Adolf Hitler

economic conditions

1929-1933 (Great Depression)

• massive unemployment and hyperinflation

  • causing widespread discontent, desperation + helplessness

• Hitler promised economic recovery, national pride, and jobs, gaining popular support and ultimately leading to his appointment as Chancellor in January 1933.

• Exploited the Great Depression to highlight economic failures of the Weimar Republic.

• Promised job creation and economic recovery, appealing to the unemployed and working class.

• Promoted a vision of national revival, linking economic recovery to national pride and unity.

• Used effective propaganda to communicate his economic plans and successes, fostering public support.

• Scapegoating: Blamed Jews and other minorities for economic woes, uniting people against a common enemy.

• Hyperinflation (1921-1923): The Weimar Republic faced severe hyperinflation, eroding savings and destabilizing the economy.

to what extent did Nazi Germany have total control over the population?

Nazi Germany exerted significant control over the population through various means:

1. Propaganda: The regime used media, arts, and education

   • shape public opinion and to promote the regime’s ideology, which was based on racial superiority and the need for the expansion of German territory.

2. censorship: to suppress dissent and to control the flow of information within society,

3. Surveillance: vast network of surveillance and control, including the Gestapo (secret police) and the SS (paramilitary organization responsible for internal security).

   • monitored + controlled population, + enforced policies and maintained order. = instilling fear and discouraging dissent.

4. system of terror and repression. Gestapo hunted down + punished those who opposed the regime or expressed critical views.

   •  brutal interrogation techniques, including torture, to extract information from suspects

   • Concentration camps: incarcerated political opponents, Jews, homosexuals, and other “undesirables” considered a threat to the Nazi state.

5. Political Repression: Opposition parties were banned, and dissenters were imprisoned or executed.

6. Youth Indoctrination: Organizations like the Hitler Youth indoctrinated children with Nazi beliefs.

7. Social Control: Laws enforced conformity, including anti-Semitic laws and Aryan racial policies.

8. Econ Control: state-owned enterprises + central

   planning= government dictate which industries would receive investment and resources.

   • government controlled distribution goods + services- significant leverage over population.

Estimated less than 1% engaged in active opposition:

• belief in the aims of the Nazis

• fear of consequences of disobedience

• disillusionment w previous democratic system

• gratitude for material benefits Nazis offered in social and economic programmes

  1. employment and upward mobility for those who accepted the NSDAP

• pride in Nazi foreign policy which, until 1939 at least, had succeeded in restoring national pride by rejecting the Diktat of Versailles.

For the majority (those not victimized because of their racial, political, mental, or physical status) there was little reason to risk persecution by a system that had "rescued" Germany from economic despair and humiliation.

However, total control was challenged by resistance movements and individual dissent.

• "silent opposition" : refusing to offer the Nazi salute, telling jokes about Hitler and the regime

• Beck-Goerdeler Group: Attempted a coup + plan to kill hitler (operation valkyrie) - executed them + punished their families

• Youth Resistance: Groups like the Edelweiss Pirates and White Rose engaged in anti-Nazi activities but had limited impact.

  •  leafleting, adopting nonconformist dress and listening to "non-Aryan" music

• Religious Opposition: Some churches resisted, but most were subdued;

  • Jehovah's Witnesses: challenged the state by their refusal to give the Hitler salute or join Nazi organizations (including the armed forces)

    • ruthlessly persecuted

• Failed Alliances: Cooperation among opposition groups was largely ineffective, limiting their overall impact.

domestic policies

1. Employment Initiatives: Disincentives for married women to remain in employment, plus the offering of incentives for single women to give up employment in order to qualify for marriage loanEconomic Recovery: Focused on self-sufficiency and rearmament, with government contracts boosting industry.

2. Public Works Projects: Created jobs through infrastructure projects like the Autobahn, promoting national pride.

3. Support for Party Members: Economic benefits and job opportunities favored Nazi supporters while discriminating against Jews and minorities.

4. Four-Year Plan: Aimed for military readiness and economic self-sufficiency, though often inefficiently executed.

5. Hossbach Memorandum: Outlined Hitler's aggressive foreign policy goals, emphasizing the need for military expansion.

Lebensraum (Living Space)

A political and social belief that Germans needed more space to grow. It was used as an excuse to invade Germany's neighbors, especially to the East.

Volksgemeinschaft

The emphasis on the "Folk" - a community united by blood and ethnicity

Social Darwinist view of society

Aryan (racial) superiority with heavy anti-Semitic emphasis

Revanchism

A political policy of seeking to win back lost national territory

autarky

Economic independence or self-sufficiency

NSDAP

The National Socialist German Workers' Party

• Nazi Party

KPD

Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party).

SPD

(Social Democratic Party of Germany) This was Germany's largest party until 1932. Its strength was based in the growing industrial working class.

Zentrum

Catholic Centre Party (Zentrumspartei)

SS (Schutzstaffel)

SA (Sturmabteilung)

A paramilitary organization, also known as "Stormtroopers" or "Brownshirts," was initially formed as a grassroots organization tasked with protecting Nazi Party meetings and disrupting the activities of political opponents under the leadership of Ernst Röhm.

Gestapo

The secret state police responsible for suppressing opposition, conducting surveillance, and enforcing Nazi policies.

Night of the Long Knives

June 30 to July 2, 1934.

A purge: SS-Gestapo series of arrests, executions, and forced resignations targeting members of the SA and other potential rivals within the Nazi Party, including Ernst Rohm.

Reichstag fire

(feb 1933) used as a means of gaining support for the NSDAP while villainising the KPD and other communist associations.

Four-Year Plan

(1936)

improve the economy and infrastructure of Germany with the goal of making the country ready for war in four years

Hitler Youth

Reichskonkordat (concordat)

treaty negotiated between the Vatican and Nazi Germany, signed on July 20, 1933

Nuremberg Laws

antisemitic and racist laws enacted

1. Reich Citizenship Law: Stripped Jews of German citizenship

2. Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor: Banned marriages and sexual relations between Jews and "Aryans"

Consequences:

• Jews lost citizenship rights

• Jews were barred from many professions

• Intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews was prohibited

• Jews were required to register their property

German Labor Front (DAF)

Control of the Workforce
-replaced trade unions: eliminated independent labor representation

Ideological Indoctrination
-spread Nazi ideology among workers, promoting concepts like the "people's community" (Volksgemeinschaft) and racial superiority.

Labor Regulation
-regulated working conditions, wages, and labor disputes, often in favor of employers and the state rather than workers.

Productivity Improvement
-programs like "Strength through Joy" increased worker productivity by providing leisure activities and benefits.

Monitoring Workers
-extensive membership and organizational structure allowed Nazi regime monitor workers' activities and political attitudes.

Preventing Dissent
By controlling all aspects of workers' lives, from employment to leisure, DAF helped prevent the formation of opposition groups within the working class.