Germany: How far do you agree that throughout the years 1934-45 the Nazi government was a popular dictatorship?

Introduction

• Gained considerable popularity 1934-39

• However, cannot be considered popular overall due to rise in opposition 1939-45

• Criteria - must have minimal opposition or attempts to overthrow the regime

• Not the case here, as opposition was suppressed by the ‘police state’

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• Can be seen as popular because of the incentives that the Nazis offered for people to conform

• Ayran couples were given a RM1000 loan upon marriage

• ¼ of this loan was paid off per child

• Women also supported through the National Socialist Service with childcare + healthcare

• KDF provided women with subsidized trips to the theatre or art shows

• 1938 Exhibition of Degenerate Art

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• Just because some individuals conformed it does not mean that the dictatorship was popular

• There were examples of those rejecting it, such as the Edelweiss Pirates, 3,000 members

• Formed in the 1930s, meant young people aged 6 to 20 did not have to join Hitler Youth

• They would carry out acts disrupting the Nazi regime, such as dismantling rail tracks and interrupting communication lines

• Himmler ordered the public hanging of 13 members in 1944

• Because of this opposition, it cannot be viewed as a popular dictatorship

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• Could be seen as popular because of the lack of successful opposition

• The only way in which the regime was overthrown was by 2 million Soviet troops in 1945

• Opposition groups were small, such as the White Rose Group who had less than 20 members at the University of Munich

• 15 unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Hitler

• If it were less popular, opposition might have been more successful

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• Opposition was unsuccessful because Nazi Germany was a ‘police state’

• SS under Himmler from 1934 was responsible for concentration camps with 50,000 political prisoners by 1933

• Gestapo had 15,000 informants all over the country

• In the first 10 months after 1st Sept 1939, 2,200 arrests for listening to Allied radio