Nazi Germany-The Nazi Dictatorship Flashcards
What was the Reichstag Fire and why was it significant? (4)
- In 1933.
- Hitler called for new election during which the Reichstag burned down.
- Van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist, was found at the scene and arrested.
- Hindenburg declares a state of emergency and gave police powers to detain people without trial, arresting 4000 Communists
When was the Enabling Act and what was it?
- 1933.
- In elections 1933, Hitler got 44% largest party but he did not gain a majority/
- Hitler passed the Enabling Act after gaining support from the Catholic Party after promising to respect their religion and this act said that Hitler could make laws without the Reichstag for 4 years.
After the Enabling Act was granted, what did Hitler carry out? (3)
- Trade unions were banned to remove further opposition to the Nazi government and were replaced by the DAF- German Labour Front
- Banned all other political parties so by July 1933, Germany was a one-party state.
- Local gov was abolished.
Why was there a threat from Rohm and the SA? (2)
- Hitler feared Rohm’s power over the SA which has 1 million members.
- ## They argued about policies and who should control the army and SA were getting more violent and interfering with how the country should be run
What emergency measures for the March 1933 Election did Hitler carry out?
(5)
Was it successful?
1) Nazi party banned any communist meeting or newspaper publication.
2) Nazi party took control of the police force.
3) Nazi party imprisoned suspects without trial
4) 51 Nazi opponents were killed and hundreds injured.
To an extent because he did reduce opposition but because he still did not gain a majority and the Communist were the second biggest party as they still had 20%.
Why was Hitler struggling between the army and the SA? 4 adv and 3 dis for each
1) SA- Rohm was an old friend
2) SA had fought with Hitler and supported him eg Munich Putsch and against communists.
3) Committed Nazis= untested loyalty.
4) SA had grown to have over 2500000 men which was larger than the army
but they were violent, interfering with the country and if Hitler was to go with the SA, he’d have to go with other demands as well.
Army:
1) Trained, disciplined.
2) An organization that had the power to remove Hitler.
3) Had the support of businessmen and conservatives.
4) efficient army was needed to take back land lost to TOV
but army was small- 100,000 men, some generals disliked Nazis and Hitler and the loyalty is unknown.
What were the reasons for the purge?(3)
What happened in the Night of the Long Knives?(4)
Reasons:
- SA was increasingly out of control and like ‘overgrown children’ when Hitler was trying to establish dictatorship through legal methods.
- Rohm wanted a social revolutiom: to bring about a greater equality in society and he was very flamboyant and distracting.
- Leading Nazi such as Himler were concerned with Rohm’s growing influence and he wanted to replace the SA with his own SS.
- 1934.
- Himler( leader of the SS) told Hitler than Rohm was planning a coup. Hitler arrested Rohm
- Rohm, and 200 SA arrested an executed.
- von Schleicher executer.
- SA merged with the army.
What happened after the NOTLK? (4)
- rid of opposition.
- SA had a minor role.
- After Hindenburg died in Aug 1934, the army leaders swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler, giving him unconditional obedience.
- Hitler declared himself as Fuhrer, combine the post of Chancellor and President and he called a referendum and more than 90% of the votes (38 mill) agreed with his actions.
Who were the SS? (3)
Who were informers?
- led by Himmler, the SS was responsible for the removal of all opposition and became the main means of intimidating Germans into obedience.
- By 1934, more than 50,000 members, growing to 250,000 by 1939.
- Members had to be pure Aryan and physically strong.
Informers:
-every town was divided into small units called blocks which had a hanful of homes- local leaders were intended to act as the eyes and the ears of the Party.
Who were the SD?
1931
- the SD was the intelligence agency of the Nazi party led by Heydrich
- Main aim was to find actual and potential enemies of the Nazi Party and ensure that they were removed.
Give some features of the concentration camps? (3)
- 1933, the Nazis estabalished concentration camps to detail political prisoners- run by SS and SD.
- prisoners were classified into diff categories, each denoted by wearing a different coloured triangle eg black triangles were worn by vagrants nd red for political prisoners.
- 1939, there were more than 150,000 peoples under arrest for political offences and they had to do hard labour with little food and many people died
How did Nazi control the legal system?(3)
- All judges had to become members of the National Socialist League for the Maintenance of Law = Nazi views were upheld in courts.
- 1934, People’s Court was established to try cases of treason and the judges were loyal Nazis and work swastikas
- Lawyers had to swear that they would ‘follow the course of the Fuhrer”.
What were Nazi policies towards the Protestant church? (2)
- Reich Church was established, which combined all Protestant Church under the leadership of Bishop Muller
- Protestants adopted Nazi style uniform, salute and marches. As they were less organised, they were more easy to control.
What were Nazi policies towards the Catholic Church (4)
- 1933 Concordat was agreed and Hitler would leave the Catholic Church alone and they would not comment on the Nazi policies.
- Catholics owned their first allegiance to the Pope before Hitler and they were a large majority therefore there were divided loyalties so Hitler had to reduce the influence of the church
- Within a year, Hitler broke his policies and broke the agreement;
- Catholic schools were made to remove Christian symbols and were eventually aboloished
- Catholic youth movement were shut down.
How much opposition was there from the churches? Give 2 facts each for Protestant and Catholics.
1) Pastor Niemoller- Pro- Nazis more prominent crtic with Church leaders- disliked the German Christians’ and the Nazis. Formed a ‘confessional church’- 1938, sent to a cc yet he survived.
2) Paul Schneider- Prote- he criticsed the Nazis, esp Goebells and oppose propaganda- cc, where he was tortured and whipped.
3) Cardinal Glen- publically attacked the Nazi policies and revealed that Nazis were secretly killing mentally and physically handicapped people- campaigns- nothing was done since he was a Cardinal and too powerful.
4) Josef Fath: Catholic- he exposed how teachers and leaders of Hitler Youth were luring Young people away from Catholic beliefs.
