Germany - topic 4 - Nazi Germany 1933-39

Reichstag Fire

feb 1933

- Reichstag building was destroyed in a fire

- Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe was found at the site with matches and fire lighters

- he was found guilty and executed 8th jan 1934

- some historians believe is was set up by the Nazis, other believe the Nazis started the fire and blamed Van der Lubbe

- Van der Lubbe was communist so the Nazis used this to their advantage

Consequences of the Reichstag fire

- New Nazi chief of police, Herman Goering

- On the night of the fire, 4,000 communist leaders were arrested

- Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to pass a new emergency decree - "Decree for the Protection of the people and the state"

- this gave the police power to search homes, imprison anyone without trial, ban meetings, and close newspapers.

- Goering used this to take over the state radio station

March 1933 election

1933

- Hitler called for a new Reichstag election

- Goering began replacing police officers with Nazi supporters

- He also recruited 50,000 SA members to be police auxiliaries

- SA violence was used to intimidate opponents

- 70 deaths from political violence

- Thousands of communist anf SDP members were arrested and sent to concentration camps

- Newspapers which didn't support the Nazis were closed

- Hitler secured funds from industrialists

- Nazis threatened voters at voting polls

- Results: Nazis - 288 seats. other parties - 395 seats. Hitler had hoped to gain 2/3 of the vote as it would allow him to make changes to the German constitution.

Enabling Act

1933

- Hitler tried to persuade other parties to support his new law

- he used emergency powers to ban communists from the Reichstag

- nationalist party agreed to support

- centre party supported as he promised to protect the catholic church

- SA and SS persuaded SDP to vote for the new law too

- The enabling act was passed in 1933

Consequences of the enabling act

1933

- End of the Weimar constitution

- Hitler made all decisions

- Hitler removed all remaining opposition

Key Measures:

1. Local gov

- 3rd March, 18 state parliaments closed

- Appointed new Nazi governors to make laws

- Jan 1934, state parliament abolished

2. Trade Unions:

- 2nd May 1933, Nazis arrested trade union leaders

- created the German workers' front, and forced workers to join

3. Other political parties:

- SDP and communist parties suspended

- July 1933, new law stating no other parties could be formed apart from the Nazi party.

The Night of Long Knives

June 1934

- SA was very powerful, 2 million members in 1934

- The leader, Rohm was a possible rival to Hitler as he had differing views

- Head of the SS Heinrich Himmler resented SA's influence

- SA actions embarrassed Hitler

- Hitler wanted to increase the army but the SA wanted to replace the army and stopped convey to confiscate weapons

- 30th June Hitler launched the Night of Long knives

- SS arrested 200 SA members, around 90 of which were taken to Munich and executed (including Rohm)

- Hitler also went after old enemies like von Kahr and von Schleicher

- He claimed he was defending Germany from a plot by Rohm

Hitler becomes Fuhrer

1934

- In August, Hindenburg died

- Hitler used this to combine the offices of the chancellor and president and declare himself Fuhrer (leader)

- He was now in control of the third Reich (3rd empire)

- The army swore loyalty to Hitler himself rather than to Germany

- Hitler held a plebiscite to get the public to agree with the changes

- Following the huge propoganda campaign, Hitler gained 90% of the public vote

Nazi Methods of Control

- Hitler became totalitarian

- Nazis controlled police, courts, radio, newspapers, education, films, the arts, trade unions, the churches, and working conditions

- German women were tole it was 'un-german' to change hair colour or use makeup

- Nazis used indoctrination, censorship, and propoganda

- There were rewards for 'good Nazis', for example, women who had many children earned medals, and good workers were given cheap tickets to the theatre

- Germany became a police state controlled by the SS and Gestapo

- The first concentration camp was opened in 1933 and many more opened through the years

Terror and the Police State

- Ensured Germans were too afraid to criticize the Nazis

- The law became whatever the Nazi party believed was right

- Germans could be arrested and imprisoned without trial

- Established the People's court

- Judges were expected to support Nazi policies

- Political opponents were sentenced to death

- In 1936, the SS and Gestapo were brought together under Himmler

- Between 1933-35 he dismissed 60,000 SS members for being homosexuals, alcoholics, or 'morally corrupt'

- SS arrested political prisoners and ran concentration camps

- Gestapo was in charge of state security

- German's often didn't feel oppressed

- In concentration camps, inmates were forced to work, torture and brutality were common

- 200,000 Germans were imprisoned for opposing Nazi rule

- Law on Malicious Gossip

Nazi Propoganda

- Goebbels coordinated Nazi policy towards the media, sports culture, and the arts

- He believed propoganda should be subtle

The key messages of Nazi propaganda were:

- Supremacy of the Aryan race and inferiority of Jews and others

- Nazis fight against the evils of communism

- The different roles of men and women and the important of family

- All citizens had to suffer for the good of the nation

- Newspapers were used to plant stories and present Nazis in a positive light

- By 1939, 70% of German households has a radio

- Owners of factories, bars, and restaurants had to install speakers to broadcast Hitler's speeches

- On national holidays, parades were held, and people were expected to hang out swastikas

- posters were used to display Hitler as a great leader

- Films reflected Nazi view of on society

- Art was used to promote the Aryan race

Nazi Censorship

- Newspapers were strictly controlled, all editors and journalists had to be a member of the Reich Press Chamber

- Radio was strictly controlled, radios made in Germany couldn't pick up foreign signals

- Lists of unacceptable literature, the Gestapo could search libraries

- Students were encouraged to burn books which contained 'un-German' views

- All writers, actors, and musicians had to join the Reich Chamber of Commerce

- Some types of music were banned (especially if influenced by the USA)

1936 Olympics

1936

- Used to show supremacy of the Arynas

Germany won more medals than other countries

- But, the star athlete was Jesse Owens, an African American, who won 4 gold medals

Education in Nazi Germany

- Education indoctrinated young people to become loyal Nazis

- Teachers were forced to join the Nazi teachers' association to recieve training

The school curriculum:

- Race studies - taught that Aryans were superior and Jews were the lowest racial type

- Many hours of PE - kept students fit anf healthy, prepped boys to be soldiers and girls to be mothers

- Maths - often used military problems

- History - rise of the Nazi party

- Biology - supremacy of Aryans

- Geography - German need for lebensraum

- Domestic science - taught only to girls, prepared them to be wives and mothers

- Extra schools were set up to educate boys of future leadership roles

Young people in Nazi Germany

- Outside of school, young people were expected to join Nazi youth groups

- in 1933 Nazis banned all other youth groups

- In 1936, Hitler Youth Law: all eligible young people had to belong to a Nazi youth organisation

- Taught the importance of racial purity

- Girl groups emphasised crafts and child care

- Activities were made fun so young people enjoyed the Nazi movement

- In 1939, Hitler youth had 8 million members

Women in Nazi Germany

- Women were encouraged to stay home and have babies

- Contraception and abortion were banned

- 1933, Law for Encouragement of Marriage: loans to help young couples to marry, but only if the woman gave up work

- Medals were awarded to women with large families

- German Women's Enterprise Organisation trained women in household skills

- Smoking, drinking, and makeup were discouraged

- Slimming was discouraged as it was believed that larger women gave birth easier

- Yet, as the rearmament policy grew, and men joined the army, more workers were needed, so women were encouraged back into work

- Women's employment grew by 50% from 1933-39

The Catholic Church

- Churches had a big impact, so they had to be in line with Nazi ideas

- Catholics were loyal to the Pope as the head of the Catholic Church. Hitler wanted all Germans to see him as the supreme head of state, so he was keen to weaken the church.

- At first, Hitler and the Catholic Church tried to co- operate In 1933, the concordat was signed. This was an agreement that stated that the Church would not get involved in political affairs and the Nazis would allow the Catholic Church to have freedom of worship and to run its own youth groups and schools.

- Hitler soon broke this agreement. In schools, Christian symbols were taken down. Hitler wanted his own image to appear in classrooms, rather than the crucifix . Catholic newspapers were censored and propaganda began to hint at financial corruption in the Church.

- In 1937, the Pope made a statement criticizing the Nazis, Nazi reaction was severe.

- Membership of catholic youth groups was made illegal

- State funding for the church was cut

-Gestapo and SS began to spy on the church

- Catholic schools were closed

- Priests who spoke out against the Nazis were arrested

Protestant church/ Reich church

- Many protestants agreed with the nationalists

- In 1933, Hitler organised the different parts of the protestant church into 1 organisation call the Reich church

- Ludwig Muller was made bishop

- 18 pastors lost their job for refusing to support Nazi views

- in 1939 on 5% of Germans followed the church

Nazi Racial Policies

- The Aryan race was superior

- Other groups like Jews and Gypsies were subhuman (untermenschen) and didn't deserve to live

- In 1933 the Sterilisation Law was passed which allowed them to sterilise people with illnesses such as 'simple-mindedness'

- From sept 1933 tramps and beggars were also sterilised

- 700,000 people were sterilised

- From 1936, juvenile delinquents, tramps, homosexuals, and Jews were sent to concentration camps

- From 1938 gypsies were sent, although there was only around 30,000 living in Germany

- From 1938 gypsies were forced to register with the state

- Nazis believed mental illness was hereditary so mentally ill people were put to death ~ 70,000 had been killed

- In 1935 marriage between black people and Aryans was banned

Jewish Prosecution

- Only about 1% of the German population was Jewish

- They were used as Scapegoats

- Anti-Semitism was an established part of Nazi thinking

1933

- Nazi gov organised a nation ide boycott of all Jewish shops and businesses

- They were banned from government employment, medicine, teaching, and journalism

1935

- Banned from public places and the army

- Nuremburg laws

- Many Jews emigrated to avoid persecution

1938

- all possessions had to be registered with the gov, which meant Nazis could take whatever they wanted

- jews were made to carry identity cards at all times

- Jewish professionals were not allowed to take on work for non-Jews

Nuremburg Laws

1935

1. The Reich law for the German Blood and Honour

- Stated Jews and Aryans couldn't marry, and those who were already married would have to divorce or they'd both be treated as Jews

2. The Reich law on Citizenship

- Only those of German blood were citizens

Night of Broken Glass - Kristallnacht

1938

- German official in the Paris embassy was murdered by a Jewish man, the Nazis used this to launch a campaign of terror and murder aimed at Jews:

Night of 9-10th November 1938:

- 800 shops owned by Jews were destroyed

- 191 synagogues were vandalised or set on fire

- Many Jewish homes were attacked and property was damaged or stolen

- 91 Jews were killed and 30,000 were arrested

- The Nazis painted it as a spontaneous reaction by German citizens

- In reality, Goebbels and other Nazis had planned the attacks

- Yet, most of the property damaged was owned by Germans

- When they realised this, they fined the Jewish community 1 billion Reichsmarks in damages

Nazi Policies to Reduce Unemployment

- The Nazis came to power largely due to the problems caused by the Great Depression

- Hitler had promised to solve economic problems, but the trade unions were suffering

- Germany also had a lack of raw materials

- Nazi plan was to make Germany fully self sufficient

Economic Plans

- Minister of economy was Dr Hjalmar Schact

- His plan was to reduce imports and unemployment

- He made trade agreements to guarantee Germany's supply of raw materials

- He made projects to create work

- From 1936, Goering was responsible for making Germany self-sufficient in terms of oil, steel, and rubber in preparation for war

- Nazis called this Autarky and was accompanied by propoganda

- This plan had limited success

- There were frequent food shortages and rationing had to be introduced

- By 1939 Germany had to import 1/3 of its raw materials

- Government spending was more than its income, in 1939 it was in debt of over 40 billion marks

Reducing Unemployment

- Nazis doubled spending on public works programmes, such as building autobahns and the Olympic stadium in Berlin which created jobs for construction workers

- Hitler adopted a more aggressive forgien policy

- Spending on arms increased from around 2 million reichsmarks in 1922 to 17 million in 1937

- This created jobs for arms factories and related industry like coal mining and iron ore extraction

- in 1933 unemployment was at 6 million, by 1939 it had been reduced to half a million

- Expansion of the army also created employment - by 1938 there were over 900,000 men in the army

- Nazis paid private companies to create jobs like Volkswagen

- The Nazis claimed the car would be cheaply available to all Germans but most didnt have a chance to buy it until after the war.

The Reality of reducing unemployment

- There was invisible unemployment

- In 1933 women were encouraged to stay home

- From 1937 they were encouraged back into work

- Despite this there were fewer women working in 1939 that before the Depression

- Women and Jews were not included in unemployment figures

- RAD (national labour service) was set up to get unemployed men to do manual work, single men had to serve 6 months

- After 1935 unemployed men were forced to join RAD and no longer counted as unemployed

- Anyone in temporary employment was counted as fully employed ~ 1 million people

- In the 1930s there was an increase in wages but the number of hrs/week increased by 10%

- Cost of living rose

German Labour Front (DAF)

- Set up to replace trade unions but was NOT a trade union

- Led by Dr Robert Ley

- Ensured efficient running of industry

- Aimed to get workers to work harder and control wages

- Wanted more work without pay so they ran two programmes to improve worker's lives in other ways: KDF and SDA

Strength Through Joy (KDF)

- Ran leisure activities

- Aimed to create satisfied workers to increase productivity

- Rewards were awarded to the hardest workers: subsidised cruises, holidays, cheap theatre tickets, sports competitions and free courses at the German Education office

- Very few people would go on the cruise but museum tours were much more common

- Responsible for Volkswagen project

Beauty of Labour (SDA)

- Responsible for improving working conditions

- Ensured employers served hot food, and sport and leisure facilities

- These facilities were provided, but workers were often expected to build them in their free time and took running costs from wages