Unit 5- The Racial State 1933-41 Flashcards
1
Q
What was Phase One in the development of the Nazi regime ?
A
- 1933-44: The Legal Revolution
- Hitler depended on political allies
- Couldn’t prevent SA violence, controlled as much as he could
- Consolidated power by legal means
2
Q
What was Phase Two in the development of the Nazi regime ?
A
- 1934-37: Creating the new Germany
- Regime secure
- Hitler worried about public opinion
- Olympic Games in 1936, anti semitism stopped and propaganda promoted Germany as a civilised society
- Avoided confronting large groups like the army and churches
- Knew Germany wasn’t ready for war
3
Q
What was Phase Three in the development of the Nazi regime ?
A
- 1938-39: Radicalisation of the state
- Regime was stronger than 1933
- Economy recovered, SS had control of the police system
- Germany ready for war
- Hitler took control of the army, sacked Blomberg and Fritsch
- Radical persecution of ‘racial enemies’
4
Q
What was the theory of Social Darwinism ?
A
- Based on Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’
- You must adapt to survive
5
Q
What did Darwin’s theory justify ?
A
- Justified ideas of racial superiority and theory of eugenics
- Justified European imperialism- arguing ‘advanced’ Europeans had the right to rule over ‘inferior’ colonial people
6
Q
How did Hitler use Darwin’s theory to fit the Nazi racial ideology and justify their actions ?
A
- ‘Biological struggle’ between races fit with his view of the Jews
- Germs had to be eliminated, justified killing of Jews
- ‘Racial hygiene’ justified sterilisation of disabled
7
Q
What was the Nazi hierarchy of races ?
A
- Jews, black people and the Slavs were inferior races
- Herrenvolk (master race) werde the Aryans and superior
8
Q
What was the Nazi’s race theory ?
A
- Need to ‘purify’ the stonger races by eliminating the ‘germs’ that threatened them through inter-race marriage (the ‘degenerate’ races)
- Destiny of Aryans to rule over the inferior races, vital to maintain their racial purity
- Create a master race
9
Q
How did one qualify as a member of the Volk ?
A
- Essential to be true German
- In terms of loyalty and racial purity
- Aryan race
- Genetically healthy, socially efficient and politically reliable
10
Q
Which groups were excluded from the Volk ?
A
- Political enemies
- Asocials
- those of a difference race (jews, gypsies)
- Mentally ill or disabled
11
Q
How would Lebensraum help achieve the Nazi racial ideology ?
A
- Germany’s destiny lay in the east
- Conquer inferior Slav people of Poland
- Allow ‘Germanisation’ of the East
- Bring back ‘Lost Germans’ to the Reich
- Provide the battleground for war of racial annihilation
12
Q
How were the Mentally and physically disabled viewed by Nazi ideology ?
A
- Considered to be ‘Biological Outsiders’ from the Volk because their hereditary defects made them a threat to the future of the Aryan race
- Based on theory of eugenics
- Threat to ‘racial hygiene’ and an ‘unproductive burden’
13
Q
What was the Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny (Sterilisation Law) 1933 ?
A
- Compulsory sterilisation for certain categories of ‘inferiors’
- Schizophrenia, feeblemindedness, hereditary blindness, deafness
- Later amendments permit sterilisation of children over 10 years old
14
Q
How were the abortion laws amended ?
A
- Law amended to permit abortions in cases where those deemed suitable for sterilisation were already pregnant
- 1936- x-ray sterilisation of women over 38 introduced (greater risk of offspring being born with disabilities)
- Ban on abortion and contraception for Aryan women and girls
15
Q
How many people were sterilised ?
A
- 400,000 people were sterilised during the Third Reich
- 60% of those sterilised were categorised as being ‘feebleminded’
16
Q
What was the first Euthanasia program for disabled children ?
A
- Child’s father wrote to Hitler asking his child to be put to sleep
- Dr Phillip Bouhler brought the letter to Hitler’s attention
- Hitler sent senior SS doctor Karl Brandt to examine the baby and advices euthanasia
- This case was the catalyst for the whole programme
- Hitler announces he would protect doctors from prosecution who carried out ‘mercy killings’
17
Q
How were disabled children euthanatised in hospitals ?
A
- Medical staff in hospitals and asylums report on disabled children
- Were starved to death or given a lethal injection
- Parents told their child died of another cause, also on the forms
18
Q
What was the T4 programme ?
A
- Forms about patients were to be filled
- Passed on the assessors, who were paid on a piecework basis to encourage them to process as many patients as possible
19
Q
What opposition was there about the T4 Programme from Churches ?
A
- July 1940- protests from churches
- Protastant Pastor Braune wrote a long memorandum, protesting about the T4 programme
- Was arrested by the Gestapo
20
Q
What did the Pope say about the T4 Programme ?
A
- Official statement from Rome on 2nd December 1940
- Pronounced direct killing of people with mental or physical defects was against ‘the natural and positive law of god’
21
Q
How did Catholic Archbishop Galen show opposition towards the T4 Programme 1941 ?
A
- Preached a sermon making an emotive attack on euthanasia
- Backed by evidence provided by local congregation members
- Sermons designed to mobilise mass protest in the Rhineland-Westphalia province
- Thousands of copies of Galen’s sermon were printed and distributed
- Sparked further protests and public demonstrations
22
Q
When did Hitler halt the T4 Programme ?
A
-24th August 1941
23
Q
What did the term ‘asocial’ cover ?
A
- Criminals
- Tramps
- Beggars
- Alcoholics
24
Q
What were Nazi policies towards asocials ?
A
- 1933- mass round up of ‘tramps and beggars’, young homeless, unemployed people
- Differentiate between ‘orderly’ and ‘disorderly’, as they didn’t have enough space in concentration camps
- Orderly= fit, willing to work, no previous convictions
- The orderly were given a permit and forced to work for their accommodation
- Disorderly= habitual criminals, sent to concentration camps
- 1938, even bigger round up, inc ‘pimps and gypsies’ most sent to Buchenwald concentration camp
25
What happened in 1936 before the Olympic Games in Berlin ?
- Police rounded up large numbers of 'tramps and beggars' from the streets
- To project an image of hard working and dynamic society to the rest of the world
26
What was the Hashude ?
- 1936
- Asocial colony in Northern Germany
- Aim of the colony was to re-educate the asocials so they could be integrated into society
27
What were Nazi policies towards Homosexuals ?
- 1933- purge of homosexual organisations and literature
- Clubs closed down, organisations for gay people were banned, gay publications outlawed
- 1934- Gestapo compile a list of gay people. Eliminated leaders of the SA who were gay (Rohm)
- 1936- Himmler created the Reich Office for the Combatting of Homosexuality and Abortion
- Wore pink triangle in concentration camps
28
How was the law on homosexuality amended in 1935 ?
- Widened the definition of homosexuality
- Impose harsher penalties for those convicted
- After the law changed, over 22,000 men were arrested and imprisoned between 1936-38
29
What % of gay prisoners died in concentration camps ?
-60% of gay prisoners died in concentration camps
30
Why did Religious sects arouse Nazi suspicion ?
-All had international links
31
What did Nazis do to Religious sects when they were suspicious of them ?
-Banned in 1933
32
When was the ban on religious sects lifted ?
- When the religious sects cooperated with the regime
| - Gestapo still attended and reported on their services
33
What were the religious sects in Germany ?
- Jehovahs Witness
- Christian scientists
- Mormans
- Seventh day adventists
34
How many members did JW have ?
-30,000 in 1933
35
How did the JW show opposition to the Nazi regime ?
- Belief they could only obey Jehovah (god), refusal to pledge a loyalty oath to Hitler
- Refused to give Hitler salute
- Refused to participate in Nazi parades
- Refused to accept army conscription
36
What did the Nazis do to JW's who showed opposition ?
-Many arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps
37
How did JW's show opposition in concentration camps ?
- Still refused to obey orders, attend parades and remove their caps
- Converted many to their beliefs in camps
38
How many JW's were imprisoned and died ?
-By 1945, 10,000 JW's were imprisoned and died
39
How did Nazi's fail to break the JW resistance ?
- Refused to obey orders in camps
| - They converted many others to their beliefs while imprisoned
40
How did the Seventh Day Adventists show cooperation with the Nazi regime ?
- Positive welcome to regime
- Swastika flag in churches
- Concluded services with heil hitler
- Removed 'jewish' language from the old testament from its services
- Excluded jews, asocials and other race enemies from receiving help from its Welfare organisation
41
What were the Nazis policies towards the Roma and the Sinti ?
- 1935- Nuremberg laws applied to gypsies
- 1935- Reich Office for the Fight against the Gypsy nuisance
- Dr Robert Ritter, began to locate and classify gypsies with the SS
- Identified those who were part gypsy or had integrated into German Society
- 1938- Himmler issued a Decree for the Struggle against the Gypsy plague
- 1939- when war broke out Gypsies deported to Poland
42
What was the Boycott of Jewish shops and businesses 1933 ?
- Boycott of Jewish shops and businesses
- Goebbles organised an intensive propaganda campaign
- SA men stood menancily outside to intimidate would be customers
- Shops were the main target, also applied to Jewish professionals such as doctors/lawyers
- Court proceedings involving Jewish lawyers and judges stopped in Berlin
- Jewish lawyers attacked in the streets
43
Was the Jewish shops and businesses boycott 1933 a success ?
- No
- Unclear what a jewish business was
- Some were half Jewish, half German, controlled by foreign creditors or were German banks
- Some German citizens used Jewish shops to show disapproval to the Nazi regime
- Boycott only lasted one day, SA hoped it would last indefinitely
44
What were the Civil Service Laws 1933 ?
-People considered non-aryan if either of their parents or grandparents were Jewish
45
Why was it hard to define what a Jew was ?
- There was no scientific definition of who was racially a Jew
- According to physical or blood group
46
What exemptions were there for the Civil Service Laws 1933 ?
- Hindenburg insisted exemptions for German Jews who served in WW1
- And for who's fathers had been killed in the war
- Kept in place until after Hindenburg's death in 1934
47
How did the exemptions lessen the Civil Service Laws impact 1933 ?
- Lessened laws impact
| - Applied to up to 2/3 of Jews in the Civil Service
48
What was the impact of the Civil Service Laws 1933 ?
- Devastating economic and social impact on middle-class Jews
- Increasing Jewish emigration
- 1933- 37,000 Jews left Germany
49
What was the impact of anti-Semitic legislation in 1933 on the legal profession ?
- Jewish lawyers were 16% of German's legal profession
| - 1933- 60% of non-aryan lawyers were able to continue working
50
What anti Semitic measures were taken towards doctors in 1933 ?
- Some removed Jewish doctors
- Anti-semetic propaganda against Jewish doctors treating Aryans was laced with lurid stories about inappropriate actions carried out by Jewish doctors
- 1933- Ban on Jewish doctors
51
What was the impact of anti-Semitic legislation in 1933 on doctors ?
- Many Jewish doctors carried on working after 1933
| - Were well-established, Aryan Germans still went to them, not feasible to remove them
52
What was the Law Against the Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities 1933 ?
-Restricted the number of Jewish children who could attend state schools and universities
53
What anti semitic measures were taken towards Jewish children in schools ?
- Law Against the Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities 1933- Restricted the number of Jewish children who could attend state schools and universities
- Aryan students would receive more resources and attention instead of wasting time and money on Jewish children
- Nazi propaganda stressed danger of well-educated Jews and their threat to society
- Could attend private education and Jewish schools, but these were underfunded
- AIM= segregation of aryan children from Jewish children
54
What anti semitic measures were taken in the press ?
- 1933- Reich Press Law- strict censorship and publications closed down that were disliked by the Nazis
- Silenced large numbers of Jewish journalists and editors
- Many forced to leave the country
55
When were the Nuremberg Laws 1935 introduced ?
- 15th September 1935
| - At the Nuremberg rally
56
What was the Reich Citizenship Law 1935 ?
- Under the Nuremberg Laws
- Someone could be a German citizen only if they had purely German blood.
- Jews had fewer rights than citizens
57
What was the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour 1935 ?
- Under the Nuremberg Laws
- Outlawed marriage between Aryans and Non-Aryans
- Illegal for German citizens to marry Jews
- Illegal for Jews to have any sexual relations with a German citizen
- Extended to cover almost any physical contact between Jews and Aryans
58
How were people pressured into following the Nuremberg Laws 1935 ?
- Aryan women pressured to leave their Jewish husbands, who lost their jobs through anti semitic legislation- told they'd be a burden
- High risk of being denounced to the Gestapo
- Punishments were harsh
- Jews often re-arrested and sent to concentration camps
59
What was the First Supplementary Decree on the Reich Citizenship Law 1935 ?
- Defined what a 'full Jew' was
- Someone who had 3 Jewish grandparents
- Or had 2 Jewish grandparents and was married to a Jew
- 'Half Jews' were defined as Mischlinge
60
Why was the First Supplementary Decree on the Reich Citizenship Law 1935 difficult to interpret ?
- Based on number of grandparents
| - In many cases Jews or their grandparents converted to Christianity
61
What impact did the Nuremberg Laws 1935 have ?
- Possessing documents of proof of a person's ancestors became a priority for many people
- Many non-practicing jews attempted to prove their aryan ancestry
- Some acquired false documents on the black market
- Local authorities wouldn't employ Jews
62
What discrimination against Jews were there in the community ?
- Pubs and businesses put up signs saying Jews weren't welcome
- Pro-Nazis pushed for anti-jewish measures in all areas of public life
63
How successful was anti semitism in the years 1933-1937 ?
- Some evidence suggests that signs were displayed to keep Nazi officials happy rather than stopping Jews enter
- Many reluctant to break off from family doctors they relied on for many years
- Appalled to see Jewish books purged from local library
- Open opposition was rare, retreated into internal exile
- Removal of Mendelson statue blocked
64
What was Anschluss 1938 ?
- Union with Austria
- Banned under TOV
- German troops welcomed by Austrian people
65
What was Hitler's next aim after Anschluss 1938 ?
- Czechoslovakia
| - Sudentenlad, which included a large number of German minorities living there
66
How did the Nazi's occupy Czechoslovakia 1938?
- Demanded to France and Britain that the Sudentenland should be handed to Germany
- Britian and France agreed to the German takeover
- Allies lacked the resolve to act against Hitler
- Occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia
67
What was the impact of Anschluss with Austria ?
- Led to rapid acceleration of economic campaign against Jews
- Nazis in Austria were allowed to act against Jews without constraint
68
What was the Nazi's treatment of Jews in Austria ?
- Loss their rights, property and employment, physically assaulted
- 500 Jews committed suicide in Austria
- Sent to Dacheu and Buchenwald concentration camps
69
What was the Decree of Registration of Jewish Property 1938 ?
- Confiscation of all Jewish-owned property worth more than 5000 marks
- Starting point of Aryanisation of Jewish property and businesses
- 8000 avoided being closed down or Aryanised
70
What further anti-semitism took place April-Nov 1938 ?
- Jews banned from working as travelling salesman, security guards, travel agents and estate agents
- 1938- Jewish lost their entitlement to public welfare
- 1938-Passports of German Jews, stamped with a large J
- 1939- Jews that were deemed to have non-Jewish names had to change them
- Jewish Woman= Sarah Jewish Man= Israel
71
How many Jewish travelling salesmen lost their Jobs in 1938 ?
30,000 Jewish travelling salesmen lost their jobs
72
What charities were set up by the Jewish community ?
- Central Institution for Jewish Economic Aid
| - Helped increasing number of poor and unemployed Jews
73
What happened during Kristallnact 1938 ?
- Jewish homes and buildings were looted and vandalised
- Synagogues set ablaze
- Thousands of Jews- arrested, beaten up and killed
74
Who led Kristallnact 1938 ?
- Orchestrated by Nazi leadership
- Majority of those involved were SA and SS men
- Equipped with crowbars, hammers, axes
- Instructed not to wear their uniforms
- Chief instigator- Joseph Gobbles
75
What did the Nazi's use as an excuse for Kristallnact 1938 ?
- Seized opportunity of the murder of Ernst Vom Rath-9th Nov- a German official
- Killed by a young polish Jew angry at the treatment of his parents by the Nazis
- The murder was an excuse of unleashing anti-jewish terror than a real cause
76
What was the role of Joseph Gobbles in Kristallnact 1938?
- Chief instigator
- Gave instructions to Nazi officials in regions to organise the violence and vandalism
- Careful to make it look like the Nazis did it
- 15th anniversary of the 1923 Munich Putsch- hoped to mark the occasion with a spectacular event
77
What were the impacts of KRISTALLNACT 1938 ?
- 91 Jews killed, thousands injured
| - Damage to shops and businesses amounted to millions of marks
78
What was the role of the police and fire brigades in Kristallnact 1938 ?
- SS told the police not to intervene
- Police ordered to place 20,000-30,000 Jews in 'preventive' detention
- Fire brigades watched and did nothing as synagogues burned to the ground, only concern was to stop fires spreading to other buildings
79
What were the reactions of ordinary citizens to Kristallnact 1938 ?
- Some ordinary citizens joined in the violence, looting alongside SA thugs
- Many German people were horrified by the destruction
- All over Germany, many people understood the violence was organised by the state
80
What happened to Jews as an aftermath of Kristallnact 1938 ?
- Goering moved quickly to prevent insurance companies from paying out compensation to Jewish victims
- Decree for the Restoration of the Street Scene- Jews had to pick up the costs of repairs
- Jewish community made to pay 1 billion Reichmark contribution to compensate for disruption to the economy
- The Decree Excluding Jews from German Economic Life- 12th Nov
- Aryanisation of Jewish businesses was accelerated
81
What was voluntary emigration ?
- 150,000 Jews voluntarily left Germany (march 1933-nov 1938) (inc Albert Einstein)
- Seen as the solution to the jewish problem
- Situation became more urgent after Kristallnnact
- Most went to Palestine, which was under British rule
- 9000 Jewish children sent to Britain in 1938-39
82
What were the problems with voluntary emigration ?
- Nazis both encouraged Jews to emigrate and threatened to confiscate their assets (made it difficult to leave)
- Most German Jews wanted to stay (fought in WW1- believed they were German)
- Many countries began to raise their borders to limit Jewish emigration
83
What was controlled emigration ?
- Controlled by Heydrich, although Goering claimed to be in charge of Jewish affairs
- Central Office for Jewish Emigration set up
- 45,000 Austrian Jews forced to emigrate
- Financed by seizing Jewish property to finance emigration of poorer Jews
- Reich Association of the Jews in Germany made up of all Jewish organisations- organisational difficulties had to be dealt with by the Jews
84
What did the war against Poland provide the regime with?
- New territories to which Jews could be settled
- More Jews under Nazi's rule
- More towards resettlement and deportation of Jews
85
How was Poland divided ?
- Eastern Poland- under the USSR
- Western Poland (upper Silesia, west Prussia and Warthegau)- incorporated into the German Reich
- Area between was the General Government, under Nazi Governor Hans Frank
86
What was the Nazi's Master Plan for Poland ?
- Lebensraum for ethnic Germans
- Drive Poles and Jews out of West Prussia and Warthegau
- So empty lands could be Germanised
87
How many Jews were in Poland during this period ?
- 1931- 3 Millon Jews in Poland
- 61% were in the territory occupied by Germany at the end of 1939
- Conquest of Poland increased number of Jews under Nazi control
88
How were Polish Jews different from German Jews ?
- Poor
- More orthodox
- Fitted the Nazi stereotype of racially inferior
89
How was the General Government area of Poland used ?
- Dumping ground for Poles and Jews
- Moved to an area near the River Bug
- 'Reich Ghetto' established between Warsaw and Lublin to contain them
- Nazi's intended the conditions to be bad here so that most people deported there would died
90
Why were there so many Jews in the General Government area of Poland ?
- Hitler demands deportation of 300,00 Jews from Germany and removal of Jews from Vienna
- SS attempted to deport 1 million people eastwards
- Authorities couldn't deal with the mass deportations of Jews
- Hans Frank complained that the General Government couldn't take any more Jews
91
What was the Madagascar Plan 1940 ?
- Island of Madagascar to be taken from France to become a German mandate
- Vichy France would be responsible for resettling the French population there
- Nazis planned to send 4 million Jews to Madagascar
- First farmers, construction workers (ppl with skills) to prepare the Island
- Sale of Jewish property in Europe would finance it
- Living conditions were to be harsh
- Was far away, more space, no serious political problems
92
What were the problems with the Madagascar Plan 1940 ?
- Only a short time where the plan seemed viable
- War with Britain, meant they could disrupt the transportation of Jews to Madagascar
- By 1940, Hitler was already planning for Operation Barborossa- send Jews to Siberia/invade USSR
- Madagascar Plan shelved
93
Does the Madagascar Plan 1940 show that the Nazi's had a consistent plan to deal with Jews ?
- Decision to exterminate Jews hadn't been made at this point. Only deporting them
- However, knew they'd die due to harsh conditions
- Long term goal of sending Jews to die somewhere far was fixed
94
What was the Nazi Soviet Pact 1939 ?
- USSR wouldn't intervene when Germany invaded Poland
| - Temporary because the Nazi's hated communists
95
What was Operation Barborosa ?
- Invasion of the USSR
| - Germany occupied vast territories in Eastern Poland, Western Russia, the Baltic States and Ukraine
96
What was the difference between the war in the east and war in the west ?
- East was to be a war of racial annihilation
| - West was a war of civilised struggle
97
How many Jews were brought under Nazi rule when USSR was invaded ?
-Invasion of Western Russia brought 3 million soviet Jews under German rule
98
What was the purpose of war for Nazi's ?
- Exterminate Germany's racial enemies
- No order to kill Soviet Jews
- Killing part of overall mission
- 1941- Goering issued order to kill communist commissioners and Jewish sympathisers
99
How were Jews further segregated in 1940-41 ?
- Radio sets confiscated from Jews
- Banned from buying radios and chocolate
- Excluded from wartime rationing allowances for clothes and shoes
- Only enter shops at restricted times- Berlin (4-5pm)
- Jews have a police permit to travel
- Jews have to wear yellow star of David
100
Why were Ghettos created in 1940 ?
- Needed clear plan to deal with the huge Jewish population that were displaced
- Never intended to be a long term solution to the 'jewish problem'
- Ensured Jews died in large numbers due to the cold or starvation
- Created Ghettos in 1940
101
Where was the first Ghetto set up ?
- Lodz
- 320,000 Jews lived in this city
- Most Jews placed in closed Ghetto, set up by barricades and a surrounding wall
- Remaining Jews formed labour gangs and kept under guard
- Jewish Council of Elders given responsibility for food, health, security etc..
102
What conditions did Jews in Ghettos face ?
- Jews sent to ghettos had their homes confiscated
- Nazi's restricted the amount of food and medical supplies
- Overcrowded -6 people shared a room. 15 people shared an apartment
- Few homes had running water
- Terrible diseases such as lice and tuberculosis
103
What resistance was there in Ghettos ?
- Black market for food smuggled in from outside
- Jewish leader organised prayers and religious festivals
- Ghettos had illegal schools and illegal printing presses
104
What was the Warsaw Ghetto 1940 ?
- Largest Ghetto established in Poland
- More than 400,000 Jews concentrated there
- Jews received 300 calories a day
- More than 100,000 people died
105
How many Jews died in total in Ghettos ?
500,000 Jews died in total in the Ghettos
