Radicalisation Of The State Flashcards
What were the three distinct phases in the development of the Nazi regime?
- Legal revolution (1933-34)
- Creating the new Germany (1934-37)
- Radicalisation of the state (1938-39)
Where was social Darwinism prominent?
Not just in Germany, all over 19th century Europe after the publishing of the origin on the species and Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
What is social Darwinism?
Applying Darwin’s theory of natural selection to humans to create pseudosciences and unscientific theories that could justify ideas of racial superiority and the theory of eugenics
Which countries applied social Darwinist theories before Germany?
. Imperialist powers such as Britain used social Darwinism to justify the advancement and ruling of ‘backwards’ colonial peoples
. In Sweden, there were a group of scientists seeking to eliminate disabilities through population planning and birth control
- these ideas influenced Nazi ideology
What was Hitler’s idea of a ‘biological struggle’ between different races?
Saw humanity as a hierarchy of races:
. Inferior races: Jews, black people and Slavs
. Herrenvolk (master race): Aryan people’s of Northern Europe
How strict was Hitler’s concept of social Darwinism?
He believed there could be no compromises or exceptions as the inferior races were ‘poisoning’ the purity of the Aryan race and were a deadly threat to the German volk
- conversion to Christianity or medals won in WW1 couldn’t make a difference to the purity of your ‘racial hygiene’
Who are the Untermenschen?
Impure Nazis that are inferior and sub-human. They threatened the existence of the master Race
How does the 25 point programme show there was always a racist Nazi plan from the start?
- Only those of German blood may be members of the nation
- could lead all Jewish rights to going out the window - Foreign nationals should be deported from the Reich if livelihood can’t be provided for all pure citizens
How was Nazi race theory used to justify outrageous ideas?
. Ideas of ‘racial hygiene’ justified the sterilisation of the mentally and physically disabled, the Roma and Sinti and other ‘racial undesirables’
. Himmler used the idea of ‘racial hygiene’ and eliminating the impure germs to justify the killing of Jewish women and children as well as men (policy of no exceptions)
Nazi propaganda helped make these pseudoscientific ideas appear convincing facts
How did Nazis believe impure races could ‘infect’ pure Germans?
Through inter-marriage with ‘degenerate races’, leading to a policy almost like selective breeding
What are eugenics?
A pseudoscience with the idea of selective breeding to ‘improve’ the human race
How did Nazi propaganda make eugenics seem convincing?
Measuring facial features and eye colour using tools and equipment that make it seems scientific
Often Nazis dressed in lab coats would make them seem more scientific
In truth, it was all just a pseudoscience that lacked any scientific rigour
What does the volksgemeinschaft translate to?
‘People’s community’
How was the concept of a national community in the Volksgemeinschaft twisted to support Nazi racial policies?
Anti-semitism and racial thinking made it exclusive to certain groups in Germany
What was the origins of the Volksgemeinschaft used for?
During WW1 as Germans rallied to support the war effort. Idea of uniting people across all classes to achieve a national purpose and identity (the concept got very twisted and exclusive by the Nazis)
What was the ‘Volk’ part of Volksgemeinschaft in Nazi policy?
‘Volk’ is the membership in the people’s community
To be a member of the ‘Volk’ you had to be a true German in terms of racial purity and loyalty to Germany
How did Nazi racial policy protect the members of the ‘Volk’?
Ruthlessly eliminating all un-German elements, especially Jews, to protect the ‘Volk’
How did Nazis decide to identify members of the ‘Volk’?
By identifying and eliminating racial enemies that needed to be excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft rather than identifying those who naturally belonged to it
- this is somewhat where Nazi policy of extermination and sterilisation came from
How was the Volk and Volksgenossen difference?
. The Volk are the entire collection of racially pure Germans, simply excluding the undesirables
. The Volksgenossen (‘national comrades’) were members of the Volk who were perfectly aligned with the goals of the Nazis state (Aryan race) and worthy of membership in the Volksgemeinschaft
Who were excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft?
. Political enemies
. ‘Asocials’
. Racial enemies:
- those of a different race (gypsies and Jews)
- those with hereditary defects such as disabilities or disease
Where did the origins of Lebensraum come from?
Late C.19, many European thinkers proposed opening up space for the expansion of populations of the superior white race (prioritising white populations to create living space for them)
How were Germans easily convinced and supportive of the idea of Lebensraum?
. There was already widespread support for the idea that Germany was already over-populated and the industrious German farmers needed more land
. Many Germans believed the destiny of Germany lay in the east, conquering the inferior Slav peoples of Poland and the former Russian empire to get access to fertile farmland and raw materials
How did Hitler twist the idea of Lebensraum to align with Nazi ideals and racial theory?
.Lebensraum wouldn’t just allow the ‘Germanisation’ of the eastern lands and bringing the ‘lost Germans’ back to the Reich
. It would importantly provide the battleground for a war of racial annihilation, wiping out the inferior Slav races and smashing Bolshevism in Russia
Why were disabled people excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft?
Their hereditary conditions were a threat to the future of the Aryan race
Where did Nazi thinking on disabilities come from?
The pseudoscience of eugenics which became influential in Europe and USA from late C.19, especially after WW1
How did eugenicists propose improving a race?
Through selective breeding e.g sterilisation of those with hereditary conditions
How had sterilisation been on the cards in Germany even before the Nazis were in power?
State gov in Prussia had drawn up a draft to allow voluntary sterilisation of people with hereditary conditions
How did the Nazis very quickly drive the idea of sterilisation forward?
July 1933 - Law for prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny (sterilisation law)
- compulsory sterilisation for certain categories of ‘inferiors’
- specified which ‘hereditary diseases’ sterilisation applied to
What were the examples of ‘hereditary diseases’ in the July 1933 sterilisation law?
. ‘Feeble-mindedness’
. ‘Epilepsy’
. ‘Chronic alcoholism’
. Hereditary blindness and deafness
How was the July 1933 sterilisation law later extended?
. To being allowed on children over 10 years, and the inviolable right to force the sterilisation after 14 years
. 2 years later, permitted abortions where people suitable for sterilisation were already pregnant
How were women Aryan vs non-Aryan treated in terms of sterilisation?
Non-Aryan: 1936 - x-ray sterilisation of women over 38 introduced due to higher risk of being born with disabilities
Aryan: ban on contraception and abortions for women and girls to increase birth rate of Aryan children
Where were decisions on sterilisation decisions made and what was wrong with them?
Hereditary health courts:
. Judges mostly all in favour of sterilisation policies
. Decision often took only 10 mins
