Germany Flashcards
(82 cards)
1
Q
French Occupation of Ruhr
A
- Germany paid £50 Million by 1922 but could not pay more
- French occupied Ruhr to take the wealth themselves
- Killed 100+ civilians
- German workers strike
- Government prints money to pay striking workers
2
Q
Hyperinflation
A
- 1919-1923 German income was 1/4 of what it needed to be
- Nov 1923 a loaf cost 200 billion marks
- 1923- 300 paper mills + 200 printing shops
- Middle classes, savers, poor, pensioners hit hard
- Farmers, debters, bussinessmen did well
3
Q
Stresseman:The Ruhr
A
Stresseman called off passive resistance in September 1923
4
Q
Rentenmark
A
- November 1923 Rentenmark was introduced
- 1 Rentenmark = 1 trillion marks
- Based on assests so was secure
5
Q
Dawes Plan
A
- August 1924
- US loaned Germany 800m gold marks
- Allies reduced payment
- French agreed to withdraw from the Ruhr
6
Q
Young Plan
A
- 1929
- Reperations reduced to £2 Billion
- Payments made over 59 years ($473m per year)
- French would leave Rhineland by 1930
7
Q
Locarno Pact
A
- 1925
- Germany accepts West Border and de-mil of Rhineland
- France not to occupy Ruhr again
- Agreement of Germanies East border
8
Q
League of Nations
A
- September 1926, Germany joined
- Germany given a place on the League of Nations Council
9
Q
Economic recovery pros and cons
A
Pros:
- 25.5 billion marks (mainly from USA) came to Germany between 1924-1930
- Helped increase industrial output
- ‘Labour exchanges’ helped people find work
Cons:
- Heavily reliant on US loans
- Did not affect everyone equally - the Mittelstand
- Farmers were affected by an agricultural depression and fell into debt
10
Q
Stresseman
A
- Became Chancellor 1923
- Lead the “Great Coalition”
- Nobel Prize 1926
11
Q
Kellog-Briand Pact
A
- 1928
- “Renounce war as a means of national policy”
- 62 nations signed
- Germany gained power and respect
12
Q
Changes 1920-1922
A
- Aims reorganised and published in 25 points
- Htiler ousted Drexler and became leader in 1921
- Owned their own Newspaper
13
Q
Munich Putsch Causes
A
- Anger at Weimar for ToV, civil unrest
- Bavaria hostile to Weimar Government
- Nazi strength (20,000 supporters)
14
Q
Munich Putsch Events
A
- 8-9th November 1923
- Took control of Beerhall and attempted to convert Bavarian leaders to their cause; Bavarian leaders escaped
- Nazis marched on Berlin and defeated by police and Bavarian soldiers
- Hitler dislocated shoulder + arrested 2 days later, Lud. arrested
- 16 Nazis killed
15
Q
Munich Putsch Effects
A
- Hitler used trial for publicity (Feb 1924)
- Sentenced to 5 years, served 9 months
- Hitler wrote “Mein Kampff” in captivity
- “Hold our noses and enter the reichstag” Hitler realised they had to gain power legally
16
Q
Re-org of Nazi party
A
- Nazi Party relaunched in 1925
- New divisions for different sections in Germany
- SA restructured, SS established
- Goebells increased propaganda
17
Q
Bruning as Chancellor
A
- Bruning had to use Article 48 to pass measures
- Tried to ban the SA/SS and gained more enemies in the right
- Known as the “Hunger Chancellor”
- Sacked in May 1932 due to lack of support
18
Q
Von Papen as Chancellor
A
- Von Papen replaced Bruning
- Consistently beat by Nazis but Hindenbrug denied Hitler being chancellor
- Sacked in December 1932
19
Q
Hitler as Chancellor
A
- 30th Januray 1933
- Von Papen told Hindenburg he could control Hitler
- Von Papen was desperate for power
20
Q
Wall Street Crash
A
- October 1929 share prices in NY fell rapidly
- Between 1929 and 1932 industry in America reduced 45%
21
Q
Great Depression effect on Germany
A
- Impact on Banking - American loans stopped which led to a financial crisis
- Impact on industry - Americans no longer purchased German goods, 1932 industry was 58% of 1928
- Impact on unemployment - 1929 1.5 million unemployed, 1933 6 million unemployed
22
Q
Appeal of Hitler
A
- ‘Make Germany Strong’ and ‘Smash the chains of Versailles’
- Wealthy business owners like Krupp’s and Siemens gave money to the Nazis
- In 1932, Hitler stood for president under slogans like ‘Freedom and Bread’ and Goebbels waged a furious campaign of propaganda
23
Q
Role of SA
A
- In 1930, the SA had 400,000 members
- At rallies they used lights and symbols of power
- They disrupted meetings of political opponents
- In the 1930 and 1932 elections they used violence to threaten the opposition and threatened voters
24
Q
Reichstag Fire
A
- 27th February 1933
- Marianus Van der Lubbe charged
- 4,000 communists arrested
- Communists lost 19 seats
- Passed ‘Decree for Protection of People and State’
25
March 1933 Election
* Recruited 50,000 SA members
* Violence led to 70 deaths
* Threats at polling stations to encourage correct voting
26
Enabling Act
* Passed 444 votes to 94
* Applied for 4 years but renewed in 1937
* Hitler could pass laws without the Reichstag
* Reichstag only met 12 more times till 1945
27
Threat of Rohm
* SA had 2 million members
* Rohm had more socialist views
* SA wanted to replace the army
28
Night of the long knives
* 29th June 1934 SS killed SA leaders
* 90 SA leaders killed
* SS became more powerful, SA less powerful
29
Hitler as Fuhrer
* Hindenbrug died, Hitler combined Chancellor and President
* 2nd August 1934 Army swore oath specifically to Hitler
* Named himself Fuhrer, supreme leader
30
Nazi Leadership Schools
* NAPOLAs - Boys aged 10-18 educated in leaderhsip, 39 schools in 1939
* Adolf Hitler Schools - Elite schools for 12-18 year olds for military leadership
31
Nazi Youth Movements
* 1936 all eligible youth must be in the Hitler youth
* 8 million members by 1939
32
Nazi policies on women
* Kinder,Kirche,Kuche
* From 1933 loans available to married couples
* Large focus on women being homemakers and mothers
* Contraception and abortion banned
33
Nazis and Catholic Church
* Concordat - 1933, no cross involvement between church and state, church allowed to run youth groups and schools
* Breaking - Hitler removed catholic newspapers and images, prompting a rebuke by the pope in 1937
* Nazis responded with a huge crackdown on the church (1941 Catholic Press closed)
34
Nazis and protestant church
* Nazis created ReichChurch in 1933
* Confessional church made in 1934 to rival Nazi churches but quickly shut down
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer hung 1945
* By 1939 only 5% of Germans believed in God
35
Economic plans
New plan - Reduce imports and increase exports, spent 1 billion marks on public schemes
Four Year Plan - From 1936, aimed to make Germany self sufficient in raw resources, 1939 Germany still imported 1/3
36
Invisible unemployment
* Nazis manipulated figures to make it seem employment reduced
* Women were not included
* Jews not included
* National Labour Service organised work for unemployed men and they were no longer counted as unemployed
37
Effects of Nazi economic policy
* pre 1936 economy focused on increasing employment
* Four Year plan aimed to prepare for war
* People were not better off
* Germany had to start rationing immediatetly in Sep 1939
* Unemployment down and industry up
38
Groups effects by Nazi economic policy
* Big bussiness benefitted most
* profits went from 1.3 Bil in 1928 to 5 Bil in 1939
* Middle classes, workers and Farmers saw little improvement
39
Propaganda Key messages
1. The supremacy of the Aryan race and the inferiority of the Jews and other races
2. The tremendous work being done by the Nazis to deal with the evils of Communism
3. The different roles of men and women in society and the importance of family
4. The fact that all citizens had a duty to suffer for the good of the nations
40
Radio
| Propaganda
* Goebbels "spiritual weapon of the totalitarian state"
* 1939, 70% of Germans had a Radio
* Programmes would inclue Hitlers speeches, Nazi history and German music
41
1936 Olympics
| Propaganda
* Germany won the most medals
* Huge stadium to hold 100,000
* Showed Germany and Aryans as a strong people
* However, Jesse Owens a black American won 4 gold medals
42
Decree for Protection of People and State
* The police could ban meetings, search houses and imprison without trial
* The death penalty could be used for certain crimes
* Concentration camps like Dachau were set up
43
Persecution of Jews
* 1935 Nuremberg Laws (Jews no longer citizens, could not marry Germans)
* November 1938 Kristallnacht (91 killed, 191 synagogues destroyed)
* 1941 "Final solution"
44
Gestapo
* 1933 Goerring set up
* Huge numbers of spies among regular people
* Had the power to search houses and arrest with no reason
* 1942, 30,000 officers
45
Concentration camps
* 200,000 imprisoned for opposition
* The Law on Malicious Gossip made it illegal to tell even jokes about Hitler.
* Run by Deaths Head section of SS
46
SS under Himmler
* Himmler appointed leader 1929
* 400k members in 1934
* 240k members in 1939 (due to reductions)
* Members personally vetted by Himmler as "Aryan"
* Most ruthless and loyal Nazis
47
Arts/Music
| Censorship
* All artists had to join Reich Chamber of Commerce
* Jazz was banned for being "black"
* Art had to feature Aryans
48
Literature
| Censorship
* Ministry of propaganda made a list of banned books
* Gestapo would search for and burn any non-Nazi literature
* Millions of books by Jewish or Communist authors were burned
49
# Propaganda
Education
* Geography taught lebensraum (living room)
* Focus on health for strong Volksgemeinschaft
* 1933 textbooks rewritten to enforce Nazi beliefs
* 50% decrease in higher education students
50
# Jews
Ghettos
* Ghettoisation - Jews moved to Ghettos ("Jewish quarters")
* Warsaw ghetto with 3.5m wall and barbed wire
* 1941-42 average of 4,000 Jews a month died in Warsaw from starvation
* July 1942, 250k Jews transported to Eastern Poland camps in "Final Solution"
51
# Jews
Death Squads
* June 1941 Nazi invasion of USSR
* Einsatzgruppen followed the front and killed jews
* They murdered 1.2m civilians in USSR by 1943
Babiya (town in Russia):
* Einsatgruppen killed 34k jews in 2 days
* "The bullet holocaust"
52
# Jews
Final solution
* January 1942 Wannsee Conference decided to implement
* Over next 4 years - 6m Jews and 5m non-jews killed
* Camps in 2 groups:
1. Fit to work - worked and some experimented on
2. Unfit to work - Killed immediately, 2k at a time in "showers"
53
# Jews
Secrecy and Propaganda
* Films showed "resettlement" as a positive thing
* Stopped germans and other jews from protesting
* Eventual uprising at Warsaw lasted a month, 56k jews arrested (1943)
* Nazis destroyed evidence of crimes at end of WW2
* Rudolph Hoess (commandent of Auschwitz) hung in 1947
54
# Jews
Reinhard Heydrich
* SS General in 1941 and organiser of Einsatzgruppen
* Established first Jewish Ghetto
* Chosen to lead Final Solution at Wansee conference
* Killed by Czech hit squad in 1942, Nazi response killed 1k Czechs
55
# HF
Evacuation
* Bombing very common after 1942 (targeted civilians)
* 2.5mil children sent to countryside in "KLV" programme
* Stayed in 9,000 camps run by HY leaders and teachers
56
# HF
Rationing
* Began August 1939
* By November clothes were rationed
* Women allowed 1.5 cigarettes a day
* May 1942 government cut rations
* Bread restricted to half a loaf a day, meat 40g per day
57
# Total War
Invasion of USSR
* June 1941 Hitler began Op Barbarossa
* 2 mil Germans died
* Failure put Germany under strain
* February 1943 Goebbels ordered "total war" (everything used for war effort)
58
# Total War
Wartime Employment
* October 1941 Hitler said Russian POWs could be used as slave labour
* 1944 7mil POWs working for German industry
* January 1943 all men 16-65 and women 17-45 had to work
59
# HF
Allied Bombing
* August 1940 industrial areas bombed
* 1942 Civilians targeted
* 1943 Hammburg raid killed 42.6k and 1m fled the city
* Ruhr Valley raids in 1944 reduced production by 40%
* Overrall bombing only reduced production by 1%
60
# HF
Women
* Less women working in 1939 than 1929 due to Nazi policy
* June 1941 all women with no job or kids had to work
* 1943 "total war" meant all women 17-45 had to work
* End of war women made up 60% of labour force
* Millions of East German women killed, raped, and commited suicide due to invasion from Soviets
61
# Opposition
1944 July Bomb Plot
* Ludiwg Beck led
* Colonel von Stauffenburg planted a bomb in conference room
* Killed 4 but only injured Hitler
* Beck and von Stauffenburg shot
* 7,000 arrested and 6,000 executed
62
# Opposition
Catholic opposition
* Bishop Clemens von Galen the "Lion of Munster" protested mercy killings
* Nazis forced to stop temporarily due to his influence
* Described as "only effective protester in the Third Reich" as he managed to stop a policy
63
# Opposition
Protestant opposition
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer led anti-Nazi confessional church
* 1940 college closed and he was banned from preaching
* Joined an underground preaching circle
* 1943 arrested and hung in 1945
64
# Opposition
Communist party
* All political parties banned in 1933
* Pre-1936 spread anti-Nazi propaganda
* Post-1936 so dangerous they used word of mouth only
* 100 underground cells across Germany
65
# Opposition
White Rose group
* 1941 by the Scholl siblings at Uni of Munich
* The group "strived for renewal of mortally wounded german spirits"
* Published anti-Nazi leaflets
* Siblings killed in 1943
66
# Opposition
Edelweiss Pirates
* Group of 14-18 year olds
* Members dressed "abnormally" and listened to jazz
* Attacked HY patrols, smashed government offices, supplied adult resistance with explosives
* 1944, Bartnell Schink executed for planning to blow up Gestapo base in cologne
67
End of Third Reich
* 1m civilians died of starvation and cold in 1945
* Germany close to defeat
* 30th April Hitler shot himself
* Admiral Doenitz took control of Germany and surrendered to the allies on the 7th May 1945
68
Pre abdication
* Second half of 1918 less than 1000 calories/day
* Thousands dying of Spanish flu
* 1918 1 mil fighting + 4 mil wounded
69
Revolution from above/ below
Above:
* Ludendorff persuaded Kaiser to abdicate in Sept 1918
* Hoped new Gov take blame + get easier treaty
Below:
* Kiel + Wilhelmshaven mutinies October 1918.
* Encouraged creation of democracy/ sailors, soldiers + workers council
* Prince Max of Baden announced abdication to prevent full revolution
70
Events days after Kaiser abdicated and reasons for discontent towards them
* 9th Nov 1918 Kaiser abdicated
* 10th Nov 1918 Ebert elected as president of temporary new republic
* 11th Nov armistice
* Propaganda made people believe Germany was winning
* Dolschtoss
* November Criminals
71
First Weimar Elections
* 9th Jan 1919
* 82% of electorate voted
* 40% voted for Eberts SDP
72
Weimar constitution
* Freedom of speech and religion
* Everyone over 20 can vote
* Reichstag elected every 4 years + made laws
* President elected by Reichstag every 7 years
* President had Article 48
* President elected chancellor every 7 years
* 18 states
73
Weimar positives
* All parties had representation
* Everyone over 20 could vote - reflected wants of the people
* President could protect country during crisis
* States cater to own needs
74
Weimar negatives
* Extreme parties had representation
* People who opposed democracy could vote
* Article 48 override consitutional rights
* States could oppose Gov
75
# TOV
Blame
* War guilt clause 231 - Germany to accept all blame for the war
* Germans believed it was self defence - preemptive strike
76
# TOV
Reparations
* 1921 announced they had to pay £6.6 billion
* Anschluss with AH banned
* Couldn't join LON but accepted terms
* Damaged economy - 1922 Ruhr
77
# TOV
Army
* 100k soldiers
* No conscription
* No tanks, aircraft or submarines
* 6 battleships
* Rhineland demilitarised
* Defenceless
* Pride taken
* French invaded Rhineland
78
# TOV
Territory
* Lost Alsace Lorraine, Posen + Saar
* Lost all 11 overseas colonies
* 10% land, 12.5% pop, 16% coal, 48% iron
* Heavy economic impact
* 1919-23 german economy 1/4 of required
* Called it "Diktat"
79
Spartacist uprising
* 5th Jan 1919
* Rosa Luxembourg + Karl Liebknecht
* Mass strikes + took over telecommunication office in Berlin
* Crushed by 4,000 Freikorps in 5 days
* Goods stopped, close to working, gov couldn't control people
80
Kapp Putsch
* 12 March 1920
* Wolfgang Kapp + 5,000 Freikorps marched on Berlin
* Crushed by strikes - no food, money, tanks
* Gov own Freikorps, V. close
81
French Occupation of Ruhr
* Germany paid £50 Million in 1922 but could not pay more
* French occupied Ruhr to take the resources themselves
* German workers strike - passive resistance
* 100+ civilians killed by occupying forces
* Government prints money to pay striking workers
* Left in 1925
* Gov income 1/4 of required
82
Hyperinflation benificiaries + people who lost out
* Debt paid easily
* People with money in land still had their land
* Farmers sold food for more
* Pensioners on fixed income couldn't afford anything
* People who saved money couldn't buy bread with money that could buy a house
* Workers wage rose slower than inflation
* Blamed Weimar - Middle class plunged into poverty
