OCR A-Level History - Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany (1919-63)

Volksgemeinschaft: Strengths

- More important changes in social values

- Collapse of social elites

- In theory a classless society

- Reduced mass unemployment

- Ready to prepare for war

Volksgemeinschaft: Weaknesses

- Contradictory policies

- Limited social changes

- Christian churches were expected to disappear but actually enjoyed support

Volksgemeinschaft: Opportunities

- Schacht's economic recovery created job opportunities

- Young people enjoyed the social / physical aspects of the Hitler Youth

- Able to manipulate through propaganda

Nazi Education, Media and Culture

- By spring 1933, Goebbels controlled all broadcasting as Minister of Propaganda

- New syllabus for German schools

- Army escaped co-ordination and maintained its own traditions

- National Socialist Teachers' Organisation was set up

Nazi Terror Network

- Had to rely on existing courts but were backed up by the Gestapo and the concentration camps

- By 1942, Nazis had complete control of trials - verdicts often ordered before trial

- From 1935, only pure Aryans could join the SS

- Himmler took control of Gestapo and all police forces in 1936

- Gestapo heavily relied on informers due to small size

Opposition to the Nazis

- National unity (civil service and army) kept the public on side, but after 1934 Hitler was legally immune to opposition

- Communists, Jews, and SA leaders were unpopular with the public

- 1.3 million Germans sent to concentration camps in the 1930s

Churches in Nazi Germany

- Usually concentrated on only protecting themselves

- Remained an obstacle to the state

- Protestants were fairly successful in resisting nazification

- Catholics initially co operated but soon criticised sterilisation and euthanasia

- Concordat of July 1933 between the Nazis and the Vatican, which guaranteed religious freedom and the right to administer itself

Nazi Army

- Failed assassination attempts, including the July 1944 Bomb plot.

Problems with the 1933 Economy

- Practically bankrupt

- Unemployment over 6 million

- Industrial production down to 1890s levels

- German trade sunk by 90%

- Internationally uncompetitive agriculture was burdened with debt

Advantages of the 1933 Economy

- Depression was easing, reparations were scraped in 1932

- Voluntary Reich Labour Service was set up for the unemployed

- Wages could be set at lower levels

Nazi Middle-class

- Directed most of propaganda at this group

- Nazis tried to focus on small businesses but big businesses were needed for the economy so big businesses expanded at the expense of smaller ones

Farmers in Nazi Germany

- Wanted to be self sufficient in terms of food production

- Food shortages contributed greatly to Germany's defeat in WW1

- Blood and soil policy reconsigned the importance of the peasantry to produce strong men to fight

- Increased tax on agricultural imports

- Fixed selling prices

- Large farms could not be divided

Nazi Wartime Economy

- Despite heavy Allied bombing, German armaments production peaked in 1943-44

- Labour shortages were solved by employing prisoners of war and women

Left Wing Political Opposition (Weimar)

- Spartacist revolt (Jan 1919)

Communists attempted to seize power in Berlin but were brutally crushed by the military and the Friekorps

- Ruhr uprising (1920)

KPD brought up their own army and had seized the Ruhr area

Also crushed by the army and the Freikorps

Fragmented the hopes of trade unions

Right Wing Political Opposition (Weimar)

- Kapp Putsch

Took advantage of the recently disbanded Freikorps

Stopped when trade unions called a general strike

- Munich Putsch

Hitler

Failure to secure support from the army

Led to Hitler leading the Putsch by force

Hitler was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison but only served 9 months

Political positive Weimar Golden Years

- Coalitions could often be seen between the SDP, center and liberal parties or a center

- DNVP coalition

Political Negative Weimar Golden Years

- Center party began to move to the right, making SPD cooperation difficult

- DNVP's relationship with the center became straigned by foreign policy differences

- Hindenburg favoured right wing governments and excluded the SPD

Golden Years Weimar Economy Positive

- Rentenmark replaced the Reichsmark in 1923

- Dawes Plan was agreed to in 1924

- Industrial production returned to pre-war state in 1927

Golden Years Weimar Economy Negative

- People who had suffered from inflation could not be fully repayed

- Export prices rose

- Unemployment increased because production techniques and worker numbers were reduced

- Differences between employers and workers increased

- Agricultural depression occurred in 1927

What happened in 1925? Explain

- Locarno pact.

Signed by Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Germany accepted its borders in the west but not in the East, but would sign arbitration treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Renounced the use of force.

All countries signing the pact renounce the use of invasion and force as a method of foreign policy, except in self-defence

Stresseman Currency

- Rentenmark

- Introduced to deal with hyperinflation

- Replaced by the Reichsmark in 1924

- Inflation was controlled by limiting the money supply and keeping interest rates quite high

What happened in 1924?

- Dawes plan

Not permanent

Reparations would be 1,000 mil marks for five years, and then at a varying levels according to Germany's economy

Germany was given 800 million mark loan from American banks to stabilise the currency after hyperinflation in 1923.

What happened in 1928?

- Young plan

Permanent solution to reparation payments, reduced by 20%

Not come to fruition because of the Wall Street Crash in 1930

Money which supported the plan was recalled

What happened in July 1932?

- The Nazis saw a dramatic rise in support

- Became the largest single party in the Reichstag, with 37.4% of the vote

What happened in August 1932?

- Hitler demanded to be made Chancellor with an Enabling Act

- Enabled him to issue decrees himself.

When was the Reichstag Fire?

- February 1933

What happened in March 1933?

- Hitler was already Chancellor

- All parties' votes declined beside the Nazi party, vote was 43.9%

- Enabling Act which gave full power to Chancellor and Goverment

When did the Nazi party became the only legal party?

- July 1933

What agreement did the Nazi's come to with the Church?

- Concordat with church which guaranteed religious freedom

- The church could run itself and appoint clergy and the Nazis agreed not to interfere with legal and property rights.

- In return the church would keep out of policies

What is Gleichschaltung?

- Nazification of society = meaning co-operation.

- Had control in some areas but not church, army or big businesses

- Power limited as didn't want to loose support of important groups but SA pressuring to implement further changes

What happened to federal states due to gleichschaltung?

- Regional parliaments dissolved and abolished

- Controlled by central government

What happened to trade unions due to gleichschaltung?

- Premises were occupied, funds seized and leaders forced into concentration camps.

- Replaced by german labour front (DAF)

What happened in 1934?

- The Night of the Long Knives

Execute Ernst Rohm and other SA leaders

Removed SA and won support of conservative right. The army took oath of loyalty to hitler

Secured the dictatorship

How did Nazi propaganda work?

- Joseph Goebbels oversaw it

- Came in many forms: printed word, posters, films, rallies, symbols, flags

- The Nazi newspaper was 'Völkischer Beobachter' and the party's 1929 alliance with Hugenberg's DNVP gave access to his media empire

- Appeals were made to emotions, not intelligence

What was the appeal of the Nazis?

- The Nazis had associated organisations for different groups: Young people, women, students, lawyers, factory workers

- The NSDAP was organised into strong, local areas under Gauleiters

- The SA attracted people eventhough its violence was problematic, also portrayed strength as opposed to failing Weimar democracy.

- Hitler was a charming politician and spoke well.

Who was Von Papen?

- Hitler's vice-Chancellor

- Persuaded Hindenberg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor, as he believed he could restrain the Nazis

What is the Gestapo and what did they do?

- The Nazi's ecret state police

- Their job was to arrest opponents of nazis

- Between 20,000 - 40,000 agents

What was the SS?

- Paramilitary organization under Hitler

- Helped instill terror

What Communists opposition was there?

- Leaflets attacking nazis

- Most important group was red orchestra, a spy network that sent info to moscow

- Had minimal impact and many arrested after reichstag fire

- More concerned with self-preservation

What church opposition was there?

- Bishop Galen attacked euthanasia policies, where disabled people would be euthanised

- Not that effective but had euthanasia stopped temporarily

- Many church leaders were sent to camps

Examples of Youth opposition

- Edelweiss pirates disliked military emphasis of hitler youth

- Behaved in anti nazi ways

- The White Rose student group who were arrested and tortured

What was Schacht's economic stategy?

- Low level interest rates which assisted farmers and small businesses

- New public infrastructure like 5km of the Autobahn

- Schacht's new plan of 1934 which gave government control over all trade, lead to hiding the balance of payment problem

What was Goring's 4 year plan and when?

- 1936

- A plan to increase rearmament and autarky so germany would be self sufficient

- Aimed to increase production of agriculture and raw materials and develop ersatz products (substitutes)

- However Germany still relied on foreign supplies for 1/3 of raw materials and weren't ready for total war

What did the 3 K's represent?

- Kinder, kuche, kirche meaning children, kitchen, church

- Propoganda by the Nazi's for women

The Nazi policies toward women

- Women were destined to be wives and mothers

- Drive women out of heavy industry or jobs that might hinder them from having healthy children

- Encouraged women to pursue occupations that had practical application like nursing or social work

- Restrictive legislation against females

- Women offered loans of 600 reichmarks without interest to marry and give up work

What was the Lebensborn programme?

- Program where Aryan girls were impregnated by SS members to 'improve racial standards'

- 11,000 children were born under this

How effective were Nazi economic policies?

- Not effective

- Production was hit by inefficiency and bad co-ordination

- Clothes and food were rationed at the start of war

- By 1941 economic mobilisation for total war had failed to hit required level of armaments production (lower than Britain)

- Prisoners in concentration camps were used as workers and women were employed in arms factories

When was Hamburg bombed?

1943

What were the effects of bombing?

- 150,000 killed in dresden.

- Prevented germany reaching full economic potential

- Caused industrial destruction

When did Hitler commit suicide?

- April 30th, 1945

When was the Yalta Conference?

- February 1945

When was the Potsdam Conference?

- 1945

What did they agree at Potsdam?

- Germany demilitarised, de-nazified and democratised

- Economy would run as one unit and each country would take reparations from their zone

Who was Walter Ulbricht?

- Party leader of SED (the Soviet zone's party)

- He was to give appearance of democracy and gained popular support

When was democracy abandoned in the Soviet zone?

- 1948-49

What were the main problems in the Western zone?

- Food and fuel shortages

- Homelessness

- Collapse of the currency

When was Bizonia formed? When did France join?

- January 1947

- 1949

When was the Marshall Plan introduced to Western zones?

- April 1948

Why were divisions growing between east and west zones?

- Truman doctoring and marshall aid

- Black market in west due to economy so Deutschmark introduced, the soviet zone refused

- The Berlin Blockade

- Russians brought in east German mark

When was the Berlin Blockade?

- June 1948 - May 1949

What was the Basic Law?

- Constitution of west Germany established in 1949

- Temporary until there was a united germany by Konrad Adenauer (chancellor)

Features of Basic Law

- Representative democracy = popular participation limited to voting every few years

- All parties had to uphold democracy

- Powers of president limited and largely formal

- Chancellor appointed by president

Who were the CDU and SPD?

- The Christian Democratic Union which supported capitalism and a welfare system.

- The Social Democratic Party, socialists who appealed to workers and were formed through Marxist and working class movements.

What did the Korean War cause? When did it happen?

- Increased demand for goods the Ruhr could supply

- Other nations unable to supply war materials so exports doubled

- 1950-53

NO

- 1949

- Gave them the opportunity to gain Marshall Aid

When did West Germany join NATO?

- May 1955

What significance did civil servants have?

- 40-80% were former nazis

- Adenauer employed a former nazi as his personal advisor

Evaluation of Adenauer's foreign policy

Strengths

- German reputation in western Europe was rebuilt, could join organisations

- Negotiated return of prisoner of wars (POWs) from Russia in 1955

Weaknesses

- Unable to reconcile the USSR to German rearmament

- The remilitarisation of German society and the creation of German army created fear in the West

How did Adenauer decline?

- He didn't run for president in 1959

- Didn't intervene over the Berlin Wall

What was the Der Spiegel Affair of 1962?

- Magazine which criticised German defence forces

- Government tried to silence the magazine by raiding its offices and arresting journalists

- Resulted in Adenauer's resignation

What was the GDR (or DDR)?

- German Democratic Republic formed from soviet zone in 1949

- Power remained with Ulbricht

What were the "Stasi"?

- The secret police of East Germany that maintained order

What was the 1953 Uprising?

- Uprising due to government demand to increase productivity in east Germany

- Nearly a million joined and rioted in towns near Berlin

What was industry in GDR like?

- Large industries under state control (nationalised)

- Most people worked in 'People's Own Factories' owned and managed by the state.

What was the GDR's Five Year Plan?

- Production targets set for heavy industry which were often realistic and changed.

- Targets ignored consumer demands

- Emphasised quantity over quality

- Fixed prices but not linked to supply and demand

What was the Seven Year Plan?

- In 1959 to align economic development of DDR with USSR

- Brought in consumer goods and improvements to living and working conditions

- However consumer goods expensive and not in large enough quantities

When was the Berlin Wall built?

- August 1961

What were the consequences of the Berlin Wall?

- Families totally seperated

- Workforce in east stabilised and so economic progression improved

- Kennedy refused to discuss removing the wall and so was seen as weak.

- Tensions between east and west Germany increased