Radicalisation of the state Flashcards
Between 1933 to 1934 state the best way to describe Nazi radicalisation of the state
Policy of gradualism
-consolidating political and legal control over state and society
Who were to be excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft?
-Ideological Opponents e.g Communists
-Asocials “Arbeitsscheu” e.g homosexuals
-Biologically inferior “Untermenschen” e.g jews, people with disabilities etc
What was the German name for Asocials?
Arbeitsscheu
What was the German name for biologically inferior?
Untermenschen
How were ideological opponents removed from the “People’s community” in the early years of the radicalisation of the state?
Mainly through the process of Gleichschaltung and early persecution of political opponents
e.g “Decree for the protection of the People and State” = KPD outlawed and freedom of speech and assembly suspended
e.g Trade unions abolished May 1933
e.g June 1933 SPD outlawed as a “party hostile to the nation and the state”
e.g 14th July 1933 Law against the formation of New Parties
How were Freemasons dealt with by Nazi regime?
-Freemason ideology did not fit with Nazi ideas
-Nazi’s claimed Freemasons were apart of Jewish conspiracy
-August 1935 masonic activity was formally outlawed
-1000s of Masons imprisoned and murdered in camps
How were Religious groups co-ordinated into the Nazi regime?
-Many religious groups co-operated
Churches agreed to display Swastika flag and end Church services saying heil Hitler
What group was the only group to stand against Nazi regime?
Jehovah Witnesses
30,000 members in Germany
Refused to take oath of loyalty to Hitler
They sew persecution by the Nazi’s as a test of faith, which in turn made them more resistant
By 1945 how many Jehovah Witnesses were imprisoned?
10,000
What happened in September 1933?
Beggars Week
10,000 beggars taken into custody
What did the Minister of Interior issue in December 1937?
Decree authorising the “preventative detention” of asocials
Between April-June 1938 how many workshy were arrested and deported to concentration camps?
=national campaign
11,000
State some polices towards homosexuals in the Nazi state
1933- forced closure of gay bars in cities
May 1933-Nazi attacked Institute of Sex Research
June 1935-New legislation hardens punishment for same sex relations to up to 10 years hard labour
1936-Himmler established the Reich Central Office for Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion
10,000 arrested during 1930s and 15,000 sent to concentration camps, where forced to wear pink triangle
Extreme Radicalisation by 1942= forced castration to “cure” prisoners
What was the concept of social Darwinism?
-widely supported theory in late 19th and 20th century
-used to justify European Imperialism
-Nazi’s believed in social Darwinism and existence of a hierarchy of races and concept of a “master race”
What was the theory of Eugenics?
Scientifically inaccurate theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations
Key figure in the movement, Sir Francis Gatton coined the phrase “Eugenics”
By 1920’s = global movement
e,g before Nazi’s most popular in USA
California introduced sterilisation laws before WW1 with 64,000 people being forcibly sterilised between 1907 and 1963
What was the Nazi policy towards those with disabilities?
Labelled as “Lebensunwertes Leben”= life unworthy of life
14 July 1933- Passes “Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Progeny” =sterilisation
law amended in 1935, to allow abortions of women who were deemed to need to be sterilised
Between 1933 and 1945, 400,000 people were forcibly sterilised
What is the German Nazi phrase for “life unworthy of life”?
Lebensunwertes Leben
Between 1933 and 1945 how many people were forcibly sterilised?
400,000
What was the T4 programme?
Set up by Dr Bouhler and Doctor Brandt
= murder of children with disabilities by lethal injection or starvation
begun after letter from a father in Spring 1939 talking about “This creature”
What happened to the T4 programme on 24th August 1941?
Hitler suspended programme, where a total of over 70,000 people had already been murdered - however only paused
In all phases of the T4 programme how many people had been murdered by 1945?
Over 250,000
What were the Nazi policies towards the Roma and Sinti?
1936- SS set up Reich Central Office for the Fight against the Gypsy Nuisance
1938- Himmler directive -“The struggle against the Gypsy Plague”
During WW11, increased deportation into concentration camps and ultimately murder by 1943
Genocide against the Roma and Sinti called “Porrajmos” (the devouring) led to the estimated death of 250,000
