Hitler and Nazi Germany (Six Things)

Question 1

What were the effects on Germany of the end of the First World War?

Answer 1

1. Food shortages due to the British naval blockade
2. Struggled to cope with outbreak of the Spanish Flu
3. End of rule by monarchy as Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated
4. Forced to sign the Armistice on November 11th
5. Faced the threat of revolution as sailors mutinied at Kiel
6. Emergence of the ‘stabbed in the back myth’

Question 2

What happened during the Spartacist Revolt in January 1919?

Answer 2

1. 100,000 people gathered to protest about the sacking of a police chief
2. Far-left groups took opportunity to call for a revolution
3. Protesters seized key newspaper offices and armed themselves
4. Revolt lacked organisation and many people went home
5. Far-right ‘Freikorps’ called in to suppress uprising
6. Hundreds killed during ‘Bloody Week’, including Spartacist leaders

Question 3

What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 3

1. Germany forced to take full responsibility for starting WW1
2. Army reduced to 100,000 men
3. Forbidden from having an airforce
4. Lost territory to neighbours
5. Overseas colonies given to other imperial powers
6. Made to pay reparations

Question 4

What were the main characteristics of the Weimar Republic?

Answer 4

1. Representative democracy, simillar to Britain, France and the USA
2. Men and women over 20 allowed to vote in Reichstag elections
3. Proportional representation led to coalition governments
4. Basic freedoms protected by the Fundamental Laws
5. Powers of Reichstag, president and chancellor limited by system of checks and balances
6. Article 48 allowed the president to rule by decree in an emergency

Question 5

How did the hyperinflation crisis of 1923 impact Germany?

Answer 5

1. Some mortgages and loans able to be paid off easily
2. Panic buying and long queues outside shops
3. Middle classes and elderly lost all their savings
4. Tenants struggled to keep up with rent rises
5. Many people lost faith in democracy
6. Dawes Plan for recovery tied Germany’s economy to the USA’s

Question 6

What were the key events of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch?

Answer 6

1. Hitler, Ludendorff and SA troops stormed into a beer hall and declared a revolution had begun
2. Three local political figures were forced to declare their support
3. Hitler left to seize key media outlets and check on other SA troops
4. Ludendorff allowed the political figures to leave
5. They then renounced their support and alerted the police
6. Hitler, the SA and other key Nazis clashed with police the next day

Question 7

Why was there discontent against Weimar by the early 1930s?

Answer 7

1. Associated with defeat in WW1
2. Post-war leaders had signed the hated Treaty of Versailles
3. Blamed for causing hyperinflation
4. Had not solved problems created by the Great Depression
5. Seemed weak as coalition governments kept collapsing
6. Multiple chancellors had resorted to using Article 48

Question 8

Why did the Nazis rise in popularity by 1933?

Answer 8

1. Hitler seen as someone from outside the Weimar ‘establishment’
2. Hitler excellent public speaker
3. Nazi propaganda used short and simple slogans
4. Nazi policies appealled to people across the political spectrum
5. They promised to tear up the Treaty of Versailles
6. Rich people like Fritz Thyssen gave them financial backing

Question 9

What happened during the Reichstag fire?

Answer 9

1. In February 1933, the Reichstag went on fire
2. A Dutch Communist was arrested at the scene
3. He confessed to police but said he acted alone
4. Hitler declared it was part of a wider Communist plot to seize power
5. More than 4000 other Communists then arrested
6. Reichstag Fire Law was passed, which suspended basic freedoms

Question 10

How did the Nazis consolidate their power between 1933 and 1934?

Answer 10

1. Passed the Enabling Act, letting them rule by decree for four years
2. All other political parties banned
3. Trade unions abolished
4. People’s Courts established and all judges swore oath of loyalty to Hitler
5. The Night of the Long Knives removed internal opponents
6. Hitler merged roles of chancellor and president to become ‘Fuhrer’

Question 11

How did the Nazis use fear and intimidation to maintain control?

Answer 11

1. Created a totalitarian state where Hitler had absolute authority
2. Controlled all law and order, including the police and courts
3. All freedoms and individual rights were removed
4. The Gestapo arrested people in the middle of the night
5. A network of informants was used to spy on ordinary citizens
6. Opponents were sent to concentration camps, such as Dachau, run by the SS

Question 12

How did the Nazis use propaganda and censorship to maintain control?

Answer 12

1. Produced cheap radios that only recieved Nazi-controlled stations
2. Movies reflected Nazi beliefs
3. Berlin Olympics in 1936 intended to prove German superiority
4. Book burnings in 1934
5. Editor’s Law in 1933 stopped anti-Nazi articles in newspapers
6. Alternative viewpoints suppressed

Question 13

How did the Nazis treat Jews and other minorities?

Answer 13

1. SA boycott of Jewish shops and other businesses in 1933
2. Nuremberg Laws passed between 1935 and 1936
3. Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938
4. Those with hereditary illnesses sterilised from 1933
5. T4 programme ‘mercifully killed’ anyone deemed unworthy of living from 1939
6. Homosexuals put in concentration camps from 1933

Question 14

How did people in Germany oppose the Nazis from 1933?

Answer 14

1. Some people refused to give the Nazi salute
2. The Red Orchestra formed resistence cells
3. The Leipzig Meuten promoted left-wing ideas and vandalised Nazi meeting spaces
4. The Edelweiss Pirates helped Jews and attacked young Nazis
5. The Swing Kids wore American fashion and listened to jazz
6. Church leaders like Martin Neimoller denounced the Nazis

Question 15

Why was it difficult for Germans to oppose the Nazis?

Answer 15

1. Nazis very powerful
2. Rebel groups could be infiltrated by the Gestapo
3. Most political opponents put in concentration camps
4. People brainwashed by propaganda
5. Treatment of Jews and others made people afraid to go against the Nazis
6. Nazi popularity

Question 16

What were the economic polices of the Nazis?

Answer 16

1. Invested in alternative fuel sources to try to be self-sufficient
2. Increased spending on the military
3. Going on strike made illegal
4. People had to join the German Labour Front
5. Young people had to do mandatory work for the Reich Labour Service
6. Strength Through Joy offered rewards, such as Volkswagens

Question 17

What were Nazi youth movements and education policies?

Answer 17

1. Hitler Youth created to train boys to be soldiers
2. League of German Maidens established to encourage girls to be good at home economics
3. Membership of youth groups compulsory from 1936
4. Curriculums and textbooks Nazified
5. Teachers made to attend Nazi re-education programmes
6. Napolas created as elite schools for possible future leaders

Question 18

Why were youth movements and education important to the Nazis?

Answer 18

1. The Nazis wanted lots of soliders in the future so they could win wars
2. Mothers would be needed to give birth to more Germans
3. Young people easier to manipulate
4. Obedience likely if learned early
5. Children useful for party fundraising
6. Young people more inclined to rebel

Question 19

What was the role of women in Nazi Germany?

Answer 19

1. Women seen as equal to men, but with different place in society
2. Expected to stay at home and be wives and mothers
3. Lives to centre around the three Ks
4. Could win Motherhood Crosses for having children
5. Encouraged to wear peasant dress and only work when unmarried
6. Discouraged from wearing makeup or smoking in public

Question 20

What happened at Nuremberg Rallies?

Answer 20

1. Demonstrated German military strength and militarist ideals
2. Torchlit processions
3. Flyovers
4. Mock battles
5. Speeches
6. Millions attended by the mid-1930s