Nazi Germany and Its People - Living in Nazi Germany

Question 1

What was the Nazi view on women?

Answer 1

The Nazis viewed women as important as men, but in a subservient role. They believed it was a woman’s role to be a housewife and mother. Women should not work but stay home, and their lives should revolve around ‘Kinder, Kűche, Kirche’, or ‘children, kitchen, church’.

Question 2

What were the aims of Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 2

• To give up their jobs.
• To stay at home.
• The most important aim was to have children and raise a ‘master race’ which would make Germany stronger.

Question 3

How should a women look according to the Nazis?

Answer 3

The Nazis believed women should look natural and the ideal woman would be Aryan. This meant they should wear simple, practical clothes, have their hair in plaits or a bun, and wear flat shoes. Women should not wear makeup or smoke.

Question 4

How did Nazi propaganda target women?

Answer 4

Nazi propaganda targeted women by promoting the message that a women’s role was that of a housewife and mother. The perfect women would look natural and have a large family.

Question 5

What organisations were set up by the Nazis for women?

Answer 5

The German Women’s Enterprise would control the 230 women’s organisations that existed in Germany by uniting them into one group. The women’s organisations would have to join the German Women’s Enterprise or be shut down. The new organisation gave classes on household topics and the skills of motherhood.

Question 6

How did the Nazis encourage women to marry?

Answer 6

Women were encouraged to marry by the Nazis. The party introduced the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage in 1933. This offered loans of 1,000 marks to couples. For each of the first four children, the couple could keep a quarter of the loan.

Question 7

How did the Nazis encourage women to have children?

Answer 7

• Family allowances were made available to those on low incomes.
• The Nazis set up the Lebensborn, or Fountain of Life, programme. This involved women having a child with a member of the SS.
• Rewards were given to women that had large families. The Mother’s Cross was awarded on Hitler’s mother’s birthday, 12th August. A bronze medal was awarded for four or five children. If a women had six or seven children, she received the silver medal. Gold was reserved for eight or more.
• The law was changed in 1938 to allow divorce if a husband or wife could not have children. This led to an increase in divorce rates by 1939.

Question 8

How did the Nazis encourage women to stay at home?

Answer 8

• They banned women from entering certain professions. For example, women were forbidden from medicine, working as a civil servant and teaching from 1933 and banned from the legal system from 1936.
• They used propaganda to persuade women to stay home and focus on ‘Kinder, Kűche, Kirche’, or ‘children, kitchen, church’.
• Educational opportunities were restricted by controlling the curriculum at school and universities were restricted in how many women they could accept. Only 10% of the enrolled students could be women.

Question 9

How effective were Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 9

• Many women did respond positively to the policies, giving up their jobs and having more children in order to be awarded the Cross of Honour of the German Mother.
• Other women were not entirely convinced, and missed their jobs and other aspects of their pre-Nazi lives.
• However, the effectiveness was nevertheless short-lived when the war broke out in 1939, as there became the need for women to return to work.
• The number of female workers increased from five million in 1933 to seven million in 1939.

Question 10

Did the role of women change during the Second World War in Nazi Germany?

Answer 10

• Although the Nazis believed a woman’s place was in the home, women were needed in industry to fill the shortages left by men joining the armed forces.
• There were two ways the role of women changed during the Second World War.
• From June 1941, women who had previously been in paid work and had no children were ordered to register for work.
• From 1943, with the introduction of ‘total war’, all women aged between 17 and 45 had to register. This brought half a million women into the workforce.
• By 1945, women made up 60% of the workforce.
• It also affected them psychologically, such as living with the constant fear of hearing a loved one had died or dealing with food shortages.

Question 11

What was the Nazi view on the young?

Answer 11

Nazi policy towards the young was focused on shaping the youth into the Nazis of tomorrow.

Question 12

What were the aims of the Nazi policy towards the young?

Answer 12

• To create future generations of loyal Nazi Party supporters.
• To ensure children were strong and healthy so they would produce children of their own.
• To prepare them for their future roles, girls as housewives and mothers, and boys as soldiers and workers.

Question 13

What organisations did the Nazis set up for the young?

Answer 13

The Nazis set up a National Socialist German Students’ League.

Question 14

When were the Nazi youth groups set up?

Answer 14

The National Socialist German Students’ League was formed in 1926.

Question 15

When were the Nazi youth groups made compulsory?

Answer 15

In March 1939 it became compulsory for each child to join the relevant Nazi youth group.

Question 16

What Nazi youth organisations were there for boys?

Answer 16

• Little Fellows, or Pimpfe, for six to ten year olds.
• German Young People, or Deutsche Jungvolk, for ten to 14 year olds.
• Hitler Youth, or Hitler Jugend, for 14 to 18 year olds.

Question 17

What were the activities for boys in the Hitler Youth during the Nazi regime?

Answer 17

In the Hitler Youth the boys received political training on Nazi beliefs and views, physical training such as hiking and sports, and military training such as map skills and weapons training.

Question 18

What Nazi youth organisations were there for girls?

Answer 18

• Young Maidens, or Jungmädel, for 10 to 14 years olds.
• League of German Maidens, or Bund Deutscher Mädel, for 14 to 21 year olds.

Question 19

What activities did young girls do in the League of German Maidens youth group in Nazi Germany?

Answer 19

In the League of German Maidens, girls received political training on Nazi ideas, physical training such as sports, and training on how to be a mother and housewife, such as learning cooking skills.

Question 20

How effective were Nazi policies towards the youth?

Answer 20

• Some children loved the Hitler Youth and fully embraced Nazi ideals. There are even examples of children informing the Gestapo about their parents and teachers.
• Other children weren’t as enthusiastic and hated the activities and ideals. The fact attendance of the Hitler Youth had to be made compulsory demonstrates this.
• Some went as far as to actively protest against the regime, such as the White Rose Group and the Edelweiss Pirates. The Nazis were unable to indoctrinate all young people in Germany.

Question 21

What was the Nazi view of education?

Answer 21

Nazi education policy was designed to make children loyal to the Nazi regime in preparation for their future roles in the state. Policies in education affected many aspects of young people’s lives.

Question 22

What were the aims of Nazi education policies?

Answer 22

Nazi education policies aimed to create a new generation of Nazis loyal to Hitler and believing in Nazi ideas.

Question 23

How were teachers controlled by the Nazis education policies?

Answer 23

• The Nazis passed a law so that they could dismiss any teacher in April 1933. This enabled them to remove all ‘unsuitable’ teachers from schools.
• All teachers had to join the Nazi Teachers’ Association or League. The League ran teacher-training courses to teach them Nazi ideas.
• Teachers had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler.

Question 24

How was the curriculum in education controlled by the Nazis?

Answer 24

• They banned some subjects, such as religious education, and added new ones such as race studies. This taught children about the Nazi belief in the inferiority of some races.
• All educational books had to be rewritten from a Nazi point of view. History books glorified Germany’s past and taught children that the country’s defeat in the First World War was the fault of socialists, communists and the Jews.
• The number of physical education classes was increased, so students had at least five hours of PE a week.
• Girls and boys studied different subjects. Girls had to study ‘domestic science’ which included cooking and sewing lessons.

Question 25

How were the textbooks in education controlled by the Nazis?

Answer 25

All textbooks had to be approved by the Nazis from 1935. Hitler’s book ‘Mein Kampf’, or ‘My Struggle’, was made compulsory in every school.

Question 26

How were Jewish students treated in education by the Nazis?

Answer 26

Jewish children were regularly humiliated and made to sit at the back of the class, until they were banned from going to school completely in 1938.

Question 27

What was the role of the Adolf Hitler Schools in Nazi education?

Answer 27

Any talented boys aged between 12 and 18 were sent to Adolf Hitler Schools.

Question 28

What did the Nazis do to reduce unemployment?

Answer 28

When Hitler became chancellor there were 6 million Germans unemployed. The Nazis introduced policies aimed at reducing unemployment, including the Reich Labour Service, rearmament and building projects such as the autobahns.

Question 29

Why did the Nazis aim to reduce unemployment?

Answer 29

The Nazis introduced policies to reduce unemployment because having people out of work was potentially dangerous to Hitler politically and the unemployed were seen as not contributing to society.

Question 30

What was the Reich Labour Service set up by the Nazis and how did it help unemployment?

Answer 30

• It was set up in 1933.
• It gave all unemployed men public work to do, such as maintaining roads and planting trees.
• It paid the men a small amount of money.
• It was compulsory which meant all young men aged 18 to 25 had to serve for at least six months.
• It was not popular with the young men because of the low wages and the work was considered to be boring.

Question 31

How did the Nazi public works programme help reduce unemployment?

Answer 31

• Planting trees.
• Building autobahns (motorways).
• Building new schools and hospitals.
• Building and improving sport facilities e.g Berlin Olympic Stadium.
• Draining marshes to create farmland.

Question 32

How did the Nazi autobahns project help reduce unemployment?

Answer 32

Hitler set up the autobahn (or motorway) project in 1933, hoping to build 7,000 miles of roads. By 1935, 125,000 men were working on the project. It helped by giving unemployed men a job to do and improving transportation links.

Question 33

How did Nazi rearmament help reduce unemployment?

Answer 33

• In 1933, Hitler broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles by secretly introducing conscription. It was publically announced in 1935.
• 1.3 million men were serving in Germany’s armed forces by 1939.
• This resulted in the growth in supporting industries such as those that made uniforms, weapons and arms.

Question 34

What was ‘invisible unemployment’ under the Nazis?

Answer 34

• Young men were not counted when they did their six-month service in the RAD.
• Women who were forced to give up their jobs were not counted.
• Jews who were forced to give up their jobs were not counted.
• People imprisoned in concentration camps were not counted.
• Men conscripted into the army were not counted.

Question 35

What were the disadvantages of the Nazi policies to reduce unemployment?

Answer 35

• Invisible unemployment existed. Women, Jews and people in concentration camps were not counted in official unemployment figures.
• The policies cost money and the Nazi government was in debt. In 1933, for example, the government spent 18 billion marks on public works; this increased to 38 billion marks in 1938.
• The Nazis exaggerated their success.

Question 36

What were the positive results of the Nazi policies to reduce unemployment?

Answer 36

• According to official government figures, the Nazis’ policies did reduce unemployment by more than four million.
• Most men who weren’t Jewish or in a concentration camp were in work.
• Some businesses benefitted from increased investment and opportunities.
• Large businesses benefitted from wage restrictions and there being no trade unions.
• Public works programmes provided better transport, services and homes.

Question 37

What was the Reich Labour Front?

Answer 37

The Labour Front, or Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), was the Nazi trade union. It was created to replace independent trade unions when they were made illegal by Hitler.

Question 38

When was the Reich Labour Front set up?

Answer 38

The DAF was set up in May 1933.

Question 39

Why was the Reich Labour Front set up?

Answer 39

The DAF was set up to control workers and employers.

Question 40

What organisations were a part of the Reich Labour Front?

Answer 40

The organisations Strength Through Joy and Beauty of Labour were part of the DAF.

Question 41

What benefits did the Reich Labour Front bring?

Answer 41

DAF did protect workers, as it set out their rights in the workplace, placed a maximum on the number of hours worked and a minimum on wages.

Question 42

What were the disadvantages of the Reich Labour Front?

Answer 42

The negatives of the DAF were that workers lost their right to strike, negotiate their wages and working conditions with their employer, and could be punished if they disrupted production.

Question 43

What happened to the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 43

For some people it improved and they benefitted but for others it did not.

Question 44

How did employment change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 44

• More people were in work in Nazi Germany so they had wages. New jobs were created building autobahns, hospitals and schools, and within the military.
• However, those not in work, like the Jews, did not see an increase in their standard of living and did not benefit.

Question 45

How did wages change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 45

• Overall, wages increased compared to 1933; there was a 20% increase by 1939 so that the average weekly wages rose from 86 marks in 1932 to 109 marks in 1939.
• However, it depended on your job. Those in the Reich Labour Service were not paid much.

Question 46

How did prices of goods change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 46

The price of goods affected the standard of living. Wages increased by about 20% between 1933 and 1939, but so too did the price of food. Therefore, workers did not benefit.

Question 47

How did working hours change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 47

The number of hours Germans worked each week increased to 49 by 1939; 6 more than in 1933. Thus, workers did not really have a pay rise, and did not benefit.

Question 48

How did the Labour Front change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 48

• It worked to protect the rights of workers as it placed a maximum on the number of hours worked and a minimum on wages.
• However, workers also lost their right to go on strike and ability to negotiate their wages.

Question 49

How did Strength Through Joy change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 49

• It provided cheap leisure activities including films, theatre shows, outings and sports events. Many people benefitted from this.
• However, KDF also meant that people’s leisure time was being controlled by the Nazi party. Some resented this level of interference in their lives.

Question 50

How did Beauty of Labour change the standard of living in Nazi Germany?

Answer 50

• It campaigned for better working conditions and facilities, such as better toilets.
• Workers often had to carry out the improvements themselves in their own time and without being paid for the work they did.

Question 51

How did the standard of living change in Nazi Germany?

Answer 51

There is evidence to suggest that some people did benefit from Nazi rule and their standard of living improved, but many’s did not.

Question 52

In what ways did the standard of living improve in Nazi Germany?

Answer 52

• Non-Jewish small businesses benefitted when the Nazis banned new department stores from opening up as it limited their competition. They were also helped when Jewish businesses were closed down.
• Farmers benefitted as some farm debts were written off.
• Big business benefitted from the government’s investment in the armaments industry. They were helped by the restrictions placed on trade union activity.
• Unemployment was reduced. Unskilled workers gained work through the public works programmes.
• Working conditions improved through the activities of the Beauty of Labour scheme.
• Strength through Joy offered cheap leisure activities and cheap holidays.
• Young people benefitted from the camaraderie and training provided in the Hitler Youth, as well as an increase in their health and fitness.
• Women’s role within the home was respected and Aryan women were given rewards if they had multiple children.
• People accepted giving up some freedoms in return for greater economic stability.

Question 53

In what ways did the standard of living not improve in Nazi Germany?

Answer 53

• Between 1936 and 1939 the number of small businesses decreased.
• Farmers objected to government interference and struggled to find enough workers.
• Larger businesses objected to Nazi interference in all aspects of business life, such as price controls.
• Unemployment benefit was higher than the wages for unskilled workers so there was little incentive to work. Their working week also increased from 43 to 49 hours by 1939.
• If you belonged to any of the groups the Nazis persecuted or forced out of a job, your standard of living was much lower.
• Unemployed men aged between 18 and 25 resented being forced to join the Reich Labour Services. The jobs were difficult and it was run along military lines with a uniform and strict discipline.
• Strength through Joy activities were controlled by the Nazis. Therefore, people were not free to choose where to go on holiday and activities were limited.
• Many women were forced to give up their jobs and resented this.
• Because trade unions were banned people lost their democratic voice and their ability to influence change in their working conditions. Workers had no rights.
• Food prices went up and there were fewer consumer goods to buy.
• Many people objected to Nazi indoctrination, and the level of control the Nazis had in their lives.

Question 54

How did the standard of living in Nazi Germany change when the Second World War broke out?

Answer 54

When war was declared, the standard of living changed. Women were called back into work and work schemes changed to focus on increased production of weapons. More men were also conscripted and working hours increased, too.