history - life in nazi germany

what were nazi germany's 3 economic aims

1. reduce unemployment
2. make germany self-sufficient
3. control the workers/get their support

5 things hitler did to reduce unemployment

- national labour service (RAD)
- public work schemes
- rearmament
- conscription
- invisible unemployment

what was the national labour service

aka RAD
all men aged 18-25 had to spend 6 months in the RAD
experience includes:
- planting forests + mending hedges
- living in camps + wearing uniform
- free meals + pocket money

unemployment reduced bc more ppl working

what were the public work schemes

creating work through improving public services + facilities

- 1933: nazis order building of new autobahns (motorways)
- gave work to 100,000 ppl
- 1938: 3800km of motorway built
- schools + hospitals also built --> more work for more ppl

unemployment reduced bc more jobs made available

what was rearmament

rebuilding + increasing armed forces

- nazis ordered building of tanks, battleships, fighter planes + guns
- made in factories
--> lots of jobs created
--> factory owners make a fortune

unemployment reduced bc more jobs made available

what was conscription

all men aged 18-25 to join army for 2 yrs
- within 5 yrs: army goes from 100k to 1.4m

unemployment reduced bc more ppl working

what was invisible unemployment

women and Jews not included in unemployment figures

2 ppl who tried to make germany self sufficient

hjalmar schacht
hermann goering

(minister of economics)

what did schacht do

made deals w SE europe + south america to exchange raw materials for german made goods

why was schacht sacked

his plan worked well
but
- germany was still dependent on other countries
- plan going too slow for hitler

what did goering do

introduced 4 year plan in 1936
- increased military production for war
- jobs created, high targets met

what issues came from the 4yr plan

- other key industries (eg oil) not meeting targets
- g still not ready for war

how did goering try make germany self-sufficient

stopped trading w other countries
found alternatives to imports:

petrol from coal
fake wool + cotton from pulped wood
makeup from flour
coffee from acorns

goering famous quote

'would you rather have butter or guns? shall we bring in lard or iron? i tell you, guns make us powerful. butter only makes us fat.'

how much of g's population were farmers

around 30%

what did the nazis do to the farmers

needed farms to produce more if g to become self sufficient --> needed farmer support

- cut taxes
- guaranteed that they could not be thrown off their land

- stopped them dividing up their land to give to children
--> children who couldnt inherit went to cities for jobs
--> some ppl liked it tho bc it meant their farm was secure for generations

how did the nazis control the workers

DAF (german labour front) replaced trade unions + ran two schemes:

- Beauty of Labour (SDA)
- Strength through Joy (KDF)

beauty of labour

improved working conditions in factories:

- washing facilities
- low-cost canteens
- improved lighting + safety equipment

strength through joy

leisure activities to encourage hard work
eg. theatre, holidays, football matches

what else did the DAF do

had a scheme to help ppl save for a car

eg the volkswagen, aka the people's car, which hitler helped design

did the car saving scheme ever work

no bc the money was used for making weapons instead

were workers better off under the nazis

- promises fulfiled for work to be created
- kdf rewards
- sda better conditions

- lost rights bc banned trade unions
- workers could not quit w/o gvt permission
- could be forced to work as many hours as the nazis needed
- banned from striking

were farmers better off under the nazis

- 1937: agricultural prices increased by 20%
- agricultural wages rising higher
- Hereditary Farm Law of 1933 gave families more security

- banned from splitting land for inheritance
--> unhappy families
--> kids who can't inherit go to cities

5 reasons germans were better off under nazis

- new public facilities built (motorways, hospitals etc)
- national income increased (1932 = 43bn reichsmarks, 1938 = 80bn reichsmarks)
- unemployment fell (1932 = 5.6m, 1938 = 2m)
- self sufficiency achieved
- strength through joy program

5 reasons germans were worse off under nazis

- women + jewish ppl taken off unemployment lists
- small businesses suffered
- women lost jobs + men given preference for job offers
- wages lower, working day 10% longer (1939 vs 1928)
- trade unions banned

3 ways war impacted germany

rationing
total war
bombing

2 ways rationing affected germany

- 1939: one egg per week (severe food shortages)
- soap + toilet paper in short supply, hot water 2 days per week

4 ways total war affected germany

- 1942: Albert Speer (Armaments Minister) organises TOTAL WAR
- factories forced to stay open + women working in them
- beer halls, dance halls, sweetshops, letterboxes closed/boarded up (anything not to do w war shut)
- 1944: 7m foreign workers from occupied countries = slave labour in german factories

5 ways bombing affected germany

- cuased flooding + gas explosions
- no water, electricity or transport
- ppl fled their homes + became refugees, or were injured/killed by bombs
- Dresden + Cologne almost completely destroyed
- support for Nazis began to decline

4 groups affected by nazi rule

young people
women
christians/the church
minorities

how were young ppl affected by nazi rule

- hitler youth set up 1922
- all other youth clubs banned 1933
- The Hitler Youth Law: law made for hitler youth to be of same level of importance as school + home (compulsory)
- league of german maidens = girls version
- school: history = stab in the back weimar, biology = aryan superiority

2 reasons nazis wanted to control women

birth rate decreased due to more career women - needed increased germany population

believed it was women's place to stay home + have children

6 things women were banned from nazi germany

trousers
high heels
smoking
jury service
contraception
abortion

3 categories of how women were affected nazi germany

work, family + children, lifestyle

3 effects on women's work

women expected to give up jobs + stay home

female doctors, teachers, lawyers + civil servants fired

labour exchanges and employers expected to give jobs to men not women

4 effect on women's lifestyle

women expected not to wear trousers + high heels. modest dressing

no makeup, simple hairstyles

schools discouraged girls from getting higher education

kinder kirche kuche

5 effects on family + children life for women

1933 Law for the Encouragement of Marriage --> loans provided to get married and have children

abortion + contraception banned

'unsuitable' women forcibly sterilised

Motherhood Cross - award for having a lot of children

Lebensborn clinics for unmarried Aryan women to have children with SS officers

2 successes of nazi women policy

1933 - 970,000 babies born
1939 - 1,413,000 babies born

many women liked + supported the changes

failure of nazi women policy

ww2 germany needed women to work in factories + became wage earners, contradicted nazi ideas

3 reasons christians might support nazis

marriage, family + moral values

anti-communism (communism = anti religious)

concordat

what was the concordat

1933- Hitler wouldn't interfere with the Church as long as the Catholics would stay out of politics

hitler broke this

3 things hitler does against christians

bans catholic scls + youth clubs

arrested priests

arrested archbishop galen (well known leader) for speaking out

what did the pope issue in response to hitlers actions

statement called 'With Burning Anxiety'

group of christians who supported hitler

'german christians'

leader = ludwig muller (became reich bishop in 1933)

slogan = 'swastika on our chests and the cross in our hearts'

admired hitler's belief in marriage + family + moral values

group of christians who opposed hitler

'confessional church'

leader = martin niemoller

openly criticised nazis

nazis arrested 800 pastors + banned this church

nazi response to other christian groups

jehovahs witnesses + salvation army (amongst others) killed in concentration camps
bc they refused conscription --> pacifists

christians who stood up against nazis

dietrich bonhoeffer

martin niemoller

4 races/groups hitler saw as inferior

jews
gypsies
slavs
black + indian ppl

what happened in 1941

hitler stopped jews leaving germany
final solution began

by then, 80% had left germany

stats for ppl sent to concentration camps

half a million...
tramps, beggars, alcoholics

thousands of...
prostitutes, homosexuals, problem families

350,000 disabled ppl sterilised
200,000 disabled ppl killed in fake nursing homes

nuremburg laws

1935 laws defining the status of Jews and withdrawing citizenship from persons of non-German blood.

build up to final solution

first ghettos
then einsatzgruppen
then the final solution

stats for horrificnness of conditions in ghettoes

55,000 jews died in the warsaw ghetto

einsatzgruppen

'death squads' that would round up jews, take them to outskirts of villages, force them to dig their own grave then shoot them

2 million russians (mainly jews) died this way

how the final solution came to be

1941 - nazis think destruction of jews not quick enough

1942 - Wannsee Conference to discuss how to remove the remaining 11 million jews in europe

decided on poisonous gas
6 death camps to be built for this

plan = final solution (aka Holocaust)

kristallnacht

november 1938, carried out by SS troops

10,000 jewish shops had windows broken
100 jews killed
20,000 jews sent to concentration camps
200 synagogues burned down

3 key types of resistance to extermination of jews

resistance to einsatzgruppen
warsaw ghetto uprising
treblinka death camp uprising

final solutuion stats

jews died:

poland - 3,000,000 - 90%
germany - 210,000 - 90%

resistance to einsatzgruppen

when they arrived, some jews escaped to forests + formed resistance groups
attacked german soldiers
blew up railway lines

warsaw ghetto uprising

(1943) Unsuccessful revolt of Polish Jews confined to the Warsaw ghetto, who rose up to resist being sent to the Treblinka death camp.

lasted 43 days
germans arrested, executed ppl involved
burned down ghetto

treblinka death camp uprising

1943

prisoner got into weapons store + handed out guns + grenades
set camp on fire, 150 prisoners escaped, killed 15 guards

nazis regained control + all escapees killed
550 other prisoners killed in revenge

who knew about final solution

loyal nazis
BUT ALSO
ordinary people - railway workers (transport to camps), telephone operators, typists, policemen, soldiers

150 german companies used auschwitz prisoners for slave labour

1943 headline - jews to be exterminated

two understandings of whether or not final solution was planned from the start

intentionalist historians - whole thing planned from beginning

structuralist historians - no clear plan, policy evolved over the years

2 methods hitler used to control germany

terror

propaganda

what 4 things made up the nazi poice state (terror method)

SS
gestapo
concentration camps
police + law courts

himmler role in nazi police state

head of SS
oversaw ordinary German police

captured may 1945 but committed suicide before trial

3 sections of the SS

SD - security
Waffen SS - elite unit
Death's Head Units - camps

regular police + law courts role in nazi police state

ignored crimes committed by nazis

death penalty for...
- anti-hitler joke
- sex with a jew
- foreign radio station

gestapo role in nazi police state

secret police

encouraged reporting on each other

heydrich role in nazi police state

head of SD
oversaw gestapo

assassinated in Czech in 1942

Goebbels (propaganda method)

Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda

controlled propaganda and censorship in nazi germany

5 things affected by propaganda in nazi germany

newspapers

films

radio

rallies

culture

newspapers propaganda nazi germany

only pro-nazi stories

many anti-jew stories

1933 - 4700 newspapers

1944 - 1100 newspapers

films propaganda nazi germany

goebells read + supervised all plots

before movie = newsreels + documentaries w nazi message

examples:

• Jew Suss = story of evil Jew

• Ohm Kruger = anti-British film

radio propaganda nazi germany

Reich Radio Company controlled all local radio stations

‘People’s Receiver’ = cheap radio, no foreign broadcasts

Loudspeakers in public squares - Nazi propaganda programmes

rallies propaganda nazi germany

parades = power, organisation, discipline

speeches

Nuremburg = most famous rally

culture propaganda nazi germany

7 things affected:

• cinema (already seen)

• music

• theatre

• literature

• art/design

• mass rallies (already seen)

• sport

music affected

ALLOWED

• german/austrian

• folk/classical

• eg. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart

BANNED

• Weimar Germany

• Jewish composers - eg. Mahler

• Jazz - too black

music impact

reduce wt lyrics etc ppl can listen to

young ppl still illegally listen to american music

theatre affected

banned ‘Threepenny Opera’

• by Jewish playwright

• contained jazz music

all plays must focus on history/politics

shut cabaret clubs

• encouraged sex

• songs ab politics

literature

banned - removed from shops/libraries

• ‘un-German’ authors

• Jewish authors

• Weimar period books

• eg. ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ (anti-war)

encouraged

• race

• war

• nazi brilliance

2500 writers left Germany btw 1933+45

1933 - mass burnings of banned books

Mein Kampf became bestseller

literature impact

remove range of opinions/intellectual thought + questioning

nothing to compare nazi life with

art and design affected

1933 - Bauhaus design banned - big stone buildings built instead

1936 - burned 5000 disapproved paintings (modern art)

1937 - displayed approved art

• heroic German figures

• families

• Hitler (heroically)

sport affected

sport general:

• england gave heil hitler before international game 1938

olympics:

• stopped antisemetic posters/newspapers

• germans top of medal table

  • aryan supremacy

• best technology

  • ‘tracking shots’

  • ‘photo-finish’ equipment

3 groups made happy by nazis and why

teenagers - Hitler Youth adventures

factory owners - mass producing weapons for war

workers - Strength though Joy, German Labour Front

3 levels of resistance

low level resistance

open opposition

attempts to kill hitler

two ways of low level resistance

moaning + grumbling

• anti-hitler joke

• complain in private

passive resistance (refusing)

• no heil hitler (eg. August Landmessser - arrested after tryna flee)

• no money to Hitler Youth members collecting funds

4 open opposition groups

Swing Youth

Edelweiss Pirates

Religious opposition

White Rose movement

swing youth

openly declared nazi dislike

listened to jazz

had jewish friends

swing youth fate

jazz records confiscated

hair cut short

sent home

some sent to front lines

suspected leaders = concentration camps

jewish swing kids (eg. Coco Schuman) = holocaust

edelweiss pirates

banned youth group

beat nazi officials

helped army deserters

edelweiss pirates fate

1944 under Himmler’s command:

13 ppl publicly hanged in Cologne

religious opposition

criticism from leaders of protestant + catholic church (germany’s 2 main religious faiths)

• eg. 1941 catholic church spoke out against killing disabled ppl

white rose movement

anti-nazi leaflets

posters

graffiti

two main groups tryna kill hitler

Kreisau Circle

Beck-Geordeler Group

Kreisau Circle

army officers, uni professors, aristocrats

shocked by Hitler’s brutality

discussed plans to assasinate but no action

Beck-Goedeler Group

army officers

led by Ludwig Beck + Karl Geordeler (nazi official)

contacted UK ab removing nazis but nothing agreed

3 attempts to kill inc July Bomb plot

july bomb plot leader

Claus von Stauffenberg

july bomb plot plan

detonate bomb under table at Nazi meeting

army officers seize power in berlin

july bomb plot wt acc happened

sm1 accidentally moved briefcase

killed 4 ppl + injured hitler

plotters caught + executed