Life in Nazi Germany

Question 1

What features would the Nazis expect the ‘ideal woman’ to display?

Answer 1

1) Natural appearance - no make up & long hair tied back
2) Traditional clothes
3) Sturdy build (for bearing children)
4) Non-drinker & non-smoker
5) Marry and have children
6) Believe in the 3Ks

Question 2

What do the 3Ks stand for?

Answer 2

Kinder, kuche, kirche (Children, kitchen, church)

Question 3

What was the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage and when was it passed?

Answer 3

1933
Gave marriage loans to women who gave up work to have children. For every child born, less of the loan had to be paid back.

Question 4

When was the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage changed to allow women to work and receive the loan?

Answer 4

1937

Question 5

How did economic growth force the Nazis to change their policies towards women?

Answer 5

The economy expanded so quickly that women were needed in the workforce

Question 6

When was the Lebensborn policy introduced?

Answer 6

1935

Question 7

What was the Lebensborn policy?

Answer 7

Initially, provided nurseries and financial aid for women who had children with SS men, Later encouraged women to breed with SS men.

Question 8

What was the Mothers’ Cross?

Answer 8

A reward given to women who had four or more children

Question 9

What was the German Women’s Enterprise group?

Answer 9

A group providing classes and radio programmes on home-based matters.

Question 10

How many women were members of the German Women’s Enterprise?

Answer 10

6 million

Question 11

What happened to the birth rate in Nazi Germany?

Answer 11

It did increase - but this may have been due to the improved economy, rather than Nazi policies. Few women had more than two children.

Question 12

How many women had given up work by 1934?

Answer 12

360,000

Question 13

What were the Nazis’ aims for young people?

Answer 13

1) To be proud Germans
2) Girls to be strong & healthy and make good wives
3) Boys to be strong and healthy to make good soldiers
4) To be loyal supporters of the Nazi Party

Question 14

What was the name of the youth group for boys ages 10-14?

Answer 14

German Young Folk

Question 15

What was the name of the youth group for boys ages 14-18?

Answer 15

Hitler Youth

Question 16

What was the name of the youth group for girls ages 10-14?

Answer 16

Young Girls

Question 17

What was the name of the youth group for girls ages 14-18?

Answer 17

The League of German Maidens

Question 18

What activities would girls have done as part of the youth movement?

Answer 18

Cookery, housework, needlework and craft, learning what to look for in a good husband, learning about babies and childcare

Question 19

What activities would boys have done as part of the youth movement?

Answer 19

Shooting, military drills, signalling, military-style camps, helping the fire brigade during war

Question 20

What were the aims of Nazi education?

Answer 20

1) Prepare girls to be good wives and mothers
2) Create loyal Nazis
3) Glorify Germany and the Nazi Party
4) Prepare boys to be strong soldiers who would fight for Germany
5) Teach Nazi beliefs about race
6) Put across key Nazi ideals

Question 21

How did Nazis control education by controlling teachers?

Answer 21

1) Teachers had to be Nazi Party members
2) Sacked teachers who didn’t teach Nazi ideals
3) Teachers’ camps taught them how to fit Nazi ideas into their teaching
4) Nearly all teachers joined the Nazi Teachers’ League

Question 22

How was propaganda delivered through education?

Answer 22

1) All lessons began and ended with the Hitler salute
2) Nazi flags and posters in classrooms
3) From 1935 all textbooks had to be approved by the Nazi Party
4) Traditional subjects re-written to glorify Germany
5) Racial ideas and antisemitism embedded into lessons

Question 23

How did education differ for boys and girls?

Answer 23

Boys were taught science and military skills whereas girls were taught domestic skills

Question 24

What new subjects were introduced under the Nazis?

Answer 24

Eugenics and Race Studies

Question 25

How much curriculum time was spent on PE and why?

Answer 25

15% to ensure a strong and healthy population

Question 26

Why did the Nazi Party want to reduce the amount of unemployment?

Answer 26

Politically dangerous - if people are poor and hungry then they might turn against the government. Also, believed that the unemployed were a burden and a drain on society.

Question 27

What was the National Labour Service (RAD)?

Answer 27

Compulsory for men ages 18-25 to serve six months in the service. Worked on job-creation schemes such as draining marshes. Many hated it, the pay was low and the hours were long.

Question 28

When did it become compulsory for men ages 18-25 to serve six months in the Labour Service?

Answer 28

July 1935

Question 29

What job creation schemes did the Nazis start to reduce unemployment?

Answer 29

7000 Km of autobahns
Public buildings
Sports facilities and stadiums

Question 30

How did Hitler use the army to increase jobs?

Answer 30

Hitler began to rearm and break the Treaty of Versailles. He increased the number of people in the armed forces and also increased production of weapons and armaments.

Question 31

How much had the Nazis reduced unemployment by between 1933 and 1939?

Answer 31

From 4.8 million to 0.3 million

Question 32

Why might Nazi employment statistics be misleading?

Answer 32

Invisible unemployment

Question 33

What is meant by the term ‘invisible unemployment’?

Answer 33

People and groups left out of unemployment statistics

Question 34

Which groups of people were the ‘invisible unemployed’?

Answer 34

1) Jews who were forced out of jobs
2) Women who were dismissed from, or left their jobs
3) Unmarried men under 25 in the National Labour Service
4) Opponents of the regime who were in concentration camps

Question 35

What was the DAF?

Answer 35

German Labour Front. Set up to replace trade unions. Workers had to be members.

Question 36

What was the KdF?

Answer 36

Strength Through Joy. Aimed to increase productivity by making workers happy.

Question 37

What was the SdA?

Answer 37

The Beauty of Labour. Aimed to improve conditions for workers. But workers had to help construct these new facilities in their spare time.

Question 38

What was the Volkswagen?

Answer 38

The People’s Car. It was a KdF scheme in which workers paid installments weekly towards a new car. By 1939 no one had paid enough and the money went towards rearmament.

Question 39

What evidence is there that the standard of living improved by 1939?

Answer 39

1) More jobs, with most men in work
2) Average wages rose by 20% compared to 1933
3) KdF provided leisure activities and holidays and SdA improved working conditions
4) Car ownership increased three-fold

Question 40

What evidence is there that the standard of living had not improved by 1939?

Answer 40

1) Invisible unemployment meant many were still without jobs
2) Cost of food rose by an equivalent amount to the rise in wages
3) Workers had few rights and worked long hours: 43 hours a week in 1933 had gone up to 49 hours a week by 1939
4) Only high earners could afford cars. Low earners had to spend money on essentials.

Question 41

What is meant by the word ‘untermenschen’?

Answer 41

Sub-humans. It was the term used to refer to Slavs, gypsies, black people and Jews.

Question 42

When were the Nuremberg Laws passed, and what did they say?

Answer 42

1935.

1) Banned Aryans from marrying gypsies or Jews
2) Said that Jews were subjects, rather than citizens, of Germany
3) Said no Jews could vote or work for the government
4) Said Jews had to wear the yellow star on their clothes

Question 43

What laws related to gypsies were passed by the Nazis?

Answer 43

1) 1933 - Gypsies began being arrested as ‘social nuisances’
2) 1936 - Gypsies forced to live in camps in terrible conditions
3) 1938 - Gypsies had to be registered and were banned from travelling
4) 1939 - Announced that they would be deported

Question 44

What was the :aw for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring and when was it passed?

Answer 44

1933

Said that mentally handicapped people could be sterilised to prevent them having children

Question 45

When were the laws against homosexuality strengthened?

Answer 45

1935

Question 46

When was Kristallnacht?

Answer 46

November 1938

Question 47

What caused Kristallnacht?

Answer 47

A Jewish man shot a German in Paris. Goebbels used the event to stir up resentment and homes and synagogues were attacked.

Question 48

What damage was done during Kristallnacht?

Answer 48

100 Jews were killed
814 shops destroyed
171 homes destroyed
191 synagogues destroyed

Question 49

What were the consequences of Kristallnacht?

Answer 49

Jews were blamed for the violence. They were ordered to pay for the damage and were fined 1 billion marks.