Nazi Dictatorship 1933-1939 Flashcards
List 7 reasons why Hitler became Chancellor in 1933
- The Depression/economic deprivation
- Political (Backstairs) Intrigue
- Weaknesses in the Weimar Constitution
- His leadership and public appeal
- Nazi promises
- Fear of Communism (Jewish Bolshevism)
- Efficent NSDAP organisation
One of Hitler’s most famous slogans was ‘Freedom and …..’. When was it first used?
Freedom and Bread (1928)
The NSDAP were the largest party in 1932 and had a majority. True or false?
What does this tell us about the Weimar Constitution?
False. They were the largest party but they didn’t have a majority.
The fact the largest party was unable to form a majority shows how volatile and lacking in strong leadership the Weimar political system was.
What was the backstairs intrigue of 1932?
Schleicher attempted to form a stable government by undermining Papen. Papen took an initiative against Schleicher by meeting Hitler several times. Hitler insisted on being Chancellor, agreeing to von Papen being Vice-Chancellor.
What was the Gleichschaltung period?
The period of consolidation (Jan 1933 - August 1934) whereby Hitler secured his dictatorship, mainly by reducing opposition and infiltrating all aspects of German life with Nazi ideals.
What was ‘The Hitler Myth’?
A common belief amongst Germans that Hitler embodied the rise of Germany as a great and prosperous nation once more.
How was the Hitler Myth promoted?
- Via Goebbels’ propaganda. The imagery and words used had connotations of strength and often idolised Hitler as though he was a God, enforcing the ‘Fuhrer princip’.
What was the impact of the Hitler Myth? (4 positive, 3 negative)
- Great personal popularity (90% of Germans admired him by the late 30s)
- Sustained the regime by unity
- Cleansed Hitler of party failures
- Gave Hitler more freedom
- Personalised system was unsustainable
- Hitler began to believe it himself and stopped looking for opportunities to sustain his power
- Radical momentum weakened the party
What led to the decline of the Hitler Myth?
Major military failures in 1941
The Third Reich was a polyocracy and a dual state. What does this mean?
It had many departments for both party and state. Often party and state officials would have to compete with each other with policy ideas. eg. Schact and Goring
What was the growth in Nazi membership between Jan 1933 and 1943?
850,000 to 6,500,000
List the 5 levels of Nazi organisation, from largest to smallest.
- Gaue
- Kreise
- Ortsgruppen
- Zellen
- Blocke
Who was in charge of the Gaus and the Blockes?
The Gauleiter and the Blockleiter
What was the role of the Gauleiter? (4)
- To implement Nazi policy on a regional scale
- To act as a figurehead
- To communicate progress to hitler
- To create ‘fresh initiatives’
Who was Hjalmar Schact and what was he responsible for?
Schact was President of the Reichsbank who directed German economic policy, he was part of the economic elite rather than the Nazi Party but was appointed by them in 1933.
He was responsibile for the Rentenmark.
List the Nazi’s 4 economic aims
- Drag Germany out of the worldwide recession
- Reduce unemployment
- Make Germany an autarky
- Transform the economy to focus on rearmament and war
What was the role of the Blockleiter? (4)
- To promote NSDAP ideals locally
- To document every household in their Blocke
- To identify everyone who did not conform
- To ensure the next generation were receptive (eg. through participation in the Hitler Youth)
What was Hjalmar Schacht’s approach to banking and control of capital? (2)
- Lowered interest rates (to lower personal and national debt)
- Rescheduled debts (particularly for local authorities)
How did Schacht assist farms and small businesses? (5)
- Tariffs were put on imported goods to protect German farmers
- Reich Food Estate offered subsidies and grants to support agriculture
- Reich Entailed Farm Law meant debts were reduced, offering land ownership and security.
- Allowances were made to encourage the rehiring of domestic servants
- Grants for house repairs
What state investment strategies did Schacht use? (3)
- Reich Labour Service employed 18-25 year olds (meaning they weren’t counted in unemployment figures)
- Compulsory military conscription from 1935 (at least 6 months of unpaid work in military construction)
- Reforestation, land reclamation (brownfield sites), motorisation of infrastructure and building projects
What were the 3 main components to Schacht’s New Plan of 1934?
- Bilateral treaties
- Regulation of the Reichsmark currency
- Mefo bills
What was the impact of Schacht’s New Plan? (3 positive, 1 negative)
- By 1936 unemployment was at 1.5 million from 6 million in 1932 (although this figure was tweaked)
- Industrial production increased by 60%
- GNP had grown by 40%
- However, there was still a deficit sue to the demand for rearmament imports.
What was the ‘Guns vs Butter’ debate?
Hitler and Hermann Goring vs Hjalmar Schacht
Hitler and Goring were intent on rearmament and gearing the economy for war, whereas Schacht’s policies focused on increaing industrial production
What 5 methods did Goring use in order to create a war economy during peace time in his Four Year Plan (1936)?
- Regulate imports & exports, focusing on metals over agriculture
- To control the labour force and prevent wage increases (DAF - German Labour Force)
- To increase production of raw materials
- To develop substitute products eg. artificial rubber
- To increase agricultural production by building on the resources they already had
What were the 4 main impacts of Goring’s Four Year Plan?
- He came into conflict with Schacht (Party vs State), causing Schacht to resign in 1939 and Goring becoming an economic dictator
- The Four Year Plan was not fully supported by business leaders as they believed rearmament should not come at the expense of standard of living
- Influence of business leaders was minimised due to the economy coming under increasing political control
- Many German companies began producing the components for war
After his resignation, Schacht became involved in resistance activities. True or false?
True. He was in contact with resistance groups as early as 1934 and supported the plan to cause a coup against Hitler if he invaded Czechoslovakia. He was arrested by the SS and sent to various concentration camps, before being liberated by the US in 1945.
Which German companies produced:
a) chemicals
b) electrical items
c) transport and aircraft?
a) I.G. Farben
b) Siemens
c) Daimler-Benz
By how much did real wages drop in Germany between 1933 and 1938?
25%
What percentage of their GDP did Germany spend on the military in
a) 1933
b) 1939.
What percentage of the workforce was employed in industry assosciated with military production?
a) In 1933, Germany spent just 3% of her GDP on the military.
b) By 1939, this had grown to 32%
c) 22% of the work force was directly employed in an industry assosciated with military production
By what year was German GNP back to pre-Depression levels?
1935
Which 5 organisations/institutions did the Nazi’s use to create terror?
- The S.A.
- The Courts
- The SS
- Einsatzgruppen
- Gestapo
How many members did the S.A have by 1934?
2 million men
List some of the S.A’s jobs (6)
- To protect Nazi speakers
- To disrupt meetings of political opponents
- To start then stop fights at NSDAP meetings
- March, sing, carry banners and play drums at Nazi rallies
- Frighten opposition voters during elections
- To attack Jews and Communists
What did the Nazi’s do to the justice system once they took power in 1933?
They nazified it by:
- Ensuring that Nazi officials ran courts
- Covering the walls of courts with Nazi propoganda
- Creating the Sondergerichte, to support the work of the SS and Gestapo
- Creating The People’s Court (after the Reichstag Fire) to ensure that political opponents were found guilty of treason
How did the Nazi’s use the courts to create terror? (5)
- By ensuring that members of the SS and Gestapo did not get tried for their violent actions
- Enfocring predetermined guilty charges
- Refusing defendants sufficient legal representation
- Disallowing defendants the possibility of appeal
- Making defendents dress shabbily and appear in court wearing handciffs
Which two pieces of legislation dominated the focus of the courts under Nazi rule?
- the Decree to Protect the Government of the National Socialist Revolution from Treacherous attacks
- Law against isidious attacks upon the State and Party and for the Protection of the Party Uniform
Who was the most feared judge and regarded as the personification of the Nazi’s ‘blood justice’? Which controversial decree did he provide the legal basis for?
Roland Freidler
He introduced the decree that provided the legal basis for imposing the death penalty on juveniles.
How many Germans were executed on the orders of the Sondergericht bwteen 1933 and 1945?
12,000
What did Andrew Szanajda say in his book, The Restoration of Justice in Postwar Hesse, with regards to the effectiveness of the courts at creating terror in Nazi Germany?
They had a ‘strong deterrent effect and the German public were intimidates through ‘psychological terror’.
What was the purpose of the SS? (3 main aims)
- To cleanse Germany of the ‘untermenschen’ or ‘sub-humans’.
- Himmler intended a complete fusion of the SS and German police.
- To utilise the executive authority fo the police to impose Nazi ideals.
When were the SS
a) formed
b) lead by Heinrich Himmler
c) given responsibility of racial cleansing and concentration camps
d) in complete control of the police?
a) 1925 (by Hitler)
b) January 1929 - 1945
c) 1934
d) 1936
Did the SS achieve their 3 aims? (3 for points, 1 against)
- Yes, Through concentration camps, they were able to eradicate large portions of communities the Nazis deemed ‘undesirable’
- No, they were not able to totally eradicate these groups.
- Yes, the complete fusion of the SS and the police occurred in 1934.
- Yes, the new police force and Gestapo was able to enforce Nazi ideals.