The experiences of Germans under the Nazis

Economic changes: benefits and drawbacks

• high employment

  • 1932- 6mil unemployed

  • 1938- 0.4mil unemployed

• low inflation (2%)

• low debt for government and people

• investment in the arts and societies

Impact on the church

• 1/3 Germans Catholic, 2/3 protestant

• Reich church formed- unite branches of Protestantism

  • banned Old Testament ‘Jewish book’

  • replaced cross with swastika and sword

  • supress Catholic schools

  • promote Nazi ideas through ‘German Christians’

• 800 pastors Confessional church conc camps 1945

• 1937- Pope critiqued Hitler- 400 priests sent to conc camp as result

• 1933- concordat- Hitler not interfere running of church- they stay out of politics- broke infiltrated church with propaganda

Rearmament; autarky; war economy

• Hitler reintroduced conscription

  • decrease in unemployment

  • money spent in businesses

  • prepare for war

    • job opportunities

    • Germany becomes strong nation

• 1939- 26bil marks spent on prep for war- millions of jobs

• compulsory service act passed in 1933

  • reduce unemployment

Repression; police state; Himmler; SS and Gestapo

• Himmler- head of SS 1939 in charge of ‘terror’

• SS destroyed opposition to Nazism, stopped rebellion, enforced Nazi ideology, run concentration camps

• Gestapo- secret police- created fear- scared people into agreeing Hitler

  • 8/10 crimes reported public, 2/10 police and gestapo

  • creates a lack of trust- fear of concentration camps

• Police state- arrested by gestapo, sent to conc camps, forced to do labour

Why was there little opposition?

• Terror- threat of conc camps, fear of gestapo

• Nazi success- success in WW2 up until 1942, economy more prosperous, removal of opposition parties July 1933- Enabling act

• Economic fear- feared losing jobs, Nazis cut unemployment by 96%

• Propaganda- children in schools indoctrinated, books banned, controlled publication of cinema, posters, newspapers

Employment; Dr Robert Ley; RAD, Beauty of Labour, Strength Through Joy

• German Labour Front by Ley- keep strict control of workers

• Strength through joy- workers cheap cinema tickets, trips, sport events

• Beauty of Labour improved working conditions in factories and facilities

Bombing; rationing; labour shortages; refugees

• Rationing of food introduced August 1939 and a points system for clothing introduced October 1939

• Shortages due to lack of imports from America

• Food entitlement for ‘heavy workers’, Jews less food entitlement than Germans

• 1942-45: Germany bombed by Britain- 3.6 mil homes destroyed, 300,000 Germans killed, 7.5 mil made homeless

  • Nazi propaganda downplayed effects

• Thousands of refugees when the Ruhr was bombed

Social policy; reasons for policies; practices and impact on women

• 3K’s- increase population of Germany

  • Nazi’s wanted to expand territory

  • Hitler wanted Germany to be entirely Aryan race

  • women’s patriotic duty to stay at home

  • women not seen as equal- no job

• laws for encouragement of marriage

  • 25% of 1000 Reichsmarks loan didn’t have to be repaid if you had 1 child

• motherhood cross- award for having children

• abortion and contraception banned

Impact on Youth

• Hitler Youth

  • wear brown shirt

  • Hitler controlled free time

  • taught to love Hitler

  • 1936- optional, 1939- compulsory

• could be easily influenced

• encouraged to tell on family

• fear of concentration camps

• taught to avoid Jews, history rewritten, Jews segregated

• 1942- Jews denied education

Aryan ideas; racial policy; persecution; the Final solution

• Nazis believed in superiority of Aryan race, blamed Jews for abdication of Kaiser and t of v, blamed for black death and death of Jesus

• 1933- race studied introduced in German schools

• 1938- Kristallnacht- 100 Jews killed, 200000 sent conc camps

• 1939- ghettos opened, evicted from homes no reason

  • 600,000 died of disease and starvation

• 1942- Operation Reinhard- ghettos closed, Jews sent to conc camps

• 1942- start of final solution- sent to death camps- discussed at Wannsee

Control: Goebbels, the use of propaganda; censorship; Nazi culture

• Nuremburg rallies- showed Germans power of state + celebrate gov

• Books burnt- controlled, censorship of newspaper- told what to write, used art to promote Nazi ideas- inescapable, Jazz banned- inferior, anti-sematic films created with Nazi messages

  • Nazis had full controlled over what is seen

• Chamber of culture formed Goebbels (head of propaganda)

  • Jews banned, cultural activities spread Nazi message

Opposition; resistance: White Rose group, Edelweiss Pirates and July 1944 bomb plot

• White Rose Group- shared anti-Nazi leaflets, graphitised

  • arrested by Gestapo and leaders executed immediately

• Edelweiss Pirates- beat up Hitler Youth- anti-Nazi propaganda, sheltered political opponents and Jews

  • members sent to conc camps, executed and 12 hung 1944 after killed Gestapo chief

• July 1944 Bomb Plot- Stauffenburg planted bomb Hitlers headquarters

  • aim to seize control of Berlin after Hitler killed

  • Hitler survived- fail

  • 5000 individuals executed