Social impact Flashcards
Control through clever use of propaganda
-Joseph Goebbels- put in charge of propaganda.
-used propaganda- project positive image of Hitler &Nazi party to win continued support and loyalty of the people and win over their critics.
-Goebbels also controlled and ensured that all forms of media, such as films and posters carried pro-Nazi messages.
-Mass rallies like Nuremberg rallies- organised to showcase German might and give Germans a sense of belonging.
-stirred up anti-Semitic feelings and anti-communist feelings.
-Education was placed under strict Nazi control to propagate Nazi ideas- loyalty to Hitler. Teachers & professors closely monitored- ensured they did not teach anti-Nazi ideas.
-Clever use of propaganda- helped Nazis control all that Germans could read, listen and see so that they would see- view Hitler as saviour of Germany and convince Germans to support and obey.
-Enabled Hitler to gain people’s loyalty and secure his hold on people.
-led to increase in popularity of nazis- from Germans in Germany and ethnic Germans in other parts of Europe.
Hence, clever propaganda-constantly reminding people of achievements enabled Nazis to win continued loyalty of the people and control them.
Censorship
- Hitler set up Reich Chamber of Commerce to oversee and scrutinise productions and publications in film, radio, newspapers.
- nazis censored everything that Germans could read, watch, listen.
- nazis ransacked libraries and held book-burning events to destroy books they found unacceptable.
- anti-nazi newspapers were put out of business.
- Goebbels made radios affordable for all Germans so that they could listen to Hitler’s speeches and nazi broadcast.
- Loudspeakers were placed along the streets to broadcast hitler’s speeches.
- strict censorship helped nazis- ensure any information hostile to them was kept away from Germans.
- constant feeding germans with positive information about nazis, enforcing nazi doctrines on people- able to win support of Germans and control public opinions easily.
- also led to lack of freedom and expression of ideas among germans.
Rise of the police state and use of violence created fear
-To make Germany a totalitarian state with no opposition to challenge his rule, Hitler used violence to instill fear in the people.
-Hitler turned Germany into a police state by using the SS (Blackshirts) and the Gestapo to hunt down his opponents.
-The SS were responsible for destroying the ‘enemies of the state’ and for carrying out Hitler’s racial policies. They ran concentration camps where opponents of the state and the ‘undesirables’ were tortured and made to work for long hours under harsh working conditions.
-The Gestapo or Nazi secret police was staffed by officers of the SS. It had virtually unlimited power to eliminate threats to the Nazis. They were responsible to no one and could detain anyone without trial. They used torture, arrests, intimidation, and murder to stifle opposition. Opponents were sent to concentration camps.
-The use of violence by the SS and the Gestapo struck fear in the people and helped Hitler to consolidate his control over Germany because no one dared to oppose or challenge his authority for fear of arrest, punishment or being sent to concentration camps.
-The people lived in constant fear and suspicion because they did not know whom they could trust, as there were many informers working for the Nazis.
-Anyone found criticising the Nazis was either tortured or killed.
-All these forced the people to conform and obey the Nazis out of fear of losing their lives. Hence the Germans suffered, as there was a lack of freedom of expression and ideas.
Thus the Nazis were able to control the people using the SS and the Gestapo to strike fear in the people and force them into submission.
The Jews
-The Nazis indoctrinated anti-Semitic feelings in the Germans by using propaganda to blame the Jews for all of Germany’s ills, such as the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression, and to portray the Jews as evil and cunning.
-Hitler embarked on a systematic attempt to first deprive the Jews of their rights and then to exterminate them eventually.
-In April 1933, the Nazis called for a national boycott of Jewish business to destroy the Jews financially and to segregate them from the rest of the population.
-The Nazis burnt books written by Jews. Jewish businesses and properties were also taken away.
-In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed to exclude Jews from German society. These laws deprived the Jews of their German citizenship and barred them from marrying non-Jews.
To seek revenge for killing a Nazi diplomat by a Jew, the Nazis unleashed further terror on the Jews in Germany and Austria on the Night of Broken Glass in 1938. Jewish shops were looted and destroyed. More than 20,000 Jews were beaten up, sent to concentration camps or killed.
-Hitler’s invasion of Poland delivered more Jews into his hands. Polish Jews were rounded up and sent to ghettos where overcrowding and poor living conditions killed many.
-The Nazi’s ‘Final Solution’ saw the extermination of Jews in gas chambers during World War 2.
-Due to discrimination and persecution, the Jews suffered great humiliation and inhumane treatment.
-The persecution of the Jews caused them immense hardships, sufferings and killed 6 million of them in World War 2.
Thus Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, worsened their lives and put them through immense fear, suffering and hardship.
Other minority groups
-The Nazis persecuted other minorities such as gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled, who were also seen as ‘undesirables’ and a threat to the survival of the Aryan race.
-They introduced laws to control, authorise, arrest, and even sterilise them. For example, about 100,000 homosexuals were arrested.
-Physically and mentally disabled people were seen as burdens to the German society, and many were sterilised to prevent them from procreation.
-Cruel and inhumane experiments were performed on many of these minorities.
-Many of them were also sent to the concentration camps and gassed to death.
-Like the Jews, the other minority groups suffered immense humiliation, hardship, and sufferings under the Nazis.
Nazi rule worsened the lives of the minority groups as they were subjected to inhumane treatment and deprived of basic human rights.
Nazi policy towards women
-The role of women changed considerably under Nazi rule.
-Under the Weimar government, German women enjoyed high social status, as they could hold political positions and were given equality in marriage.
-But the Nazis confined women to the roles of mother and spouse.
-Jobs were taken away from women so that they could stay at home and focus on child-bearing.
-Women who bore many children were honoured and given monetary rewards and medals such as the Motherhood cross.
-Women were discouraged from pursuing university studies and were excluded from politics and academics.
-Other restrictions were also put on women, such as discouraging the use of make-up
-There were mixed reactions to the Nazi policy towards women.
-German women who believed that women should stay at home welcomed the new emphasis that the Nazis put on child-bearing as they would enjoy greater importance and benefited from the awards and recognition given to honour their child-bearing.
-However, career-minded women who used to hold professional jobs saw the Nazi policy as oppressive. They resented the restrictive lives that were imposed on them and their loss of freedom. Hence they suffered under Nazi rule as they were forced to conform to Hitler’s views of the ideal society
Due to the Nazi belief that the duty of the German women was to be good wives and mothers, the role of German women changed drastically.
Those who embraced Hitler’s policy felt that their lives improved while those who frowned on his treatment of women suffered from losing freedom.
Impact on youths
- The Nazis viewed the youths as essential to the future and well-being of Nazi Germany. Thus, great care was taken to ensure that they would grow up to be loyal to Hitler and contribute to the state.
- Youth organisations such as the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls were set up to indoctrinate the youths in anti-Semitic and Nazi ideology.
- Great emphasis was also placed on military training.
- In 1936, membership in the Hitler Youth was made compulsory.
- German youths were made to conform to Nazi standards and ideology.
- While some German youths enjoyed the activities of the youth organisations, there were youths who resented the restrictive lives and the lack of freedom.-Hence German youths led very controlled lives under the Nazis.
- Those who resisted such control joined anti-Nazi groups such as the Edelweiss Pirates.
