Nazis 33-39

Question 1

Plebiscites

Answer 1

• Regular referenda helped to create a climate of ‘plebiscitary acclamation’ (Kershaw)
• Hitler renewed his madate through plebiscites, rather than the Reichstag
• 99% approval for remilitarising the Rhineland and Anschluss
• 90% supported Hitler taking over Hinenburg’s powers

Question 2

Lack of opposition

Answer 2

• Very little overt opposition
• Plots against Hitler came from lone individuals such as Georg Elser, or groups in the elite, such as the one orchestrated by General Beck in 1938

Question 3

Collaboration

Answer 3

-Gellately has argues the regime was a ‘consensus dictatorship’ because it relied so heavily on collaboration from German people

• There was no extensive Gestapo network (21 officers covered the metropolitan area of Wurzberg). The organisation was overstretched
• These officers did not have the time to mount surveillance against lots of people - relied heavily on denunciations
• Repression was not as extensive as sometimes thought
• Only around 4000 people, mainly a-socials, were held in concentration camps in 1935. The use of concentration camps was widely known about and supported by many germans in the 1930s

Question 4

Evidence of popular policies

Answer 4

• Unemployment 1 million in Jan 1935, economic growth returned
• Strength through joy allowed working calss people to enjoy holidays e.g 28,500 Siemens workers in Berlin were able to take a holiday through the programme
• The army managed to successfully remilitarise the Rhineland in 1936 and unite with Austria in 38
• Nazi social policies also benefitted certain groups of people e.g Pregnant women given free healthcare and by 1938, 2.5 million families benefitted from increased benefits for larger families

Question 5

Impact of propaganda

Answer 5

• Newspaper editors were censored and were accountable to the Propaganda Ministry for what they published
• Newspapers received daily press briefings
• Content of newreels was controlled
• Radio used to propagate Nazi messages
• Nuremburg Rally became a showcase for Nazi power
• Nazi organisations such as Hitler Youth and the Nazi Women’s League were used to promote Nazi ideas
• Level of propaganda undermines idea of consensus dictatorship - people were manipulated into supported regime, did not do so freely
• Propaganda was most effective when it built upon existing prejudices - was not successful in creating a unified society based around a Nazi Volksgemeinschaft

Question 6

Hitler Myth

Answer 6

• Goebbels worked to create an image of Hitler as a saviour of Germany
• Hitler was shown in a light reminiscent of Jesus or a modern day Teutonic Knight
• The Myth associated Hitler with the popular aspects of the regime such as the 1936 Olympics and foreign policy, whilst distancing him from everyday politics
• Hitler was seen as a representative of the entire nation who stood above politics
• ‘If only the Fuhrer knew’

Question 7

Opposition and non-conformity

Answer 7

• Broszat found in his Bavaria Report that there was widespread opposition to the Nazi state
• Came in the form of civil disobedience and non-conformity to Nazi ideals that Broszat coined Resistenz
• e.g Refusing to give Nazi salute, listening to swing music, buying goods from Jewish shops
• Did not translate into a desire to overthrow the state, and dissatisfaction was usually focused on economic issues such as working hours
• Hofer argues that Broszat has overestimated the effect of Resistenz as it did not have any effect on Nazi policy

-Peukert argues there was little active resistance, a little protest and significant levels of non conformity

Question 8

Terror against the left

Answer 8

• One reason for the lack of opposition was the scale of brutal repression directed against the left in 1933
• SA broke up SPD meetings and arrested, imprisoned, and murdered members of the KPD and SPD
• In 1933, 200,000 were detained in concentration camps
• Believing they had crushed the left, 1/3 were released in May 33, and most of the remaining ones in August 1934

Question 9

Terror State

Answer 9

• Civil rights and freedoms lost
• Law in April 1933 made seeking constitutional change and treasonable offence
• From 1936, head of SS, Himmler, was in charge of the full state security apparatus.
• COurts used ot suppress opposition: 1935, 5000 convincted of high treason
• Small Gestapo force was supplemented by network of informers and Block Wardens who monitored local areas
• Gleichschaltung meant the Nazis were in control of most aspects of the State

-Between 1936 ad 1939, numbers held in concentration camps nearly tripled

Question 10

Evidence of a chaotic and polycratic state

Answer 10

• No clear decision making process or lines of accountability
• Structures often duplicated and overlapping
• Parts of the Nazi state were able to build up vast power and often competed with one another for dominance. Nazi Party bureaucracy often competed with government ministries and the Gauleiters
• Structuralist historians such as Broszat and Mommsen argue that Hitler was a weak dictator
• 1935 Nuremburg Laws were introduced following pressure from local Nazi organisations. Hitler annouced them last minute at the Nuremburg Rally
• Kristallnacht in 1938 was organised by Goebbels, Hitler only authorised
• Hitler only authorised Aktion T4 after it was brought to his attention by Nazi officials

Question 11

Evidence of Hitler being strong

Answer 11

• 1936, Hitler personally took the decision to remilitarise the Rhineland against the advice of his generals, and he was instrumental in organising Anschluss
• It was Hitler’s decision to push forward with an expansionist policy in Eastern Europe as shown in his 1936 Four Year Plan., urging the creation of a Wehrwirtschaft (war economy).
• Hitler had power over the army, as shown after the Hossbach meeting of 1937 where he presented his plan for war. Two senior military figures, Fritsch and Blomberg expressed reservations, and Hitler quickly arranged their dismissal.

Question 12

Evidence of working towards the Fuhrer

Answer 12

• Goering attempted to enact Hitler’s aim f a Wehrwirtschaft as Plenipotentiary of the Office for the Four Year Plan in 1936. Meanwhile, Schacht, the economics Minister, was sidelined as he did not want to devote the level of resources towards rearmament that Hitler wanted. He was ultimately replaced by Funk.
• Goebbels orchestrated Kristallnacht partly because he was out of favour with Hitler following an affair with a Czech actress. Kristallnacht was Geobbels’ attempt to win favour by ‘working towards the fuhrer’
• In pursuing Aktion T4, Bouhler was working towards Hitler’s idea of a racially pure society.

Question 13

Reasons for working towards the fuhrer

Answer 13

• Ideologically centered, based on idea of Fuhrerprinzip
• People may have sought to please the Fuhrer to advance their careers
• Hitler myth had such power that some people saw him as a messianic figure who could save Germany, and therefore wished to work to enact this vision

Question 14

Cumulative radicalisation

Answer 14

• With an absence of legal restraints, the aim of working towards the Fuhrer became increasingly radical, with less and less regard for human life.
• Mommsen coined term cumulative radicalisation
• Through this, the Nazi state became more dominated by the SS police system, with racial and foreign policy becoming progressively more extreme.