Section 3.1 - Hitler's "National Community" 1933-1941 Flashcards
1
Q
Gleichschaltung
A
- “bringing into line” of the German institutions, either through abolishing or Nazifying
mainly taking place from 1933-1934
Done through
- banning the SPD and KPD while pressuring the other parties to dissolve, and then introducing a law that made the formation of new parties illegal in July 1933
- replacing trade unions in May 1933
2
Q
Violence and terror
A
- Hundreds of socialists and communists murdered by the SA
- Heinrich Himmler’s SS took over security and created concentration camps to house political prisoners and those in contempt of the Volksgemeinshaft
- Monitored the Catholic church/priests while taking over the Protestant one and fitting it into Nazi rule
3
Q
Night of the long knives
A
30th of June 1934
- Ordered the murder of over 50 SA leaders and past foes
- SA began to think independently and wanted to merge
with the Army
- Leaders of the SA took the socialist elements of the party
seriously and were a threat to progression
4
Q
Propaganda and Volksgemeinshaft
A
Goebbels declared minister of propaganda
- Tried to create a sense of unity among Germans and the Nazis
- Personality cult around Hitler created, posed as the master builder behind the Volksgemeinshaft
- Rallies, marches and parades common to create the image of support behind Hitler. Such events as the Munich Putsch anniversary, Founding of the Nazi party day and Day of power seizure were coined and celebrated
- Winter programme introduced as a charity programme for poorer families, creating a sense of National community
- Nazi radio broadcasts common, providing everyone with a “people’s receiver”, while also using cinema to promote Nazism
- People wanting to work in media were required to be a member of the chamber of culture, without which nothing could be published
5
Q
Popular culture and the KdF
A
- KdF designed to replace unions/SPD and KPD while selling the working classes Volksgemeinshaft
- Wide range of sports leagues, choirs and evening classes etc
- KdF also came up with original initiatives such as sponsoring cheap tourism and opportunities for travel abroad - giving the working class opportunities previously only available to the rich
- Launched in 1938 the Volkswagen scheme generated over 300,000 people’s interest as for only 5 marks a week a privately owned car could be bought, however this was scrapped after the war broke out
6
Q
Dates of Jewish persecution
A
- One day boycotts
- 10th May 1933 Book burning
- 15th of September Nuremberg Laws
- April 1938 Beginnings of Goering’s Aryanisation policy
- 9th November 1938 Kristallnacht
7
Q
Volksgemeinshaft exclusions
A
- Had to be of Aryan blood, so Jews and Gypsies were excluded
- Jews seen as an evil race, not a religious group
- Hitler accused the Bolshevik takeover to be of Jewish manipulation, Germany’s financial industry to be tainted by Jewish control and corruption - while also that Germany’s loss in the war had been down to Jewish doing
- Claims used to justify the persecution
8
Q
Persecution of Germany’s Jews
A
- Throughout Spring 1933 the SA was responsible for lots of damage and assault on Jewish people, Hitler then organising the persecution more with boycotts and making it illegal to be a non-Aryan in the civil service or government
- After SA pressure following the murder of its leaders, Hitler announced 2 new laws in 1935
- Reich Citizenship law deprived Jews of German nationality
- Law for the protection of German blood and honour made
marriage and pre-marital sex between Germans and Jews illegal
- Anti-Semitism was scaled down during the 1936 Olympics in effort to avoid distraction from the German physical superiority and success
9
Q
Germany’s Jewish community
A
- 1933 only 0.7 percent of Germany’s population was Jewish
- Germany’s Jews were not dominant in any particular sector or industry but many were in middle class professions such as teachers, medicine, law and journalism
- Many Jews had fought and died in the war, while their community remained assimilated in society
10
Q
Difference of approach in the persecution of the Jews
A
Himmler
- Preferred the route of terrorising Jews into leaving Germany
Goering
- Favoured the idea of stripping the Jews of everything they owned to grow Germany
Goebbels
- orchestrated Kristallnacht to destroy much of Jewish business/culture/morale
11
Q
Kristallnacht
A
1938 November 9th
- Framed to be the reaction to the murder of a German diplomat in Paris to a Jewish man
- 90 killed, hundreds assaulted, 200 synagogues burned, 8000 Jewish businesses burned
- Triggered the introduction of many anti-Jewish laws, meaning businesses could no longer be run by Jews and a collective fine of a billion marks was placed upon the collective Jewish population, while 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps
12
Q
Development of genocide
A
- As a result of the invasions of Poland and Russia, a population of over 5 million Jews were now under German mercy
- In occupied Poland and Russia the Nazis could operate out of public view, unobserved by many who had been aware of events in Germany
- Starting in September 1939, SS Einsatzgruppen followed German armies into Poland - their task being to eliminate potential resisters (many being Jewish)
- From late 1939 onwards, Polish Jews were herded into ghettoes until the Nazi leadership had come up with a plan to deal with them. Over a million Jews died in these due to malnutrition and disease
- In Summer 1941 the Einsatzgruppen then followed the invasion into Russia, now specifically targeting Jews and eventually killing over a million through mass shootings
- Hitler never signed anything authorising any form of this persecution, but undoubtedly organised all of it
13
Q
The “Final solution”
A
- Decided that every Jew in Nazi territory should be rounded up and sent to extermination camps such as Auschwitz
- Himmler summoned top officials to Wannasee outside Berlin to be briefed in January 1942
- The total death toll of the holocaust comes to around 6 million Jews
14
Q
Roma and Sinti gypsies
A
- Around 35,000 strong, put into the same category as Jews when it came to Volksgemeinshaft
- Stereotyped as work shy and criminal, many were sent to concentration camps as early as 1933
- Estimates of the death toll in concentration camps is between 220,000 and 500,000 from victims all across Europe
15
Q
Disabled people
A
- Mentally ill and physically disabled deemed genetically defective, a burden on society and excluded from Volksgemeinshaft
- View was based on the popular eugenics movement that advocated exclusion and selective breeding
- Views specified in Mein Kampf and from 1933 onwards over 400,000 people were sterilised
- In 1939 the T-4 programme was launched and over 70,000 seriously mentally ill patients in hospitals were euthanized
