nazi control and dictatorship 1933-39

Question 1

when was the reichstag fire?

Answer 1

27th february 1933

Question 2

why was the reichstag fire a gift for hitler?

Answer 2

could claim the communists were planning a violent uprising

Question 3

what does hindenburg give hitler after the reichstag fire?

Answer 3

-the emergency decree
-germany becomes a police state
-hitler arrests 4000 communists, shut down their newspapers and killed 51 opponents

Question 4

when was the enabling act?

Answer 4

march 1933

Question 5

what did hitler use the enabling act to do?

Answer 5

-ban trade unions
-july 1933 ban all political parties except nazis
-set up his own people’s court
-replace local councils with his own government

Question 6

who controlled nazi propaganda?

Answer 6

josef goebbels

Question 7

what groups did propaganda target?

Answer 7

women, workers, rich and right wing

Question 8

explain the role of the gestapo

Answer 8

-gestapo set up in 1933 - nazi secret police and very feared by public
-used torture, phone tapping and had informers
-had no uniforms
-could imprison people without trial - over 160,000 arrested for political crimes

Question 9

explain the SS

Answer 9

-personal of hitler
-become intelligence, security and police of 240,000 aryans
-under himmler
-named ‘blackshirts’
-ultimate power to get rid of threats

Question 10

what was the night of the long knives?

Answer 10

-hitler starts to fear the SA in 1934 and orders the arrest of the SA on the night of the 30th of june 1934
-SS arrests 400 SA leaders - some imprisoned and others executed

Question 11

when did hindenburg die?

Answer 11

-2nd august 1934
-within hours hitler combines role of president and chancellor to create ‘fuhrer of the third reich’
-army swears oath of loyalty

Question 12

explain the six ways that the nazis used propaganda

Answer 12

1) rallies - 1934: 200,000 attended to see thousands of banners, 20,000 nazi flags and 100 foot nazi gold eagles
2) film - all films included 45 minute nazi news
3) culture - the reich chamber of culture ensured all followed to the nazi message
4) newspapers - journalists were told what to write and anti-nazi papers were shut down
5) radio - 70% of homes had a nazi radio
6) events - 1936 olympics showed aryan superiority, 33 gold medals and power (stadium biggest in the world)

Question 13

what role did the gestapo play within the nazi police state?

Answer 13

-secret police spied on germans
-tapped phones
-over 160,000 political crimes

Question 14

what was the people’s court?

Answer 14

court with nazi judges who had swore a loyalty oath to hitler

Question 15

what was the concordat?

Answer 15

1933 hitler made a truce with the pope to not interfere with catholicism

Question 16

did hitler break the concordat? if so how?

Answer 16

-yes
-in 1937 400 catholics sent to concentration camps, catholic schools closed and groups banned

Question 17

describe censorship

Answer 17

-all anti-nazi ideas were banned in 1933
-20,000 jewish and communist books were burnt in the centre of berlin
-writers, films, artists could only produce pro nazi art
-jazz music was banned
-anti-nazi jokes were a crime

Question 18

what was the fuhrer cult?

Answer 18

showed hitler as both a “superman” and “man of the people”

Question 19

what did the nazis set up in 1934?

Answer 19

the german faith movement

Question 20

what changed in protestant churches?

Answer 20

-the reich church - all protestant churches were under nazi control
-bible replaced with ‘mein kampf’, swat sticker replaced cross, all old testament jewish teachings removed

Question 21

did the nazis succeed in controlling the church?

Answer 21

unsuccessful, most germans practiced their religion secretly

Question 22

was there any church opposition?

Answer 22

-1934 confessor churches opposing the reich church
-6000 pastors joined - 800 of them were sent to concentration camps

Question 23

describe the concentration camps

Answer 23

-first one set up in dachua in 1933 and run by SS
-by 1939, over 150,000 germans had been sent to them

Question 24

how many people were executed in the people’s court?

Answer 24

534 - 44 crimes were punishable by death

Question 25

what was the SD?

Answer 25

-force under heydrich to monitor nazi opponents
-kept files on everyone suspected of opposing the nazi party or hitler

Question 26

what did pastor martin neimöller do?

Answer 26

set up protestant emergency league to campaign

Question 27

who were the edelweiss pirates?

Answer 27

-working class youths who resented military style hitler youth and lack of freedom
-wore american style clothing and make up
-2000 members compared to 8 million in hitler youth

Question 28

who were the swing youth?

Answer 28

-wealthy families teenagers who admired american culture
-listened to jazz and swing, smoke and drank