Nazi Germany Flashcards
Which party did Hitler join in September 1919?
The German Worker’s party (DAP)
When did Hitler become leader of the Nazi party?
1921
What were the three main aims of the 25-point prgramme?
overturn the Treaty of Versailles
Stop democracy as a political system
Rid Germany of the Jews who harmed the economy
What was Lebensraum?
Living space - aim was to expand german territory to house the population
Which parts of the 25-point programme were nationalist (for political independence)
Nullifying treaty of Versailles
Lebensraum
Building up strength of German military
Only allowing Aryans (the Germanic race) to be German citizens
Which parts of the 25-point programme were more socialist (for everyone in society sharing the profits from industry)
Nationalising industries
Giving all citizens equal rights
Giving every man employment
Giving support for mothers and children
What was the SA?
A group of ex-soldiers who asserted Nazi power
Who led the SA?
Ernst Rohm
What was the nickname for the SA?
Brownshirts
How much did the SA grow beween 1930 and 1934?
400,000 to 3 million
Why did the Nazi’s mainly gain support?
Hitler’s personality, he painted himself as ‘one of the people’ becausehe was a soldier who fought in the first world war, he gave the impression he understood German troubles
Who funded the Nazis?
Krupp and hugenburg
What were the pros and cons of the SA?
they were the party militia who fought and eliminated political oponents, making the Nazis appear strong BUT the SA was difficult to control
What were the three things emphasised by Nazi propaganda?
- The Hitler Cult - Hitler was presented as Germany’s saviour
- Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community) - Nazis wasnted to restore Germany back to traditional values and focus on an Aryan community
- anti-semitism - they blamed the Jews for the Great Depression in Germany
Hitler’s message was flexible which enabled his success, what was promised to businessmen?
the Nazis would solve the great depression
Hitler’s message was flexible which enabled his success, what was promised to workers?
the Nazis would give them food and employment
Hitler’s message was flexible which enabled his success, what was promised to farmers?
the Nazis would protect them from communists who could seize land
Hitler’s message was flexible which enabled his success, what was promised to the middle class?
the Nazis would stop communism and return Germany to its traditional roots
Hitler’s message was flexible which enabled his success, what was the benefit to the youth?
The Nazis were an exciting movement
Hitler’s message was flexible which enabled his success, what was promised to women?
the Nazis would prioritise the family and home
In what years did the Nazi vote grow rapidly?
1928-1932 (2.6% in 1928, 18% in 1930, 37% in July 1932)
What was Von Papen and Hindenburg’s secret pact?
decided that Hitler should be new Chancellor, let him have a few Nazis in his cabinet and make von Papen the vie-chancellor so that they could be used to create a political majority
When was Hitler made Chancellor and what went badly?
Jan 1933, They seriously underestimated Hitler’s power - he was too charismatic and popular to be controlled by von papen and hindenburg
When was the Reichstag fire?
27th Feb 1933
Who was blamed for Nazi fire?
van der lubbe (a communist)
What did the Reichstag fire allow Hitler to do?
pass an Emergecy Decree that allowed thousands of communsists to be arrested
When did Hitler propose the enabling act?
23rd March 1933
What was the Enabling Act?
allowed Hitler to make laws without the Reichstag
Why was the enabling act a turning point?
meant that germany was no longer a democracy
When was all political opposition to the Nazi party removed?
When Germany became a one party state on the 14th July 1933
What happened to trade unions in May 1933?
leaders of trade unions were arrested and sent to concentration camps, after this all trade unions were officially banned and all workers were forced to join the DAF (German Labour front)
Who led the SS?
Himmler
What happened on the 30th June 1934?
The Night of the Long Knives
What happened during the Night of the Long Knives?
400 members of SA killed, including Rohm. Hitler also used this opportunity to kill other opponents like von Schleicher
Who wanted Hitler to reduce the SA’s power and grow the German army under them instead?
General Werner von Blomberg
When did Hindenbug die?
August 1934
How did Hitler become Fuhrer after HIndenburg’s death?
merged the roles of Chancellor and President
What did Hitler call his Regime?
The third Reich - which he believed would last 1,000 years (he was a bit off)
Which law gave Hitler total control of local governments?
1934 Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich
What was Gleischaltung?
The Nazi regime conbined force and fear to achieve conformity
What was Heinrich Himmler in charge of?
the Gestapo, SS and SD
How did Nazis control the legal system?
decisions rested on judge alone, not jury - judges had to join National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law (meaning they had to rule in Nazi favour)
Who set up the Gestapo in 1933?
hERMANN gOERING
Why didn’t the gestapo wear uniforms?
They were secret investigators
What was the punishment for speaking against the Nazi regime and getting caught by gestapo?
torture or being sent to a concentration camp
What were the features of the SS?
wore black uniforms, highly trained and very disciplined, were Aryans, expected they would also have children with Aryan women
What were the roles of the SS?
had the power to search people’s property and send them to prison without receiving trial
Ran the concentration camps (were in charge of the Einsatzgruppen and death camps)
What happened in concentration camps?
prisoners were foeced to do hard labour and were ill-treated. The camps were isolated so no one could see the bad things that happened in them
Who was sent to concentration camps?
political prisoners, ‘undesirables’ such as prostitutes or homosexuals, ethnic minorities such as the Jews or gypsies
How did religious opposition form against the Nazis?
Catholic loyalty was owed to the Pope, who criticised Hitler after 1937 and The Confessional Chruch was founded in 1934 to oppose the Reich Church
Who controlled Nazi Propaganda?
The longest sitting member of the Nazi Party
What did Nazi messages focus on?
The glory of war
Hitler as a powerful leader
The evils of communism
The inferiority of the Jews
The glorification of the Aryan race and volk values such as family
How was film and radio used for propaganda?
Cinemas showed films that emphasised Nazi messages, subtly in entertainment films and clearly in propaganda films
Radio shows featured Hitler’s speeches, German music or Nazi history
What embarrased Hitler during the Berlin Olympics?
the African-American Jesse Owens won gold in the 100 metres
When was the Berlin Olympics?
1936
When did the Nazi propaganda machine begin to fail?
When Germany started to lose the war
How was censorship used?
books written by Jews or that disagreed with Nazi beliefs were burned.
All scrpts in plays, films and radio shows were told what to say by the Nazis.
Only newspapers that supported the Nazis were allowed to operate, Nazis controlled 80% of German Newspapers in 1944
Which types of architecture did the Nazis model their powerful buildings off of?
Ancient Romans and Greeks
Who was Hitler’s preferred architect?
Albert Speer
Music by which composer were encouraged?
Beethoven
Why was it hard to build broad support in the German population for political change?
The Gestapo would find and execute members of any underground opposition groups
When was the Reich church founded?
1933
What changed were made under the Reich church?
stopped using old testament because of association with Jews
Church ministers had to be pure Aryans
Blurred lines between God and the State in Nazi phrase “The Swastika on our chests and Cross in our hearts”
Sermons conveyed propaganda messages
What happened to Cardinal von Galen?
He was the German leader of the Catholic Church and lived under house arrest until the end of the Nazi Regime
What did Cardinal von Galen do as opposition?
Hade Hitler stop the euthanasia of the mentally disabled
Name two youth group who resisted Nazi rule
Edelweiss Pirates and the Swing Youth
Why were the edelweiss pirates and swing kids not severely punished when caught?
Their opposition was cultural, not political
What did the Edelweiss pirates do?
attacked the Hitler Youth, wrote anti Nazi graffiti slogans, sang popular songs from before the Nazi regime, wore American style clothing
What did the swing kids do?
play jazz, drink alcohol, and smoke
they organised illegal dances that thousands of young people attended and they came from wealthy backgrounds
Who were the ‘undesirables’ of German society?
Homosexuals, socialists, disabled people, beggars, trade unionists
Which law stated that Jews were no longer allowed to be German citizens and lots their rights?
1935 Reich Law (part of Nuremburg laws)
Which law stated that Jews could not marry german citizens?
The Reich Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour (part of Nuremburg laws)
When did Jews begin to be placed in ghettos?
1939
After invading the soviet union, which group of the SS killed all Jews they crossed?
Einsatzgruppen
At which conference was the ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question’ decided?
Wannsee
What were the two aims of Goering’s four year plan in 1936?
self-sufficiency and rearmament
When did Speer become ermany’s minister of armaments?
1942
What did British and American bombers target to delay the war effort?
factories
When had the Russians invaded Germany by?
1945 - January
What was the Roesstrasse protest?
Absolute girlboss ‘aryan’ women whose Jewish husbands had been arrested by German police protested where they were being held. THe men were released after a few days to minimise the attention that the protests recieived. It was a rare successful protest against Nazi social policy
When was the July plot?
20th July 1944
Why was opposition to the Nazis not successful?
people were scared of repression and any opposition was divided and did not communicate with each other
What was The White Rose?
opposition group formed by munich uni students Hans ans Sophie Scholl, published leaflets and graffiti exposing Nazi atrocities - executed by gestapo in 1943 after a public protest
How many were executed for July bomb plot?
Stauffenberg and 5,746 others - included 19 generals and 26 colonelsW
What did the July bomb plot highlight?
how many people within the army opposed the Nazi regime by the end of the war
Which three countries did Germany invade between September 1939 and June 1940?
Norway, Denmark and Poland
Which three countries were invaded in the space of 6 weeks in 1940?
France, Holland and Belgium
Why did the Dutch army surrender on the 14th May 1940?
THe Luftwaffe’s brutal bombing of Rotterdam - 814 civilians killed, 24,00 houses destroyed
Which country did Anne Frank live in?
the Netherlands
When did Anne Frank die?
1945 at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Why were Nazis policies in western europe kinder than in eastern europe?
Hitler thought the Dutch and Belgian were part of his Aryan race
What didn’t change in the Netherlands under Nazi rule?
the schools, education system, and the civil service
Was there resistance in the Netherlands?
Not really, people just wore carnations on their prince’s birthday - they weren’t punished for that
How far west sdid the Third Reich strentch by 1942?
The Atlantic ocean
When were Jews in Holland made to wear yellow stars?
29th April 1942
How did the Dutch resist the Naizi’s forced labour policies?
went on strike, resisted, ran
HOw many Dutch and Belgian Jews survived the war?
Dutch - 27%
Belgian - 60%
What happened to the people living in Poland when the Nazis invaded?
removed from their homes which were then given to German people - Jews and Slavs were esent to concentration camps to do forced labour or be executed
What did Hans Frank do which made him a not very nice person?
Frank was installed as the leader of the General Government in Poland. He forced polish peple to live in ghettos, closed polish schools, killed the most intelligent people in poland and oversaw the death camps in poland
Why did the uprising in Warsaw in August 1944 fail?
lack of Soviet support
Who was killed at the death camps?
Jewiish people, homosexual people, communist supporters, slav peopls, Black people, Prisoners of war, Political opponents of the Nazis, Roma (gypsy) people, Disabled people`
What were the 6 deadliest death camps?
Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek
How were prisoners killed at Chelmno?
Car exhaust fumes contain carbon monoxide. Exhaust fumes would be channeled into the van containing prisoners who would then die from lack of oxygen
Why was Chelmno’s method for killing prisoners viewed as “good and efficient”?
It had a lower psychological impact on German soldiers, relative to other more crutal methods of killing (another solution could be to not mass-murder innocent people but yk)
What is an example of resistance in the extermination camps?
In 1943 in Sobibor, Jewish prisoners killed 11 SS guards (led by Alexander Pechersky) - 240 of those who escaped on the 14 October 1943 died but 60 escaped and survived the war
How many were killed at Auschwitz?
1.1 million
At the end of 1944 as the Soviet Red Army marched towards Poland, what did Himmler do about the death camps?
Had all gas chambers destroyed, prisoners were forced to march 40 miles to be pushed deeper into German territory - thousands died because temps were below 0
How long did it take for Germany to defeat France after they started bombing it?
17 days
How was France split when invaded?
North was occupied, south was “free zone” but was a puppet state so basically controlled by Nazis anyway
Which countries collaborated with the Nazis?
Creece, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Latvia
Which countries neither fully collaborated nor fully resisted the Nazis?
Monacco and Denmark
How did the french resist?
listened to BBC radio
How many lives were saved by Polish resistance supporters?
450,000
Who were the Bielski partisans?
a group of Jewish people living in the forest in Poland (now Belarus) - helped Jews escape the ghettos or transport to death camps
