Aspects Of Life 1933-1945

Question 1

What were Nazi aims for their policies regarding women and gender?

Answer 1

-women should fulfil their natural role of nurturing so should be skilled in preparing nutritious food and keeping their homes safe and clean to ensure that their ‘racially pure’ children had the best start in life.
-no political role : allowing women to vote and become members of Reichstag was as damaging to Germany as ToV was.
-expected to be beautiful : women had a duty to keep having babies and be sexually attractive. Certain types of beauty were seen as dangerous and women needed to still look natural

Question 2

What was female emancipation?

Answer 2

A Jewish conspiracy to stop Aryan women fulfilling their natural roles as guardians of the race

Question 3

What was the Nazis slogan for women?

Answer 3

Kinder, Kuche, Kirche : children, kitchen, church

Question 4

How what the nazis attitudes to women?

Answer 4

They were not anti-women and just wanted women to take up their ‘traditional’ role of homemaker and child bearer in an attempt to arrest concerning surrounding a declining birth rate.

Question 5

How did the Nazis increase the birth rate of healthy, Aryan children?

Answer 5

-published advice on ‘assortative mating’ which would help women choose the right partner to ensure the best outcomes for the ‘race.’
-increase family allowances
-contraception restricted
-nazi propaganda glorified mortherhood

Question 6

How did the nazis encourage marriage in preference to employment?

Answer 6

-the law for the encouragement of marriage (July 1933) provided a RM 1,000 loans to all newly married couples, 1/4 of loan written off after birth of child
-men should marry ‘stupid women’ as they were less likely to interfere with the husband’s life and work because they would be unable to understand it

Question 7

How did the nazis get women to accept nazi ideals of beauty and behaviour?

Answer 7

-ABC of National socialism (1933) demonstrated characteristics of an ideal aryan woman as being natural, no drinking or smoking, body should be physically suited to child bearing, dress in german style ; Gretchen Braids
-to enforce the natural look : tanning parlours, deodorant, hormone cream for larger breasts
-pornography accepted

Question 8

Why had Nazi policies towards women changed?

Answer 8

By 1937, they were adapted due to economic necessity.

Question 9

What was introduced which led to an increasing shortage of labour?

Answer 9

Introduction of conscription and the rearmament boom

Question 10

What happened to female employment between 1937 and 1939?

Answer 10

It increased from 5.7 million to 7.1 million and increased from 31 to 33% of the workforce.

Question 11

What law was passed in 1937 for unmarried women?

Answer 11

Unmarried women had to do a ‘duty year’ involving work in factories or farms.

Question 12

How did the Nazis feel about women in war service?

Answer 12

Reluctant to mobilise women into war service because it conflicted with their ideology and it might affect morale.

Question 13

What was the impact of war on women in work?

Answer 13

-despite dislike from Hitler, as men left for war, proportion of women in the work force rose from 1/3 to just over 1/2
-sacked at the beginning as their work was seen as ‘non-essential’ then women returned to industrial work. New regulations allowed mothers breaks to breast feed

Question 14

What was the impact of war on women as colonisers?

Answer 14

-women employed to clear and decorate Polish farms so German families could move in
-women sent to new territories as teachers and nurses to nurture German population
-wanted to discourage marriage between German men and Polish women as they wanted them to marry ‘racially fit’ brides

Question 15

What was the impact of war on women’s social/domestic life?

Answer 15

-Nazi propaganda = women should keep house tidy and clean and keep children safe and make the most of rations
-families broke up as women could gain attention of SS and Gestapo by accusing husbands of political crimes
-nazi women groups helped women in areas that had been boned by setting up emergency field kitchens to feed survivors and also helped look after orphans and reunite families that were separated due to war

Question 16

What happened to female NSDAP membership in the war years?

Answer 16

Rose from 16.5% - 34.7%

Question 17

What was the impact of nazi policies towards women?

Answer 17

-contradictory and ultimately a failure
-women were not consistently excluded from the workplace
-regime could not stop young adult women already employed in the consumer goods industry and the necessity to employ women because of the growing labour shortage
-despite efforts to encourage marriage, divorce rate rose steadily

Question 18

What was Nazi racial ideas?

Answer 18

-Hitler and the Nazis wanted a racially pure Germany
-aryan race needed to be purified as racial mixing with ‘degenerate’ races threatened to contaminate and ultimately weaken the Herrenvolk (master race)
-those who did not conform to racial stereotype or their appearance/lifestyles challenged nazi ideas including natural born Germans should be eliminated

Question 19

What did the Nazis do to remove legal and political rights?

Answer 19

-Jews forbidden to own phones or buy new phones
-curfew imposed on Jews
-sexual relations forbidden between races
-special debt. Set up in the Gestap: Reich Central Office for the combat of homosexuality and abortion

Question 20

How did nazi polices show economic discrimination?

Answer 20

-Jews banned from working in public service e.g teachers, civil servants
-Aryanisation of businesses ie property, trade and businesses confiscated from Jews
-Jews not allowed to own farms

Question 21

How did the nazi policies show social isolation?

Answer 21

-political opponents such as trade unionists, socialists and communists sent to camps
-anti-Semitic posters and slogans on display e.g ‘Jews Out’
-Jewish passports stamped with ‘J’

Question 22

How did nazi polices enforce violence and extermination?

Answer 22

-half a million vagrants rounded up and sent to camps
-children with disabilities were put to death
-6 killing centres were set up in the war years to kill mentally and physically disabled people by gassing or lethal injection

Question 23

Bans and Boycotts : when + facts

Answer 23

1st April 1933
-had increasing intimidation
-organised by SA and Hitler youth
-Schact argued Jewish businesses contributed massively

Question 24

Nuremberg race laws

Answer 24

15th September 1935
-Reich Citizenship Law redefined who was Jewish and removed citizenship rights from people who had 3/4 non-aryan grandparents
-law for protection of german blood and German Honour which banned aryans form marrying or having sexual relations with non-aryans.

Question 25

Kristallnacht

Answer 25

-9th November 1938
-7,500 shops were destroyed, 91 Jews killed and 20,000 people sent to concentration camps
-Jews forced to pay 1billion RM for damage

Question 26

Forced emigration 1933-1939

Answer 26

-between these dates, 450,000 emigrated
-initially nazis wanted Jews to emigrate but this became harder as countries didn’t accept all Jews
-nazi occupation occupation of Austria (1938) and outbreak of war = Jewish population decreased from 185,000 to 60,000

Question 27

Einsatzgruppen

Answer 27

1939
After Germany invaded Poland, SS units set up
-job = to root out political and resistance leaders but also kill Jews
-up to 2 million killed by them

Question 28

Ghettos

Answer 28

1940s
-where Jews were segregated, most run down part of city
-mid 1941 = nearly all Jews in Poland forced into one
-no one could leave or enter without special permit
-used to control and dehumanise Jewish and other minority groups

Question 29

Wannessee conference / final solution

Answer 29

-himmler thought einsatzgruppen was inefficient and was concerned about psychological impact on SS soldiers
-death camps established in Eastern Europe for widespread, systematic and organised genocide of Europe’s Jewish population of Europe’s Jewish population
-final stage in nazi persecution of Jews after years of escalation

Question 30

How many Jews were killed and how many Roma and Sinti were killed?

Answer 30

6 million Jews
500,000 Roma and Sinti

Question 31

What was the impact of war on Nazi policies?

Answer 31

Outbreak of war in 1939 forced the Nazis to reassess their anti-Semitic policy. War removed the need to worry about international opinion, diminished opportunities for Jewish emigration.
Proportion of Jews in Germany was less than 1% making ‘Jewish problem’ fairly easy for Nazis to manage.
In Poland there were 1.5 million Jews, 16% of total population and some areas = over a third of the people were Jewish = further reason for a change in policy

Question 32

What were the Nazi youth and education policies and what were their aims?

Answer 32

-textbooks reflect Nazi ideology
-youth encouraged to be against Jews
-Hitler Youth won people over = action over study and loyalty to Hitler
-teachers required to attend training camps = good ones rewarded

-to create a fit and strong generation to strengthen Germany’s army and economy
-instil loyalty and obedience to the regime
-create a racially strong and pure German people

Question 33

What was the control of teachers and schools like?

Answer 33

-from 1933, teachers had to join National socialist teacher’s league = willing to convert to Nazism
-20% of teachers sacked in 1933 = some dismissed (Jews)
-female head teachers often sacked as Nazis believed men could ensure strong leadership

Question 34

What was the control like of specialist schools?

Answer 34

Adolf Hitler schools :

Question 35

What were the changes to the curriculum like?

Answer 35

-subjects would prepare the young people to serve the future the Nazis envisioned for Germany
-teachers encouraged to create ‘racial corners’ in classrooms
-maths = political points = how planes are built

Question 36

What was the control over universities?

Answer 36

Rust, the education minister, purged the universities of Jews and those with left-wing views. Almost 1,200 university lecturers (10%0 lost their jobs including Albert Einstein

Question 37

What was the impact of nazi policies on gender segregation?

Answer 37

-more single sex education, physical education was important
-girls focused on domestic roles and motherhood
-girls’ youth group BDM : motto was ‘Be Faithful, Be Pure, Be German’

Question 38

Summarise the Hitler youth

Answer 38

-military training, propaganda + hiking, sports, camping and social opportunities
-ages 6-18
-focus on competition, struggle and leadership
-loyalty oath to hitler
-beginning of 1939 = membership reared 8.7 million out of 8.87 million

Question 39

How successful was the Hitler Youth?

Answer 39

-membership at 8.7 million out of 8.87 million
-rich families could avoid sending their children as long as they paid the subscription
-parents could be fined if they failed to enrol their children or even imprisoned if they actively tried to prevent them from joining
-80% of youth in north were part of organisations

Question 40

What were the successes of the Nazi youth and education policies?

Answer 40

-programmed to obey orders and value Germany’s honour and greatness
-could be dynamic, citing and purposeful
-95% of German youth backed the Nazis
-the longer the Nazi system in place, more hazy the memories were for young Germans = increasing support

Question 41

What were the failures of the nazi youth and education policies?

Answer 41

-criticism from rural areas and working class = sharp decline of participation as policies go too far
-youth organisations made large promises that they were incapable of fulfilling = people irritated by lack of freedom
-created conflict between different generations
-war years = development of opposition for youth movements

Question 42

Gleichschaltung meaning

Answer 42

Extended nazi power over Germany through Nazifying institutions such as newspapers and trade unions = neutralised potential threat to the Nazis

Question 43

Reichkultkurkammer : who created it, when and what was it?

Answer 43

2nd September 1933, Goebbels, to control all the creative arts in order to promote those arts which were considered acceptable by the regime

Question 44

Key features of Nazi culture

Answer 44

-culture used for propaganda and to create unity and support
-promotion of sports, social and cultural events
-strict control and censorship was imposed
-art considered ‘degenerate’
-propaganda stressed the view that Germans were the Kulturtrager (culture bearers) of Europe and that Germany had been led astray by the over-intellectual, Jewish-led, corrupt culture of the Weimar Republic

Question 45

What was the impact of Nazi policies on German culture?

Answer 45

-nazis considered Impressionism, expressionism, cubism + other forms of modern art to be degenerate
-artists had to be licensed to teach and chi it, banned artists were prevented from accessing materials such as paints
-in the war, art treasures were looted from occupied countries and stolen from Jewish households
-in music, Nazis favoured Beethoven and Wagner - playing of the Jewish Mendelssohn was banned

Question 46

Did the Nazis completely reverse all Weimar cultural developments?

Answer 46

No - materials and techniques were often built on from weimar period. Architectural developments such as the use of cement, concrete and glass were used to construct large scale projects as seen in Tempelhorf airport

Question 47

How was culture affected by the war?

Answer 47

-some cultural activities were disrupted by bombing and damage but nazis protected as much as possible.
-kdF remained active
-precious works of art confiscated from Jews
-culture focused strongly on patriotic messages and bans on foreign and Jewish art were fiercely enforced

Question 48

What were the main consequences of nazi culture?

Answer 48

-allowed nazification to continue without violence
-continuation of exclusion of minority groups
-impact on jobs = 13,000 paintings removed by Picasso and van Goph + many artists happy to accept pay