Nazi Germany

Question 1

What was the Reichstag Fire?

Answer 1

Feb 1933 - communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, is thought to have set fire to the Reichstag building. Hitler and the Nazis stated that the fire was a communist conspiracy, when in fact the evidence pointed to van der Lubbe acting alone.

Question 2

What was the Reichstag Fire Decree?

Answer 2

March 1933 - Hindenburg issued a decree which suspended the civil rights parts of the Weimar constitution. Police and secret police now had the right to arrest people for any reason or none. Mass arrests of communists, socialists and trade unionists followed.

Question 3

What were the elections like in March 1933?

Answer 3

Conducted in an atmosphere of violence and intimidation. The result was an increase vote share for the Nazis (43.5%) and a Reichstag majority for them.
The SA harassed and attacked the KPD and SPD and many members of the KPD had been arrested before the election.

Question 4

What was Potsdam day?

Answer 4

Day of national unity was held at Potsdam. Hindenburg and Hitler appeared before huge crowds together, to send out a message of Nazi and conservative unity.

Question 5

What was the Enabling Act March 1933?

Answer 5

Hitler asked the Reichstag to pass a law that would allow him to rule by decree. It was passed by 444 votes to 94, with only the SPD opposing it.

Question 6

What was the terror that the Nazi’s used to consolidate power?

Answer 6

100,000 political opponents of the Nazi party were Imprisoned between 1933 and 1934.
Concentration camps were opened.
The KPD were banned shortly after the Reichstag Fire.

Question 7

What was the Knight of the Long Knives?

Answer 7

July 1934 - Hitler ordered the murder of a number of political opponents and even supporters who he believed to be a threat, such as Ernst Rohm of the SA.

Question 8

What evidence is there that the Nazi regime was a chaotic state?

Answer 8

From 1936, the office of the Four Year Plan had created economic policy at the same time as the Economics Ministry.
The Nazi party bureaucracy sometimes competed with the state institutions like government ministries and the independent Gauleiter who were only accountable to Hitler.

Question 9

What evidence is there to suggest that Hitler was or was not the all powerful leader in Germany?

Answer 9

The chaotic state and Hitler’s haphazard methods of working meant that he did not always control decision making. Hitler only issued 34 decrees in his 12 years in power.
However, where he did take interest, he did take a dominant role. In foreign policy, he rejected the ToV and remilitarised the Rhineland against the advice of his generals.

Question 10

What does the term working towards the Fuhrer?

Answer 10

As Hitler’s will was the source of law and authority, where there was an absence of a clear decision from Hitler, people sought to anticipate what Hitler would want and formulate policy on this basis.

Question 11

What are examples of working towards the Fuhrer?

Answer 11

Goering was prepared to enact Hitler’s aim of a Wehrwirtschaft, war economy when made head of the Four Year Plan in 1936.
Goebbels orchestrated Kristallnacht partly because he was out of favour with Hitler following an affair with a Czech actress.

Question 12

What evidence is there that the Nazi regime was popular?

Answer 12

No attempts to overthrow the government in the 1930s and underground opposition did not have widespread support.
Plebiscites showed support for Hitler’s policies:
1934 - 90% were in favour of Hilter taking over of Hindenburg’s powers when he died.
1936 - 99% supported the remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
1938 - 99% supported the Anschluss.

Question 13

What were the reasons for supporting the Nazi regime?

Answer 13

WG was very bad for German people and Nazis brought stability.
Unemployment fell and economic growth resumed by 1935.
Propaganda may have been effective to, created a positive image of Hitler.
Censorship prevented anything negative about the regime from spreading.

Question 14

What evidence is there of high support during wartime?

Answer 14

Until 1944, rations were in excess of the minimum calories required - extra rations were given at Christmas and for those in strenuous jobs.
Early victories in Poland, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium and France helped to maintain morale.
Hitler resisted Albert Speer’s calls later in the war to mobilise women.

Question 15

What is the evidence of declining support of the Nazi regime?

Answer 15

Working conditions were difficult.
Young people reacted negatively to the militarisation of the Hitler Youth after 1939.
Defeat in Stalingrad could not be covered up by the regime.
Allied bombing of German cities seems to have weakened morale in some areas. Killed 305,000 people, injured 780,000.

Question 16

What were the main opposition groups in the Nazi regime and how did they oppose?

Answer 16

The Edelweiss Pirates - youth groups, wore banned uniforms and attacked the Hitler youth while also holding their own activities for young people.
The Swing Youth - non-conformists who listened to American jazz and dressed in an unconventional manner.
The White Rose - a student group formed in Munich in 1942. They urged Germans to reject Nazi policies on ethical grounds by distributing leaflets and letters.

Question 17

What was the evidence of the terror that the Nazi’s used during their regime?

Answer 17

Sent undesirable people in concentration camps.
Secret police such as the SS and Gestapo.
People had no civil rights or freedom.
People were not free to express discontent or opposition to the Nazi’s in the plebiscites which were conducted in an atmosphere of intimidation.

Question 18

What were the Nazi racial policies?

Answer 18

Aimed to create a ‘racially pure’ master race. The racial strength of Aryan Germans were viewed as the key to establishing a strong Germany.
Anyone seen as racially inferior were classed as outsiders and persecuted. Bad news for the Jews

Question 19

Timeline of Nazi persecution of Jews?

Answer 19

1933 - boycott of Jewish shops and removal from the civil service.
1935 - Nuremburg Laws banned intermarriage and Jews removed from German citizenship.
1938 - violent attacks on Jews following the Anschluss, 45,000 Jews forced to emigrate. Kristallnacht, 25,000 Jewish men sent to concentration camps.

Question 20

What were the policies towards other outsider groups to Jews?

Answer 20

Gypsies - this group were first to be murdered due to racial identity.
Disabled people - Nazi’s wanted to be racially fit and the 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring permitted compulsory sterilisation.
Homosexuals - gay people were viewed as restricting Aryan breeding. 15,000 German gay people were imprisoned.

Question 21

What were Nazi ideas about women?

Answer 21

Believed that they should not work.
Women should focus upon their traditional roles as homemakers and childbearers.
This was due to the desire to breed a healthy master race and reducing the amount of working women would improve male unemployment.

Question 22

What were the Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 22

Loans could be obtained by married couples.
Maternity benefits and family allowances were improved, and taxes were reduced for those with children.
Contraception advise was restricted and anti-abortion laws were enforced.
To reduce female employment, women were banned from working in many professional industries, such as medicine and law.
Propaganda promoted idealised images of mothers.

Question 23

What were the results of the Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 23

Birth rate rose from 14.7 per 1,000 Germans in 1933 to 20.3 per 1,000 in 1939.
Proportion of women in the labour force decreased from 37% in 1933 to 33% in 1939. However, more women actually worked as the workforce expanded in this time. Rapid rearmament was not really feasible without female labour.
Rate of marriage did not increase significantly in the 1930s.

Question 24

What were Nazi ideas about children and education?

Answer 24

Children were essential to providing the future ‘master race’.
Nazis felt like they could be indoctrinated with Nazi ideas, education should be harnessed to served the state.

Question 25

What were Nazi educational policies?

Answer 25

Teachers were encouraged to join a Nazi Teachers’ League.
The curriculum was altered to reflect Nazi values, including a nationalist version of German history and, in biology, a focus on Nazi racial ideas.
The education system was also used to reinforce traditional gender roles.

Question 26

What were the Nazi youth organisations?

Answer 26

The Hitler youth was formed in 1926. Offered activities such as hiking and camping and also, increasingly, military training. Membership was made compulsory in 1939 which reduced its popularity.
The League of German Maidens organised sporting activities and camping trips as well as training girls in their role as future homemakers. During the war, the BDM volunteered to help with charity collections and in hospitals. Later, they were involved in anti-aircraft activities.

Question 27

What was the impact of Nazi policies towards children and education?

Answer 27

Decline in educational standards as they prioritised fitness and ideology instead of education.
Nazi youth organisations did expand opportunities for children but the increasingly compulsory nature alienated some who had initially been attracted to the Nazis. Edeilweiss Pirates opposed the youth organisations.

Question 28

What were the Nazi cultural policies?

Answer 28

Seen as a means to promote Nazi ideas.
Modern art was denounced and seen as degenerate and artistic endeavours were encouraged to promote Nazi racial ideals.
Anti-nazi authors were often banned or even burned, as in Berlin in May 1933.
Hitler encouraged the work of grand schemes of classical architecture, such as those designed by Albert Speer. Embodied the strength of the Nazi movement.

Question 29

How did Schacht improve job creation?

Answer 29

Public investment tripled and gov spending increased by 70% 1933-36.
The Reich Labour Service employed 19-25 year olds.
Public works schemes saw the construction of autobahns, houses and public buildings.
Armaments schemes also provided employment, as did agricultural schemes such as land reclamation projects.

Question 30

Were Schacht’s economic policies successful?

Answer 30

Unemployment fell and production increased by around 90% between 1932-36.
BUT, Schacht did not manage to solve the balance of payments. This left Germany short of foreign currency.

Question 31

What was the Four Year Plan, 1936?

Answer 31

Goering was placed in charge on the economy.
Aim was to prepare the economy for a major war.
Wanted to be more autarkic. So the plan involved increased production in agriculture and raw materials and the production of substitute materials, such as artificial rubber, to replace imports.
Massive expansion of armaments was planed.

Question 32

Was the Four Year Plan successful?

Answer 32

Massive rearmament occurred and in some areas huge expansion was achieved, but autarky was not achieved. By 1939, a third of raw materials were still imports, and targets were not achieved.

Question 33

How did the standard of living of farmers change in the years 1933-39?

Answer 33

Nazis protected farms by giving grants, reducing debt repayments and increasing tariffs on imported foods.
Initially, these measures improved the SoL of farmers, whose incomes rose by 41% between 1933-36.
BUT, wages still behind urban wages and from 1937 farm incomes stagnated again. Labour shortages and rising labour costs caused problems.

Question 34

How did the standard of living of workers change in the years 1933-39?

Answer 34

Mixed.
Job creation schemes helped to reduce unemployment and some of the Nazis’ benefit programmes improved SoL.
BUT, incomes in real terms declined and working hours increased.

Question 35

What was the German war economy like 1939-41?

Answer 35

Military expenditure doubled.
By 1941, 55% of the workforce was involved in projects related to war.
Despite these efforts, German productivity was below that of its enemies. Britain produced twice as many aircrafts and the USSR produced 2,600 more tanks.
Chaotic organisation hindered economic efficiency.

Question 36

What were Albert Speer’s policies?

Answer 36

Developed a central planning board to coordinate economic organisation.
Tried to exclude the military from economic planning.
Encouraged the employment of women.
Using concentration camp prisoners as labour.

Question 37

Where Albert Speer’s policies a success?

Answer 37

Ammunition production rose by 97%, tank production by 25% and total arms production by 59%.
War production trebled between 1942-44.
Raw materials were also used more efficiently and productivity per munitions worker increased by 60%.

Question 38

How did the German war economy contribute to their defeat?

Answer 38

Labour shortages.
Women were not fully mobilised.
Reliance on foreign workers who did not have high morale reducing productivity.
Shortages of raw materials - German substitutes did not compensate for this.
Allied bombing reduced the capacity of the German economy to expand further.