Hitler & Nazi Germany Flashcards

1
Q

Effect of WW1 on Germany

6

A
  • Two million Germans dead, and six million injured
  • Soldiers believed that the war was pointless, so began to refuse the Kaiser’s orders
  • Many civillians had joined revolutionary groups looking to end the war
  • Politicians urged the Kaiser to abdicate the throne to restore order, which he did
  • Germany became a republic and the Weimar government was formed
  • Chancellorship was given to Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
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2
Q

Features of the Weimar Republic

7

A
  • All people over the age of 20 could vote
  • German citizens guaranteed freedom of speech & religion
  • German citizens to be equal with eachother
  • Reichstag made laws and appointed goverment & chancellor
  • No parties could gain majority, country run by coalitions
  • Article 48: president could take over Germany in emergency
  • Allowed for people to vote parties instead of candidates - lead to small parties
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3
Q

Discontent with the Weimar Republic

6

A
  • Signed the Treaty of Versailles which had negative effects and was disliked by Germany
  • Germans were not used to democrac
  • Economic problems such as high unemployment and hyperinflation
  • Coalition parties struggle to come to agreements, policies never put into place
  • Many attempted revolutions such as the spartacists and munich putsch
  • ‘Old’ civil service and judges remained loyal to old ways, still anti-weimar teachers and professors teaching
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4
Q

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

6

A
  • Guilt: Germany had to accept full blame for the war (‘War Guilt Clause’ - article 231)
  • Army: 100,000 men, no airforce or navy, only six battleships
  • Reparations: had to pay £6.6 billion
  • Germany lost land: Had to give alsace-lorraine back to France, lost overseas colonies.
  • League of Nations: Germany prevented from joining
  • Extra: Germany banned from union with Austria
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5
Q

Spartacist Revolt Events

6

A
  • Spartacists (communists) organised protest in Berlin
  • Took over newspaper offices, railway stations and a brewery
  • Protesters had no plans and awaited instructions
  • Friekorp controlled revolt and captured 700 civillians
  • Leaders (Rosa Luxembough & Karl Liebnicht) killed
  • SPD and KPD refused to unite and oppose the Nazis in 1930s
  • Germany did not become a communist country as a result
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6
Q

Kapp Putsch Events

4

A
  • 5000 armed Friekorp members stormed Berlin
  • Army refused to shoot the Friekorp so the revolt continued
  • Wolfgang Kapp became the leader of the revolt
  • Kapp is imprisoned and Weimar returns to power alongside Ebert
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7
Q

Munich Putsch Events

6

A
  • 8th November 1923: Hitler and the SA interrupted a meeting between Bavarian politicians and threatened violence
  • Kahr, general von lossow (army leader) and colonel von seisser (head of Bavarian police) locked in room and forced to admit public support for Nazis
  • Hitler left the beer hall to oversee dashes between SA and German army
  • People allowed to leave to inform their wives, but instead informed the police
  • Support for the Nazis was retracted
  • Nazis marched into the centre of Munich and were confronted by police & army - shots were fired
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8
Q

Invasion of the Ruhr Events

5

A
  • Germany claimed they could not pay reparations for next 3 years but French didn’t believe them
  • January 1923: 60,000 soldiers from France & Belguim invaded Ruhr region
  • Aimed to take unpaid payments
  • Wanted to take control of industries
  • Ruhr workers went on strike
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9
Q

Hyperinflation Effects

6

A
  • Fixed pensions became worthless for the elderly
  • Savings in banks became worthless - nothing to fall back on
  • Businesses could not profit and went bankrupt
  • Salaries in regular jobs increased to combat hyperinflation
  • Farmers were able to grow their own food - lower class did not suffer as much
  • Upper class protected due to owning land, posessions and investments in foreign currency
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10
Q

Appeal of the Nazis

6

A
  • Hitler had good charm and charisma - was a good speaker
  • Hitler provided someone to blame for Germany’s problems - Jews & Communists
  • SA wore uniforms and appeared as neat and strong - Germans admired their formation and commitment
  • Propaganda was spread in mass
  • Hitler promised to tear up the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
  • Hitler also promised to improve unemployment in Germany
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11
Q

Reichstag Fire Events

5

A
  • 27th February 1933: Recihstag caught fire
  • Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found inside the Reichstag with fire starting equipment
  • Van der Lubbe was charged and beheaded for his alleged crime
  • Hitler blamed the fire on the Communists and said it was carried out by terrorists
  • Hitler persuades Hindenburg to pass on an emergency decree suspending freedoms
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12
Q

Enabling act

6

A
  • Goebbels banned communist and socialist newspapers
  • 50,000 SA men became police ‘auxillaries’, which gave them police powers via wearing a white arm band
  • Rights such as freedom of speech, press and assembly removed
  • Only Nazis and Nationalists could run election campaigns
  • Police given emergency powers to search houses, take property and detain without trial
  • Police could ban opposing political meetings and send participants to concentration camps
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13
Q

Nazis Consolidation of Power

6

A
  • Hitler split Germany into 42 Gaus which allowed Nazis control of local government
  • Trade unions were abolished and leaders arrested
  • Hitler able to set up German Labour Front and control workers
  • Hitler came to an agreement with the pope to not interfere with the catholic church as long as he could rule Germany: allowed him to ban Catholic Zentrum Party without opposition
  • All political parties were banned, so Nazis could no longer be voted out
  • Peoples courts set up where judges had to swear an oath to Hitler and listen to him instead of evidence
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14
Q

Night of the Long Knives Events

4

A
  • Hitler aimed to defeat all opposition
  • Army and SA were against eachother - egged on by Himmler
  • Hitler arrested Ernst Rohm in his bedroom - he was threatened by Hitler and 2 armed SS men
  • Estimated that over 200 were killed
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15
Q

Life & Control of Nazi Germany

6

A
  • Gestapo used to inform on anti-Nazis
  • Hitler set up a state Reich church which banned the bible and cross
  • Conscription introduced in 1936 to force men into war
  • Boys taught science and maths whilst girls taught cookery - shaped them into Nazi ideals
  • Things such as jazz music and Jewish authored books were banned
  • Censorship occured and Nazi propaganda was pushed
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16
Q

Intimidation & Terror

4

A
  • S.S acted as Hitler’s personal bodyguards
  • Gestapo worked as secret informants, and carried out the capture and execution of undesirables (e.g: Jews and communists)
  • People’s courts almost always gave guilty verdicts
  • Concentration camps introduced to hold political prisoners - poor conditions
17
Q

Persecution of Minorities

6

A
  • Disabled people put to death through euthanasia programme
  • 5000 severely disabled babies and children killed by injection/starvation in special hospitals
  • Marriage between Germans and Gypsies banned
  • 1939 - Gypsies confined to designayed sites
  • Gay people branded as failing in their reproductive duties
  • Jehovah’s witnesses detained in prisons and camps as they were seen as unwilling to accept authority
18
Q

Persecution of Jews

6

A
  • Jewish and ‘Aryans’ were prevented from having relationships
  • Teachers would humiliate and ridicule Jewish pupils
  • Kristallnacht: Jewish synagogues burnt and Jewish property vandalised
  • Jewish children prevented from attending school
  • Jewish shops marked with stars or word ‘Juden’
  • 1937: Anti-Semetic exhibition in Munich
19
Q

Methods of Resistance

6

A
  • Communist & Socialist workers distributed leaflets and illegal materials opposing the Nazis
  • 1939: Georg Elser attempted to assassinate Nazi leaders on the anniversary of the Munich Putsch
  • Protestant church leaders attempted to block Nazi interference
  • Some Catholic bishops prevented Catholics from joining the Nazi party
  • Swingjugend opposed Nazi values and resisted by listening to swing and jazz music
  • Edelweiss avoided joining the Hitler youth and beat up members
20
Q

Failures of Resistance

6

A
  • Edelweiss Pirates were rounded up by the Gestapo and released with shaved heads to shame them - some sent to youth concentration camps or prison
  • By 1939, 150,000 communists and socialist workers were detained in camps 30,000 were executed
  • Hitler departed early so Georg Elser’s assassination attempt failed - he admitted guilt after interrogation
  • Bonhoeffer was executed for his conspiracy to overthrow the Nazis, and Niemoller spent seven years in concentration camps for speaking critically of Hitlr
  • Ban against joining the Nazi party as a Catholic church goer ended with the signing of the Concordat in 1933
  • Many Catholic Church leaders were murdered during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934
21
Q

Why Resitance to the Nazis Was Difficult

6

A
  • Night of the Long Knives had eliminated opposition within the Nazi party
  • Political parties had been banned, so no way to vote Nazis out
  • Media opposition eliminated through censorship and propaganda
  • Economic opposition eliminated with the ban of trade unions
  • Gestapo intimidated Germans into not speaking bad about the Nazis
  • Many believed that the Nazis were good for Germany and that the negative side was necessary evil
22
Q

Nazi Propaganda

6

A
  • Parades held on special occassions which featured Swastikas and Nazi leader speeches
  • Non-Nazi magazines and newspapers shut down - editors told what they could and couldn’t publish
  • Students in Berlin encouraged to burn 20,000 books written by communist and Jewish authors
  • All films had a 45 minute newsreel shown beforehand which glorified the Nazis - mandatory to watch
  • Loud speakers placed in streets to broadcast Nazi radio and speeches
  • Law against malicious gossip prevented the telling of anti Nazi jokes and stories
23
Q

Nazi Economy

6

A
  • Hitler set up National Labour Service to provide promised jobs to men
  • Bosses could no longer suddenly sack employees
  • Hitler increased the military in order to make Germany strong and independent - if you were military you did not count as unemployed
  • Jews and women forced out of their jobs to create new ones
  • German scientists developed substitutes for imported goods to save money
  • Hitler promoted autarky and encouraged the growth of the car industry and artificial substances
24
Q

Militarism:

Nazi Social Policies

4

A
  • Increased amount of weapons, airforce and navy for the army
  • Size of army increased from 100,000 to 1,400,000
  • Conscription introduced in 1935
  • Ambitious re-armament programmed introduced
25
Q

Youth:

Nazi Social Policies

4

A
  • Boys taught physical excellency in groups progressing to the Hitler Youth
  • Also taught skills which they would use as soldiers
  • Girls taught how to be good mothers and housewives in groups progressing to the League of German Maidens
  • Taught skills such as sewing and cookery
26
Q

Education:

Nazi Social Policies

4

A
  • Anti-Nazi and Jewish teachers were sacked
  • Schools subjects given a pro-Nazi bias
  • Textbooks rewritten to emphasise Nazi ideals
  • History taught to glorify Germany
27
Q

Women:

Nazi Social Policies

4

A
  • Female doctors, teachers and civil servants forced to give up their jobs
  • Law for the encouragement of marriage gave newly weds 1000 marks - got to keep 250 for every child they had
  • Mothers who had more than 8 children received medals
  • Women to copy traditional German peasant dress - plain costumes, hair in plaits or buns, flat shoes, no makeup or trousers and no smoking in public
28
Q

Nuremberg Rallies

6

A
  • Hitler and other prominent Nazi leaders made speeches every year
  • Nazi symbols such as the swastika were displayed heavily
  • Brownshirts would march in formation, which showed unity and strength of the Nazis
  • Hitler youth group members frequently attended rallies
  • Rallies were filmed and later shown in cinemas
  • Hundreds of thousands attended the rallies, which lasted several days