The Impact Of Nazi Racial, Social + Religious Policies Flashcards
(34 cards)
1
Q
What is the Volksgemeinschaft?
A
- People’s Society
- Excludes Jews/gypsies/mentally ill/homosexuals/etc
2
Q
What Percentage of Germans were Working Class
A
46%
3
Q
What were the Advantages of the Material Conditions of the Working Class?
A
- Regular work
- Regular money
- Leisure activities (Strength Through Joy + Beauty of Labour)
- The ones who befitted the mostly were the ones that worked with weapons
4
Q
What were the Disadvantages of the Material Conditions of the Working Class?
A
- Wages on government’s work schemes were sometimes lower than the rate of unemployment benefit
- Had to accept all work or risked loosing unemployment benefit
- Had to join DAF
- Striking was banned
- Terrible working conditions
5
Q
What were the Advantages of the Material Conditions of the Farmers?
A
- Got rid of debt
- Increased the prices
- Reich entailed farm law 1933 - protected farms
- Told that they were the most important people (propaganda) - autarky
6
Q
What were the Disadvantages of the Material Conditions of the Farmers?
A
- Shortage of labour as workers left for better paid jobs
- No control - farm law
- Bad pay
7
Q
What were the Disadvantages of the Material Conditions of the Mittelstand (Family Business)?
A
- Nazis preferred big businesses therefore small businesses went bankrupt
- The mittelstand lost money as the economic conditions changed
- The policy of rearmament and leading the economy towards total war meant that big businesses were favored
- The Nazis needed to keep on the good side of big businesses to encourages rearmament
8
Q
What were the Advantages of the Material Conditions of the Industrialists?
A
- Their earnings were high because the worth of industry in Germany increased
- Wages for managers increased 1934-38
- Benefited from large scale rearmament + destruction of trade unions
- Personal salaries rose by 70%
9
Q
What were the Disadvantages of the Material Conditions of the Industrialists?
A
- Government took full control of exports/wages/profits/prices
- Government decided who should receive scarce raw materials
10
Q
How was the Volksgemeinshaft Created?
A
- Segregation + discrimination
- Worked to the principle of ‘Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer’
11
Q
How did DAF Please Workers Without Increasing Wages?
A
- Beauty of Labour
2. Strength Through Joy
12
Q
Describe Beauty of Labour
A
- Improved working conditions
- Examples = air-con/free meal/hot meals/ventilation/pot plants
13
Q
Describe Strength Through Joy
A
- KDF
- Workers reward
- Example = trips/leisure activities/theatre
14
Q
What is the Volksgenossen?
A
- ‘Public Ceremonies’
- Community
- Public ceremonies to celebrate
- Example = Hitler’s Birthday
15
Q
What is Winterhife?
A
- ‘Winter Help’
- People gave food/clothes/money to needy families
- Form of charity
- Strengthens community
16
Q
Describe Eintopfe
A
- ‘One Pot’
- People encouraged to have one dish for a meal + give rest to needy
- Autarky
- Makes people feel united`
17
Q
What were the Effects of Community Propaganda?
A
- Brings Germany together
- All people benefit in some way
- Improves community
- Strengthens society + community in some way
- More support - increased popularity
- Brainwash people + Nazification
18
Q
Hitler’s Dilemma
Destroy the Churches or Use the Churches
A
Destroy the Churches
- Moral Opposition
- Totalitarian state
- Deify him (make him a god)
- Chooses beliefs
- Merge + control with Nazi church
- Become a very powerful dictator
Use the Churches
- 95% (61 million) Germans were Christian
- Give people a sense of freedom/choose
- Increases popularity
- Conservative support
19
Q
How did the Nazis View Christianity?
A
- Product of inferior race because it originated from Jewish culture
- Himmler + Heydrich openly attacked the Catholic church
- Hitler - “Neither denomination has any future left. One is either a Christian or a German. You cannot be both”
20
Q
How did the Churches Deal With the Nazis?
Why?
A
- The Nazis tried to compromised with the churches
Why
- Hitler believed that if he got on wrong side of Churches he’d upset 95% of people
- H paid tribute to both organisations in his speech - “integral part of country”
- Churches sympathsised with Nazis - they supported Kaiser + hoped Nazis would restore Germany to the prestige of the past
21
Q
How did Hitler Try and Ensure Gleichschalting in the Protestant Churches?
A
- Deutsche Christian = German Christian
- A new constitution was formed for the Church. Muller became the first Bishop of the Reich. They adopted uniforms/salutes/marches - like the Nazis
- “the swastika on our breast and the cross in our hearts”
22
Q
How did Protestant Priests Rebel Against the Nazis?
A
- Creation of the Confessing Church (Bekennede Kirche)
- Led by Niemoller
23
Q
Why did the Catholic Church Want Ensure the Support of the Nazis?
How was this Achieved?
A
- Scared of another kultukampf - a cultural struggle
- July 1933 = Concordat was signed - understanding between the Pope and Nazi party
24
Q
Describe the Concordat?
A
Agreement between Catholic church and the Nazis. They agreed that neither side would interfere with the other and they would peacefully coexist
25
How did Hitler Feel About the Concordat?
- Hitler did not respect the concordat - angry that many Germans still faithful to the churches
- 5 days after sterilization law was passed - went against the beliefs of the Catholic Church
- By mid 1933 Nazi were trying to get rid of the Catholic Church's Influence
26
How did the Nazis Attempt to Get Rid of the Catholic Church's Influences?
1. The first steps were made to rid the influence of the Catholic youth movement
2. By the end of 1933 the catholic priests were being arrrested + threatened
3. The Nazi intervened in the Catholic schools
4. In the next few years, many priests + nuns were arrested on faluse accusations
5. The leaders of Catholic actions were murdered during the Night of the Long Knives
6. Catholic leaflets were banned
7. The Gestapo attacked the confessing box
27
What was the Effect on the Two Churches?
1. By 1935 the Nazi effort at gleichschalting in the churches had not totally succeeded
2. Nazi tactics become a war of attrition between the catholic and protestant churches
3. Ministers were created for church issues and this weakened the position of the churches
4. Many anti-religious measures were passed e.g. church schools were abolished/ministers were threatened/ministers were arrested
5. In March 1937 - the Pope judged the Nazi government for offending against the concordat and Christ and the church. He did this openly in a letter "With Burning Sorrow"
6. In May 1936 Niemoller's group of Protestants wrote a memo to Hitler complaining about his treatment of the churches. Internal Minister of the Nazis reacted sternly. Many priests of the confessing churches were arrested One who signed the memo was arrested . The confessing church finances was abolished
7. The churches position was weakened
28
What is the German Faith Movement?
- Nazi pagan group
- The movement's flag was a golden sun on a blue background often with a Nazi swastika on it
- Wasn't very successful
- By 1939 5% of population were members of this movement
29
What were the Main Themes of the German Faith Movement?
1. Against Christianity
2. Blood + Soil Ideology
3. Promote Hitler
4. Enhance Religions Ceremonies with Pagan Ceremonies
30
How did Nazi Policies Towards the Churches Change During the War?
- Nazi party followed a more moderate + prudent policy to avoid tensions
- By winning Poland + France easily the persecution of the Catholics + Protestants by Nazis increased - due to pressure from anti-Christians
- Monasteries were closes/church property was attacked/church activities
- In Poland many priests priests were assassinated and churches closed
31
What were the Social Policies Regarding Women?
- Limited perspective in relation to the role that women should play in society - Kinder, Kucher, Kircher
- Hitler's attitude towards women reflects his racial policies - preservation of the race, racial purity + against female independence
- Few women had jobs - forced out due to depression and never returned - encouraged to contribute compulsory agriculture labour service introduced
- Divorce was made easier for childless couples after 1938
- Childbirth was encouraged - Financial incentives were provided loans/grants
- Propaganda encouraged childbirth - Mother's Cross
- Abortion + contraceptive tightly controlled
- Lebensborn program encouraged child birth out side of marrige
32
Describe the Educational System
- Role of education was to create soldiers + mothers
- Indoctrination
- Emphasis put on racial ideology/physical education/biology/history/German
- All teachers had to be part of the Nazi teaching league
- Communist/Jewish/Socialist teachers purged
- Uni became less popular as emphasis put on 'non-academic' areas of the curriculum - many boys went to the army/SS
- Elite/ Alford Hitler schools established
- Religious schools banned
33
Describe the Hitler Youth
- Established in 1926
- Membership compulsory in 1939 - six million members
- Took over all other youth organisations
- Activities emphasized belonging/race/loyalty to Fuhrer/preparations for future (boys=war girls=families)
- Actively involved in the war effort
34
How did Hitler Use Culture?
- Emphasis on Aryan art
- Rejected modern art
- Key themes = anti-antisemitism/militarism/nationalism/Hitler/superiority of the master race
- Minister of Propaganda controlled/censored art
- Burning of the Books
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