Weimar and Nazi Germany

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty that ended WW I. It blamed Germany for WW I and handed down harsh punishment.

Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution

Allowed the President, under certain circumstances, to take emergency measures without the prior consent of the Reichstag.

proportional representation

An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

President of Weimar Republic

Mostly a figure head role. Paul Von Hindenburg last person to perform this role

Chancellor

Most important political position. Leader of Reichstag

Reparations

As part of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was ordered to pay fines to the Allies to repay the costs of the war. Opposed by the U.S., it quickly lead to a severe depression in Germany.

Ruhr

Germany's chief industrial and mining center

passive resistance

Non violent opposition to the occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian soldiers

Dawes Plan (1924)

Installment plan for Germany, a way to help them pay reparations

Young Plan 1929

Reduces reparations for Germany

Great Depression

the economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s

Wall Street Crash

October 1929 crash of the American stock market that marked the beginning of the Great Depression.

Munich Putsch 1923

This was an unsuccessful right wing revolt in 1923 by Hitler and 3,000 supporters to overthrow the
Weimar government. It gave a lot of publicity to Hitler and the Nazis.

Stormtroopers (SA)

Hitler's brown-shirted supporters who were employed to beat up opponents and guard meetings. Under Ernst Rohm

SS (Black Shirts)

Hitler's personal bodyguard who gained more power during the 1930's becoming the Nazi secret police force & concentration camp leaders under Heinrich Himmler

Communists in Germany

Left wing extremist group who were often most opposed to the Nazis

People's Receiver

Cheap radio introduced by Nazis to make listening to the radio more accessible

Hyperinflation

A very rapid rise in the price level; an extremely high rate of inflation.

Reichstag Fire

27th February 1933

Joseph Goebbels

Chief minister of the Nazi propaganda, and organizer of Kristallnacht

People's Community

Volksgemeinschaft

Anti semtitism

hostility to or prejudice against Jews.

Aryan Race

Hitlers version of the perfect people, "blonde hair and blue eyes"

30th January 1933

Hitler becomes Chancellor

July 1932 Reichstag election result for Nazis

230 seats, 37% of the vote

November 1932 reichstag election result for Nazis

196 seats, 33% of the vote

Night of the Long Knives

30th June 1934. Nazi purge of Ernst Rohm and the SA

Revolution from above

Revolution would be directed by Nazi leaders

Revolution from below

Revolution would be directed by ordinary Nazi members

Enabling Act

Hitler able to get rid of the Reichstag parliament and pass laws without reference to parliament

Marinus van der Lubbe

Dutch Communist accused of Reichstag Fire

Hunger Chancellor

Nickname given to Bruning for his policy of cutting welfare.

Gregor Strasser

German politician, prominent figure in Nazi Party. Became a rival to Hitler. Was executed during 'The Night of the Long Knives'. Favoured a left wing approach to Mazism

Mein Kampf

"My Struggle"-a book written by Adolf Hitler during his imprisonment in 1923-1924, in which he set forth his beliefs and his goals for Germany

Legal Revolution 1933

Hitler achieved his goal of dictatorship through the political system

Gustav Stresemann

German Foreign Minister who assumed leadership of government and got the French to move out of the Ruhr

World War I

(1914 - 1918) European war in which an alliance including Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States defeated the alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

Presidential Government

When the Head of State (President) was forced to rule by decree due to a lack of agreement in the Reichstag

Ernst Rohm

Leader of the SA

Fuhrerprinzip

in Nazi Germany, a leadership principle based on the belief in a single-minded party (the Nazis) under one leader (Hitler)

Gestapo

German secret police

Reichswehr

German army

Membership of SA by 1934

3 million

November Criminals

Term applied to those who signed the armistice to end WW1 and later signed Treaty of Versailles

Rentenmark

The new currency issued in 1923 as part of the economic reforms to remedy hyperinflation.

NSDAP/ Nazis

The National Socialist Workers Party, a fascist party which was ruled by Hitler by 1920 and controlled Germany after the 1932 Reichstag elections.

KPD

German Communist Party

Habeas Corpus

the right not to be held in prison without first being charged with a specific crime

Grossdeutschland

Greater Germany

Hermann Goering

German politician in Nazi Germany who founded the Gestapo and mobilized Germany for war (1893-1946)

Gleichschaltung

the coordination of all institutions under Nazi control

Hjalmar Schacht

Key minister of economics created new currency to save Germany and devised four year economic plan

Reich Labour Service (RAD)

Group set up to employ young Germans. Service for 6 months was compulsory for men 18-25 from 1935.

Unemployment figure in January 1932

6 million

Autarky

economic independence or self-sufficiency

Four Year Plan

The plan created by the Nazis in 1936 that served to improve the economy and infrastructure of Germany with the goal of making the country ready for war in four years.

Debate in Germany over whether to prioritise looking after people or preparing for war

Guns vs butter

Rearmament

Building up Germany's military after it had been decimated after the Treaty of Versailles

Nuremberg Laws

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

1st April 1933

One day boycott of Jewish shops

Genocide

Deliberate extermination of a racial or cultural group

Holocaust

the Nazi program of exterminating Jews under Hitler

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

Nazi organized riot against the Jews on November 9, 1938

Event which saw anti-semitism decrease in Nazi Germany

Berlin Olympics

Anschluss with Austria

Germany and Austria are joined in 1938

Wannssee Conference

Conference set up to agree the details on how the Final Solution would work

Ghettos

Sections of towns and cities in which Jews were forced to live e.g. Warsaw

Yellow Star of David

A symbol that Jews were forced to wear on all clothing in Nazi occupied territories

Concentration Camps

Auschwitz and Treblinka. Camps were the Final solution was carried out

Number of Jews killed in the Holocaust

6 million