Hitler's third reich 1933-1945

What is the Reichstag fire?

A fire in the reichstag of Germany that was blamed on the communists and helped Adolph Hitler gain control

What do historians believe about the Reichstag fire?

Nazi party set the fire on purpose to blame the communists and eliminate them, Hermann Goering was a leading Nazi and had a tunnel from his house to the Reichstag (supposedly), At Hitler's birthday meal (1942) drunk Goering confessed (supposedly)

When was the Reichstag fire?

27th February 1933

How do we know the Reichstag fire was arson?

Flammable material scattered around and chemicals and the carpet

Who did Berlin police arrest in relation to the Reichstag fire?

Marinus van der Lubbe (Dutch communist + known arsonist) - found with flammable material and lighters, half-dressed in one of the rooms

Why could van der Lubbe not have committed the Reichstag fire?

He was not a clever man and this attack would have taken a lot of planning and skill, also it would've been hard for him to place all the items on his own

How did Hitler use the Reichstag fire to strengthen his power?

Made a speech blaming the fire on communists and persuaded Hindenburg to sign THE EMERGENCY DECREE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE

What was the emergency decree for the protection of the people and the state?

Gave Hitler the power to arrest people without a trial or valid reason

How did Hitler use the emergency decree for the protection of the people and the state?

Used against communists:

- Shut down their newspaper

- Shut down radio stations

- Arrested key members

- Broke into offices to steal and damage property

When was the Emergency decree issued by Hindenburg?

28th February 1933

When does the Nazi's form a coalition with the nationalist party?

5th March 1933

When did Josef Goebbels take control of all media?

13th March 1933

When was the enabling act passed?

24th March 1933

What was the enabling act?

A law that would allow Hitler to pass laws without the approval of the Reichstag or the President (His own A48)

When did Hitler ban trade unions and establish the German Labour front?

2nd May 1933

Who ran the German Labour Front?

Run by the Nazi party

When was the 'law against formation of new parties' established?

14th July 1933

When was the Concordat established?

20th July 1933

What was the Concordat?

Peace between the Catholic Church and Hitler

What is the Night of the Long Knives?

Where Hitler ordered the SS to kill all of the former brown shirt officers.

When was the Night of the Long Knives?

29 - 30th June 1934

Why did Hitler kill the brownshirts (Night of the long Knives)?

1) Ernest Rohm had a cult personality and the SA (3mill) liked him, Hitler was scared they would turn against him

2) SA becoming an embarrassment = drunk and damaged property + attacked foreign diplomats

3) Rohm wanted a revolution, wanted old German army to disappear and replaced with the SA

4) Other Nazi leaders were jealous of Rohm and convinced Hitler he was a traitor + homosexual + taken money from French to overthrow Hitler (Reinhard Heydrich gave evidence)

How many people were killed in the Night of the long arms?

Nazi's said 85 but actually 400

How did Ernest Rohm die?

Given a pistol to commit suicide but he didnt so they killed him

What enemies were eliminated during the night of the long knives?

- Von Schleicher (killed)

- Von Kohr (killed)

- Von Papen (arrested + forced to resign)

What happened to the remaining SA members after the night of the long knives?

Forced to join SS if they were good enough or the traditional German army

How did Hitler gain support via the night of the long knives?

Support from the German army who had been concerned at the SA's plans to replace them and won support from the businessmen who disapproved of the SA's actions

How did Hitler explain the murder on the night of the long knives?

Trying to stop a civil war = Reichstage (Nazi members) accepted this

When did Hindenburg die?

2nd August 1934

When did Hitler become Fuhrer?

2nd August 1934

What is the Fuhrer?

Supreme Leader (combined President + Chancellor)

What aims did Hitler have?

1) To end unemployment

2) To rearm Germany and end the ToV and conquer lebensraum

What is lebensraum?

Living space

Who was in charge of the National Labour Service?

Dr. Hjalmar Schacht

What is the National labour service (RAD)?

Government doubled its spending on public work schemes = created jobs and boosted business

What are autobahns?

Motorways

What did the German government build whilst Hitler was Fuhrer because of RAD?

7,000km of motorways, schools, sports stadiums, railways, grand buildings (Reich Chancellery)

In 1935, what did men have to do in RAD?

All men aged 18 and 24 had to do 6 months service - reduced unemployment = happy people but low wages

Who was in charge of the four year plan?

Hermann Goering

What did the four year plan aim to do?

Prepare Germany for war

What kind of companies were given money for the four year plan?

Chemical companies, steel companies, others

What is the Luftwaffe?

German Air Force

What part of the four year plan broke the ToV?

Conscription + luftwaffe

What is autarky?

Self-sufficiency

Why did Hitler aim for autarky?

In WW1, the British blockade stopped food and supplies meeting Germany. Hitler wanted to make everything they needed inside the country. They created ersatz for things they couldn't make themselves

What is ersatz?

Substitute materials that are made to make the German economy less reliant on foreign imports e.g. artificial rubber, oil. Helps them achieve autarky.

What is the German Labour Front?

An organisation which kept the workers in strict control. No strikes and stopped from moving to other jobs for better pay

How did Hitler make workers feel important?

Propaganda - They were making Germany great again and creating things the army needed to achieve glory

What is Strength through joy (KDF)?

A scheme set for the leisure for workers

What did KDF include?

Cheap holidays, cruises, theatre and cinema tickets and organised trips and sports events

What was the Volkswagen scheme?

For 5 marks a week, workers could get a stamp and when they collected them all they would be give a Volkswagen Beetle car (No one actually got one :( )

What is beauty labour?

KDF department devoted to improving working conditions, swimming pools in factories and better canteens etc.

When did Hitler set up the Reich Food State?

September 1933

What was the Reich Food State?

Central boards to buy food from farmers and spread it around Germany. = Farmers products will always be sold and make money

What is the Reich Entailed Farm Law?

Banks could not take away a farmer's land even if they failed to pay back a loan or mortgage

Hitler believed in blood soil, what is that?

Peasants were the foundation of the Aryan master race and wanted to keep traditional, German peasant life alive

What were the negatives for farmers due to the Reich entailed farm law?

- Banks stopped giving them loans so they struggled if they needed money quick

- Effective farmers annoyed because they got paid the dame as less-skilled farmers

- Oldest child in the family could inherit the farm so younger children left the land to work elsewhere = 3% of rural population each year left land

Who were happy with the eradication of communists?

Small and middle-class businessmen - If their business was useful for war or the army, they did well

How did Hitler break the ToV?

- Rearm, BG and FR did nothing (1933)

- Hitler retook Rhineland, BG and FR did nothing (1936)

- Troops marched into Austria and joined it with Germany, BG and FR did nothing (1938)

- Wanted Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) lots of German speakers, BG and FR let him have it (1938)

- Invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia - Chamberlain agreed to protect Poland (1939)

- German troops invaded Poland, BG and FR declare war (1st September 1939)

What is Blitzkrieg?

Hitler's tactic to overwhelm Belgium, Holland, and France (1940)

What happened in Dunkirk between May '40 and June '40

British Expeditionary Force had to be evacuated

Where and when did Hitler attempt to invade Britain?

In the Battle of Britain (July - October '40) but were defeated and forced to end his plans for Operation Sea Lion

How did Germany attack Britain after the Battle of Britain?

Strategic bombing

What was Operation Barbarossa?

German invasion of the Soviet Union (22nd June 1941)

How did WW2 impact the German economy?

- Total war = more restrictions and controls were necessary

- Albert Speer took over the war economy in 1942

- No professional sports, no magazines, no sweet shops

- Resources diverted away from non-essentials

- Shops that helped the war effort are only open

- Working hours increased

How did WW2 impact the people overall?

- Rationing, warm water 2x week, soap rationed

- Ersatz more widely spread

- Can't buy new things

- Thriving black market

How did WW2 impact German women?

- Stayed at home

- Women were encouraged to work (Only when there were labour shortages)

- Encouraged to have children (Mother's cross)

- Three K's Children, Church, Cooking

- Lost their jobs

- Blonde haired, blue eyed

How did WW2 impact education?

- Schools controlled by the Ministry of Education (1933)

- All Jewish teachers fired

- Special elite schools

- Lessons effected, Bio about racial purity etc.

- Boys and Girls split

- Anti - intellectual

What was the Hitler Youth?

The younger generation that the Nazi targeted to influence, boys 14 - 18

What was the League of German Girls?

Female equivalent of the Hitler youth 14 - 18

What activities would be at Hitler Youth groups?

Marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing

What activities would be at the league of German girls?

Domestic science, parades, field exercises

Why were youth groups so popular?

Chances for weekends away camping and hiking but lost appeal when made compulsory in 1936

Why did Hitler try to indoctrinate children?

Wanted a thousand year Reich and wanted his Nazi state to carry on long after he died, needed boys to be soldiers, needed girls to become women to have pure Aryan children

Why did the church not like Hitler?

Depicted himself as a god for propaganda, church encourages peace and Hitler needed war

What common ground did the church have with Hitler?

They both hated Hitler

What was Hitler's view of Christianity?

No respect for Christianity but knew a lot of his supporters were Christian

Wanted to get support of the Churches -> control them -> -> replace them with his own pagan religion

How did Hitler weaken youth's beliefs in religion

He removed RS

Why couldn't Hitler just remove the Catholic church?

It would cause anger and outrage in the rest of the world

Who ran the Nazi Reich Church?

Nazi Bishop called Ludwig Muller

What was the Aryan Race?

Pure blood German with blonde hair and blue eyes

Hitler believed in eugenics, what is that?

The human race can be improved through manipulation

Hitler believed in social darwinism, what is that?

Some races are superior to eachother

How did Hitler hate the Jews?

1933, star of David painted on houses and shops + Jews not wanted etc.

How did Hitler hate the Romany gypsies?

Seen as outsiders, Decree for the struggle against the gypsy plague, sent to camps

How did Hitler hate Asocials?

Euthanised, 'mercy killings'

Who are asocials?

Anyone who didnt fit into Hitler's Aryan race, homosexuals disabled, beggars

When were the Nuremburg Laws passed?

September 1935

What were the Nuremburg laws?

Made Jews no longer citizens of Germany, made them subjects

What did the Nuremburg laws mean for the Jews?

Jewish people lost lots of the human rights that other Germans would get. Dehumanised them. The laws also banned marriages/sexual relations between Jewish people and "pure Germans".

When was the Kristallnacht?

November 1938

What was the Kristallnacht?

It was a destructive Nazi rampage against the Jews.

Who announced that there should be a demonstration against Jews (Kristallnacht)?

Josef Goebbels

What occurred during the Kristallnacht?

Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish synagogues, homes, and businesses. · The damaged property was rented by Jewish people from German owners. Because of this, the Nazi Government fined Jewish people 1 billion Reichmarks to pay for the damage.

How was the Kristallnacht portrayed as normal?

Goebbels used propaganda to portray it as ordinary German people rebelling and showing there anger at the Jews

Why was there a lack of resistance in Germany whilst many people were oppressed?

- Children were taught and brainwashed into thinking these were enemies of the country.

- Propaganda

- Fear of SS and Gestapo

When was the Wannsee Conference?

January 1942

What did they decide at the Wannsee Conference?

'Decided the final solution of the Jewish problem': mass murder

What is the difference between a concentration camp and a extermination camp?

Concentration = imprisonment

Extermination = death

How many concentration camps were converted into extermination camps?

6, run by SS 'Death's Head'