Third Reich

Question 1

What were the main points of the 25 Point Plan?

Answer 1

Published February 1920
8 - State first provides support to citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population then non-citizens should be expelled
11 - Abolition of unearned incomes (interest, rent, hereditary money)
13 - Nationalisation of all associated industries
14 - Demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
Other clauses included - Free education, universal healthcare, eradicate unemployment
Combines socialist ideas with capitalist.
Hitler disliked the socialist ideas as he needed big business to be on his side and had to have no communist ideas as many Nazi voters were afraid of communism.

Question 2

What factors increased Nazi popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s?

Answer 2

The Great Depression - Caused mass unemployment which links to Nazi popularity 3million unemployed 1930 - 107 Nazi Seats | 6million unemployed 1932 - 230 Nazi Seats
Fear of Communism - KPD popularity increasing so many non-extreme right wing
Germans thought Nazis would prevent communism
Weimar didn’t work - 20 coalitions in 24 years. government useless

Question 3

How did Hitler gain power?

Answer 3

July 1932 - Nazis get most votes (240 seats | 38%) - Hindenburg refuses to give Hitler power calling him a ‘jumped up corporal’
November 1932 - Papen loses support and quits as chancellor - Nazi vote drops to 196 seats but still the most popular
December 1932 - Schleicher becomes chancellor but has no support in Reichstag.
-Papen persuades Hindenburg to make Hitler chancellor whilst controlling him.
30th January 1933 - Hitler becomes chancellor legally and democratically

Question 4

How did Germany become a dictatorship (Machtergreifung)?

Answer 4

27th February 1933 - Reichstag Fire - Dutch communist Van Der Lubbe arrested but
rumours the Nazis did it
- Led to Reichstag Fire Decree - Nazis could arrested anyone they suspected of opposing the government. 4000 communists arrested - reducing Nazi opposition.
March 1933 - Nazis get 44% of the vote (dubious) - Political pressure from SA etc.
Enabling Act March 1933 - Hitler could pass any law without support of Reichstag.
May 1933 - Trade unions banned
July 1933 - Politcal parties banned
April 1933- People’s Courts - Hitler had control over judges and courts
January 1934 - Länder governments dissolved
June 1934 - Night of the Long Knives
August 1934 - Hindenburg dies - Hitler merges chancellor and president declaring himself Fürher.

Question 5

What was the Gleichschaltung?

Answer 5

Marching into step
Trade unions replaced by the German Labour Front (DAF) -Strikes made illegal | Workers couldn’t leave a job without permission | Working
hours increased to 60+ a week | Workers couldn’t ask for higher wages
Kraft durche Freude (KdF) - Aimed to keep workers happy
- Worker could go on holiday for cheap | Over 7million took part in KdF sport events
- Saving scheme for to help buy a Volkswagen - No cars were ever made as factories focused on rearmaments
Youth Groups : Boys - Taught military skills and Nazi Ideology- After 18 - Join Reich Labour Service or Army
Girls - Preparted them for wifehood and motherhood - 18 y/o - 1 year in Labour Service

Question 6

What was the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA)?

Answer 6

Signed June 1935 - Renounced by Hitler April 1939
-Could now build a navy up to 35% the size of the Royal Navy (Appeasement)
-Broke Treaty of Versailles
-France & Italy weren’t consulted
- France was annoyed as it broke the Treaty
-Hitler acknowledged the AGNA as first steps to an alliance with Britain
- This was not felt in Britain

Question 7

What was the SD?

Answer 7

Main intelligence organisation of the Gestapo and SS - Led by Heydrich
By 1939 the SD was in control of all the police force
A new organisation RSHA was to find and eliminate enemies of the Reich -Included death squads and the Holocaust
Heydrich assasinated in May 1942 and replaced by Himmler who was replaced by Kaltenbrunner

Question 8

What was the Einsatzgrüppen?

Answer 8

Death squads.
Played key role in Aktion T4 - Killing disabled people in occupied territories
Also killed hundred of thousands of people in occupied territories by mass shootings and mobile gas vans.
Estimated 2million people killed by the death squads
Generally disliked by Soldiers and army commanders who disagreed with the murders, lootings and rapes (General Blaskowitz complained to Hitler and was fired)

Question 9

What was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

Answer 9

Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship signed in Moscow 23/08/1939 between Germany and USSR.
They also agreed to carve up Eastern Europe. Germany takes Eastern Poland and USSR takes Western Poland and the Baltic States
Means Hitler doesn’t have to worry about a 2 front war.
Broken when Hitler invades in June 1941

Question 10

What was the Hossbach Memorandum?

Answer 10

Minutes from a meeting in 1937 where Hitler said he wanted war with Poland
Some historians believe it was faked by Americans

Question 11

How did people oppose Nazis?

Answer 11

Anti-Nazi campaigns - Organised by SPD, KPD & Trade Unions
Sabotage - Workers held lightning strikes which lasted for a few hours, working slowly. damaging machinery,
Disobedience - Some Young people didn’t join Hitler Youth

Question 12

What was the Stauffenberg plot?

Answer 12

Attempt to assassinate Hitler in 20/07/1944. Stauffenberg left a bomb inside a briefcase in a conference room which exploded but due to a poor placement of the briefcase, Hitler survived

Question 13

Who were the Edelweiss Pirates?

Answer 13

Working class youths who used the Edelweiss as their symbol.
Resented the Hitler Youth and lack of freedom for young people. They would grow their hair long and wear American-style makeup. They avoided HY activities by going hiking and taunt and attack HY members

Question 14

Who were the swing kids?

Answer 14

Wealthy teenagers who preferred American culture over German.
Illegally listened to jazz and swing music, smoked and drank at parties of up to 6000 people

Question 15

How did the church oppose the Nazis?

Answer 15

Confessors church set up as an opponent of the Reich church. 6000 pastors joined and 800 were sent to concentration camps
Martin Niemoller - helped set up the Pastors Emergency League, he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

Question 16

How did the Nazis deal with political opposition?

Answer 16

Used propaganda to help gain support for the regime and often sent people to concentration camps or killed them if they were causing too much trouble

Question 17

Who was Hjalmar Schacht

Answer 17

Founder of the DDP
Hitler made him president of the Reichsbank because he was a good economist and also included a non-Nazi made him look less extreme
He introduced the new plan in 1933
He was arrested during the bomb plot and imprisoned. He wasn’t killed and was later acquitted at the Nuremburg Trials

Question 18

What was the New plan?

Answer 18

Made to prepare Germany for war and solve unemployment
Included: RAD, Conscription and rearmament, invisible unemployement and public works.

Question 19

What was the RAD (National Labour Service)?

Answer 19

Young men between 18-25 had to join for 6 months.
Given jobs in public works like building schools, roads hospitals etc.
Poor conditions as they had to live in camps with poor food and low pay.

Question 20

What was conscription and rearmament in the Nazi economy?

Answer 20

Conscription for 18-25 year old men breaking the Treaty of Versailles
Spending on arms rose from 3.5billion to 26billion marks.
By 1935 72,000 workers were in aircraft construction

Question 21

What was invisible unemployment?

Answer 21

Women and Jews forced out of their jobs and weren’t counted on unemployment figures. those in prison or concentration camps taken off as well.
Part-time workers and soldiers counted as being in fulltime employment even in peace time.
It appeared as thought the Nazis had solved unemployment (4.8million in 1933 to 300,000 in 1939.

Question 22

What were public works in the Nazi economy?

Answer 22

The autobahn was a key project for workers as it gave jobs whilst also making efficient routes for army transportation.

Question 23

What was the DAF?

Answer 23

The German Labour front which acted as a trade union but strikes were illegal and offenders would go to concentration camps. Workers had to have permission to leave their jobs, they couldn’t ask for higher wages and working hours increased to 60 a week
this made it seem to socialist workers that they were being repres3ented when in fact they weren’t

Question 24

What was the KdF?

Answer 24

Strength through Joy scheme aimed to keep workers happy in order to improve the quality of their work and keep them happy to avoid a uprising.
Workers could go on holiday for cheap, (a skiing holiday would cost a weeks wages)
Over 7million people took part in KdF sporting events and 10million went on holiday in 1938.
A savings scheme was set up for workers to buy a Volkswagen (None were made as factories ere making armaments

Question 25

Did German workers benefit under the Nazis?

Answer 25

Yes - More people working so they had more money to spend increasing the standard of increased, KdF offered opportunities, German workers got their ‘work and bread’ Hitler had promised before he was elected.
No - Wages rose 20% but inflation rose 20%, working hours increased, Women and Jews were unable to work, the DAF removed all rights of workers

Question 26

What was the new four-year plan?

Answer 26

Led by Goering and had a tight focus on autarky. When natural resources couldn’t be sourced in Germany, synthetic German alternatives were made (buna for rubber)

Question 27

What was the guns or butter debate?

Answer 27

It was impossible to produce enough food and armaments necessary for the German population
People were re-educated to consume less, especially meat and fats,

Question 28

What did Todt do as minister of armaments?

Answer 28

Needed centralised control which the other departments wouldn’t allow, especially Goering who allocated more resources to the air force. Simplified production but couldn’t fully
Todt told Hitler that a war with the USSR would mean economic collapse and he died in a plane crash soon later.

Question 29

What did Speer do as minister of armaments?

Answer 29

He convinced Hitler he needed full control of the system. He made the armaments system more efficient and streamlined with little overlapping from different areas.
Ammunition production increased by 97%
He ignored Hitler when told to do scorched-earth policy when Allied troops entered Germany.

Question 30

What was life like for women in the Third Reich?

Answer 30

Used the idea of ‘Kinder, Kuche, Kirche’ as the basis of their views towards women
Their main contribution was having lots of children - In 1939 the mother’s cross award began giving bronze medals for 6 children, silver for 6 and gold for 8.
The Reich’s mothers’ service helped support pregnant women and young mothers.
The NSF was set up as a Nazi women’s organisation
1933 - Women banned from working in the civil service
From 1939 they had to do compulsory service in the RAD
Divorce made easier in order to free up Aryan women to pair them with Aryan men
Lebensborn Programme in 1935 allowed women to be impregnated by Aryan SS men

Question 31

What was education like in the Third Reich?

Answer 31

Teaching loyalty to Hitler, physical fitness and racial purity were the most important part of the curriculum.
Teachers would have to join the Nacional Socialist Teachers League or they would struggle to get a job.

Question 32

What was the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 32

30/06/1934 - Hitler feared the SA and wanted to replace it with the SS. Leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm was killed, as well as Von Kahr who betrayed him in the Munich Putsch

Question 33

What was the White Rose Society?

Answer 33

A group of anti-Nazi students at Munich University. Led by Sophie and Hans Scholl who would distribute anti-Nazi propaganda.
They were later arrested and executed.

Question 34

Who were Blomberg and Fritz?

Answer 34

Generals who said that they couldn’t go to war. Hitler used the SD to reveal their personal scandals and they were forced to resign.

Question 35

Who were the most important women in the Third Reich?

Answer 35

Magda Goebles - wife of Joseph Goebles. seen as the first lady of the Third Reich
Ava Brown - Hitler’s mistress, wasn’t often seen publicly as Hitler was ‘married’ to Germany
Leni Riefenstahl - Director who produced the film of the 1936 olympics

Question 36

What problems did Nazi economics face in the war?

Answer 36

Relied heavily on foreign workers (6.4million) they were badly treated so their productivity was 60-80% lower
Hitler refused to authorise mass conscription of women to the workforce until too late
Gauleiters and SS often acted against the economic efficiency
Allied bombing targeted German industry
Pursuing autarky led to going to war with the USSR