history cie igcse - nazi germany 1933-45 - ppqs

what was the final solution? [4]

• plan devised by Nazi leaders in Wannsee in Berlin in early 1942

• was the ‘final solution’ to the jewish question

• resulted in development of extermination camps such as Auchswitz

• ultimately resulted in the death of 6 million jews, 2/3 of the european population, along with 500,000 Roma and other persecuted groups

what was the league of German Maidens? [4]

• subsection of the Hitler Youth for girls aged 14-18

• aimed to develop German girls into good mothers and wives

• was an organisation girls attended after-school and on weekends, by which the Nazis hoped to keep them away from their families for as long as possible

• wanted to indoctrinate girls with Nazi ideas and propaganda

• also trained girls physically, for example gymnastics

• hosted camps

describe the activities of the ‘swing’ movement. [4]

• the swing youth were a group of people who did not want to associate with nazi ideals - practiced non-conformity

• they were motivated by the desire to have a good time

• they met up in houses to dance to western swing music and wear western clothes, as an act of resistance

• they accepted jews into their groups

• female youth smoked cigarettes

in what ways did large businesses benefit from Nazi rule? [4]

• nazis wanted to massively increase rearmament

• thereby government contracts were offered to munitions factories, which meant that they had guaranteed income and also had more work so made more profit

• nazis also wanted to reduce unemployment and increase construction - introducing projects such as the autobahn

• this benefitted big businesses which produced building materials

Why did the Nazis make changes to the school curriculum? (6 marks)

• to prepare for war

  • increased physical education - now made up 15% of the curriculum

  • due to foreign policy aims - lebensraum, greater germany - Hitler knew these would have to be taken by force thus war

• to indoctrinate youth with Nazi ideals

  • biology - eugenics and social darwinism

  • history - learnt about alleged corruption of Jews/communists and atrocities committed at the ToV

  • Napolas/Adolf Hitler Schools

  • to ensure that the party would live on for a long time/prevent resistance

Why did Hitler introduce the Four-Year Plan in 1936? (6 marks)

• military reasons

  • wanted to prepare for war

  • included provisions for increasing rearmament - raw materials like coal, iron ore, oil, metal + munitions

  • Hermann Goering works

  • self sufficiency?

• economic reasons

  • wanted to recover from great depression - 6 million unemployed

  • would create work and benefit big business - munitions and autobahn/construction

Why was Kristallnacht important? (6 marks)

• impact on German Jews

  • 20,000 sent to concentration camps

  • 91 murdered

  • synagogues burnt down

  • had to pay for damage

  • homes and businesses attacked

• impact on policy and radicalisation

  • first time mass violence allowed

  • set precedent for aryanisation - passports

  • set precedent for ‘final solution’, einsatzgruppen, ghettoisation (long term)

Why did the Nazis persecute gypsies and the mentally ill? (6 marks

• mentally ill because burden

  • unfit - problem of reproduction and polluting aryan racce

  • cost to look after them not worth it

  • sterilisation law - 1933, euthanasia programme - 1939 72000

• Roma because asocial

  • seen as asocials and non-Aryan therefore unworthy - polluting the race

  • asocial because they were nomadic which was not normal

  • 500,00 killed

How far do you agree that the Nazis had control over German society? Explain your answer. (10 marks) FOR

• police state

  • gestapo and informers

  • arrests of communists - Dachau - concentration camp

  • block wardens

• racial policy

  • jews non-aryan

  • nuremburg laws 1935

  • aryanisation and ghettoisation

How far do you agree that the Nazis had control over German society? Explain your answer. (10 marks) AGAINST

• youth resistance

  • edelweiss pirates

  • white rose group

  • war years

• internal resistance

  • july bomb plot - stauffenberg, 2x failures, ludwig beck, Goerdler

  • army oath - resistance within a supposedly loyal group

‘The standard of living in Germany improved under the Nazis.’ How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. (10 marks FOR

• employees

  • more work created due to conscription, rearmament and construction, banning of jews

  • able to provide for families and earn an income so they do not starve

  • unemployment dropped by 5 million from 1932 to 39

• employers

  • desire to rearm and develop construction - munitions and building materials provided government contracts to big businesses

  • this guaranteed work increased profits and meant that owners had more money to survive

  • also lack of trade unions meant they could exploit workers and make more money etc

‘The standard of living in Germany improved under the Nazis.’ How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. (10 marks) AGAINST

• jews

  • ghettoisation - 300 calories a day

  • forbidden to work with aryans - doctors -1938, lawers decertified

  • children not allowed to attend school from 1938

  • euthanasia programme

• during ww2

  • rationing - one egg a week

  • 1942 - no new clothing manafactured - only exchanges

  • bombing in dresden, cologne