Life in Nazi Germany

What were Nazi policies towards women's appearance?

-Be healthy

-Wear hair in buns or plaits

-Discouraged from wearing trousers, high heels, makeup, dyeing or styling their hair and slimming (seen as bad for childbearing)

What were Nazi policies towards women in work before 1937?

-Follow 3 Ks, Kinder, Küche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church) instead of work

-Female doctors, civil servants and teachers forced to leave jobs and those jobs banned for women from 1933

-After 1936 women couldn’t be judges or serve on juries

-Schoolgirls trained for work at home and discouraged from higher education - in 1937 grammar schools for girls that prepared them for university were banned

Why did Nazis not want women to work?

-Nazis had been elected partly because they promised more jobs. Every job left by a women was available for a man

When did Hitker reverse the policies on women’s work?

1937

Why did Hitler reverse policies on women’s work?

-Germany began to rearm and men were joining the army

-Lots of jobs vacant so women needed to work

-Abolished the marriage loans and introduced a compulsory ‘duty year’ for women entering employment - usually meant helping on a farm or in a family for bed and board but no pay

-Number of women working increased from 11.6 million in 1933 to 14.6 billion in 1939

When was the first concentration camp for women opened and which camp was opened after?

-October 1933 -Moringen

-1939 - Ravensbrück to take the Moringen prisoners. By the end of 1939, there were over 2000 prisoners

What was the Lebensborn programme?

-Set up a range of modern care homes, children’s hospitals, orphanages etc. so unmarried mothers could could give unwanted children to the programme

-We’re said to have donated a baby to the Fuhrer

What was the Law for the encouragement of marriage?

-1933

-Aimed to increase Germany's falling birth rate by giving loans of 1000 Rechmarks (marriage loans) to young couples to marry, provided the wife left her job

--Cou keep ¼ for each child born

What were the Honour Cross of the German Mother?

-Medals awarded to mothers who bore many children

-Bronze - 4, silver - 6, gold - 8

-Holders of gold medal entitled to privileges and got to personally meet Hitler at a ceremony every year

What is the evidence that policies towards women were successful?

-Birth rate increased from 15 per thousand in 1933 to 30 per thousand in 1939

-By the end of 1934, approx. 360,000 women gave up work

-Number of female students starting higher education fell from just over 17,000 in 1932 to 6000 in 1939

-Hitler youth tempted children away from their families and encouraged them to challenge non Nazi attitudes of parents

-Number of marriages increased from 516,000 a year in 1932 to 740,000 a year in 1934

What is the evidence that policies towards women were unsuccessful?

-Average number of children 3.6 in 1933 but 3.3 in 1939

-Many women didn’t support Nazi ideals

-In 1937 withdrew loan schemes and made women do duty year in agriculture or industry

-Couples who had marriage loan on average had one child

-October 1933 first concentration camp set up for women. By end of 1939 there were over 2000 prisoners

-1.2 million more women working after 6 years of Nazi rule that at the start

What were the aims of Nazi policies towards the young?

-All young Germans brought up to be proud Germans who supported a strong independent Germany

-All young Germans brought up to be supporters of Nazi Party who believed in Nazi policies

-All girls brought up to be strong and healthy so that they would be strong wives and healthy, fertile mothers

-All boys brought up to be strong and healthy to do productive work for the German economy and fight in the German armed forces

What schools were set up?

-National political training institutes set up for boys aged 10-18. On graduation they would join the army or Nazi paramilitary groups such as SS. From 1936, SS took over these schools

-Adolf Hitler schools set up for students aged 12-18 and were mainly for Hitler Youth elit. Ordensburgen (order castles) for graduates and entrants usually early 20s. Live ammunition was used in war games and there were instances of students being killed

How were teachers controlled by Nazi policies?

-Had to belong to Nazi organisation of German teachers league and had to make sure that they taught Nazi ideals or they were dismissed. By 1937, 97% of teachers joined. By 1936, 36% of teachers members of Nazi Party

-Teaching of subjects controlled so that young were indoctrinated with Nazi ideals

How were textbooks controlled by Nazi policies?

-Rewritten to fit the Nazi view of History and racial purity

-All textbooks had to be approved by ministry of education

-Mein Kampf became a standard text

How were lessons controlled by Nazi policies?

-Began and ended with students saluting and saying Heil Hitler

-Nazi themes presented through every subject. Maths problems delt with social issues. Geography lessons were used to show how Germany was surrounded by hostile neighbours. In history lessons taught about evils of communism and severity of Treaty of Versailles

How was the curriculum controlled by Nazi policies?

-Changed to prepare students for future roles. Hitler wanted healthy, fit men and women so 15% of time was PE

-Boys: prepare for military. Emphasis on Germany's past and Aryan race - taught that Aryan superior and should not marry inferior races such as Jews

-Girls: took needlework and home crafts, especially cooking to become good homemakers and mothers

-New subjects e.g race studies introduced to put across Nazi ideas on race and population control

-Taught to measure skulls and to classify racial types

-RE optional

What was the membership of the Hitler Youth in 1932, 1934 and 1939?

-100,000 in 1932

-3.5 million in 1934

-8 million in 1939

When was the Hitler Youth made compulsory?

1939 - Hitler Youth Law

What was the Hitler Youth for girls called?

-League of German Maidens. Taught domestic skills and prepared them for motherhood

Whatbwere the Hitler Youth expected tondo to show their loyalty to Hitler?

-Had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler

-Encouraged to challenge authority of their parents

-Used to spy on parents and report back to Gestapo

What was the Reich Labour Service?

-Set up in 1935

-Scheme to provide young men with manual labour jobs - gave unemployed paid work

-From 1935 - compulsory for all men aged 18-25 to serve in the corps for 6 months

-Workers lived in camps, wore uniforms, recieved low pay and carried out military drill as well as working, some complained of poor food and working conditions

- Number of people in Labour Service in 1935 was 422000

- Seen as service for Nazi Party or military service rather than normal employment

- Work included repairing roads, planting trees and draining marshes

What was the job creation scheme?

-Spent 18.4 billion marks in 1933 which rose to 37.1 billion marks in 1938

-Nazis subsidised private firms especially in the construction industry

-Introduced road building programme to provide Germany with 7000 km of autobahns (motorways)

-However just over 3000km built by 1938

-Over 125 000 men involved in construction by 1935

-Hitler hoped autobahns enable troops to move rapidly in event of war

-In September 1933, Hitler personally started construction of the very first autobahn and the first stretch of motorway was opened in May 1935

-Better roads and bridges meant quicker and cheaper transport for German agriculture and industry-helped boost sale of German goods at home and abroad creating more jobs for rest of German economy

What was invisible unemployment?

Nazis used some dubious methods to keep down the unemployment figures. Official figures didn't include:

-Jews dismissed from their jobs

-Unmarried men under 25 who were pushed into National Labour schemes

-Women dismissed from their jobs or who gave up work to get married

-Opponents of the Nazis put in concentration camps

-Figures also included part time work as fully employed

What was rearmament?

Hitler was determined to build up armed forces. Readiness for war reduced unemployment

-Re-introduction of conscription in 1935 took thousands of young men into military service. Army grew from 100,000 in 1933 to 1,400,000 by 1939 to meet the needs.

-Heavy industry expanded to meet needs of rearmament. Coal and chemicals doubled in 1933-1939 and oil, iron and steel trebled.

-Billions spent on producing tanks, aircrafts and ships. 1933 - 3.5 billion marks spent on rearmament. Increased to 26 billion marks by 1939

-Created more jobs e.g. 1933 - 4000 people employed in aircraft construction industry. By 1935, this had grown to 72,000

What evidence is there that the Strength through joy programme (Kraft durch Freude-KdF) improved standards of living?

-Organisation set up by German Labour Front

-Kdf tried to improve to leisure time of German workers by sponsoring a wide range of leisure and cultural trips e.g concerts, theatre visits, museum tours, sporting events, weekend trips, holidays and cruises

-Provided at a low cost giving ordinary people workers access to activities normally reserved for re betty by

-1938- over 10 million pepeople took Kdf holidays

-1936- 35 million members of Kdf

What evidence is there that the Beauty of Labour improved standards of living?

-Department of KdF tried to improve working conditions - organised the building of canteens, swimming pools and sports facilities. Installed better lighting in workplaces and improved noise levels

-By 1938, Nazi Party claimed that nearly 34,000 companies had improved facilities

What evidence is there that the Volkswagen scheme improved standards of living?

-1938 Labour Front organised thr Volkswagen (people's car) scheme

-Hitler asked Ferdinand Porsch to design a car for four people which would travel 40 miles to the gallon and average German could afford

-Scheme gave workers opportunity to subscribe 5 marks a week to a fund eventually allowing them to acquire a car

What evidence is there that wages improved standards of living?

Average weekly wages rose from 86 marks in 1932 to 109 marks in 1938

What evidence is there that food consumption improved standards of living?

-Food became target of propaganda

-Women informed which food to buy and how to cook simple meals which were healthy and cheap

-Eintopf (a one pot dish comprising meat and vegetables) encouraged and became known as the ‘meal of sacrifice for the nation,

What evidence is there that Germans had a lack of freedom?

-German workers lost their rights under Nazis

-1933 trade unions banned and replaced by German Labour Front

-Labour Front designed to have all workers and employers striving to create the Volksgemeinschaft

-Labour Front didn't permit workers to negotiate for improved working conditions, better pay or reduced hours of work and strikes banned, had power to punish workers who disrupted production

-Those who opposed Nazis rounded up and sent to concentration camps for re-education

-Reich Labour Servce (RAD) made 6 months of labour service compulsory for men aged 18-25

What evidence is there that the Strength through joy programme (Kraft durch Freude-KdG) didn’t improve standards of living?

Very few workers could actually afford the most expensive activities such as cruises to Madeira and Scandinavia

What evidence is there that the Brauty of Labour didn’t improve standards of living?

Caused much resentment as workers had to carry out improvements in their spare time without pay

What evidence is there that the Volkswagen scheme didn’t improve standards of living?

-Idea to encourage workers to save for a Volkswagen was a con trick

-Despite being encouraged to put aside money every week, by the time war broke out in 1939 no one had the car. No money was refunded

-Factories built to make cars switched to manufacturing armaments in 1938

What evidence is there that the cost of living didn’t improve standards of living?

-Increased during 1930s

-All basic groceries except fish cost more in 1939 than they had in 1933

-Food items in short supply partly because it was government policy to reduce agricultural production. This was to keep up the prices for the benefit of the farmers

What evidence is there that the hours of work didn’t improve standards of living?

Average working hours in industry increased from 42.9 per week in 1933 to 47 in 1939

What is the summary of Nazi racial beliefs?

-Germans viewed as the 'masterace' and others as subhuman

-The Nazi ideas of Volksgemeinschaft didn't allow for anyone except Aryans.

-Perfect Aryan: Blonde, blue eyed, tall, athletic

Hitler believed Germany had been contaminated by sub-humans

-Pure Aryan state had to be created through: selective breeding, destroying Jews

Why did Nazis disapprove of the mentally and physically disabled?

-Ideal Germans were ‘socially useful’ in that they had a job and contributed to the state

-Anyone else seen as a ‘burden to the community’, for example the physically and mentally disabled

Why were homosexual people targeted?

-The Nazis’ view about the importance of family life and producing children meant that same sex relationships couldn't be tolerated

-Didn’t look favourably on homosexuality and it was illegal

-Gay men arrested and sent to concentration camps

Why were homosexual women not persecuted as much as homosexual men?

Not seen as a threat to the Nazi state and not persecuted in such a way because they were seen to be passive and subordinate to men

Why did the Nazis want to remove Gypsies from Germany?

-There were about 30,000 Gypsies in Germany at the time

-The Nazis gave 2 reasons for removing then:

• They were non-Aryan and threatened racial purity.

• They were people who travelled across the country and had no fixed home, and thus threatened the Nazi view of stable family life.

-In 1935, the Nazis banned all marriages between Gypsies and Germans. 3 years later, a decree for the 'struggle against the gypsy plague' was issued. All gypsies had to register with the authorities

What were the Nuremburg Laws and when where they agreed?

-1935

-Where Nazi Party annual conference occured in 1935. Here they agreed on 2 new racial laws:

•The racial citizenship Law: forbade marriage and sexual relations between Jews and German citizens. Germans who married Jews before the law encouraged to seek divorce

•The laws to protect German Blood: only those of German Blood could be German citizens - Jews lost their citizenship, right to vote and right to hold government office

When was Kristallnacht?

9 November 1938

What was Kristallnacht?

-Kristallnacht: a violent outburst of antisemitism in Germany.

-Nov 1938: a German official in Paris was shot by a Jewish man from Poland - he was protesting against German policies towards Jews (in particular the deportation of his parents)

-Minister of propaganda, Goebbels, decided to use this to stir up antisemitism. He organized anti-Jewish demonstrations, involving attacks on Jewish property, shops, homes and synagogues

-So many windows were smashed it became known as kristallnacht - 'night of broken glass'

-100 Jews killed, 20,000 sent to concentration camps, 7,500 Jewish Businesses destroyed

- It was the first coordinated violence against Jews.

- Although many Germans were disgusted, it didn't make a difference

- Goebbles spun the events to appear as a spontaneous act of vengence

-Jews blamed for the events for remaining in Germany and are fined 1Billion marks for damages

- Jews now banned from attending German schools and owning their own businesses

- Nazis adopted a similar policy of driving the Jews from Germany

- April 1939: Jews forcibly evicted and forced into ghettos

- 250,000 Jews fled Germany before ww2

What were the effects of Nazi policies on schoolchildren?

-Young people encouraged to be antisemitic through school curriculum

-Antisemitic textbooks and school questions

-Jewish people gradually taken out of mainstream education - Jewish teachers banned in 1936, Jewish children banned in 1938

-Jewish children routinely made to feel seperate e.g put on seperate tables and humiliated during lessons

-Jewish people stood out as different: They had a different religion and different customs - some dress differently, eat different types of food, don't work on Sabbath. People feel suspicious as they aren't attempting to integrate into society

-Some Christians blamed them for the death of Jesus: They argued because of this, Jews should be punished forever. Antisemitism traced back to the middle ages - Jewish people stood out as different due to their cultural + religious customs

-Some Jews were very wealthy: This increased resentment and suspicion from people who owed them money or were jealous of their success

-Hitler resented the Jews because of his time in Vienna: Many Viennese Jews were very wealthy- which further fueled his resentment against them, especially since he was so poor

-Hitler wanted a 'pure' racial state: Hitler viewed Jews as racially different from the ‘poor’ German Aryan race. He was determined to create a pure racial state with no outsiders - Jews (and Slavs) in particular were seen as the lowest racial class

What were the political measures against Jews?

-1933 April - SA organized boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses. Thousands of Jewish civil servants, lawyers and Uni teachers were sacked.

-New law excluded Jews from Government jobs (May 1933)

What were the economic measures against Jews?

-September 1933: Jews banned from inheriting land.

-April 1936: The professional activities of Jews were banned or restricted - this included vets, dentists, accountants, surgeons, teachers and nurses.

-September 1937 for the first time in 2 year Hitler publicly attacked the Jews. More Jewish businesses were taken over

-1938 March: Jews had to register their position making it easier to confiscate them

What were the social measures against Jews?

-1933: Jewish books burned

-1934: Local councils banned Jews from public spaces such as parks, playing fields and swimming pools

-May 1935: Jews no longer drafted into the army

-June 1935: Restaurants closed to Jews all over Germany

-1938: Jews had to carry identity cards. Jewish doctors, dentists and Lawmen forbidden to treat Aryans

What was the sterilisation law?

-Passed in July 1933

-Allowed Nazis to sterilise people with certain illnesses such as ‘simple-mindedness’ and chronic alcoholism’

-Between 1934 and 1945 about 350,000 people compulsorily sterilised

What was the euthanasia campaign?

-In 1939 Nazis began to exterminate mentally ill in a euthanasia campaign

-Mentally ill seen as a threat to Aryan purity

-Around 6,000 disabled babies, children and teenagers murdered by starvation or lethal injection

What and when was the boycott of Jewish shops?

-Boycott began Saturday 1 April and lasted one day

-SA placed themselvesat entrances to Jewish shops, department stores and other places of business, discouraging entry

-SA painted Star of David on many shop doors and window

-Police rarely stopped SA even when there were acts of violence

-Reaction to stories that criticised Nazi regime

-However most Germans ignored boycott and it was the Jewish Sabbath so many shops were closed