to power. By 1938 Hitler had reduced this number to just 250,000. The unemployed obviously benefited because they now had jobs and money.
2) Big business benefited because they had contracts. Also they benefited because strikes were illegal and trade unions were banned.
(3) The army benefited because it managed to re-arm.
(4) Workers also benefited from new organizations like the ‘Strength Through Joy’ movement which offered them cut price holidays, cheap theatre and sporting event tickets and lead to the production of the ‘People’s Car’. However, workers also lost their freedom of choice. They had to join the German Workers’ League, worked for longer hours and. for less pay…, but many didn’t mind, as they had bread and work, which was better than being unemployed.
REASONS NO
Those who did not benefit
There were clearly also people who did not benefit under life under the Nazis;
- The Jews were hated by Hitler and the Nazis. Discrimination (treated unfairly)
began against them as a soon as Hitler came to power. The Nazis tried to get people to stop using Jewish businesses for example. Things got even worse for them in 1935 with the passing of the Nuremburg laws (anti-Jewish laws) and then in 1938 with the attack on Jewish property and synagogues (Crystal Night / the. Night of the Broken Glass) From 1942 the Final Solution to the Jewish problem led to the holocaust or mass murder of many Jews in death camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen. By the end of the war six million out of eight million Jews had lost their lives under the Nazis. - Anyone who opposed the Nazis was also persecuted.
Individual church ministers such as Bonhoeffer and Niemoller paid heavily for speaking out against the Nazis. So too did the White Rose movement, who opposed the policies of the Nazis and those
involved in the Stauffenberg bomb plot in 1944.
3.There were other minority groups that did not benefit from life under the Nazis.
The gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill -people, beggars, prostitutes, habitual criminals were all persecuted. Some lost their lives and others were thrown into the
concentration camps.
- All other opposition parties did not benefit because they were banned under the Enabling Act. Many of their leaders were thrown into concentration camps. .
- Ordinary Germans lost their freedom of speech and choice. By 1945 most had lost a lot more as Germany “lay in ruins, and many had suffered under the Allied bombing of the German cities. The war had also brought further hardship like the rationing of rood and clothes. By the end of Nazi rule Germany was a defeated and occupied country. In the end therefore it is difficult to say that the people of Germany did benefit from Nazi rule.
What was the Enabling Law? How did Nazi economic policies help consolidate their popularity and power?
The Enabling law allowed Hitler to pass laws for four ears without having the permission of the Reichstag. This meant he ruled more or less how he wanted. It gave him a legal basis for doing what he did and this was important. It allowed him to ban all other political parties for example, making him a legal dictator. Without the Enabling law the Nazis might not have been able to stay in power. However, once they had that authority, they certainly strengthened their position, helping themselves to maintain themselves in power by their economic policies. Hitler had promised to return Germany to prosperity and solve the unemployment problem. Therefore it was vital (very important) that he did this. By 1939, mainly through rearmament and public works, nearly everyone had a job and the economy seemed to have recovered.
How were the Nazi policies towards the young?
They also strengthened their control with their policies towards the young. Hitler realised this was vital because the young would be the future Nazis. Therefore he needed to turn them into good Nazis, loyal and obedient to him.
The Nazis did this by controlling the school curriculum, making all teachers join the German Teacher’s
League. Subjects like biology taught the superiority of the Aryan race and all History was rewritten to portray a Nazi view of events, like the Munich Putsch. The Hitler Youth was also created and in 1936 membership became compulsory (they had to join). Other youth clubs and church organisations were shut down. The youth organisations provided another way to indoctrinate the young and fill them with Nazi ideas. The boys would be the future soldiers, the girls would become the mothers to these future soldiers.
Why did Nazis encourage young to join the Hitler youth?
His vision of an enduring Third Reich was based not just on the loyalty and obedience of adults, but also of their offspring. Hitler wanted the National Socialist movement to appeal to all levels of society, including the young. He also wanted to provide children in Nazi Germany with a sense of purpose, achievement and community, something that was conspicuously absent during his own listless childhood. Finally and perhaps most importantly, Hitler’s youth policies aimed at filling the minds of young Germans with ideas about racial purity, Aryan supremacy, German expansion and future military conquests.
How did the Nazis deal with the Church?
Hitler was able to control the church by co-operating with it.
In 1933 he signed the Concordat with the Catholic Church. It agreed to keep out of politics if the Nazis kept out of religion. But the agreement did not last. Catholic youth groups were stopped and some priests were sent to Concentration Camps. Catholic Schools were brought into line or closed.
He bullied the Protestant Church. He set up the rival Reich Church and then he sent 800 Protestant churchmen (such as Pastor Niemoller) to labour camps because they would not do as he asked.
How did the Nazis try to reduce
unemployment?
Public works funded by the government gave work to the unemployed.
The main projects were building houses, hospitals, schools and roads (to allow the quick movement of troops) and barracks. By 1939, unemployment had fallen to 100,000.
Note, communists, Jews and women were forced out of jobs, and those in camps were not counted as unemployed. Rearmament and conscription gave employment to many. The drive for self-sufficiency also created jobs. The National Labour Service (RAD) was expanded. All men aged 18-25 had to give six months service.
In 1936 Goring was ordered to prepare for war by preparing a Four-Year Plan.
How did the Nazis control workers?
When trade unions were abolished, all workers had to join the Nazis’ German Labour Front. Strikes were made illegal, wages remained low even after full employment, and the working day became longer. To keep workers happy, various schemes such as Strength Through Joy and The Beauty of Labour provided camp holidays,leisure activities and monitored working conditions.
How did the Nazis persecute minorities?
The Nazis were deeply racist and
believed that all non-Aryan groups were inferior - Jews, Blacks, Slavs and Gypsies.
They wanted to create a pure “Aryan Master Race”. In 1933 there was a small scale boycott organised of Jewish shops. In 1934, Jews were banned from all public facilities such as parks and swimming pools. Laws were passed to sack Jews from the civil service, law and education.
In 1935, the Nuremburg Laws removed German citizenship from Jews and banned inter-racial marriage. In November 1938, Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) saw attacks on Jewish homes, shops and synagogues after a Nazi diplomat was assassinated by a Jew in Paris. About 100 Jews were killed and 20,000 were put into concentration camps.
After a week of terror, the Nazis fined the Jews one billion marks. In schools, Jewish students were routinely mocked and ridiculed. Films were used to try to portray Jewish people as bad.
The Nazis also attacked Gypsies. Many were sent to concentration camps and the Nuremburg Laws prevented them from marrying Germans. Homosexuals, prostitutes, tramps and alcoholics could also see themselves attacked. Mentally disabled children were either sterilised or killed.
