Chapter 16: Social policies (Sec 4) Flashcards
(35 cards)
How did the Nazis place control over teachers?
1) Under the Law for the Re-establishment of a Professional Civil Service, a number of teachers were dismissed because they were jewish or politically unreliable .
2) Teachers were pressurised into joining the National Socialist Teachers’ League.
3) Vetting of textbooks was undertaken by local Nazi committees after 1933. From 1935, central directives were issued by the Ministry of Education covering what would be taught and by 1938, these rules covered every school year and most subjects.
How did the Nazis control the curriculum?
1) They aimed to promote ‘racial health’, which led to an increasing emphasis on physical education.
2) In German lessons, the aim was to instill a ‘consciousness of being German’.
3) In Biology, there was a stress on race and heredity. Also a strong emphasis on evolution and survival of the fittest.
4) Geography was used to develop awareness of the concepts of Lebensraum, ‘blood and soil’ and German racial superiority.
What were the chances of going to university under the regime?
1) Nazis downgraded the importance of academic education and the number of students attending universities between 1933-39 decreased.
2) Access to higher education strictly rationed.
3) Women restricted to 10% of available university places and Jews restricted to 1.5%.
How did the Nazis coordinate universities?
1) Under the Law for the Establishment of a Professional Civil Service, about 1200 university staff were dismissed on racial or political grounds.
2) In Nov 1933, all universities were made to sign a ‘declaration in support of Hitler and the National Socialist State’
3) Students hd to join the German Students League.
4) Students were also forced to do four months labour service and 2 months in an SA camp.
When was the Hitler Youth created?
What did it do?
1) Created in 1926, but unsuccessful until the Nazis came to power in Jan 1933.
2) When the Nazis came to power, all other youth organisations except those linked to the catholic church were either banned or taken over by the HJ.
What law was passed in 1936 which gave the HJ the status of an official education movement?
1) The Law for the Incorporation of the German Youth.
2) Catholic youth organisations were banned and HJ became the only officially permitted youth organisation.
When was HJ membership made compulsory?
1) 1939.
What were the teachings of the Hitler Youth?
1) Constant diet of political indoctrination and physical activity. Boys from the age of 10 were taught the motto ‘live faithfully, fight bravely and die laughing’.
2) Emphasis on youth activities was on competition, struggle, heroism and leadership as boys were prepared for their future role as warriors.
3) HJ members had to swear a personal oath of allegiance to Hitler.
What attracted young boys to the HJ?
1) The opportunity to participate in sports and camping trips away from hone made the organisation attractive.
What was the female equivalent to the HJ?
1) The BDM (League of German Girls).
1) When did BDM membership become compulsory?
2) What were the teachings of the BDM?
1) Became compulsory in 1939.
2) - Girls were taught that they had a duty to be healthy since their bodies belonged to the nation.
- They needed to be fit for their future role as child bearers.
- They were also instructed in matters of hygiene, cleanliness and healthy eating.
- Annual summer camps were highly structured, every minute being taken up with sports, physical activity and route marches.
- Racial awareness was an important aspect.
What were the attitudes of girls towards the BDM like?
1) Many girls found their experience in the BDM liberating, they were doing things their mothers had been allowed to do and they could escape from the constraints of the home.
2) They developed a sense of comradeship.
3) Girls from the cities were not fans of having to do a years work on the land or in domestic service after 1934.
What was the degree of success of Nazi youth policies?
1) Successful in bringing schools and universities under their control.
2) HJ by 1939 had become the only youth movement allowed in Germany.
3) Membership of HJ and BDM had grown.
4) But, by 1939, levels of enthusiasm was beginning to wane.
1) What was the main priority for the Nazis regarding women?
2) How did they go about this?
1) Nazis main priority was to raise the birth rate, closely linked to attempt to restrict the employment of married women outside the family house,
2) They went about this through:
- marriage loans were introduced for women who left work and married an Aryan man. For each child born, the amount of the loan that had to be repaid was reduced by a quater.
- awarded medals to women for ‘donating a baby to the fuhrer’
- birth control was discouraged and abortion was severely restricted.
- women encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle, with plenty of exercise, no smoking or drinking.
What women’s organisations did the Nazis set up to promote their values?
1) The Germans Women’s League (DFW) setup in 1933 go coordinate all women’s groups under Nazi control. By 1939, DFW had over 6mil members,
2) National Socialist Women’s Organisation. Elite organisation to promote the nations ‘lovelife, marriage, the family, blood and race’. Primarily an organisation for propaganda and indoctrination.
3) The Reich Mother’s Service (RMD) was a branch of the DFW for training ‘physically and mentally able mothers’. By March 1939, almost 2 million had attended motherhood training services.
What was the degree of success of Nazi policies towards women?
1) Nazi campaign to raise birth rate had some success.
2) Number of women in the workforce increased from 1933-39, so the Nazis failed in that department.
1) When was the German Labour Front (DAF) established?
2) What did it do?
3) What were its two main aims?
1) DAF was established on May 6th 1933 to coordinate workers into the National Socialist regime.
2) The DAF took over the assets of the banned trade unions and became the largest organisation in the Third Reich. In 1936, it started to provide vocational training courses to improve workers’ skills.
3) Two main aims were:
- to win workers over to the Volk
- encourage workers to increase production
How many paid employees did the DAF have by 1939?
1) 44,500.
What was the KdF? What were its aims?
1) Set up by the DAF to organise workers leisure time.
2) It aimed to:
- submerge the individual in the mass and encourage workers to see themselves as part of the volk. There would no time for workers to develop private lives.
- encourage a spirit of social equality. All Kdf activities were organised on a one class basis with no distinction between rich and poor.
- bring Germans from different regions of the country together and to break down regional and religious differences.
- encourage participation in sport to improve the physical and mental health of the nation.
- encourage competition and ambition.
What was mass tourism through the KdF?
1) One of their most successful activities.
2) Cruises to foreign destinations opened up new opportunities for many Germans. Cruises took ordinary Germans to Madeira, Libya, Finland, Norway, Bulgaria etc.
3) KdF ships were built on a one class basis to emphasise unity and cleanliness of the Volk.
4) Facilities on board included gyms, theatres and swimming pools.
5) Passengers were instructed ton dress modestly, avoid excessive drinking and to not have holiday affairs with other passengers.
6) Gestapo and SS agents travelled on the cruises to spy on them.
What was the issue with mass tourism through the KdF?
1) Tickets were too expensive for ordinary citizens and passengers were drawn mainly from the middle class.
2) Little mixing of classes on the ships and there were reports of fights between passengers from different regions of Germany.
What was the degree of success of Nazi policies towards workers?
1) Evidence from Sopade and Gestapo reports shows that workers’ reactions to Nazi schemes to win their support were mixed.
2) Strength Through Joy was popular not because people shared its Nazi ideological aims, but because it offered workers a means of escaping the boredom and pressure of their working lives.
What were Nazi attitudes towards the Protestant Regime?
1) Nazis saw the German Evangelical Church as a potential nucleus for a single national church, since evangelicals were politically very conservative and staunch nationalists. Many of them were anti-semitic as well.
2) In 1933, the Nazis turned the 450th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther into a major national celebration.
What was the Reich Church?
Who won the Church elections in July 1933?
Who was appointed Reich Bishop?
1) In the spring and summer of 1933, the regime began to coordinate the Evangelical Church into a single, centralised Reich Church under Nazi control.
2) The German Christians, with the help of Goebbels Propaganda Ministry won the church elections in July 1933, and were now in a position to Nazify the Church.
3) Ludwig Muller, a Nazi nominee, was appointed as Reich Bishop and took over the administrative headquarters of the Evangelical Church
