Theme 4- Aspects of Life 1933-1945

Question 1

What were the roles the Nazis had for women?

Answer 1

They were meant to bear the next Aryan race through assortative mating and nurture these children through nutritious food. They had to be beautiful and sexually attractive to ensure they could keep having children. They had an economic role as responsible consumers buying German goods but had no political role.

Question 2

Which Nazi policies tried to increase the birth rate of healthy, Aryan children?

Answer 2

-Increased maternity benefits
-Rigidly enforced abortion laws
-Mother Schools (150 by 1936)
-Lebensborn programme (13 clinics in Germany and Austria which offered maternity care for pregnant Aryan women).

Question 3

How did the Nazis try to encourage marriage?

Answer 3

-Law for the Encouragement of Marriage- a loan of RM1000 to newly married couples.
-Reich Bride Schools for SS wives (taught them childcare, ironing etc).

Question 4

How did the Nazis try to get women to accept Nazi ideals of beauty and behaviour?

Answer 4

-Hitler Maiden published in 1933 set out the characteristics of an ideal Aryan woman.
-Bureau for Beauty published beauty advice for women.
-Cosmetics designed to help women achieve a natural look.

Question 5

How did Nazi policies towards women change 1937-1939?

Answer 5

The introduction of conscription and the rearmament boom led to a labour shortage and the women in the workforce increased from 31 to 33%. In 1937 a law was passed meaning unmarried women had to do a ‘duty year’ involving work in factories or farms.

Question 6

How did the war impact Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 6

In 1939, unmarried women were ordered to complete agricultural labour. Heavy war casualties meant in 1943, conscription for women aged 17-45 was introduced although there were many exceptions.

Question 7

How did the war impact women in work?

Answer 7

• The proportion of women in the workforce increased from 1/3 to 1/2.
• The proportion of women in farm work increased from 55% in 1939 to 67% in 1944. Their work was essential to provide food during the war.
• From 1942, women in industrial work was facilitated by government provision of crèches and pay incentives.

Question 8

How did the war impact women’s social and domestic life?

Answer 8

Families became disrupted during the war and women often informed on their husbands to assist in the break-up. In 1940, Himmler issued orders to send unfaithful women to concentration camps for at least a year because unfaithful wives were decreasing soldier morale.

Question 9

How successful were Nazi policies towards women?

Answer 9

They were largely a failure because the labour shortages meant women in work increased which went against Nazi ideals. The divorce rate also increased as did prostitution which was also a failure as the Nazis encouraged marriage. The birth rate increased which was a success but overall it was largely a failure.

Question 10

What were Nazi racial ideas?

Answer 10

They wanted a racially pure Germany and they were obsessed with the biological struggle between superior (Aryan) and inferior (Slavs, Jews and black people) races. Jews were the anti-Aryan trying to bring down Aryan domination. Racial mixing threatened to contaminate and ultimately weaken the Herrenvolk. Groups of people who did not conform to the ideals were to be eliminated from German society. Ideas on race were linked to social Darwinism and Lebensraum, the idea that more space was needed for a race to survive. More food meant more children and further conquest.

Question 11

What were the Nuremberg Laws and when were they passed?

Answer 11

Passed in 1935 and excluded minorities from public places, sexual relations were forbidden between races, loss of citizenship for Roma and Jews and there were work restrictions for minorities.

Question 12

What are some examples of economic discrimination against ethnic minorities?

Answer 12

-Jewish shop boycott in April 1933.
-Jews banned from working in public service in 1933 and professions like law, pharmacy and medicine in 1937.
-Aryanisation of business in 1938.

Question 13

What are some examples of social isolation?

Answer 13

-Jews and gypsies were forcibly relocated for the Olympic Games.
-Emigration plan to send Jews to Madagascar (contradicted with Final Solution- emigration vs death)
-Jews had to wear the star of David.

Question 14

When did Jews lose all legal rights?

Answer 14

1943

Question 15

What was Kristallnacht?

Answer 15

Attacks on synagogues, Jewish homes and businesses in 1938. 20,000 Jews were sent to camps and more than 200 people died.

Question 16

How did methods of persecution of ethnic minorities change over time?

Answer 16

Methods became gradually more violent over time. Most killings took place in the war years because the war provided concealment and Germany stopped caring what other countered thought of them (already at war). Because persecution was gradual, there was minimal opposition to it and there was already an underlying hostility towards minorities in Weimar.

Question 17

What was the impact of Nazi policies on ethnic minorities?

Answer 17

-6 million Jews were killed
-2.8 million Soviet prisoners of war were killed
-500,000 gypsies were killed

Question 18

What was the impact of Nazi policies on minorities?

Answer 18

-400,000 people were forcibly sterilised
-250,000 disabled people were killed
-15,000 homosexuals were sent to camps
-10,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses sent to camps

Question 19

What were Einsatzgruppen and why were they introduced?

Answer 19

Poland had 3 million Jews which meant that they were harder to ‘manage’. Einsatzgruppen were SS death groups who rounded up Jews in occupied territories and shot them.

Question 20

What was the Final Solution?

Answer 20

Outlined at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, it established death camps to destroy Europe’s population of 11 million Jews.

Question 21

What were the Nazi aims for youth and education?

Answer 21

They wanted control of schools to ensure support from the next generation. They also wanted to control teachers to make sure they were providing a Nazi education that would indoctrinate young children and turn them into unquestioning Nazi supporters. Hitler himself said ‘I start with the young. With them I can make a new world’.

Question 22

How did the Nazis try to control teachers?

Answer 22

From 1933, teachers were required to join the National Socialist Teachers’ League and 20% of teachers were sacked in 1933 because of political sympathies or race. Almost 1200 university lecturers (10%) lost their jobs.

Question 23

How did the Nazis control the curriculum?

Answer 23

The curriculum was changed in 1938 to include subjects like racial biology. The Ministry of Education commissioned new books like textbooks including the hierarchy of races.

Question 24

How high was membership of the Hitler Youth?

Answer 24

At the beginning of 1939, membership of the Hitler Youth (boys and girls) reached 8.7 million out of a total youth population of 8.87 million. From 25th March 1939, membership became legally binding at the age of 10 .

Question 25

How was the Hitler Youth unsuccessful?

Answer 25

Rich families could avoid sending their children as long as they paid the subscription. This was problematic for the Nazis because the rich families were their typical support base which showed that they weren’t committed Nazis. The Nazis also struggled to influence them because their children weren’t being indoctrinated.
In 1934, fewer than half of young people in the South were members compared to 80% in the North. Students at less well regarded schools were less likely to be members than Gymnasium students.

Question 26

How successful was the Hitler Youth at indoctrinating young people?

Answer 26

The comradeship was popular with young people but many disliked the absolute obedience and endless military drills. However they complied because they wanted to please the leaders. Not too effective in indocrinating Nazi ideology- young people only liked some aspects of the Hitler Youth.

Question 27

How did youth and education change in the war years?

Answer 27

With increasing labour shortages, boys and girls were recruited to help with the war effort. By 1944-45, 16 and 17 year olds were fighting on the front line. Youth resistance was ruthlessly suppressed. There were severe teacher shortages and disruption caused by air raids and bombing. Education focused more on military training and standards fell.

Question 28

What were the key features of Nazi culture?

Answer 28

Culture was used for propaganda and to create unity and support. There was a deliberate reversal of Weimar/ modern culture such as the removal of foreign aspects and introduction of neo-classical architecture. Strict controls and censorship were imposed. Art which was considered degenerate was prohibited while new culture emphasised the idealised simple rural life.

Question 29

What style was Nazi architecture?

Answer 29

Neo-classical inspired by classical Greek and Roman architecture.
The Nuremberg Congress Hall was inspired by the Roman Colosseum.
The Olympic Stadium was built in an epic modern classical style with huge statutes showing off ‘Aryan’ physique.
However some buildings like Adolf Hitler Schools looked more like military barracks and huge city towers were made of concrete to withstand massive bomb impacts.

Question 30

What happened to art in Nazi Germany?

Answer 30

In 1933, Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior) issued a decree stating that any art which didn’t reflect German values would not be displayed in galleries and could be destroyed. In a purge of unsuitable art in 1936, 13,000 paintings were removed from galleries including the works of Picasso and Van Gogh.

Question 31

What style of art did the Nazis like?

Answer 31

Authentic, realistic, celebrations of the Aryan physique and romanticising the simple country life (‘Blood and Soil’).

Question 32

What happened to literature under the Nazis?

Answer 32

Mein Kampf became a bestseller and over 5.2 million copies were sold by 1939. The Reich Chamber of Literature vetted all books before publication.

Question 33

What happened to film under the Nazis?

Answer 33

Leni Riefenstahl produced groundbreaking propaganda films like Olympia and Triumph of the Will which celebrated Nazi achievements. Goebbels films celebrated strong male heroes, contained nationalistic images of Germanic countryside and encouraged self sacrifice. They promoted Nazi ideals but were not blatant propaganda.

Question 34

How far was Nazi culture different from Weimar culture?

Answer 34

In terms of materials and techniques, Nazi artists and designers often built on advances from the Weimar period. Radical film making ideas were adopted by Leni Riefenstahl in her groundbreaking propaganda films like Olympia. Architectural developments such as the use of cement, concrete and glass were used to construct large scale projects with simple lines as seen in the autobahns and in Tempelhof Airport. The Nazis built upon some of the cultural developments of the Weimar years, especially technological ones, while discarding those they considered threatening to their ideology.

Question 35

How was culture affected by the war?

Answer 35

The KDF remained active and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra continued to give concerts. Even in January 1945 when Germany was in retreat, Goebbels commissioned a huge war film, Kolberg. Bans on foreign and Jewish arts were fiercely enforced.