NAZIS BOOK TWO: The Impact of Nazi Racial, Social and Religious policy 1933-1945

What were Hitler's aims? [5]

• Race

• A 'national awakening'

• A 'national community'

• Changes in the attitudes and beliefs of Germans

• A new elite

What do some argue Hitler did instead of creating deliberate policy?

responded to pressures and events opportunistically, rather than initiating them

What did Hitler's actions do that led to confusion?

contradicted one another. This confusion was compounded by the input of other Nazi agencies and individuals into social developments.

what did the concept of a volkish 'national community' involve?

elimination of outsiders or outcasts

Who were considered outsiders or outcasts? [2]

• Racial/Biologically inferior (untermenschen) - Included Jews but also 'racially inferior' Germans

• Ideological opponents - Communists and socialists then expanded to include anyone who would not 'conform' to the policies of the govt. (ASOCIAL)

What do Programmist Historians belief about Hitler?

Hitler's intentions were clear from the start and he intended a 'Final Solution' from his earliest days

What was the Jewish population of Germany in 1933?

Half a million (7%)

What demographic did Jews usually come under in 1933? [4]

• educated

• professional

• commercial life

• largely but not exclusively middle-class

Who were more inclined to be anti-semitic? [3]

• peasants

• petty-bourgeoisie

• churches

When was the Anti-Jewish Boycott?

1st April 1933

How was the Anti-Jewish Boycott triggered?

spontaneous action from below from the S.A and Nazi activists

How did Hitler feel about the Anti-Jewish Boycott?

sympathised with it but could not afford to support it because of his dependence on the traditional elites who disaproved.

Did the Anti-Jewish Boycott succeed?

It was a failure as many people chose to ignore it

Why did the Anti-Jewish Boycott fail?

Public opinion was opposed to it or apathetic - indoctrination hadn't happened yet (it was too early)

What did the Anti-Jewish Boycott make Hitler realise?

He could not allow Nazi activists to determine policy. Instead action would come by law from above

Measures were put in place to exclude Jews from where in April 1933? [2]

• state employments

• the legal profession

Measures were put in place to restrict Jews from where in April 1933? [2]

• journalism

• cultural life

Measures were put in place to limit Jews from where to how many in April 1933?

numbers were limited to 5% of any school

What was 1934 - mid 1935 like for Jewish Germans?

Relatively quiet although:

• there were lots of examples of violence and local boycotts throughout Germany, particularly in Franconia (Julius Streicher's division)

When were the Nuremberg Laws created?

September 1935

What were Nazi activists demanding that pressured the creation of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935?

laws against:

• Jewish citizenship

• inter-marriage

• sexual activity between Jews and non-Jews

What did the 'Law for the Protection of German blood and Honour' outline? (Nuremberg Laws)

law banning inter-marriage and sexual relations

What did the Reich Citizenship Law state? (Nuremberg Laws)

Deprived Jews of their citizenship

What determined if someone was Jewish or not?

If they had 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents

What were considered the 'Quiet Years'?

1936-1937

Why did Schacht oppose anti-semitic legislation? [2]

• fear of foreign (U.S) economic boycotts

• threat of other nations pulling out of the 1936 Olympics

What were taken down in Germany the year of the Olympics?

all outward signs of Anti-Semitism

What were the SS doing behind the scenes during the Quiet Years?

• asserting its rights to determine Jewish 'policy'

• coolly establishing facts and figures about Jews and their activities

Under Adolf Eichman, the Jewish section of the SS - SD were aiming to do what?

Push the Jews out of the economy (Aryanisation) and encourage emigration of the Jewish population

What happened to Persecution in 1938?

Increased - more Aryanisation of businesses, especially the takeover of Austria in March and parts of Czechoslovakia in September

What were Jews required to do in April 1938?

Register their property

What laws were passed against Jews in June 1938? [2]

• Law against Jews being dentists, doctors, and sales representatives.

• Jews to adopt 'Jewish' names

Following the Anschluss with Austria, was task was Eichman given?

organising a Central Office for Jewish Emigration which would provide Jews with all the necessary paperwork to leave the country

When was the Central Office for Jewish Emigration established?

August 1938

By the end of 1938 how many Jews a day were leaving Germany and how did they do so?

350 a day - paying an astronomical financial cost to secure their departure

When was Kristallnacht?

9th November 1938

Was Kristallnacht planned?

no

Why did Gobbels want to trigger Kristallnacht?

He was trying to find his way into Hitler's favour

What was Kristallnacht in response to?

The assassination by a Polish Jew of a German diplomat in Paris

What was the assassination of the German diplomat that triggered Kristallnacht in reality?

Hershal Grynspan (a Jewish student) shot a minor German Official Ernst Von Rath - mistaking him for the German Ambassador

What anniversary was Kristallnacht triggered on?

the Munich Putsch

What did Gobbels do to trigger the putsch?

deliver a fiery speech calling on all Germans to rise up and take revenge

Who mainly carried out Kristallnacht?

largely only members of the SS, SA, and Hitler Youth who took to the streets

Who opposed Kritallnacht and why?

Goring - feared an economic boycott

How many people were killed in Kristallnacht?

90

What were other consequences of kristallnacht on the general German population besides the number of deaths? [2]

• thousands arrested

• vast amounts of property lost in looting and destruction

What were other consequences of kristallnacht on the Jewish population besides the number of deaths? [2]

• Jewish businesses and synagogues were set alight

• Police and firemen were only warned to intervene if the fires threatened Aryan property near by

What decree was issued on the 12th November 1938 (following Kristallnacht)?

• Jews as a group to pay 1 billion RM in compensation

• Banned Jews from being employers

• Aryanising Jewish property

• more apartheid-type laws were passed in transport, housing, and to break up existing 'mixed' marriages

What type of Jews could the German population tell the difference between which made personal discrimination of Jews rarer?

• the stereotyped Jew of propaganda

• the actual Jews they know and like

What were Eugenics?

the basic idea of improving your race through selective breeding

What was the pseudo-science of Eugenics based on?

Research Centre for Racial Hygiene and Biological Population Studies

When was a sterilisation Law passed?

June 1933

What did the sterilisation law say?

compulsory on grounds of hereditary conditions (genuine hereditary diseases and simplemindedness, work shyness, and schizophrenia)

How many people were sterilised over the next 12 years after the law had passed?

1/3 million

What propaganda campaign started in 1934?

a campaign against the handicapped

What was the Euthanasia Campaign code named?

T4

When did T4 start?

1939

Who started the T4 campaign?

Phillip Bouler

What ages of children were initially included in the T4 campaign and then what ages was it expanded to?

children under 3 expanded to under 16

What sparked the T4 campaign?

A random letter to Hitler from a father asking for permission to give a mercy death to his handicapped son

Why did Bouler lead the T4 campaign?

he was responsible for the post that arrived daily for the Fuhrer and saw the opportunity to make a name for himself and got Hitler's verbal consent

How were children killed under the T4 campaign?

injection or starvation and carbon monoxide when expanded to adult killings

How many people had been murdered before the public realised what was going on?

72,000

Who spoke out publicly condeming the T4 campaign and when?

1941 - Cardinal Von Galen

What was set up in 1938 as part of eugenics development?

Lebensborn (spring of life) homes

What was the aim of Lebensborn homes?

to produce racially pure children

What were Lebensborn homes?

State sanctioned brothers

What happened to any 'Aryan looking' children spotted in the occupied territories?

Kidnapped and sent back to Germanisation centers before being adopted/fostered by Aryan families

How many children are estimated to have been abducted in the Eastern territories?

250,000

What fraction of children abducted and to Germanisation centers ever returned home?

1 in 10

How many true gypsies were in Germany?

30,000

In the Nuremberg laws what law was passed in 1938?

A Decree against the Gypsy Plague

What did Nazis set up in Auchwitz because they admired the racial distinctiveness and tenacity of gypsies and why?

'Gypsy Camp' - planned to keep some for reservations

From when were gypsies in Auchwitz housed?

1942

How many of the 20,000 being held in Auschwitz were exterminated?

11,000

Only how many of German gypsies survived the war?

5,000

How many European gypsies were murdered almost eliminating gypsy culture?

over 1/2 million

When did Himmler officially define the term asocial?

1938

What types of people were considered asocial? [6]

• tramps

• beggars

• alcoholics

• homosexuals

• prostitutes

• the workshy

How were asocials dealt with? [3]

• rounded up in september 1933

• sterilised

• put into camps

When was another wave of persecution of asocials seen?

For the Olympic games in 1936

When was a youth concentration camp set up to punish and study juvenile delinquents?

1939

Why were homosexuals targeted by Nazis?

the threat they posed to the Nation was by deliberately reducing the country's birth rate

What was created in 1936 to combat Homosexuality and abortion and who created it?

Reich Central Office - created by Himmler

How many homosexuals were sent to concentration camps as uncovered by the Reich Central Office?

15,000

What symbol did homosexuals have to wear?

pink triangle

What happened to homosexuals in concentration camps? [2]

• subject to medical experimentation in an attempt to correct their 'unnatural behaviour'

• castrated

Who did Hitler and regime really want to win over and why?

Workers - made up the majority of those who did NOT vote for them in 1932 and 1933

How did Hitler and his regime try to win over the workers?

aimed to provide jobs and higher living standards

By 1939 how many of the 25 million male workers were 'officially' unemployed?

35,000

What was the average weekly wage in 1936 in comparison to the dole payments received during the economic crisis?

35RM - 10 times the dole money they had been receiving at the height of the economic crisis in 1932.

What did Hitler remove (employment)?

the union movement and SPD and KPD

How did Hitler keep the workers in their place?

discipline and terror

How did Nazis improve living standards? [2]

• increase working hours

• introduce new rationalised production methods which kept wages low

What replaced the unions in May 1933?

the Labour Front (DAF)

Who led the DAF and what did he have hopes of?

Robert Ley - hopes of asserting DAF's power over big business and over the states Trustees of Labour

What did Ley want to do but was not allowed to do so?

increase worker rights and wages

In 1934, with Hitler's support, what did Ley do but why did it not suceed?

signed a decree asserting DAF's control over wages, but had to back down when Schacht and big business objected

What was the Beauty of Work campaign?

aimed to provide a pleasant working environment with good lighting, music, colours, and canteens

What was KdF?

Strength through Joy