GRADUALISM AND RADICALISM

Question 1

WHAT were the 3 phases of escalation in Nazi Germany?

Answer 1

1) Consolidation (1933-34): legal revolution
2) Gradualisation (1934-37): Nazi regime secure, but there was still a worry about powerful groups like the army and Church, and about public opinion at home/abroad.
3) Radicalisation (1938-39): radical persecution of ‘racial enemies’ began

Question 2

WHAT was the Volkisch movement?

Answer 2

An ethno-nationalist set of beliefs originating from the late 19th century which combined patriotism, Christianity, the rejection of urbanisation and later ideas linking anti-Semitism to race and science

Question 3

DEFINE ‘Eugenics’.

Answer 3

A pseudo-scientific belief that human traits could be improved by hereditary ‘manipulation’ (birth control, forced abortion, compulsory sterilisation, racial segregation)

Question 4

WHAT was Social Darwinism and race theory?

Answer 4

Applied natural selection to theories about human society to justify ideas about racial superiority and eugenics

Question 5

WHERE did Social Darwinism and race theory originate from?

Answer 5

Widely discussed in 19th century Europe and used for justifying European imperialism, arguing that ‘advanced’ Europeans had the right to rule over ‘inferior’ or ‘backward’ colonial people

Question 6

HOW did the Nazis apply Social Darwinism to their policies?

Answer 6

• Stressed the need to ‘purify’ the stronger races by sterilising or altogether eliminating the weaker ones
• This view allowed no compromise (justification for the murder of Jewish women and children, as well as men)

Question 7

WHAT was Volksgemeinschaft?

Answer 7

• ‘People’s community’
• A national community excluding those not considered ‘volk’ (German volk were based on loyalty and racial purity)
• More defined by exclusion of racial enemies, rather than inclusion of those in the community

Question 8

HOW did the Nazis use the idea of Volksgemeinschaft in their racial policy?

Answer 8

• Stressed the idea that all un-German elements had to be eliminated
• Those to be excluded were put into 3 categories: political enemies, ‘asocials’ (those who didn’t fit social norms), and racial enemies (those of a different race, and those with hereditary defects

Question 9

WHAT was Lebensraum?

Answer 9

• ‘Living space’
• The idea that Germany needed to expand eastwards for land, food and raw materials

Question 10

WHERE did the idea of Lebensraum originate from?

Answer 10

• European in the late 19th century proposed opening up space for the ‘superior white race’
• Many Germans felt the country was over-populated, and that Germany’s desitny was eastwards, conquering the Slav peoples of Poland and the former Russian Empire

Question 11

HOW did the Nazis apply Lebensraum, in regards to racial policy?

Answer 11

Lebensraum would allow the Germanisation of eastern lands, bringing ‘lost Germans’ back to the Reich. The east would also provide a battleground for a war of racial annihilation (Slav peoples) and the crushing of Bolshevism (Russia)

Question 12

WHO were the Roma/Sinti?

Answer 12

Two gypsy tribes. The Sinti predominated in Germany and Western Europe, while the Roma were mainly in Austria, Eastern Europe and the Balkans

Question 13

HOW did the Nazis treat the Roma/Sinti peoples pre-1939?

Answer 13

• In 1935, it was ruled that the Nuremberg laws applied to them, as well as Jewish people
• The SS began to locate and classify the Roma and SInti in centralised files
• The registration of Roma and Sinti peoples after 1938 led to their segregation

Question 14

WHEN was the Decree for the Struggle Against the Gypsy Plague passed?

Answer 14

1938

Question 15

WHAT was the Decree for the Struggle Against the Gypsy Plague?

Answer 15

A law that registered Roma and Sinti people and led to their segregation

Question 16

HOW did the Nazis treat Roma/Sinti peoples after 1939?

Answer 16

• Many were deported from Germany to Poland
• They were put in designated areas, and if anyone tried to leave, they would be sent to concentration camps
• They were systematically murdered in and out of the death camps

Question 17

HOW MANY Roma/Sinti were killed under Nazi control?

Answer 17

Estimates are between 250,000 and 500,000– about 25-50% of the total Roma/Sinti population in Europe.

Question 18

WHAT colour badge was assigned to the Roma/Sinti in concentration camps?

Answer 18

Brown

Question 19

WHO did the Nazis class as ‘asocials’?

Answer 19

Social outcasts, including: criminals, the ‘work-shy’, tramps and beggars, alcoholics, prostitutes and homosexuals

Question 20

WHAT did the Nazis do to ‘combat’ asocials (mainly homeless people and beggars)?

Answer 20

There were mass round ups in 1933, 1936 (in Berlin before the Olympics), and 1938. Initially, they were categorised into the ‘orderly’ and ‘disorderly,’ with only the ‘disorderly’ being sent to concentration camps, but by 1938 the treatment was harsher.

Question 21

WHAT was the difference between ‘orderly’ and ‘disorderly’ homeless people, according to the Nazis?

Answer 21

• The ‘orderly’ were fit and willing to work (and not criminals). They were given a permit and forced to work for accommodation.
• The ‘disorderly’ were those who had committed crimes, and seen as unfit to work. They were sent to concentration camps by 1933.

Question 22

WHEN was the ‘asocial colony’ established?

Answer 22

1936

Question 23

WHAT was the ‘asocial colony’?

Answer 23

An area in northern Germany where, under the Nazis, ‘asocials’ (e.g. criminals, homeless people, alcoholics, etc.) were sent to be re-educated so that they could be integrated into normal society.

Question 24

WHAT colour badge was assigned to ‘asocials’ in concentration camps?

Answer 24

Black

Question 25

WHAT colour badge was assigned to ‘habitual criminals’ in concentration camps?

Answer 25

Green

Question 26

WHY were the Nazis against homosexuality?

Answer 26

It was at odds with Nazi views of masculinity, and male homosexuals were seen as failing in ‘reproductive duties’

Question 27

HOW did the Nazis treat homosexuals?

Answer 27

• From 1933, there was a purge of homosexual organisations, clubs and literature
• From 1934, the Gestapo began to compile lists of gay people
• Many were arrested due to their homosexuality, and sent to concentration camps after their release from prison
• In the concentration camps, they were treated particularly harshly by guards and many were subjected to ‘voluntary castration’ to ‘cure’ them.

Question 28

HOW MANY men were arrested for homosexuality, and how many were convicted?

Answer 28

A total of around 100,000 were arrested, and 50,000 convicted

Question 29

WHAT percentage of homosexuals died in the camps?

Answer 29

An estimated 60%

Question 30

WHAT colour badge was assigned to homosexuals in concentration camps?

Answer 30

Pink

Question 31

HOW did the Nazis initially combat less populous religious sects?

Answer 31

Most were banned in 1933, with the bans only lifting when the sects could demonstrate their willingness to cooperate with the regime

Question 32

WHY were the Jehova’s Witnesses a threat to Nazism?

Answer 32

They were the only religious sect to show uncompromising hostility to the Nazi state, as they refused to take a loyalty oath to Hitler, give the Hitler salute, take part in Nazi parades and refused conscription. Even in concentration camps, they disobeyed orders.

Question 33

HOW MANY Jehovah’s Witnesses had been imprisoned by 1945?

Answer 33

Around 10,000 (there was a total of 30,000 in Germany)

Question 34

HOW successful was Nazi policy against less populous religious sects?

Answer 34

• Overall, it was quite effective as most groups were either banned, or Nazified.
• Some groups were devoted Nazis (e.g. the Seventh-Day Adventists)
• However, the Nazis continually failed to break the resistance of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some even converted to their beliefs in the concentration camps

Question 35

WHAT colour badge was assigned to ‘Bible Students’ in concentration camps?

Answer 35

Purple

Question 36

WHAT was the Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny?

Answer 36

The Sterlisation Law: introduced compulsory sterilisation for certain categories of ‘inferiors’, with later amendments permitting the sterilisaton of children over 10 years old

Question 37

WHEN was the Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny passed?

Answer 37

1933

Question 38

HOW MANY people were sterilised during the Third Reich?

Answer 38

400,000 in total

Question 39

WHEN was euthanasia legalised for mentally and physically disabled people under the Nazis?

Answer 39

1939

Question 40

HOW MANY babies were euthanised by the Nazis due to disabilities?

Answer 40

At least 5,000

Question 41

HOW MANY mentally ill patients were gassed from 1939-1941?

Answer 41

72,000

Question 42

WHAT is the euthanasia programme also known as?

Answer 42

The Aktion T4 programme

Question 43

WHY did the Aktion T4 programme stop?

Answer 43

After being carried out in secret for almost 2 years, it was exposed in 1940. The papacy made an official complaint against it in December 1940, and Archbishop Galen of Munster preached against it in August 194. After the public outcry, the programme was eventually halted in 1941.

Question 44

WHEN was the Aktion T4 programme halted?

Answer 44

August 1941

Question 45

WHAT is the significance of the Aktion T4 programme being halted?

Answer 45

It was the only time that such a radical Nazi scheme was ended due to public outcry. The involvement of the Catholic Church shows its power. The lack of resistance from the Catholic Church against the persecution of Jewish people has been a widely discussed topic.