The Experience of Germans under the Nazis

History AQA GCSE

Hjalmar Schacht

German economist and banker, President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics in Nazi Germany in 1934

Self-sufficiency

Nazis aim to have a 'closed economy'- meaning they wouldn't trade with other countries and instead rely only on its own resources

Hermann Georing

Leading Nazi and long-time ally of Hitler. Made Reich Minister of Economics in 1936

What did unemployment decrease to by Feb 1933?

6.1M in 1933 to 0.4M in 1936

What did Germany do in 1933?

- Nazis became to rearm Germany and build up the military
-Factories start producing tanks, planes and battleships etc

National Labour Service (RAD)

Made it compulsory for all men between 18 & 25 to work for 6 months; planting forests, digging ditches and mending hedges. They were forced to live in camps, wear a uniform and paid minimal pocket money

Public Works Schemes

From June 133, new autobahns (motorways) were commissioned which linked German cities, created jobs for 100,000 and by 1938, 3800 km had been built. New schools and hospitals were built

Conscription

1935- this made it compulsory for all men between 18 & 25 to joined the armed forces for 2 years

Who did Nazis sign trade deals with?

South American and South-Eastern Europe

Four Year Plan (1936)

- to make Germany self-sufficient so that in the future Germany can't be blockaded
- Re-arm Germany so she was ready to fight a major war to win living space in the east (Lebensraum)

Reich Entailed Farm Law 1933

The Nazis reduced taxes on farmers and wrote off some debts. They prevented banks from repossessing farmland

Reich Food Estate 1933

fixed prices for farmers so they get a good, guaranteed prices for their produce

Blood and Soil Propaganda

Celebrated the Farmer's contribution to German society

German Labour Front (DAF)

replaced Trade Unions (banned) and sought to protect the rights of workers and improve working conditions

Beauty of Labour (SDA)

Improved working conditions through installing washrooms, low cost canteens, sports facilities and better lighting at work

Strength Through Joy (KDF)

Introduced reward schemes to incentivise workers to work harder. Workers were offered cheap holidays, theatre trips ad football tickets if they hit targets

What became more expensive in Germany by 1939 because of self-sufficiency?

Food

Nazi policies that affect the farmers

- Blood and Soil Campaign
- Reich Entailed Food Law
- Reich Food estates
-Debts written off
-Reduced taxes

The positives and negatives of the policies for farmers

pros
-stability, secure, celebrated, debts written off and taxes reduced
cons
-can't control wills around land

Summary of how farmers were affected

Affected positively- given stability and security

Nazi policies that affect the workers

- strength through joy
- beauty through labour
- german labour front

The positives and negatives of the policies for workers

pros
-workers get new facilities
cons
-food prices increase
-people work more
-don't get paid enough for how much they work

Summary of how workers were affected

Affected negatively- had to completely change their lifestyle

Nazi policies that affect young boys

- Youth Clubs: little fellows, young folks and hitler youth
-Law for the incorporation of German Youth (1936)
-Eugenics
-Napolas
-Hitler schools
-Hitler youth compulsory (1939)

The positives and negatives of the policies for young boys

pros
- increased physical fitness
cons
-brainwashing (indoctrination)
- giving up childhood
- lack of choice
-miseducation

Summary of how young boys were affected

They are indoctrinated into being good soldiers who priortise Nazi beliefs and faith and Hitler

Nazi policies that affect young girls

-Youth clubs: Young Girls, League of German Girls
-Eugenics
-Hitler Youth compulsory (1939)
-Law for incorporation of German Youth (1936)
-Lan banning all youth clubs (1933)

The positives and negatives of the policies for young girls

pros
-prepares them for motherhood
cons
-brainwashing (indoctrination)
-giving up childhood
-lack of choice

Summary of how young girls were affected

They were indoctrinated into motherhood

Aryan

Name given to pure German race. Blond hair, blue eyes

Swing Youth

Name given to youth who refused to attend Hitler Youth and went to parties, listened to American Jazz

Adolf Hitler Schools

Academic and physical training set up to create ideal Nazi

German Teachers League (1929)

Union for teachers that all teachers had to join

Napolas

National Political Education Institutions up for children with potential Nazi leadership future

Lebensborn

State sponsored pairing of (usually) SS officers with aryan women, encouraging them to have children

3ks -Kinder, Kirche and Kuche

Children, Church and Cooking- Hitler described these as the focus on Nazi womens

Nazi women's organisation

Nazi women's group

Motherhood Cross (Bronze/Silver/Gold)

Gold (8 children), Silver (6 children) and Bronze (4 children)

Law of the Encouragement of Marriage (1933)

1000 marks to newlyweds- could keep 250 marks per child born

Nazi policies that affect women

-Abortion and contraception banned
-Lebensborn Movement
-The Gold Cross
-3ks- Kinder, Kirche and Kuche
- German Women's League
- Nazi Women's organisation

The positives and negatives of the policies for women

pros
-birth rate increased from 70,00 in 1933 to 1,413,000 in 1939
- 1.7M women attended motherhood training course
-8000 children were born from the Lebensborn Movement
cons
-women lost their freedom
-lost their jobs
-lost their equal rights to men

Summary of how women were affected

The birth rate and population increased and women had to become housewives and lose their jobs

Nazi policies that affect protestants

-Confessional Church banned
-German Christians

The positives and negatives of the policies for protestants

pros
-liked Nazi views on marriage
cons
-800 pastors and Nielmoller was sent to concentration camps
-Banned confessional church

Summary of how protestants were affected

Some protestants supported Nazis others openly criticised them

Nazi policies that affect catholics

-Concordat in 1933
-Speech 'Burning with Anxiety' in 1937

The positives and negatives of the policies for catholics

pros
-cooperated with Nazis and stopped them from interfering, Hitler promises freedom
cons
- broke the concordat, arrested priests

Summary of how catholics were affected

Hiter breaks concordat when he thinks the Pope has more power

Euthanasia

policy of terminating those not 'worthy' of life

Concordat

the peace agreement made between Nazis and Pope in 1933 to not interfere

Confessional Church

Anti Nazi Protestant group

Pacifist

person who refuses to fight

German Christians

Pro-Nazi Protestant Church

Ludwig Muller

Leader of German Christians

Martin Niemoller

Anti-Nazi protestant pastor, sent to Dachau

Archbishop Galen criticised Nazis and put on house arrest for 4 years

1941

Why christians support the Nazis?

- Hitler promised to protect Christians and freedom to worship
- Shared traditional values like marriage and morality
-Opposed the atheist communists

How did Nazis control Germany

1) Through fear and terror
2) Propaganda and Censorship

3 key messages of Nazi Propaganda

1) Love Nazi
2) Hate Jews
3) Follow Hitler

How was propaganda used?

1) Mass rallies- to celebrate Hitler's greatness
2) Books, Theatre & Music- had to praise Hitler and the Nazis
3) Radio- Schools had to listen to Hitler's radio 1935-Hitler's speech had 5.6M-7M listeners
4) Films- Goebbels had to watch all films before release and approve them
5) Newspapers- Showed Nazis the good things and negative stories about Jews

What were concentration camps and how did the maintain control?

by 1939, 150, 000 people were in concentration camps and created to cope with the growing number of people who were arrested

How did Nazis use the police and local courts?

All judges are Nazis and abolished trial by jury

Chamber of Culture (1933)

Government body that regulates German art and culture and ensure it was consistent with Nazi ideals

How was Germany affected by WWII

-Up to 1942, ordinary people are prospering, benefitting as there is more resources, trade, labour, money and they achieve self-sufficiency
-After 1942, ordinary people impoverished, bombing, no money as people are suffering, economy collapses and nazi loses territories

What year was the turning point in WWII?

1942

What was the impact of bombing campaigns from the war?

-In Dresdan- 0% of the city was destroyed
-Carpet Bombing civilians areas to reduce morale and break their spirits
-Up to 500,000 German civilians died
-huge number of refugees- lead to decrease in Nazi support
-from 1942, no electricity, water or transport and was a constant danger of unexpected bombs

What was the impact of rationing from the war?

- Rationing started in 1939
-Meat rations fell from 750g a week in 1939 to 250g in 1945
- clothing was a high demand
- coal was in short supply
- huge black market for the wealthy and nazi officers
-jews and non-aryans had much lower rations

What was the impact of jobs, the economy and labour from the war?

- the need for labour increased- as more weapons were needed
-over 13 million German men were involved in the actual fighting
- Albert Speer became the Armaments Minister in 1942 and was preparing for total war
-longer working hours, women were drafted to work, slave labour was used on a vast scale
-7M foreign workers used for slave labour by 1944

Total War

the refocusing of an entire country and its economy on the war effort. Anything deemed unnecessary was halted

Who opposed the Nazis and how?

- passive resistance
-organised resistance groups
-assassination attempts
-violent opposition
-low level grumbling

flusterwitze

whisper anti-nazi jokes

Edelweiss Pirates

-a rebel youth group- members mainly teenagers
-would hang around street corners in groups-threatening officers
-would sing songs against Hitler, wear white or checked shirts and white shorts
-playing pranks, helped jews, attacked hitler youth and nazi officers

The White Rose Group

- university based protest, led by Hans and Sophie Scholl
-operated in secret, group remained small
-produced 6 leaflets, put up posters and wrote graffiti on the walls

Swing Youth

People who openly dislike the Nazis and listen to Jazz and have Jewish friends

Holocaust

A methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled.

Untermenschen

Inferior or undesirable groups compared to the Nazis

Reichsbahn

german Railway

Facts about persecution of the undesirables in Germany?

- around 350,00 physically and mentally disabled men and women were sterlisied by the Nazis
- Half a million tramps, beggars and alcoholics were deported to camps in 1933
-thousands of prostitutes and homosexuals were sent to camps
-those with strong religious beliefs were sent to camps in the later 1930s
-From 1939 onwards the disabled were exterminated in nursing homes- 200,00 were killed

What happened to Jews in March 1933?

all jewish layers and judges were sacked

What happened to Jews in April 1933?

jews banned from sports clubs. Jewish teachers sacked

What happened to Jews in September 1933?

'Race Studies' introduced in Jewish schools

What happened to Jews in January 1934?

boycotts of jewish shops increase- they are now marked with the star of david and soldiers block entrances

What happened to Jews in September 1935?

Nuremburg Laws Passed:
1) Jews can't vote
2) Marriages between Jews and non-Jews banned
3) Loss of German citizenship

What happened to Jews in January 1936?

-Jews can't own electrical equipment, bicycles, typewriters or musical records
-Jews must add the following to their first names: Men-Israel & Women-Sara

What happened to Jews in July 1938?

Jewish doctors sacked

What happened to Jews in November 1938?

Jews banned from German schools

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

-1938- Goebbels ordered the SS to carry out a nationwide campaign of terror against the Jews
- Involved 10,00 Jewish shops being attacked and windows being broken
-Around 100 Jews killed and 20,000 sent to concentration camps and 200 synagogues were burned
-Marked a clear escalation of state-sponsored violence

Ghettos

Sections of towns and cities in which Jews were forced to live and they were walled off with very poor conditions of life. Those who survive were put in death camps

Einsatzgruppen

Nazi strike forces that killed innocent Jews with their infamous "death squads", up to 1/3 of Jews were shot by them and up to 30,000 in a day

Wansee Conference (Final Solution)

January 1942- a shift towards extermination of Jews rather than deportation

Death Camps

-camps like Auschwitz & Treblinka used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany for the purpose of killing prisoners immediately.
-prisoners were sorted, stripped, gased then cremated
-methods of killing and then clean-up were done by Jews to spare the SS soldiers of the horror of the process
-Around 6M Jews were killing during WWII

Resistance to the Holocaust

- there were some underground resistance
-There were uprisings in concentration camps like Treblinka which had 15 guards killed by 550 inmates were massacred in response