Nazi Germany Flashcards
When did Hitler set elections for after being Chancellor?
March 1933
When was the Reichstag fire?
27th February 1933
What did Hitler pass on the 28th of February 1933?
The Decree for the Protection of People and State. (It banned the KPD and freedom of speech and allowed imprisonment without trial)
What percentage of the vote did the Nazis win in the March 1933 elections?
44%
When was the day of Potsdam?
21st March 1933
When was the Enabling Act passed?
24th March 1933
When were all trade unions abolished and replaced with the German Labour Front?
2 May 1933
When were all political parties bar the NSDAP banned?
14 July 1933
When were state governments and assemblies banned?
January 1934
Why was the SA becoming a problem in 1934?
Rohm was a potential rival to Hitler and SA violence was out of Hitler’s control. Many SA leaders were calling for a ‘Second Revolution’ and they were unpopular with the army and old elites. Hitler also now had the SS and Himmler.
When was the Night of the Long Knives?
30th June/1st July 1934
How many people were killed on the 1st July 1934 in the next stage of the Night of the Long Knives?
It was announced that 77 were killed but the real number is closer to 400.
What happened after Hindenburg died in August 1934?
Hitler became Fuhrer and the army swore an oath of loyalty to him.
When did the SS start?
1925
Why was there cumulative radicalisation in Nazi government?
Often leading Nazis had overlapping roles so felt pressured to create more and more extreme policies so that Hitler would favour them.
Why were some leading Nazis ‘working towards the fuhrer’?
Hitler’s ideas were often unclear and he had no clear strategy. He disliked going to meetings so Nazis often came up with policies they thought he would like.
Who ran the civil service which was often over-ruled by the Gauleiters or Reich Special Agencies based on te ‘Nazi principle’?
Frick
When was the Council of Defence formed and when was it disbanded?
August 1939 and November 1939.
What did the Reichgau oversee in the growing Reich?
Germanisation - removing non-Germans and giving land to pue ethnic Germans.
What was the Fuhrerprinzip?
A strict hierarchical order with a leader in every aspect of life - ultimately the leader was Hitler.
What was the idea of Volksgemeinschaft?
The belief in a racially united ‘people’s community’ working for the common good, obeying the government and making scarfices for the nation.
What would be examples of non-conformity?
Anti-Nazi jokes, not giving to Winterhilfswerk, not saying heil Hitler or listening to foreign radio/music. Young people in Swing Youth or Edelweiss Pirates refused to join Hitler Youth.
Who were the Kreisau Circle?
A group of intellectuals and clergymen who met in secret to plan for a future after the Third Reich. Some of their members took part in the July Bomb Plot.
What was the Red Orchestra?
It was formed by 2 members of Reich ministries and brought together over 150 opponents in 7 resistance circles in Berlin. They collected information for the Soviet Union.
What happened on the 20th July 1944?
General von Stauffenberg sneaked a bomb into a meeting with Hitler, who survived the attack. It was supposed to be part of a wider coup which also failed due to confused orders and conspirators unable to appeal to general population via radio broadcast.
Which groupd wrote and distributed ant-Nazi leaflets in Munich from 1942-3?
The White Rose
What emerged from the Pastor’s Emergency League led by Niemoller?
Confessional Church
In what speech did Von Papen plead for greater freedom?
The Marburg Speech (July 1934)
When did Goebbels instruct all radio controllers to express Nazi ideology and purge stations of all Jews and ex-SPD/KPD members?
25th March 1933
When did Hitler deem the content of newspapers to be the responsibility of the editor?
4th October 1933
What did journalists have to join to be able to find work?
the Reich Association list of accreditted journalists.
When was a stateowned news agency set up for newspapers to pick stories from?
December 1933
How many political prisonners were sent to concentration camps from 1933-45?
500,000
What courts dealt with those accused of being traitors?
The People’s Court
When could people be imprisoned indefinitely without trial?
February 1933
What percentage of households owned a radio, e.g. a People’s Receiver by 1939?
70%
Which Nazi publishing house controlled 2/3 of the press? Who ran it?
Eher Verlag, Max Amann
How many people attended mass rallies in Nuremberg?
500,000
Who challenged Hitler’s message of Ayran supremacy at the Berlin 1936 Olympics?
Jesse Owens
Who made patriotic films like ‘Triumph of Will’ (1935) or ‘Olympia’ (1936)?
Leni Riefenstahl
How many books were burnt in 1933?
20,000
How many works of art were removed?
6500
What were popular policies in Nazi Germany?
KdF (STrength through Joy), Beauty of Labour and the Volkswagen scheme
What did Schacht do to respond to the Great Depression?
Making trade deals and using goods instead of currency. He also used ‘Mefo’ bills - promises to pay at a later date - to pay for public work schemes which increased production and lowered unemployment.
Why was unemployment low?
The RAD (Reich Labour Service) provided work for the unemployed (esp. young people) in labour camps. Jews and married women were no longer counted in the statistics. Conscription was also introduced in 1935.
How did marriage loans work?
A couple would get a loan when they got married if the woman stopped working and 1/4 would be paid off with each child born.
Which 1933 law banned the building or expansion of department stores?
Law for the Protection of Retail Trade
What did Hugenburg (agri. minister) introduce? What % of agricultural produce was german by 1934?
Increased import tariffs. 80%
What did the Second 4-year Plan (1936) aim to do?
Prepare Germany for war in 4 years and achieve autarky.
The target of oil production in the 4-year plan was 13,830 thousand tonnes, what was it actually in 1942?
6260 thousand tonnes
What % of fats consumed in Germany were produced there?
57%
What was the ‘guns vs. butter’ debate?
Debate about whether to prioritise rearmament or consumer goods.
How did military expenditure increase from 1934 to 1943?
6% to 61%
Why was Todt (minister of munitions) unable to improve production?
He needed centralised control which the overlapping ministries wouldn’t allow. Hitler supported this idea but didn’t force its adoption.
Who replaced Todt in 1942? What did he convince Hitler to set up?
Speer, the Central Planning Board
How did Speer increase production?
Clsoing small factories and focusing all production on larger ones. Standradised factory machinery so repairs were easier. He used women and slave labour to increase workforce. Ammunition production rose by 97%.
How much did the Beauty of Labour scheme spend on work spaces in 1939?
900 million marks
What replaced trade unions?
DAF (German labour front)
How many people were killed in the T4 programme from Oct. 1939?
70,000
What did the 1938 Marriage Law introduce?
It made infertility, abortion and refusal to have children grounds for divorce.
What was the Lebensborn programme?
From 1936 SS members were encouraged to ‘mate’ with as many pure German women as possible and the resulting children would be adopted by ‘fit’ German couples who had been unable to conceive.
In what ways were Nazi policies towards women unsuccessful?
The birth rate never returned to Weimar levels and by 1941 only 1/5 of women had joined the NSF or DFW. Marriage rate initially increased and then fell again so may have been more due to improving economy than policies.
How many teaching vacancies were there in 1938?
8,000
What percentage of the curriculum was sport?
15%
What groups was set up for young people in Nazi Germany?
Hitler Youth for boys and League of German Maidens for girls.
What idea did cultural policies try to create?
Gleichschaltung
What organisation censored media?
Ministry for Propagada and Popular Enlightenment
When was the boycott of Jewish shops?
1933
What did the Nuremberg Laws (1935) introduce?
The Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour forbade marriage between Jews and ‘pure’ Germans. Jews lost their German citizenship.
What happened on Kristallnacht in 1938?
100 synagogues were burnt and 300 Jews were killed. 200,000 were set to a concentration camp. It was organised by the SS in response to the killing of a German embassy official in Paris by a Polish Jew.
By what year did Jews have to live in a ghetto and wear the star of David?
1941
Where was the final solution decided?
Wannsee Conference (1942)
What did the Einsatzgruppen do from 1939-43?
Kill Jews in newl conquered territories.
