Germany Topic 4 Nazi Germany Flashcards
(19 cards)
Reichstag fire
Marianus van de Lubbe - confessed to starting fire Feb 1933
Goering (head of police) said part of anti gov communist plot
that night 4000 comm leaders arrested
comm lost 19 seats
Hitler suspended civil liberties, persuading Hindenburg to pass decree for prot of ppl and state
police could search houses, ban meetings without trial
death penalty accepted in some crimes
concentration camps set up like Dachau
March 1933 election
exploit decree of prot of ppl and state
50k SA ban anti-nazi newspapers and send comms and SD’s to conc camps
nazi got 288 seats 44% good but not majourity
Hitler formed coalition with centre party - promising to protect cath church
passed enabling act to end weimar constitution
Enabling act
ended democracy of constitution
allowed hitler to make laws without approval of reichstag
until 1945 reichstag met only 12 times - to listen to hitler talk
used to remove all nazi opposition
trade unions replaced with german workers front
Night of Long Knives
SA had 3 mill members - hitler considier Rohm threat
june 1934 90 leaders including Rohm executed
SA size reduced by 40%
Increased SS power - became independant from SA
Germany army had no chocie but to condone actions of NoLK
Expansion of SS
1934 400k members - decreases elite statues
1935 - 200k members dropped and harsh 5 yr enrollment plan introduced
better training introduced
all recruits aryan
served to arrest nazi opp and send to conc camps/execute
and deal with nat emergencies
Expansion of Gestapo
Formed by Goring 1933
Himler took over 1936
Had network of informants
by 1942 30k officers - small org yet effective
Could impose “protective custody” anyone arrested had civil rights removed
After kristallnacht became main force to kill jews
Eichmanns section organised deportation to conc and exterm camps
Expansion of police state
Gestapo 30k officers by 1942 with network of informants
conc camps set up - Dachau
SS used to control crowds - 240k members by 1939 all Aryan
Number of crimes with death pen - 3-46
Propoganda
Radio use increased
factories encouraged to produce cheap radios
by 1939 70% had them
used to broadcast hitler speechs
Which said power and glory to nazis
Films like eternal jew dehumanised minority groups
brainwashed germans
Censorship
writers, actors, musicians had to join reich chamber of commerce
jazz music banned - black american music
modern art banned as “weakened nazism”
newspaper editors and journalists had to be party of reich press chamber
1934 all radios under control by nazis
Gestapo searched bookshops/libraries for books against nazis
Education policies
New subjects like race studies
2 hours physical pe for boys
girls trained to be mothers
maths questions used to indoctrinate “distance of bombing raids”
by 1939 all religious schools abolished
11 hitler boarding schools - selected aryan looking ppl
Policies towards young people
All other youth groups banned but nazi youth 1933
1936 hitler youth law passed all young people part of nazi youth
boys - cubs at 6, young german boys at 10 - hitler youth at 14
girls - young maidens at 10, league of german girls at 14
1939 - 8 mill children
children spent weekends at nazi camps
told hitler had saved germany from communists
boys did military drills
girls did crafts and childcare activities
Nazio Policies On Women
nazis aimed to reverse falling birth rate
1933 law for encouragment of marriage - loans if you got married
1933 Civil service guidelines - men employed over women
1936 U turn as shortage of labour in factories
1939 50% more women working than 1933
Kinfer, Kirche, Kuche
German Womans Enterprise Org trained women in household - 3.5 mill members 1939
medals for mothers 8< children
contraception + abortion banned
lebensborn programme 1935
Nazi Policies on Churches
Hitler was tolerant at first - centre party had helped him to pass enabling act
1933 concordat signed - nazis allow catholic schools - church not involved in politics
1937 Pope Pius attacked nazis
Hitler broke Concordat by making catholicism illegal, schools removed, priests to conc
Protestant churche 1933 reorg to reichchurch Ludwig muller (nazi supporter) made priest
Neimoller set up confessional church 1934 - opp to reich church 5k members
sent to conc camps
Nazi Policies on Jews
1933 Boycott jewish shops and businesses - reinforced by SS
1938 - all possesions registered
1938 jews couldn’t work for non jews
Kristallnacht - 800 jewish shops destroyed, jews fined 1 bill
1935 banned from pub spaces + army
1935 nuremburg laws - banned from marrying aryans, removed citizenship, passport, right to vote
1939 - identity cards all times
Effects on Minority groups
believed mentally ill groups to be burden
1933 sterilisation law - 70k sterilised
propoganda films like victims of the past promoted this ideology
1936 reich office combatting homosexuality + abortion set up
Himmler registers all homosexuals
1937 - sent to conc camps/ medical experiments
Lesbians not prosecuted
Economic policies
Move to keynesian economics
deficit financing - government pump money into schemes to provide unemployment
road scheme used 1 billion marks
unemployment 6 mil to 0.5 mil
aim to develop autarky - self sufficiency
1936 - 4 year plan, goering tries to make germany self suff in oil, steel, rubber
limited success - food shortages and poor rationing
Employment policies
1935 conscriptions increases employment
keynesian economics
minority groups removed from employment stats - invisible unemployment
jews forced to give jobs to non jews - then weren’t counted as unemployed
Labour Service
introduced 1935 - compuls men 19-25 to work for 6 months in farming or public work - increases employment
1935 unemployed men forced to join
Labour services workers used to build 1936 olympic stadium - “instil discipline and value into work”
Germany Labour Front
Trade unions banned, replaces by this
Led by Dr Robert Ley
aimed to “ensure efficient running of industry work” but actually used to control wages and enforce hard work
“Strength through joy” - sports competitions, theatre tickets for hard workers
“beauty of labour” - improved work conditions and encouraged employers to provide canteens + leisure facilities
