Germany Test Study Guide

Siddharth,Alex,Micheal

Ubermensch

The term Nazi Germany used to describe themselves, meaning over people or over others

Untermenschen

The rest of the groups, "under people", everyone who's not German, or Aryan

Blut und Boden

Idea of connection of the German people by their blood to their soil, let it be in Poland, Russia, anywhere

volksgemeinschaft

people community, individual rights do not matter everyone is following the state and is working towards making the state better

Fuhrerprinzip

working towards the Fuhrer

Anti-Feminism

Just like Mussolini Hitler thought women should stay at home not be working or stying in Universities. He thought they were only meant to birth children and take care of them

Anti-Marxism

opposed or hostile towards marxism, they think this is the work of the Jewish people

Gleichschaltung ("coordination")

Bringing every aspect of life in line with Nazi ideology, duty as a German citizen was to devote yourself to the state fully. Army was not to be criticized, you would be arrested

Hitlers Legal System

revolved around Hitler & lacked any real protection of rights. everyone had to be fully devoted to the state

Police state ruled by Gestapo(Mussolini's OVRA) & SS

Gestapo: Secret police, deal with political opponents

SS: Paramilitary organization, begun as hitlers personal bodyguard. Also referred to as the state within the state

Concentration Camps

opened initially for political prisoners, not a death camp, people were just supposed to work under strict treatment at the beginning. Was run by the SS

When was the Dachau concentration camp opened?

March 1933

Why did Hitler have a very limited opposition to the Nazi Regime?

Because he essentially just arrested them all. Tens of thousands socialists and communists were arrested who tried to show opposition, like protest for pay or smuggle leaflets into the country that would spread the truth about the Nazis. He just arrested everyone so there wasn't really anyone to oppose him. Some senior officials within the Army opposed the Nazis, but most welcomed their pro-military policies, and as to the Germans, they mostly supported him due to the economy getting better

How successful was Hitler's propaganda?

very successful. EX: Cult of the Fuhrer/"Fuhrer myth", held mass rallies, parades, holidays which also contributed a lot to the success of propaganda, made him the goat basically.

On April 20th, Hitler's birthday, it was basically a national holiday, people didn't have to go to work, etc

What were the three ways Nazi's used to spread propaganda and why?

Radio, Newspaper, and Film. That's because they were the new, modern ways of doing so, but the radio was still believed to be the most effective by Goebbels. they became more affordable and basically everyone had them, or had access to them.

How did Nazis control the films and the books

They did public book burnings for the books that weren't Nazi ideology. Also basically controlled every news industry, censored films, etc, most actors even left Nazi Germany

What was the goal of Hitler's economic policies?

Rebuild German economy to lower unemployment & rearm for an eventual war

What were Hitler's "plan" or his three approaches towards his economic policies?

Autarky: economic self-sufficiency

Deficit financing: spending money on job creation via large-scale borrowing

Wehrwirtschaft ("defense economy"): economy geared toward war

How much did Hitler really care about the economic policies?

Not that much at all. He basically just appointed wealthy industrialists as his economic policy team and called it a day, not even caring that much to be involved in the policy making process

How did he try and get people to buy more German goods?

Government controlled foreign trade & tariffs were placed on imported food to help farmers, increased prices on imports

How did unemployment fall?

A lot of it is an allusion, its basically inflated image they don't show the full picture. The temporary jobs were still included in the counting even though they would end in a few months. Spent money on public works programs, building houses, planting forests, & reclaiming land. Expanded car industry, cut gas tax, & built the autobahn(WE GO WEEEEEE, mostly was prep for war so tanks would be used easier). Paid women to leave workforce, then they wouldn't include them in the work statistics. Forced Jews out of civil service and basically any job.

1935: Began rearmament program & reintroduced conscription, all men not in college would be drafted, pulled out of the workforce and lowering the unemployment number

What was the Four Year Plan?

Needed more fuel & raw materials (rubber, iron ore) to rearm Germany for the potential war, but still needed to import food. Split because he needs both but cannot get both at the same time. He planned to become self-sufficient(autarky) in industrial raw materials & gear the economy up for war within the next 4 years(wasn't incredibly successful in the long run)

What were the results of the Four Year Plan?

Produced artificial rubber & doubled production of synthetic fuel. Germany was still dependent on imported fuel & iron ore(from Sweden), but not as much on the rubber now. They still had to import 19%(or ⅕ of the requirements) of its food requirements

How did Hitler treat anyone who's not Aryan or is a terrible contribution to society?

Asocials: alcoholics, beggars, the homeless & prostitutes. After some time just sent them into concentration camps during the regime and eventually many ended up dying

Undesirables were Homosexuals, lesbian women(thought they did not exist they were just women who needed a strong hand of a man), and gay men who were sent to concentration camps and castrated.

Hitler combatted homosexuality and abortion, punishing anyone who was associated with either

What was the 1933: Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny

You could've been sterilized if you were blind, colorblind, alcoholic, or just was against the Nazi's. They forced people with hereditary illness to be sterilized(Over 320,000 were sterilized). Many sterilizations were done secretly so people went into the surgery for something else, they just sterilized them if they were not fit. The people did not have any knowledge of this

T4 Euthanasia programs against the physically & mentally handicapped

Legally allowed to kill anyone mentally or physically disabled to create a better race. Over 72,000 people were killed

What was the goal of the Nazi racial policies?

prevent the untermenschen from polluting the volksgemeinschaft. Basically the Jews, Slavs, & Roma/Sinti (gypsies) were classified as inferior races and propaganda was used against the people so they would be hated by everyone.

What happened to the "inferior races"

Members of inferior races separated from Aryan Germans, dehumanized, forced into ghettos, sent to concentration camps, & killed

What did the Nazi's think about the Roma/Sinti

Roma/Sinti classified as "mixed race" & a threat to Aryan Germans. According to Nazi the Romani have origins in India and then over the years they have just moved to other countries. They thought they were the most mixed race threat against the Nazi's

what did the 1936: Creation of Reich Central Office for the Fight Against the Gypsy Nuisance do to the Roma

They were banned from interacting with Aryans

Forced to live in specially assigned sites, very similar to the ghettos, then sent to concentration camps in 1942, most likely the camp in Poland. Over 25,000 gypsies killed in death camps(over 85% of the population in Germany were killed)

What did Hitler think of the Jews

Hitler identified Jews as the greatest threat to Aryan race out of all the underpeople

During the 1930s & 1940s, what was the main social policy that Nazi's focused on?

Killing all the Jews possible

How do the Nazi's murder most of the Jews? What was the total number of Jews murdered?

They murdered them first in ghettos, then shootings, then the mass camps. Mostly in death camps with the deathly gas(Zyklon B). Overall 6 million jews died out of the 9 million Europe population of the jewish people

How did the treatment of jews change over time?

It got worse every time. First it was just boycotts(Economic Boycotts & purges of government or other professions), then it turned into implementing policies(Nuremberg Laws), then became more violent like the Kristallnacht ("night of the broken glass") and then it was just full blown f you, the Holocaust

Who organized the boycotts against the jews?

The SA, or the brown shirts

What is the March 1933 Boycott/Purge

SA organized post-election violence against Jews as a celebration about the election. Violence spread to homes, businesses, etc

What is the April 1933 Boycott/Purge

SA organized a "one-day" boycott of Jewish businesses

Members claimed jews were harming the economy Used a lot of economic propaganda by SA against the Jews Most Germans didn't participate, it wasn't popular so it just was abandoned

What law removed all Jews from work within the government

Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service

How did the Nazi's want to increase efficiency of the German Farmers?

By banning all the Jews from owning land, confiscating the land and giving it to the German farmers to farm on(wasn't as successful as they hoped for it to be)

How many sets of laws were passed that defined race and citizenship of the people(who's pure Aryan and who's not)?

Two sets of laws were passed

What did the Law for the Protection of German Blood & German Honor do?

Forbids marriage & sex between Jews & Non-Jews (Aryans)

What did the Reich Citizenship Law state?

Must be German to be a citizen & only citizens have rights (Jews deprived of German citizenship)

What were the Anti-Jewish decrees in June-October of 1938?

Jewish doctors & lawyers cannot have Aryan patients/clients. Jews cannot do business with Aryans. All Jews are identified as Jewish in official documents. Expulsion of all German-Polish Jews but Poland doesn't accept them as they are German

What is the Kristallnacht

Public burning and destruction of Jewish houses, stores, businesses, etc. Arrested any jewish man who tried to protect his property

When did Kristallnacht happen?

November 9-10, 1938

What happened on November 7th, 1938

German-Jewish student(Herschel Grynszpan) assassinated German diplomat in France, Ernst vom Rath is a low rank diplomat

What happened on November 9th, 1938

The low ranking diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, dies and Goebbels gives a speech advocating for German people to show their anger and said that they wouldn't be punished. The start of the Kristallnacht basically

Who did most of the damage during Kristallnacht

The everyday German people, though the SA had been greatly speculating and encouraging it

What was the aftermath of the Kristallnacht?

1668 synagogues ransacked/damaged267 synagogues burned down

"Night of flying feathers:" Women raped & food withheld

Almost 30,000 Jewish men arrested & deported to concentration camps

91 Jews murdered

Who was blamed for the Kristallnacht?

The Jews had been blamed. Nazi's said that its the Jew's fault the Nazi's attacked them, and forced them to pay for the damages

How much were the Jews forced to pay for the damages after Kristallnacht?

One Billion Marks

What did the world do about the Kristallnacht?

They reported it globally, and everyone knew but they didn't do anything about it

What happens in 1939?

Germany invades Poland and sets up ghettos for the Jews living there and the Jews who had just moved there(total 3 million)

What happens in 1941?

Germany invades USSR and does the same as they did in Poland(USSR population of Jews: 5 million)

What did the German Jews have to wear?

The Star of David

What did the Nazis do to prevent Jewish people from escaping?

They banned emigration, and they deported all the Jews to the east to the concentration camps

What were the "Einsatzgruppen battalions"?

4 specially-trained SS units sent into occupied territories by Germany(Poland, USSR, etc)

What did the "Einsatzgruppen battalions" do?

They were sent to shoot the Jews, overall shot and killed around 1 million

How did the Einsatzgruppen battalions do the shootings and the burials?

Victims were taken to deserted areas, made to dig their own graves, & shot ("Holocaust by bullets")

How would the SS act when they ran out of bullets

kill the people with flamethrowers

In order to be considered Jewish a person had to have:

at least one Jewish parent

What would the Nazis do after they realized that the shooting method is inefficient and is morally depriving their soldiers

Take the Jews and send them to concentration camps

What was the "selection" process?

Nazis selected the Jews and what their fate is. Women, children, & the old/sick were sent to death while the young & fit would go through process of "destruction through work", work until they cannot do so anymore then be sent to the gas chambers too.

How did the Nazi concentration camps not get caught by the Allied airplanes flying over or by the people coming in?

They mostly looked like train stations or just a factory/working camp from far away, everything that screamed "death" was hidden

EX: Auschwitz, perfectly designed to look like a factory

How did the Nazis get the huge Jewish population they had at the camp to actually stay and listen and not try to leave all at once?

They created huge noice distractions that muffled the sounds of the people screaming in pain

How did the Nazi's get people to go into the Gas Chambers?

They were designed to look like showers and it just looked like all of them were going to get cleaned up

How did the Gas Chambers work?

Nazis would force large groups of people (up to 2000) into small cement rooms & drop canisters of Zyklon B (prussic acid) through small holes in the roof

What would the Nazi's do to the bodies afterwards?

Burn them in ovens, which were located right next to the Chambers

What were the sonderkommando(specially selected Jews)

the Jews that were chosen by their fitness to remove all the hair and gold fillings from the dead people after the Chambers and put their bodies into the ovens

What was the aftermath?

Over 6 million Jews were killed in labor camps, ghettos, death camps, on forced marches as WWII closed, or by the Einsatzgruppen across Eastern Europe

END but there are quotes on the last slides by historians that should probably be looked at

How many Germans died in WWI.

2 million

October 1918-What Happened?

Kaiser began ceasefire talks with the US

What did the German government fear at the end of WWI (Domestic)

A Russian-Style revolution

Sailors refused to Fight the Royal Navy, mutinied against commanders. They got arrested and 40,000 Germans in Kiel rebelled. Ended with a formed council for sailors & workers demanding more freedom & rights.

Kiel Mutiny

What happened Nov 9, 1918?

Kaiser Abdicates

Kaiser abdicates Nov 1918- what are the effects?

-Germany was declared a republic and the Kaiser replaced with socialist gov't with monarchist army

What happened nov 11 1918?

Armistice signed and ended war.

What kind of government was the New Republic?

Social Democratic party

Who led the Social Democratic Party

Friedrich Ebert

What happened Jan. 1919?

SPD & pro-republic parties win majority and form democratic government

First president of the democratic Germany

Friedrich Ebert

Under the new Constitution in 1919 how long was a presidential term

7 years

3 branches of the new Government (New Republic)

-President

-Parliament (Reichstag)

-Supreme Court

What is Reich?

The Federal Government "The state"

What is Lander?

Provincial governments / State government

What is the Reichstag?

German Parliament

What is Plebiscite

popular vote

What is the Chancellor?

leader of the Reichstag

What role is the President?

The Head of State

When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?

June 28, 1919

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by whom?

Weimer Government

What was the war guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles?

Diktat which blamed everything on Germany

How much land was lost under the Treaty of Versailles?

13% of German land

Germany was forbidden to unite with which country.

Austria (no pan-Germanism)

How much were the Reparations.

$ 33 billion

Name the Event---Jan 1919 an Uprising in Berlin ended with extreme right ex-soldiers (Freikorps) killing communist leader.

Spartacist Uprising

What happened in German October 1923

German Communist Party had demonstrations to disrupt the Government and got arrested by the army.

1920-1922- The White Terror, what happened?

400 political murders by right-wing extremists including politicians involved in the Treaty of Versailles

When was the Beer Hall Putsch?

November 1923

Who organized the Beer Hall Putsch

Adolf Hitler