Life in Nazi Germany

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Ideal Nazi woman

• Natural looking, Aryan

• Hair neat and tied back

• Married and with children

• Traditional modest dress

• Homemaker

• Not working

Undesirable nazi germany woman

• Wearing makeup

• Non Aryan

• Hair too long or free flowing

• Single

• Modern immodest dress

• Living with parents or friends

• Employed

Law of the encouragement of marriage

• Paid a wife 1000 marks as a loan but only if she stopped work

• 1933

Sterilisation law

• Allowed Jewish women to have an abortion but non Jews could not

• Passed in 1933

German women’s enterprise

• All womens clubs and organisation were merged into the German women’s enterprise which was lead by Nazis

• Groups that refused to merge were banned

• Six million women became members

• 1934

Lebensborn programme

• Encouraged racial purity

• Single women could have children by SS men and their kids would be supported by the state

Mothers cross

• Awarded to women with large families

• Bronze = 4-5 children’s

• Silver = 6-7 kids

• Gold = 8 or more

• Hitler youth had to salute mothers wearing the cross

The Hitler Youth

• For boys ages 14 and over

• A way to train future army leader

• Taught military skills - using weapons and map reading

• Organised camping trips and sporting actives - Nazi ideals of being fit and healthy

• Rose to 580,000 members in 1933

• Law was passed to say all young people had to belong to a youth organisation

The league of German nations

• Groups of girls aged between 14 - 18

• Girls were treated equal to boys but with a different set of aims and activities

• Taught household skills such as cooking ironing and sewing

• Listened to lectures on topics such as racial hygiene for marriage

Nazi control of teachers

• Had to take an oath of loyalty to join the Nazi teachers league and 97% of teachers joined

• League set out the ideals for teachers and ran courses snout teaching in Nazi approved ways

Nazi control of the school day

• Lessons had to begin and end with a salute and heil to the fuhrer

• Nazi poster and flags were prominently displayed

Nazi control of the curriculum

• Nazi ideals were re informed in every subject

• dolchstoss was taught in history

• Superiority of Aryan race was taught in biology

• Mein Kampf was a compulsory reading

National labour service

• Unemployed men were put to work building roads, drains, sports facilities, and Bridges

• By 1935 six months service was compulsory for 18-25 year old men

• Gave work to 420,000 men

• Was unpopular with workers as it was badly paid and conditions in camps were poor

Autobahns

• Planned to build 7000km of motorways across Germany

• Reduced unemployed by 80,000

• New roads allowed for quicker transportation of military equipment

• Only 3000km we’re completed by 1938

Rearmament

• Nazis introduced conscription in 1935 - breached the treaty of the terms of Versailles

• Army had 1.4 million men by 1939

• Increase of army = growth in heavy industries = created more jobs: coal and chemical production doubled + oil iron and steel manufacturers trebled outputs

• Reduced unemployment by one million

• Growth in aircraft industry reduced unemployment by nearly 70,000

Invisible unemployment

• Women and Jews were forced to give up work

• Part time work was considered full time

• Hundreds of thousands of people were hidden away in concentration

• Men working in RAD schemes (temporary) were not included in the unemployment schemes

Positive changes to jobs and wages

• Increase in jobs

• Wages rose for those employed in key industries like armaments

• Farmers were protected by high prices for food

Negative changes to jobs and wages

• Jews were sacked and Jewish business suffered

• Wages were poor for those in RAD

• Cost of living rose

• Average working hours rose from 43 to 49 hours a week

• Workers couldn’t strike

The German labour front

• Was established to control workers rights, working hours and wages

• Since all other trade unions had been banned workers had nowhere else to turn

Strength through joy

• Set in 1933

• Scheme to provide affordable leisure opportunities for workers eg: outings and tickets for sporting events and concerts

• By 1936 36 million Germans were members

Volkswagen (people cars)

• Working class Germans could save money toward a Volkswagen

• Workers could by a stamp for 5 marks once they had 198 stamps they could get a car

• No one ever received a car - money was channeled into the state

Nazi racial beliefs and policies

• Promoted volksgemeinschaft- the idea of a community of like minded people working towards the same aims who were healthy and racially pure

• Herrenvolk and Aryan were the master race - they were tall blond haired and blue eyed

• Anything less was Untermenschen or sub human - this included Slavic people fro, Eastern Europe

• Jews and sinti- Roma were deemed Lebensunwortes meaning of unworthy of life

Eugenics

• They wanted to improve the genetic quality of the German population

• One element of this was selective breeding - encouraged Germans with desirable features to reproduce

Racial hygiene

• Hitler wanted Germany to populated only by members or the Aryan race

• In 1935 the party banned inter racial marriage and sex

Persecution of the Jews

1 April 1933 - SA organised a national boycott of Jewish opened shops. The star of Dave’s was painted on shop windows

April 1933 - Jews were banned from working in government jobs and those in the civil service and teaching were sacked, schools were forbidden to have more then 1.5% of Jews in the student body

September - Jews had to provide Aryan heritage back to 1800 to be able to inherit land. This was impossible so Jewish families lost land

1934 - many parks swimming pools and sports refused entry to Jews

May 1935 - Jews were banned from the army

Reich Citizenship Law

• Removed citizenship and civil rights for Jews

• Jews could no longer hold a passport or vote

• Jews had to see a star or David onto their clothes

Reich Law of the protection of German blood and honour

Prevented inter-racial marriage and sex

Events of Kristallnacht

7th November - a polish jew shot and wounded a Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath,this sparked furious backlash on Jews across Germany

8th November - Hitler and Goebbels ordered Hanover newspaper to publish a condemnation of the shooting

9th of November- Vom Rath died of wounds - Goebbels ordered punishment squads of SA and SS to attack Jewish buildings including synagogues - SA wore no uniforms to make it appear as though local people were carrying out attacks - police did not intervene

814 shops, 171 homes and 191 synagogues were destroyed according to Nazi newspaper - 30,000 Jews were arrested and 91 died

Effect of kristallnacht

• Marked a turning point in the severity of Jewish persecution

• 20,000 men were sent to concentration camps

• No insurance was paid to Jews for the damage to their home and business

• No business could re open under Jewish management

• Jewish children were banned from school