Section 4 The Nazi Dictatorship

Question 1

What were Hitler’s government and administrative changes?

Answer 1

-For Hitler and his Nazi party, the coming to power in January 1933 was the beginning of a national socialist revolution. For Hitler this meant the conquest of political power. Many Nazis, however, especially the SA, had a very different view of the Nazi revolution
-This was to cause continuing tensions between Hitler and the SA during the early months of the Nazi regime
-For Hitler, the Nazi revolution began with acquiring dictatorial power, and then continued with the elimination of non Nazi political parties and other independent organisations, together with Nazi control over the i

Question 2

What was the creation of a one party state?

Answer 2

-Hitler viewed conventional political parties with contempt, seeing them as mere election machines, which represented narrow, sectional interests rather than the interests of the nation as a whole
-He claimed that the Nazi party was the ‘racial core’ of the entire German people. Although it’s members were a minority of the population, even after a surge in party membership in 1933, Hitler believed it was nevertheless made up of superior Germans and was committed to fighting and sacrificing on behalf of the entire German people
-In the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft, therefore, there could be no parties other than the Nazi party
-By the middle of July 1933, this ambition had become a reality

Question 3

What were the stages of creating a one party state?

Answer 3

-The KPD was effectively banned after the Reichstag fire in February. Most of the communists who had not been arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps had fled into exile
-Having stood up to Hitler in the Reichstag debate on the Enabling act in March, the SPD continued to voice its opposition to the regime until it was outlawed as a ‘party hostile to the nation and the state’ on 22nd June 1933
-Realizing that their days as political parties were numbered, the dnvp and the centre party dissolved themselves- the dnvp on 27th June and the centre party on 5th July
-On 14th July 1933, the law against the formation of new parties outlawed all non nazi political parties

Question 4

How did the Nazis get centralisation of power and control over local government?

Answer 4

-The Weimar Republic was a federal state in which a large number of powers were devolved to state governments. Each state, for example, controlled its own police force. Prussia, the largest of the German states, comprised 60% of the territory and 50% of the population of the entire country
-It was so large that it’s state government could operate largely independently of the central government
-In July 1932, however, the Prussian state government had been dismissed by Papen and a reich commissioner had been appointed to run the state
-In Hitler’s cabinet after January 1933 this position was held by Goering. This paved the way for the centralisation of power within the whole reich, which the Nazis began in March 1933

Question 5

What laws were passed on March 31st 1933?

Answer 5

First law for the coordination of the federal states dissolved the existing state assemblies and replaced them with Nazi dominated assemblies

Question 6

What laws were passed on 7th April 1933?

Answer 6

-The second law for the coordination of the federal states created the new post of reich Governor to oversee the government of each state
-These new RG’s were accountable to the minister of the interior and responsible for ensuring that the state governments followed the policies laid down by the central government

Question 7

What was the Nazis organisation structure?

Answer 7

-The nazi party had its own organisational structures at both national and local level. At state level the Nazi leaders, known as Gauleiters, wanted to control local government and many of them took over the roles of reich governors within their areas
-The Nazis also instituted violent campaigns to oust political opponents from important local positions, such as town mayors, and replace them with Nazi party nominees
-However, the precise relationship between the party and the state at local level, as at national level, was never clearly defined

Question 8

What laws were passed on 30th January 1934?

Answer 8

-The law for the reconstruction of the reich took the centralisation process a stage further. State assemblies were abolished and the governments of the states were formally subordinated to the government of the reich
-This meant that the posts of RGs had now become redundant but Hitler did not abolish the posts. Rivalry and tension between state governments and RGs continued in the coming years

Question 9

What laws were passed on 14th February 1934?

Answer 9

The Reichsrat was abolished. This was the parliamentary assembly to which the state assemblies sent delegates. Since the state assemblies no longer existed, it was a logical next step to abolish the Reichsrat

Question 10

How did the Nazis gain control over the civil service?

Answer 10

-Under the Kaiser, civil servants enjoyed a status almost on par with that of soldiers. The higher ranks of the civil service were recruited almost exclusively from the aristocracy and civil servants closely identified with the authoritarian values of the second empire
-These conservative minded civil servants would not embrace the democratic values of the Weimar Republic and many welcomed Hitler’s appointment in 1933
-Their support for the new regime was based, however, on a misunderstanding. They believed that the conservative ministers in Hitler’s cabinet would restrain the Nazis and allow the civil service to continue serving the state in much the same way that it had done under the Kaiser
-What they had failed to understand was that the Nazis had no intention of being bound by the rules and regulations that civil servants had to follow
-The Nazis regarded the civil service as an obstacle to their exercise of dictatorial power. Many local officials were forced to resign and were replaced by Nazi party appointees, most of whom had no experience of government
-The nazi SA also began to place party officials in government offices to ensure that civil servants were carrying out the orders of that regime
-All of this placed the Nazis firmly in control

Question 11

What were the SA’s position from January-February 1933?

Answer 11

-In January 1933, the SA was the Nazis main instrument of terror and violence. One of the immediate results of the Nazis coming to power was the rapid expansion of the SA. From a membership of around 500,000 in January 1933, the organisation grew to around 3 million strong a year later
-Another result of the Nazis being in power was that the actives of the SA gained legal authority. In late February 1933, the SA and Stahlhelm were merged and became recognised as ‘auxiliary police’
-Orders were used to the regular police forces forbidding them from interfering with SA activities

Question 12

What was the position of the SA between February and June 1933?

Answer 12

-Hitler benefited from the violence of his supporters, but he was not always in control of events. Much of the violence of the SA against the Nazis political opponents, and against the Jews, was unplanned, uncoordinated and piecemeal.
-In the period between February and June 1933, when the Nazis were eliminating opposition and establishing undisputed control, Hitler was prepared to go with the flow of SA violence
-He was careful to ensure, however, that the SA did not attack the state itself
-Assaults on the police and the army were avoided, as Hitler was careful not to alienate those conservative forces that had shoe horned him into power
-Violence was a vital tool in the hands of the Nazi leadership but, in its uncontrolled form, it’s usefulness was limited and at some point Hitler was bound to want to call a halt

Question 13

What was the position of the SA in July 1933?

Answer 13

-Hitler was warning that, in the future, the SA could become the target for nazi violence and terror. He did not, however, act on this warning for a further 11 months. In July 1933, after passing the law against formation of new parties, Hitler was able to declare that the Nazi revolution was over
-He had acquired dictatorial powers, all other parties had been banned or had voluntarily dissolved themselves and the process od Gleichschaltung had been completed
-For Ernst Rohm, the leader of the SA, however, the Nazi revolution was far from complete and the SA were determined to continue with their violence until they had achieved the second revolution
-Chief among Rohm’s aims was for the SA to become the nucleus of a new national militia that would eventually absorb and replace the existing army

Question 14

What was the position of the SA by January 1934?

Answer 14

-With a combined SA and Stahlhelm membership of 4.5 million in January 1934, Rohm’s forces already vastly outnumbered the army. However, since the summer of 1933 the role and importance of the SA had declined
-In august 1933, they had lost their ‘auxiliary police’ status and were subject to stricter regulations over their powers of arrest.
-In the election campaign of November 1933, there was only 1 party, hence there was no longer a need for SA violence and intimidation. Lacking an ‘official’ outlet for their violence, and feeling resentment at the way that former conservative opponents of the Nazis were allowed to join the Nazi party and take important jobs in local and central government, SA members became disillusioned and restless
-Drunken brawls, always a feature of the SA, became increasingly common and the police became targets of the SA when they tried to intervene

Question 15

What happened at the Night of the long knives?

Answer 15

-The army remained the only institution with the power to remove Hitler from office. It was also loyal to Hindenburg, not to Hitler. Despite the fact that Werner von Bloomberg, the defence minister,had brought it closer to Nazi ideology, the army was not a nazified institution and still retained some independence
-The ambitions of the SA and it’s leader Rohm were regarded as a serious threat by the army leaders, the more so when in the summer of 1934 SA units began stopping army convoys and confiscating weapons and supplies
-Moreover the pressure on Hitler increased on 17th June, when Papen made a major speech at Marburg university in which he criticised Nazi excesses
-Papen called for an end to terror and for Hitler to clamp down on the SA’s calls for a second revolution. Papen’s speech had Hindenburg’s approval and, despite Goebells efforts to censor it, it was reported to the press

Question 16

What happened after Papen’s speech in June 1934?

Answer 16

-When Bloomberg, again with Hindenburg’s support, threatened to declare martial law and give the army power to deal with the SA, matters came to a head
-Hitler had dithered since the spring of 1934, delaying taking decisive action against the SA, but in June he knew he could wait no longer
-A ruthless purge of the SA, known as the ‘night of the long knives’, was launched on 30th June 1934 when the SS, acting on Hitler’s orders, eliminated the leadership of the SA and many other political opponents of the Nazis

Question 17

What happened after the night of the long knives?

Answer 17

-When Hitler addressed the Reichstag on 13th July, he accepted full responsibility for the executions. He was acting, he said as the ‘supreme judge’ of the German people and had been compelled to act in order to save the country from an SA coup
-This secured the army’s support. Hitler also gained public support for his apparently decisive actions. The SA declined sharply after the purge. By october 1935, it’s membership had declined to 1.6 million and, without Rohm as its leader, it’s political power was destroyed
-Violence and terror remained vital weapons in the Nazi party’s efforts to retain political control but, after the night of the long knives, the SS controlled the terror machine
-After the events of June 1934, violence and terror were used more systematically and in a more controlled manner

Question 18

What was the impact of Hindenburg’s death in August 1934?

Answer 18

-Before his death Hindenburg had become so concerned by the excesses of the SA that he considered handing power to the army and dismissing Hitler. His views were shared by many commanders and by Papen, and Hitler was left in no doubt that, unless he brought the SA under control, he could not count on the army’s support once Hindenburg had died
-This was the trigger that led Hitler to launch the purge of the SA. With the threat of the SA removed, Bloomberg and the army leaders had no further objection to Hitler succeeding Hindenburg as president

Question 19

What happened on the day and days after Hindenburg’s death?

Answer 19

-Hindenburg died on 2nd august 1934. The announcement that the office of president would be merged with that of chancellor was made within an hour of his death.
-In the same day the officers and soldiers of the army took an oath of allegiance to Hitler
-On 19th august, a plebiscite was held to get the German peoples seal of approved on Hitler’s appointment as Fuhrer and reich chancellor, the title by which he was henceforth to be known
-The result was that 89.9% of the voters approved of the change. More surprising perhaps was the fact that the other 10.1% of the voters had the courage to vote no
-This was the final act in the Nazi consolidation of power. Hitler had asserted his authority over his own party and become fuhrer

Question 20

What happened with the Nazis and the law in the ‘terror state’?

Answer 20

-Hitler was determined that the Nazi regime would not be bound by the law and legal systems. The Nazi concept of authority was based on the leadership principle. As a ‘man of destiny’, who had been chosen to lead the third Reich Germany and express the will of people, Hitler’s word was law
-The Nazis did not introduce a new constitution or legal system after 1933. Instead they introduced some new laws to deal with political offences and forced the existing justice system to adapt and bend to their will
-At the same time, they introduced new courts and new police organisations to ensure that political opponents were dealt with
-The result was that in Nazi Germany, the legal principles on which german law has been based in the Weimar period no longer applied
-No longer were all citizens treated as equal before the law. The judges were not permitted to operate independently of the government
-Individuals could be arrested and imprisoned without trial, without the police having to produce any evidence against them. The law was applied in an arbitrary and inconsistent fashion

Question 21

What was the police system in the third Reich?

Answer 21

-In the Weimar Republic, individual state authorities controlled the police forces. The Nazis did not abolish these separate police forces but created a system of party controlled, political police forces answerable to Hitler, which gradually gained control over the entire police system
-This proliferation of police forces created confusion and competition, both between the various police forces and between the powerful men who controlled them. The following forces existed:
-The ss, controlled by Himmler
-The SD, an intelligence gathering offshoot of the SA
-The SA, controlled by Rohm, in 1933. The SA also acquired police powers to arrest and detain political prisoners
-The gestapo, the secret state police force in Prussia, of which Goering was the minister president. During 1933, the remit of the Gestapo was extended to cover the whole country

Question 22

What was the competition and rivalry during 1933 for control over the police?

Answer 22

-Between 1933 and 1936, there was competition and rivalry between Himmler, Rohm and Goering for control over the police. Himmler’s power was strengthened by the night of the long knives in 1934 in which Rohm was eliminated and the SA’s powers were reduced
-Himmler was also able to exploit the rivalry between Goering and the minister of the interior, Wilhelm Frick. The situation was partially resolved in 1936 when the SS, SD and Gestapo were placed under Himmler’s command
-Himmler’s victory was sealed in 1939 with the creation of the Reich security department headquarters (RHSA), which placed all part and state police organisations under one organisation supervised by the SS

Question 23

What were the SS?

Answer 23

-‘Schutz Staffel’ under the control of Heinrich Himmler
-Hitler’s personal bodyguards
-Only physically strong Aryans recruited
-Fiercely loyal to the Fuhrer
-Had power to search and arrest without trial

Question 24

What were the concentration camps used in the ‘terror state’?

Answer 24

-First used in Germany in 1933
-Prisons for ‘enemies of the state’ e.g political opponents, communists, Jews, gypsies, those who refused to conform
-Used for torture, questioning and hard labour
-Runnby ‘Death’s head’ arm of the SS by late 1930s, inmates used for slave labour in Nazi run businesses

Question 25

What were the SD?

Answer 25

-Set up in 1931 as the intelligence body of the Nazi party
-Main aim was to discover actual and potential enemies and make sure they were removed
-Attracted many professional and highly educated people such as lawyers

Question 26

What were the Gestapo?

Answer 26

-State secret police, run by Rudolf Diels and then the SS
-Telephone taps, mail interception
-Recruited 160,000 informers to report anyone who was anti Nazi
-Powers to arrest without trial

Question 27

What were ‘informers’ in the terror state?

Answer 27

-‘Block wardens’ In charge of Nazi loyalty in local areas
-Collected donations and dues
-Checked whether people saluted, hung Nazi flags etc
-Wrote reports on party members

Question 28

What were the courts and justice system like in the ‘terror state’?

Answer 28

-Judges and lawyers were generally very conservative but belonged to the Nazi party in January 1933. The long tradition of freedom from political interference for lawyers and judges posed a problem for the Nazis, as the violence and intimidation carried out by the SA and SS was clearly illegal and many prosecution against stormtroopers were begun by lawyers a who were determined to uphold the law
-Hitler was also angered by the fact that the Supreme Court acquitted all but one of the defendants of the Reichstag fire trial
-A few judges and state prosecutors were dismissed by the regime

Question 29

What were more effective methods of ‘coordinating’ the justice system?

Answer 29

-The merging of the various professional associations of judges and lawyers with the league of national socialist lawyers, creating the front of German law in April 1933. It was made clear to judges and lawyers that their career prospects depended on their doing the regimes bidding
-Introducing new courts. Special courts were set up in 1933 and the peoples court in April 1934 to run alongside the existing court system. These courts, set up to deal with political crimes, had 3 Nazi ‘judges’ alongside 2 professional judges. There were no juries and defendants had no rights of appeal against their sentences

Question 30

What was the effect on the courts and justice system due to the measures put on them?

Answer 30

-With these measured, backed by threats from the SA and SS, lawyers and judges fell into line. Although the old court system continued to exist, and many non Nazi judges continued in their jobs, the justice system had no power to infer free with the Nazis use of terror
-Between 1934 and 1939, around 3400 people were tried by the peoples court, most of whom were former communists and socialists. Many of those brought before the courts were given the death penalty, which was used increasingly in the third Reich

Question 31

What was the extent and effectiveness of opposition and non conformity?

Answer 31

-To a large extent this propaganda appears to have been effective. The Gestapo, with it’s limited resources, could not have instilled fear and suspicion to the extent that it achieved without the cooperation of many ordinary citizens
-On the whole, there was very little active opposition and there was evidence of Hitler’s increasing popularity. Life in Nazi Germany became depoliticised; there was no open and free debate about the regime of its policies

Question 32

What action did the SPD take in resistance?

Answer 32

Campaigned openly for the election campaign. Established small secret cells of supporters in factories.

Question 33

Why did the SPD oppose the Nazis?

Answer 33

Opposite political beliefs

Question 34

How effective was the SPD’s resistance?

Answer 34

Managed to set up cells and pass leaflets however a lot of members killed and threat of Nazi pressure stopped them

Question 35

How did the Nazis respond to the SPD resistance?

Answer 35

Began to crush the SPD, thousands murdered or put in preventative custody

Question 36

What action did the KPD take in resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 36

Established an underground network in some German industrial centres, revolutionary unions were set up in Berlin and Hamburg to recruit members and publish newspapers

Question 37

How effective was the KPD’s resistance?

Answer 37

All networks broken up by Gestapo and 10% of KPD membership killed

Question 38

How did the Nazis respond to the KPDs resistance?

Answer 38

Wave of repression unleashed upon communists in Germany. 10% of KPD membership killed, broke up networks and reduced communists to word of mouth discovery

Question 39

Why did the workers oppose the Nazis?

Answer 39

Largest unions in Germany linked to the SPD and had been consistently opposed to Nazi party

Question 40

What action did the workers take in resistance?

Answer 40

September 1935, 37 strikes reported, whole of 1937, 250 strikes recorded. Deliberately damaged workers machinery

Question 41

How effective was the workers resistance?

Answer 41

Only 4000 out of 25000 workers who participated were arrested and were effective for workers to show their dissatisfaction

Question 42

How did the Nazis respond to the workers resistance?

Answer 42

After a 17 minute strike at the Opel car factory in 1936, 7 ringleaders were arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned, made ‘sabotage’ a criminal offence

Question 43

Why did the Protestant church oppose the Nazis?

Answer 43

Divided by the Nazi regime trying to include them in Volksgemeinschaft and general policies clashed

Question 44

What action did the Protestant church take in resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 44

Establishment of the pastors emergency league in 1933 and development into confessional church in 1934. Pastors spoke out against the ‘nazified church’ from their pulpits. Many churches refused to display swastika flags

Question 45

How effective was the resistance of the Protestant church?

Answer 45

The Nazi regime had failed to silence the confessional church, but for its part, the confessional church did not form full opposition to the regime. Group who did however did have some success

Question 46

How did the Nazis respond to the resistance of the Protestant church?

Answer 46

Nazi regime responded with increased repression, dissenting pastors had their salaries stopped, they were banned from teaching in schools and many were arrested. By the end of 1937 over 700 pastors had been imprisoned?

Question 47

Why did the Catholic Church oppose the Nazis?

Answer 47

Views clashed with Christianity. Powers granted in the condo at of 1933 came under attack church found itself increasingly at odds with the regime

Question 48

What action did the Catholic Church take in resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 48

In 1937 the pope issued the papal encyclical ‘with burning grief’ against the background of mounting pressure on the Catholic Church in Germany. It was smuggled into Germany and this was the only time that the Catholic Church came in to open conflict with the regime. Response was some noisy public demonstrations

Question 49

How effective was the resistance of the Catholic Church?

Answer 49

Church pulpits all read the encyclical however intimidation of priests worked and scared Catholics

Question 50

How did the Nazis respond to the resistance of the Catholic Church.

Answer 50

Increased repression. Intimidation and harassment of priests
Increasing expectations on young people within youth and Hitler youth and BDM especially.

Question 51

Why did young people oppose the Nazis?

Answer 51

Partly because membership of the Hitler youth was made compulsary in 1936 and partly because of growing regimentation in youth movement
Regarded Hitler as a threat to the old Germany. The number of those within the army and civil service who opposed the Nazis was therefore very small

Question 52

What action did young people take in resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 52

In the late 1930s, the response of many young people was to opt out, either by allowing their membership to lapse or simply not attending the weekly parades. Those who did attend sometimes hummed the tunes that had been banned

Question 53

How effective was the Resistance of you be people.

Answer 53

Just seen as young rebelliousness

Question 54

How did the Nazis respond to resistance by the youth?

Answer 54

Increasing expectations on young people within youth and Hitler youth and BDM especially.

Question 55

Why did the elite oppose the Nazis?

Answer 55

Regarded Hitler as a threat to the old Germany. The number of those within the army and civil service who opposed the Nazis was therefore very small

Question 56

What actions did the elite take in resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 56

General Bloomberg ans General fritsch expressed their doubts to Hitler. Detailed plans were made for a March on Berlin if war was declared

Question 57

How effective was the resistance of the elite

Answer 57

Hitler shut down any plans of a rebellion against him and was helped by France and Britain with Czechoslovakia

Question 58

How did the Nazis respond to the resistance by the elites?

Answer 58

Hitler had generals purged and achieved another ‘victory without bloodshed’

Question 59

How were newspapers a method of propaganda used by the Nazis?

Answer 59

-In January 1933 there were some 4700 privately owned newspapers in Germany. Nazi newspapers had limited circulation
-Socialist and communist newspapers were closed using the powers of the decree for the protection of the people and state
-The Nazis began to buy up more newspapers. By the end of the year they had acquired 27 daily newspapers with a combined circulation of 2.4 million a day
-News agencies that supplied the press with information were all merged into a state controlled organisation. The result was that newspapers became bland and conformist, and the circulation figures of many declined

Question 60

How did the Nazis use radio as a method of propaganda?

Answer 60

-Hitler and Goebells believed that the spoken word had much more impact than written communication and had used radio broadcasts effectively in the 1932 and 1932 election campaigns
-Radio broadcasts have Hitler the opportunity to talk directly to German people and in 1933 alone he made over 50 such broadcasts. Loudspeakers were set up in town squares and factories so that everyone could hear important speeches. When Hitler’s speeches were being broadcast, sirens would sound as a signal to stop work and gather around the radio or loudspeaker
-Goebells promoted the mass production and sale of cheap radio sets. As a result of this policy, 70% of German households possessed a radio set by 1939, the highest proportion in the world
-Goebells initiated a purge of those working in radio. As a result 13% of staff were dismissed on racial or political grounds
-In April 1934, all radio stations in Germany were broigjt under the control of the Reich radio company, controlled by the propaganda ministry

Question 61

How did the Nazis use film as a method of propaganda?

Answer 61

-Goebells was a keen fan of cinema and recognised the potential of film as propaganda medium. He understood that film could work on the subconscious, delivering subliminal messages and reinforcing prejudices
-Goebells was Personally responsible for approving every film made in Germany after 1933. Foreign films were not banned outright but were carefully checked for political and racial content. Most American films were banned, although the popularity of Disney cartoons, meant that many of these were still approved
-Between 1933 and 1945, over 1000 feature films were produced in Germany and cinema attendances increased four fold in the years 1933 to 1944. Of these films, only 14% had an overtly political theme. The most common types of films were historical dramas, comedies, and musicals
-All films, to some degree, contained political messages. Leadership was glorified; ’Blood and soil’ was a common theme, as was the demonising of Jews and communists. Films with a pacifist message were banned outright

Question 62

How did Nazis use parades and spectacles as propaganda?

Answer 62

-In 1930, a Nazi party pamphlet, modern political propaganda, stated that ‘good discipline is the best propaganda’ and this discipline was best displayed in marches and parades
-The theatrically of these marches was heightened by the wearing of uniforms and medals, the carrying of banners and the choreographed singing of party songs. The carrying of lighted torches in night time processions was particularly effective on capturing peoples attention
-Householders were expected to show support for national parades by hanging out swastika flags from their windows, compliance was monitored by Nazi party ‘block leaders’ and failure to conform was reported to the authorities. To be labelled ‘politically unreliable’ in this way could lead to a person being dismissed from his or her job or possibly more serious consequences
-Ritual parades and flag waving were visual ‘proof’ that German people were solidly behind the regime, even though this support was being manipulated by Goebells and his propaganda ministry. ‘All that goes on behind the backcloth’ said Goebells, ‘belongs to stage management’
-The annual party rallies at Nuremberg in September were stage managed to achieve maximum theatrical effect. Vast numbers of party members attended; the 1937 rally involved some 100,000 people

Question 63

What were other forms of propaganda used by the Nazis?

Answer 63

-For Hitler, the arts were an expression of race. He believed that only the aryan was capable of producing true art and that the ‘degenerate art’ of the Weimar period was evidence of racial decline. Nazi policy was to promote arts that glorified the healthy, strong and heroic, particularly heroes from Germany’s past, whether real or mythical
-On 6th May 1933, a group of Nazi students and stormtroopers made a huge bonfire in Berlin of about 20,000 books. This was followed on 10th May by similar actions in 19 university towns. The books that were burned were deemed ‘un German’ because they were about family planning or written by Jews or Marxists
-A weekly poster, with a quotation expressing Nazi ideas, was displayed in offices and public buildings

Question 64

What was the effectiveness of Nazi propaganda?

Answer 64

-The Nazi regime placed great emphasis on the effort to indoctrinate the german population. Undoubtedly Hitler and Goebells were very skilled propagandists, but the effectiveness of their efforts is difficult to gauge
-The Nazis carried out occasional plebiscites to demonstrate the support of the people for the regime, but since these were in no way free elections they cannot be regarded as evidence of genuine support
-It is possible to conclude, from the many gestapo reports on the state of public opinion, that there was at the very least scepticism among parts of the population towards particular nazi policies
-Attitudes of Germans towards the regime depended on a range of factors- age, class, occupation, religion, to name but a few
-Attitudes could Also Change over time. It is therefore impossible to give a definitive judgement on whether the support they did show was due to propaganda or fear or repression
-Any judgements on the success of propaganda and indoctrination, therefore can only be tentative

Question 65

When was Nazi propaganda and indoctrination most successful?

Answer 65

-Nazi propaganda and indoctrination appears to have been most successful when it was aimed at the young, whose opinions were not yet strongly formed, or when their messages overlapped with the traditional values of particular groups
-Aristocratic, old conservatives shared the Nazis’ beliefs in the need for order and their anti democratic sentiments, although many were reluctant to swallow the more radical nazi elements
-Germany’s middle class shared the Nazi’s hostility to communism and socialism and were susceptible to the propaganda message that the Nazis were the only only credible alternative to a left wing takeover in Germany
-Anti semitism and nationalist resentment of the TOV ran through all classes and the Nazis were able to reinforce these attitudes through their propaganda
-Thus third Reich propaganda was most successful when it built upon existing beliefs and values. Where Nazi propaganda challenged deeply held beliefs, such as religion, it was less successful

Question 66

What was the Hitler myth?

Answer 66

He was presented as a man who:
-Was hard working, tough and uncompromising in fighting and defeating the nations internal and external enemies
-Was a political genius who had mastered the problems faced by Germany in 1933 and was responsible for Germany’s ‘national awakening’; order had been restored, the economy revived and Germany had thrown off the humiliating shackles of the treaty of Versailles
-Was dynamic and forceful, in contrast with the weak politicians of the Weimar years
-Lived a simple life and sacraficed personal happiness to devote himself to his people. His was invariably shown as being alone and removed from the Nazi party
-Was the guardian of traditional morality and popular justice, and a statesman of true genius

Question 67

What was the extent of totalitarianism in Nazi germany?

Answer 67

-Through the policy of Gleichschaltung, the Nazi party set out to ‘coordinate’ every aspect of individual and family life under party control. The regime exercised control over the flow of information through propaganda and censorship, and influenced the youth through education
-The police, courts and prison system ensured that the population were under surveillance and liable to punishment
-The party had a large body of activists, who were able to insinuate themselves into every aspect of life
-For the average German citizen, regular contact with the party at some level was unavoidable. There were some pockets of resistance and non conformity- in the churches, among the young, workers and old elites- but fear of punishment deterred any open defiance of the regimes authority

Question 68

What was the reality of Hitler as opposed to the Hitler myth?

Answer 68

-Hitler was surrounded by officials who competed with each other to gain his attention and implement his wishes. Hitler supplied the vision, his ministers and officials interpreted this and turned it into detailed policies
-He was actually not very involved in decision making
-Far from working hard, Hitler stayed up late watching films and would usually not get up till midday. His days were spent eating, walking in the grounds of his mountain retreat and delivering long, rambling speeches to his subordinates. His disliked reading official documents and rarely got involved in detailed discussions on policy. His officials often had great difficulty in getting him to make decisions

Question 69

What were the Nazi economic policies?

Answer 69

-When Hitler was appointed chancellor on 30th January 1933, the nazi party did not have a coherent and carefully thought out economic policy. Nevertheless, Hitler had some clear aims
-In the short term, the priority was economic recovery from the depression and the reduction of unemployment. Achieving these aims would boost the regimes popularity and held the Nazis to consolidate their power
-In the longer term, the Nazis aimed to create an economy capable of sustaining a major rearmament programme and geared to the needs of a future war
-Such an economy would need to be self sufficient in the production of food and vital raw materials something the Nazis referred to as ‘economic autarky’

Question 70

What did the Nazis do in recovery from depression?

Answer 70

-During the years 1933-36, Hjalmar Schacht, president of the reichsbank and, from august 1934, economics minister, was the key figure in Nazi economic policy. Under his direction the regime stimulated recovery by:
-Pumping money into the economy to build homes and autobahns
-Stimulating consumer demand by giving tax concessions and grants to particular groups
-Giving subsidies to private firms to encourage them to take on more workers
-Putting controls on wages and prices to control inflation
-Introducing the ‘new plan’ in 1934 to control Germany’s foreign trade and improve the country’s balance of payments
-Taking the first steps towards rearmament, using an indigenous method for financing the expenditure- the mefo bill

Question 71

What was the battle for work?

Answer 71

-The Nazis first priority after coming to power in 1933 was to reduce unemployment- a project which they labelled the ‘battle for work. Large sums of money were spent on the building of roads and public buildings and increased industrial production was stimulated through loans and tax relief to private companies
-They were fortunate that, when they came to power, the economy was already beginning to revive but their measures undoubtedly helped to reduce unemployment faster than might otherwise have been the case
-In 1935, a reich labour service was introduced under which unemployed young men were compelled to do 6 months labour in farming or construction
-Later the same year, military conscription was reintroduced for young men

Question 72

What was the ‘New plan’ of 1934?

Answer 72

-As the economy began to revive in 1933 and 1934, foreign trade increased and this led to imports growing faster than exports. This in turn led to a shortage of foreign currencies, which were needed to purchase imported goods
-Under the new plan, Schacht placed controls on imports and on access to foreign currency. He also initiated a series of trade agreements with foreign countries, especially states in the balkans and South America, whereby Germany was supplied with raw materials, which were paid for in german reichsmarks
-The supplying countries could then only use this money to buy German goods

Question 73

How did Schacht use Mefo bills?

Answer 73

-In order to finance rearmament, the Nazis needed to borrow money whilst at the same time avoid the dangers of runaway inflation, which were still fresh in the memories of the German people
-In Schacht, they had a financial genius who devised a scheme whereby the government paid for its military equipment using credit notes, or mefo bills
-These bills could be exchanged for cash at the reichsbank, thereby ensuring that private companies had confidence they would get their money
-However, the companies were given an incentive to defer asking for payment by the offer of 4% per annum interest on the bills if they kept them for the full 5 year term
-In this way, the rearmament programme could be started in 1935 without the government having the funds to finance it
-It also had the advantage that the rearmament programme could be kept secret since the expenditure did not appear in the governments accounts

Question 74

What was rearmament and the creation of a war economy?

Answer 74

-Schacht’s measures succeeded in reviving the German economy and reducing unemployment but the revival created a new set of problems
-In addition to the balanve of payments problems and shortage of foreign exchange, there were also food shortages, rising prices and lower living standards for ordinary Germans in 1935-36
-Reports from around Germany at this time spoke of growing disillusionment with the regime. This raised important questions about the regimes priorities. The food shortages could be resolved through imports, but this would use up valuable reserves of foreign currency also needed for the import of raw materials for the armaments of industry, thus damaging the rearmament programme
-This conflict of priorities, sometimes referred to as a choice between ‘guns or butter’, was finally resolved by the decision to strive for economic self sufficiency
-Expanding home production of both food and raw materials would, in theory, reduce the dependence on imports and the need for large reserves of foreign currency
-This policy, referred to by the Nazis as economic autarky, was the basis of a new 4 year plan, which was introduced in 1936
-Schacht, who had opposed the move towards autarky, was marginalised and responsibility for the 4 year plan was giving to Hermann Goering

Question 75

What was the four year plan?

Answer 75

-The aim of this plan was to make Germany ready for war within 4 years. Although a future war was always implicit in the Nazi quest for Lebensraum (‘living space’) in the east, the gearing of the German economy to war in the four year plan was the first explicit indication that the regime was planning for war
-The priorities of this plan were rearmament and economic autarky

Question 76

How were the aims of the 4 year plan achieved?

Answer 76

-Creating a managed economy with controls on labour supply, prices, raw materials and foreign exchange
-Setting production targets for private companies
-Establishing new state owned industrial plants such as Herman Goering steelworks
-Increasing production of key commodities such as iron, steel and chemicals
-Encouraging research and investment in the production of substitute products such as artificial rubber and extracting oil from coal, thereby reducing Germany’s dependence on imports

Question 77

What was economic autarky?

Answer 77

-The four year plan aimed to achieve autarky (self-sufficiency) in food production and vital raw materials in order to prepare the German economy for war
-Autarky, with it’s links to national sovereignty and its embodiment of national pride and independence, fitted well with the Nazis ideological aims
-It would, according to the Nazi party programme, ‘free Germany from the chains of international capital’. The effort to increase production was presented as a battle in which the whole ‘people’s community’ had to participate
-Propaganda campaigns to persuade people to buy only German goods, eat only German food and use only German raw materials in their work presented these targets as the patriotic duty of all German citizens

Question 78

What were other propaganda campaigns to help achieve economic autarky?

Answer 78

-There were also propaganda campaigns to persuade Germans to save more, since the regime launched a campaign to collect scrap metal from peoples homes and gardens and from public spaces, such as parks, to make up for serious shortages in raw materials
-Garden fences, park railings and iron lampposts were removed to be melted down. Pots and pans were collected from peoples homes by the Hitler youth and local committees were set up to coordinate collections

Question 79

What were the results of the four year plan?

Answer 79

-The results of the four year plan did not match the propaganda claims. German industry, despite massive investment, did not meet the targets set by the regime and, in 1939 Germany still imported one third of its raw materials
-In food production, there were similar failings. The reality was that the German economy did not have the resources to achieve all of the regimes aims
-In order to maintain the levels of consumption and avoid the risk of alienating the people, labour and capital had to be diverted from war industries. By 1939, the German economy was under severe strain

Question 80

What was nazi policy towards business leaders?

Answer 80

-Many, but not all, of Germany’s business leaders welcomed the Nazi takeover of power in 1933. Fritz Thyssen and Alfred Hugenberg had helped Hitler in his bid to take power and Hitler was careful to offer reassurance to business leaders that they need not be alarmed by the more socialist elements in the Nazi party programme
-In the early months of the Nazi regime, many of their policies were of benefit to businesses: the suppression of free trade unions, the establishment of political stability and the revival of the economy all helped to create an environment favourable to business
-On the other hand, as Nazi economic policies began to develop, there were many business leaders who did not welcome the greater state intervention in the economy with its controls on the supply of labour and raw materials, and price controls

Question 81

What was the Nazi policy towards big businesses?

Answer 81

-In general, the Nazi regime was able to enlist the cooperation and expertise of big business and management in the implementation of its economic policies
-When the four year plan was launched, there were many opportunities for businesses to make profits through involvement in the rearmament programme.
-One firm that benefited enormously was the large chemicals company, I.G Farben, which was heavily involved in the research and production of synthetic materials
-One of the directors of I.G Farben, for example, held a key post in the administration of the four year plan, and between 1935 and 1939, the profits of I.G Farben increased from 71 million to 240 million reichsmarks
-On the other hand, some companies were sceptical about the plan. Many of the Ruhr iron and steel firms were reluctant to invest in new steelworks to produce steel from poor quality and expensive German iron ore, rather than use cheaper and superior imported ore
-The regimes response was to bypass them altogether by establishing a very large state owned steelworks: Hermann Goering steelworks

Question 82

What was the degree of economic recovery achieved by 1939?

Answer 82

-Goebells and the Nazi propaganda machine used all their resources and skills to project an image of the success of Nazi economic policies. Speeches and radio broadcasts by Hitler repeatedly claims that the ‘battle for work’ had been won by 1936
-Indeed, the ‘battle for work’ was not even mentioned after 1936, reflecting the success of propaganda in convincing people that unemployment was no longer a problem
-Advertising campaigns for products such as the ‘peoples receiver’, the ‘peoples car’ and for cruise ship holidays have the impression that Germans were experiencing an unprecedented rise in their living standards as a result of the regimes policies
-Military parades showing off the latest equipment and patriotic campaigns to persuade Germans to buy only German goods were designed to show that german was achieving autarky and was ready for war
-In each case, there was an element of truth in the claims, but propaganda exaggerated the successes and covered up the failures in Nazi economic policies

Question 83

What was the reduction in unemployment like during this period?

Answer 83

-Official unemployment figures show a dramatic reduction in the number of unemployed by 1934 and a continuing fall after that
-This was the basis of the claim that the ‘battle for work’ had been won due to Nazi economic policies

Question 84

What were the flaws in the claims that the ‘battle for work’ had been won due to Nazi economic policies?

Answer 84

-Economic recovery had actually begun before the Nazis took power in January 1933. Many of the Job creation schemes used by the regime to reduce unemployment were actually based on policies introduced by chancellor Heinrich Bruning in the early 1930s
-Part of the reduction in the unemployment figures was achieved by persuading married women to give up their employment, through granting them marriage loans, thereby releasing jobs for unemployed male workers
-The reintroduction of conscription in 1935, for young men aged 18-25, took a large proportion of young males out of the labour market
-Official figures also showed a dramatic increase in the numbers of Germans in employment. This was partly achieved through various statistical devices to inflate the figures. Those who only had occasional employment, for example, were counted as permanently employed while those drafted into unpaid work in agriculture were also counted as employed

Question 85

What was ‘invisible unemployment’

Answer 85

-Historian Richard evans has estimated that ‘invisible unemployment’ (those who were out of work but were not counted in the official figures) was as high as 1.5 million workers
-By this estimate, the official figure of 1.6 million people out of work in 1936 should in fact be increased to over 3 million, far too many to support the claim the ‘battle for work’ had been won
-After 1936, however, rearmament led to a rapid expansion of employment and resulted in labour shortages appearing by 1939

Question 86

What did Nazis emphasise about living standards?

Answer 86

-Nazi propaganda emphasised the duty of all German citizens to make sacrifices on behalf of the ‘peoples community’, by working harder and for longer hours and by accepting a squeeze on wages
-At the same time, propaganda also stressed the benefits that the nazi regime had bestowed on workers through improved working conditions, better social and welfare provision, and access to goods and services that had previously only been available to the privileged few

Question 87

What happened to workers wages between 1933-39?

Answer 87

-Despite official attempts to hold down money wages, income for many workers did increase during the years 1933-39. Some employers were prepared to pay bonuses and other benefits to get round the freeze on wage levels and so attract more skilled workers
-Pay increase due to the longer hours being worked but, on the other hand, workers’ wages were subject to increased deductions because of the compulsory contributions they had to make to the German labour front and to welfare organisations
-It is, therefore, difficult to generalise about what happened to the standard of living of the majority of German workers in these years
-Workers in key industries such as armaments were undoubtedly better off than before, while those producing consumer goods were not

Question 88

What happened to price during the years 1933-39?

Answer 88

-Living standards depend as much on price as on incomes. Prices rose during the 1930s and there were shortages of some key commodities
-German consumers were able to buy enough food to feed their families but could afford few luxuries. The consumption of higher value foods such as meat, fruit and eggs declined while the consumption of cheaper foods such as potatoes and rye bread increased
-There was, then, pressure on living standards and gestapo and soaped reports occasionally show some discontent with the regime. On the other hand, the fact that the regime succeeded in persuading the population to shoulder the burden of the rearmament programme, without triggering a wages explosion or mass opposition, indicates the success of propaganda campaigns such as the ‘battle for production’

Question 89

What did the drive for rearmament do to German people?

Answer 89

-The drive for rearmament and the target of achieving economic autarky placed considerable strains on the German people, including longer working hours, higher prices and growing shortages
-From time to time, there were serious shortages of eggs and meat, as well as wheat and rye for making bread. Price controls and the introduction of rationing on some key commodities in the late 1930s helped alleviate the pressure
-Despite these growing hardships, however, there were few signs of unrest
-Nazi propaganda, together with the use of terror, had succeeded in persuading the majority of German people to accept these burdens

Question 90

What were the nazi policies in schools?

Answer 90

The nazi regime established control over the school system in 2 main ways with control over teachers and the curriculum

Question 91

What did Nazis do with control over the teachers in schools?

Answer 91

-Under the law for the re-establishment of a professional civil service (1933), a number of teachers were dismissed in the grounds of political unreliability or because they were Jewish
-Teachers were pressurised into joining the national socialist teachers’ league (NSTB), but most teachers were willing to comply with the regime’s demands.
-Vetting of textbooks was undertaken by local nazi committees after 1933. From 1935, central directives were issued by the ministry of education covering what could be taught and, by 1938: these rules covered every school year and most subjects

Question 92

What did the Nazis do with control over the curriculum in schools?

Answer 92

Political indoctrination permeated every area of the school curriculum:
-The Nazis aim to promote ‘racial health’ led to an increasing emphasis on physical education. Military style drills became a feature of P.E lessons
-In German lessons, the aim was to instil a ‘consciousness of being German’ through the study of Nordic sages and other traditional stories
-In biology, there was a stress on race and heredity. There was also a strong emphasis on evolution and the survival of the fittest
-Geography was used to develop awareness of the concepts of Lebensraum, ‘blood and soil’ and German racial superiority. Atlases implicitly supported the concept of ‘one people, one reich’

Question 93

What were Nazi policies in universities?

Answer 93

-With their stores on physical education and political indoctrination, the Nazis downgraded the importance of academic education and the number of students attending university decreased between 1933 and 1939
-Access to higher education was strictly rationed and selection was made on the basis of political reliability,
-Women were restricted to 10% of the available university places, while Jews were restricted to 1.5%, their proportion within the population as a whole

Question 94

What was coordination of universities by Nazis like?

Answer 94

-Under the law for the re-establishment of a professional civil service, about 1200 university staff were dismissed on racial or political grounds. This amounted to around 15% of thr total
-In November 1933, all university teachers were made to sign a ‘declaration in support of Hitler and the national socialist state’
-Students had to join the German students league, although some 25% managed to avoid doing this
-Students were also forced to do 4 months labour service and 2 months in an SA camp. Labour service wojld give students experience of real life, considered by the Nazis to be more important than academic learning

Question 95

Was there any resistance to Nazi policies in universities?

Answer 95

-The Nazis encountered very little resistance to their policies of brining the universities under their control. Indeed, coordination was made easier by the voluntary self coordination of many faculties
-Even in the Weimar period, the universities had been dominated by nationalist and anti democratic attitudes and traditional student ‘fraternities’ were a breeding ground for reactionary politics
-The Nazis were, therefore, able to tap into a pre existing culture of extreme nationalism and infuse it with nazi ideology. This was helped by the students’ knowledge that their prospects of employment after graduating depended on showing outward support for the regime

Question 96

What was the Hitler youth?

Answer 96

-The Hitler youth was created in 1926 and in its early years was relatively unsuccessful. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, all other youth organisations, except those linked to the Catholic Church, were either banned or taken over by the Hitler youth
-Only then did the Nazis own youth movement begin to flourish
-In 1936, a law for the incorporation of German youth gave the Hitler youth the status of an official education movement, equal in status to schools and the home
-At the same time, catholic youth organisations were banned and the Hitler youth became the only officially permitted youth organisation
-Also by 1936, the Hitler youth has been granted a monopoly over all sports facilities and competitions for children under the age of 14
-Membership of the Hitler youth was made compulsary in 1939

Question 97

What happened in the Hitler youth?

Answer 97

-In the Hitler youth, there was a constant diet of political indoctrination and physical activity. Boys from the age of 10 were taught the motto ‘live faithfully, fight bravely and die laughing’. The emphasis in youth activities was on competition, struggle, heroism and leadership, as boys were prepared for their future role as warriors
-Hitler youth members had to swear a personal oath of allegiance to the Fuhrer. There was a set syllabus of political indoctrination which all members had to follow and a heavy emphasis on military drill
-Boys were taught to sing nazi songs and encouraged to read nazi political pamphlets. They were taken on hikes and on camping trips. Ritual, ceremonies and the singing of songs reinforced their induction into nazi ideology

Question 98

What made the Hitler youth attractive?

Answer 98

-The opportunity to participate in sports and camping trips away from home made the organisation attractive to millions of German boys, many of whom grew up in the 1930s with no experience of any other system
-For these boys, their growing up was shaped by the Hitler youth and the nazi emphasis on struggle, sacrifice, loyalty and discipline became accepted as the norm
-Many children joined against the wishes of parents who were nazi sympathisers and had grown up in a difference era
-For these boys, the Hitler youth offered an outlet for their teenage rebelliousness. By the late 1930s, however, as the organisation became more bureaucratic and rigid, there were signs that enthusiasm was beginning to wane
-There were reports of poor attendance at weekly parades. Boys resented the harsh punishments imposed for minor infringements of the rules

Question 99

What was the league of German girls?

Answer 99

-The Bund Deutscher Madel (BDM), or league of German girls, was the female equivalent of the Hitler youth. It’s motto- ‘be faithful, be pure, be German’- was part of a process of preparing girls for their future role as housewives and mothers in the Volksgemeichschaft. Membership became compulsary in 1939
-In the BDM, girls were taught that they had a duty to be healthy since their bodies belonged to the nation. They needed to be fit for their future role as child bearers.
-They were also instructed in matters of hygiene, cleanliness and healthy eating. Formation dancing and group gymnastics served the dual purpose of raising fitness and developing comradeship
-At weekly ‘home evenings’, girls were taught handicrafts, sewing and cooking. There were also sessions for political education and racial awareness
-Annual summer camps were highly structured, every minute being taken up with sports, physical exercise and route marches, as well as indocrination, flag waving and saluting
-In the faith and beauty groups, young women were instructed in baby care and social skills such as ballroom dancing

Question 100

How did girls find the BDM?

Answer 100

-Many girls found their experiences in the BDM liberating. They were doing things that their mothers had not been allowed to do and they could escape from the constraints of the home.by hey also developed a sense of comradeship
-Although strictly run on the leadership principle, the BDM groups were relatively classless, bringing together girls from a wide range of backgrounds
-This was part of the strategy for capturing the minds of German youth and moulding them to the purposes of the Nazi regime
-Racial awareness was an important element in this indoctrination. Jutta Rudiger, the leader of the BDM, instructed girls on their future partners in marriage: ‘Only the best German soldier is suitable for you, for it is your responsibility to keep the blood of the nation pure. German girl, your honour lies in being faithful to the blood of your race’

Question 101

What happened after 1934 to girls?

Answer 101

-After 1934, girls were expected to do a years work on the land or in domestic service. The aim was to put girls in touch with their peasant roots and give them practical experience in child care
-It also developed their sense of serving the community. This was very unpopular with girls from the cities and many tried to avoid it
-In 1939, this scheme was made compulsory. All young women up to the age of 25, had to do a years unpaid work with the Reich labour service before they could get paid employment
-This was the female equivalent to compulsory military service for the boys and was part of the growing ‘coordination’ of all levels of German society under nazi rule

Question 102

What was the degree of success of nazi youth policies?

Answer 102

-The Nazis were successful in bringing schools and universities under their control. The HJ had, by 1939, become the only youth movement allowed in Germany, and membership of both HJ and BDM had grown
-The HJ undoubtedly reinforced certain value that had long been well established in German culture, particularly the importance of duty, obedience, honour, courage and physical strength
-This picture of success, however, must be balanced by the fact that attendance at HJ parades was beginning to slip by 1939 and that the Nazis themselves were concerned about the re emergence of independent youth cliques

Question 103

What were Nazis views towards women?

Answer 103

-The Nazis opposed the trend towards greater emancipation for women that had been evident in the Weimar period. They viewed the declining birth rate in the 1920s with alarm as it threatened to undermine their aim to expand Germany’s territory and settle Germans in the newly acquired lands to the East
-The main priority for nazi policy towards women after 1933, therefore, was to raise the birth rate. This was closely linked to attempts to restrict the employment of married women outside the family home.

Question 104

What were the Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 104

-Marriage loans were introduced for women who left work and married an Aryan man. For each child born, the amount of the loan that had to be paid was reduced by a quarter
-The nazis awarded medals to women for ‘donating a baby to the Fuhrer’. Those with 4 or 5 children received a bronze medal, 6 or 7 qualified for silver, and 8 for gold
-Birth control was discouraged. Abortion was severely restricted
-Women were encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle, with plenty of exercise and no smoking or drinking

Question 105

What were the organisations Nazis set up for women?

Answer 105

-The German womens league (DFW) was set up in 1933 to coordinate all woman’s groups under Nazi control. It had a domestic science department, which gave advice to women on cooking and healthy eating. By 1939, the DFW had over 6 million members, 70% of whom were not members of the Nazi party
-The national socialist women’s organisation (NS-F) was an elite organisation to promote the nation’s ‘love life, marriage, the family, blood and race’. It was primarily an organisation for propaganda and indoctrination among women to promote the Nazi ideology that women should be child readers and homemakers
-The reich mothers service (RMD) was a branch of the DFW for training ‘physically and mentally able mothers, to make them convinced of the important duties of motherhood, experienced in the care and education of their children and competent to carry out their domestic tasks’. By March 1939, 1.7 million women had attended its motherhood training services

Question 106

What was the degree of success of Nazi’s policies towards women?

Answer 106

-The Nazis campaign to raise the birth rate had some success. To what extent this was due to policy, however, is debatable, since the improved economic situation would also have encouraged couples to have more children
-Moreover, despite the Nazis’ ideological objection to the paid employment of married women, the number of women in the workforce increased between 1933 and 1939 as ideology had to give way to economic realities
-After 1936, there was a growing labour shortage in Germany as the pace of rearmament increased, so the regime began to encourage women to take up employment

Question 107

What were Nazi policies towards workers?

Answer 107

-The Nazi Volksgemeinschaft would be a society in which class differences, religious loyalties, as well as regional, age and gender differences would be put aside and replaced by national unity
-Given their traditional ties to trade unions and non Nazi political parties, industrial workers presented the greatest challenge to the process of Gleichschaltung
-The nazis could not ignore the working class nor could they rely solely on the repression to achieve their objective of ‘coordinating’ this very important part of german society
-Their first step was to ban the existing free trade unions, which was done on 2nd May 1933. Following that, the next step was to coordinate workers into a Nazi run organisation, the German labour front (DAF)

Question 108

What was the german labour front (DAF)?

Answer 108

-The Duetsches Arbeitsfront, or german labour front, was established on May 6 1933, under the leadership of Robert Ley, to coordinate workers into the national socialist regime
-The DAF took over the assets of the banned trade unions and became the largest organisation in the third Reich. Although membership of the DAF was not compulsory, it’s membership grew rapidly since it was the only officially recognised organisation representing workers
-The DAF had 2 main aims: to win the workers over to the Volksgemeinschaft and to encourage workers to increase production. Because it was a symbol of the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft, the DAF included employers as well as workers
-The DAF replaced th trade unions but was not a trade union itself. It had no role in bargaining over wages and little influence over the regimes social and economic policies
-It did, however, have it’s own propaganda department to spread nazi ideology among working class Germans. It also established a organisation, ‘strength through joy’, to organise workers’ leisure time
-In 1936, the DAF started to provide vocational training courses to improve workers’ skills. The DAF also built up a large business empire of its own. This included banks, housing associations and construction companies, the Volkswagen car plant and its own travel company.
-By 1939, the DAF had 44,500 paid employees

Question 109

In which favour was the Nazi system of labour relations?

Answer 109

-The nazi system of labour relations was heavily weighted in favour of the employer and the state. Workers in the third Reich had to work harder and accept a squeeze on wages and living standards.
-Nazi propaganda tried to promote the message that the reward for working was not material gain but the knowledge that they were serving the community
-Nevertheless, the Nazis were well aware that they could not take workers for granted. Improved leisure facilities and opportunities, provided by strength through hour were a key part of this strategy

Question 110

What is strength through joy?

Answer 110

-The Kraft Dutch Freude (KdF) organisation, or strength through joy, was set up by Robert ley and the DAF to organise workers leisure time. The basic idea behind the scheme was that workers would ‘gain strength for their work by experiencing joy in their leisure’
-Workers who were refreshed by holidays, sports and cultural activities would be more efficient when they returned to work

Question 111

What were the other aims of the KdF?

Answer 111

-To submerge the individual in the mass and encourage workers to see themselves as part of a Volksgemeinschaft. With leisure time as well as work time regulated by the regime, there would be no time or space for workers to develop private lives. To this end, the KdF was a propagandist organisation, which used its activities to indoctrinate workers and their families into a Nazi ideology
-To encourage a spirit of social equality. All KdF activites were organised on a one class basis with no distinction between rich and poor
-To bring Germans from the different regions of the country together and to break down regional and religious differences
-To encourage participation in sport to improve the physical and mental health of the nation. Every youth in employment was obliged to undertake 2 hours each week of physical education at their workplace
-To encourage competition and ambition. A KdF national trades competition was organised for apprentices to improve skills and standards of work

Question 112

What were workers offered through the KdF?

Answer 112

-Through the KdF, workers were offered subsidised holidays in Germany and abroad, sporting activities and hikes, as well as theatre and cinema visits at reduced prices. Classical music concerts were put on in lunch breaks in factories
-There were KdF wardens in every factory and workplace employing more than 20 people. Supporting these were over 7000 paid employees of the organisation by 1939
-Membership of the KdF came automatically with membership came automatically with membership of the DAF so that, by 1936, 35 million belonged to it
-Despite the gap between myth and reality in the KdF, it was one of the regimes most popular organisations. By offering opportunities that were not available to ordinary Germans before 1933, the KdF was valued by workers and thus helped to reconcile people, and even former opponents, to the regime

Question 113

What was the degree of success of Nazi policies towards workers?

Answer 113

-The evidence from solace and gestapo reports shows that workers’ reactions to Nazi schemes to win their support were mixed. Many workers, of course, had been influenced by socialist and communist ideas before 1933 and would therefore have been resistant to Nazi ideology
-According to these reports, KdF was popular not because peoples shared its Nazi ideological aims, but because if offered workers a means of escaping the boredom and pressure of their working lives
-On the other hand, trade unions had been abolished and workers had no independent means by which they could voice their grievances

Question 114

What were nazi policies towards the churches?

Answer 114

-Coordinating the churches into the Volksgemeinschaft posed serious challenges for the Nazi regime since the Germans were divided by faith. Although the majority of Germans were Protestant, a significant minority were Roman Catholic
-Secondly, religious loyalties were deep rooted in some communities and were an obstacle to the Nazi aim of making the fuhrer the focus of loyalty for all Germans
-Hitler realised that he would have to proceed cautiously at first, with his initial objective being to gain control over the churches before later trying to weaken their influence
-The Nazis did not have a coherant view towards religion and the churches. Hitler himself had been raised a Catholic in Austria and he talked often of ‘positive christanity’. Yet at other times Hitler stated that he wanted to eradicate christanity from Germany
-Hitler was hostile to the Christian faith but, especially in the early months of his regime, he was careful not to alienate the churches and so tried to reassure church leaders that Nazism posed no threat to their faith
-Other Nazis, notably Robert Ley, were atheists who wanted to replace the Christian churches with a new Nazi faith
-This lack of coherence in Nazi religious policy is evident in their dealings with the different churches

Question 115

What were Nazi policies towards the protestant church?

Answer 115

-The main Protestant church in Germany was the German evangelical church, which many Nazis saw as a potential nucleus for a single national church. Evangelicals were politically very conservative and staunch nationalists, regarding Germany as a Protestant state
-Within the German evangelical church, there was a string tradition of respect for, and cooperation with, the state
-Many Protestants, were anti semitic and vigorously anti communist. There were, therefore, many points of convergence between Nazi ideology and the views of German Protestants and it was no coincidence that, before 1933, the strongest areas of Nazi support were in the Protestant north and east of Germany
-In the early months of the Nazi regime, some Nazi leaning Protestant pastors staged mass weddings of SA brownshirts and their brides
-For their part the Nazis, in 1933, turned the 450th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther into a major national celebration

Question 116

What were Nazi policies towards the reich church?

Answer 116

-In the spring and summer of 1933 the Nazi regime began to ‘cooridnate’ the evangelical church into a single, centralised reich church under Nazi control. In the church elections of July 1933, the German Christian’s, with the support of Goebbels’ propaganda ministry, won a sweeping victory and were now in a position to ‘nazify’ the church
-Ludwig Muller, a Nazi nominee, was appointed as reich bishop and took over the administrative HQ of the evangelical church with the help of the S.A muller abolished all elected bodies within the church and reorganised it on the leadership principle
-In November 1933, the German Christian’s celebrated their triumph in taking over the reich church by holding a mass rally at the sports palace in Berlin
-Here, they demanded that those pastors who had not declared their allegiance to the new regime should be dismissed, along with all non Aryans
-As a state institution, the reich church was forced to adopt this so called ‘Aryan paragraph’ and 18 pastors, mostly men who had converted to Christianity from Judaism, were dismissed
-By the end of 1933, it appeared that the reich church had been successfully ‘coordinated’ into the Volksgemeinschaft

Question 117

What happened with the confessional church?

Answer 117

-Not all protestant pastors, or their congregations, were willing to support these developments within the church. In September 1933, a group of dissident pastors, led by Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, established a pastors’ emergency league
-This evolved into a breakaway church known as the confessional church. With the support of about 5000 pastors, the new church was established to resist state interference in the church and to re establish a theology that was based purely on the Bible
-The confessional church was thus in opposition to the official reich church. Some rural congregations went over to the confessional church because, as the Gestapo reported on the Potsdam district, ‘farming people seem to want to celebrate their church festivals in the traditional form’

Question 118

What does the confessional church show about the regimes attempts at ‘coordination’?

Answer 118

-The very fact that the confessional church was established in defiance of the Nazi policy of Gleichschaltung shows that the regime’s attempts to ‘coordinate’ the protestant church were a failure
-In 1935, a new ministry for church affairs was created and Reich bishop muller was marginalised. The regime then switched to a policy of trying to weaken the confessional church through repression while at the same time trying to exploit the divisions that were beginning to appear within it
-The regime also attempted to marginalise Christianity by trying to reduce the influence of the churches over young people through the abolition of church schools in the late 1930s and pressure on young people to join the Hitler youth
-The regime also launched a church secession campaign to persuade party members to renounce their church membership

Question 119

What were the successes of the chuch secession campaign?

Answer 119

-By 1939, 5% of the population were listed as ‘God believers’, or people who regained some faith but had renounced formal membership of the Christian churches
-Party members were not allowed to hold any office in the protestant or Catholic Churches
-Stormtroopers were forbidden to wear uniforms at church services
-Priests and pastors were forbidden from playing any part in the Nazi party
-Pressure to renounce their faith was also put on those whose employment depended on the regime; teachers and civil servants were particular targets

Question 120

What were Nazi policies towards the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 120

-The Roman Catholic Church presented a far greater obstacle than the Protestants to the Nazi policy of Gleichschaltung. Catholics in germany were part of an international church and took their lead in religious matters from the pope
-The Roman Catholic Church, therefore, was less susceptible to Nazi ideology than the wholly German evangelical church. The Nazis regarded the fact that the Roman Catholic church demanded obedience to the pope from German Catholics as undermining Germany’s unity as a nation
-In the early 1930s, Catholic voters were among the least likely people to vote for the Nazi party. On the other hand, Catholics as a group were keen to be seen and accepted as part of the German nation and, after Hitler came to power, the Catholic Church was prepared to compromise
-There were also some points of convergence between Catholics and Nazism: the Catholic Church regarded communism as a far greater evil than nazism and there were also many within the church who shared the Nazis anti semitism

Question 121

What was the concordat?

Answer 121

-After Hitler came to power in 1933, the Roman Catholic church opted for cooperation and compromise with the new regime in the belief that this would preserve its autonomy. When the free trade unions were taken over by the German labour front in May 1933, catholic trade unions voluntarily disbanded
-Then, in July 1933, the regime and the Vatican reached an agreement called the concordat

Question 122

What happened under the agreement of the concordat?

Answer 122

-The Vatican recognised the Nazi regime and promised that the catholic church would not interfere in politics
-The regime promised that it would not interfere in the Catholic Church and that the church would keep control of its schools, youth organisations and lay groupd

Question 123

What happened between the Roman Catholic Church and the regime after the concordat agreement?

Answer 123

-It was not long, however, before the Nazi regime was breaking the terms of this agreement. In the summer of 1933, the Nazis began to seize the property of Catholics organisations and forced them to close
-Catholic newspapers were ordered to drop the word ‘catholic’ from their names. The Gestapo and SS put catholic priests under surveillance. In the night of the long knives in June 1934, a number of leading Catholics were executed by the SS
-Among them was Fritz Gerlich, the editor of a catholic journal and a known critic of the regime. In the face of this mounting repression and blatant illegalitu, the Catholic hierarchy made no protest, believing instead that continued declarations of support for the regime would be the best way to protect the catholic church from the Nazis

Question 124

What happened with conflict between the regime and the Catholic Church between 1935-36?

Answer 124

-Some catholic priests did begin, in 1935-36, to speak out from the pulpits about the danger of Nazi religious ideas. Leading this criticism was clemens von Galen, the archbishop of Munster. In response the regime increased the pressure on the Catholic Church

Question 125

How did the regime increase pressure on the Catholic Church in 1935-36?

Answer 125

-Permission to hold public meetings was severely restricted
-Catholic newspaper and magazines were heavily censored and many publications had nazi editors imposed upon them
-Goebells launched a propaganda campaign against financial corruption in catholic lay organisations. Many had their funds seized and their offices closed by the SA
-Membership of the Hitler youth was made compulsory for all young people. Although catholic youth organisations were still tolerated, they experienced increasing difficulty in holding onto their members

Question 126

What happened between the regime and Catholic Church in 1937?

Answer 126

-In 1937, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical entitled ‘with burning grief’. In response, the regime again increased the pressure:
-Gestapo and SS agents were placed inside Catholic Church organisations
-There was a tightening of restrictions on the catholic press. Pilgrimages and processions were restricted and catholic youth groups were closed down
-Many monasteries were closed down and their assets were seized. Crucifixes were removed from catholic schools
-Goebells propaganda ministry published many sex scandals involving catholic priests, attempting to portray the church as corrupt. Around 200 priests were arrested and tried on sex charges
-Finally, the Nazis began a campaign to close church schools. By the summer of 1939, all church schools had been converted into community schools

Question 127

What was the degree of success of Nazi policy towards the churches?

Answer 127

-The regimes religious policy was confused and inconsistent as leading Nazis differed in their attitudes towards Christianity. The Nazis had failed to establish a single, unifying protestant church based on the german Christian movement
-By 1939, the concordat with the Catholic Church was effectively dead, yet Hitler he,d back from formally renouncing the agreement. He could still see some value, from a tactical point of view, in keeping the facade of cooperation while at the same time pursuing policies designed to weaken its hold
-It is clear that the Nazis had failed to ‘coordinate’ the churches into the Volksgemeinschaft and that organised religion remained a powerful force within German society