Key Details C12-16 Flashcards
(56 cards)
1
Q
Significance of the Stahlhelm
A
- para military, initially independent from Nazis
- by 1930 500,000 members
- April 1933 incorporated into SS
2
Q
Herman Goering’s key roles
A
- Interior minister of Prussia 1933
- Reich Aviation Minister 1933, rebuild of Luftwaffe
- Established Gestapo and First Concentration camps
- 1936 in charge of 4 Year Plan
3
Q
Hitler’s limitations of power in first cabinet
A
- Papen present for all meetings with Hitler and Hindenburg
- Old Aristocratic elite responsible for decisions
4
Q
Significance of 30th Jan 1933
A
- 100,000 people at Berlin Torchlight procession
- Hitler appointed as chancellor
5
Q
7 Examples of early violence against Political opposition
A
- SA grew 500k to 3mil Jan 1933 to 1934
- SA and Stahlhelm ‘Auxilary Police’ which Normal police could not stop
- Broke up SPD and KPD meetings
- 5th Feb 1933, a Young Nazi shot a Mayor in Prussian Town
- SPD + Centre Party newspaper banned
- Dachau Concentration Camp for 5k people
- July 1933, around 27,000 political prisoners arrested by SA
6
Q
Importance of Reichstag Fire 27th Feb 1933
A
- Dutch Communist arrested, they were used as scapegoats
- Led to legal means of crushing civil liberties
7
Q
Decree for protection of people and the state
A
- Emergency decree to suspend civil liberties
- Increase police powers
- Censorship
- Central Gov over Local Gov
- Police arrested 10k communists
- Civil servants, Judges, Police against communists
8
Q
Importance of March 1933 election
A
- SA controlled street with terror and intimidation, the left had no meetings or could campaign
- 43.9% Nazi vote, largest party with DNVP allies
- Still 64% non Nazis vote, support was not as extensive as believed
9
Q
Enabling Act 24 March 1933
A
- Meant Hitler could rule without needing a Reichstag majority and Hindenburg’s approval
- it was passed as opposition from left weakened and promised Centre Party would not abuse powers without consulting Hindenburg
- Final part of legal framework that legitimised dictatorship
10
Q
Examples of Hitler maintaining support from independent organisation
A
- Hitler met with Army officials to show aims of rearmament
- Industrialists gave 3mil to Nazi political campaign
- Capitalist elites + Business key for a Hitler
11
Q
How the Nazis outlawed parties
A
- KPD banned after fire
- SPD outlawed 22nd June 1933, for being ‘hostile to the nation’
- DNVP and Centre Party new position of power were over
- Law against formation of parties 14th July 1933
12
Q
12th Nov 1933 election result
A
92 % to Nazis
13
Q
Key Laws Passed for political purposes
A
- 1st Law coordinations of federal States (March 1933) Nazi assemblies replaced state assemblies
- 2nd Law coordination of federal stat3s (April 1933) local gov follow Nazi policies
- Law for reconstruction of the Reich (Jan 1934) State assemblies abolished
- Reichstrat abolished (Feb 1934)
14
Q
How Nazi control of local gov was chaotic
A
- Reich governors rivalry + tension
- Relationship between party + local not defined
15
Q
How Nazis controlled the Civil Service
A
- Saw as an obstacle as Civil Service wanted to continue its role but Nazis wanted dictatorial powers
- Local officials forced to resign
- SA placed party officials in governmental offices to make sure Civil Service were participating to the Reich
16
Q
SA pre June 1934
A
- Legal power
- Uncontrollable violence, wanted ‘second revolution’ rather than Hitler’s ‘political revolution’
- Ernest Rohm had a lot of power, potential opponent of Hitler
17
Q
Reasons Nazis would support SA
A
- At Putsch 1923
- SA loyal to Hitler
- Propaganda + intimidation
18
Q
Reasons to Purge the SA
A
- Needed maintain conservative support
- Not a pro army, wanted merge with army but army maintained independent
- Army meant support by business men
19
Q
Key details from Night of the Long Knives June 1934
A
- 84 key figures executed
- 1000 arrested
- deaths of Rohm, Schliecher
- Papen in house arrest
- Conservative leaders targeted
- gained support from army + public support ‘decisive actions’
- violence systematic
20
Q
Decline of SA
A
- 1935 declined to 1.6mil
- No political authority
21
Q
Importance of Hindenburg’s death
A
- Hitler take control, combined Chancellor + president
- Army swore oath to Hitler
- Plebicite vote for Fuhrerprincip, 89.9% voted ‘yes’
- 4.5mil still voted ‘no’
22
Q
Early signs of Jewish persecution under Nazis 1933
A
- April Boycott of Jewish shops, but limited by Hindenburg
- May Burning of 20,000 Jewish books and propaganda against Jewish intellectuals, occurred in 19 university towns
23
Q
Key event in October 1933
A
- allies prevent rearmament
- Hitler withdraws from League of Nations talks
24
Q
Different parts of police system which caused tension
A
Himmler Reichfuhrer of SS
- SS, rain concentration camps, took over Gestapo in 1936
- Orpo Police (order)
Under Heydrich
- Sipo Police (Security) which involves Kripo for criminal and Gestapo, small number of pro agents but reliant on myth of everyone being involved + many informants
- SD which was internal security service to monitor public opinion with foreign and domestic intelligence
25
Stats for people in Gestapo
- initially around 160k
| - decreased 20k in 1939
26
How courts + legal system favoured the Nazis
- judges swore oath to Hitler
- Front of German Law April 1933 (legal professions became reliant on Hitler)
- Nazi special courts 1933
- People’s court 1934 no juries, Nazi judges
27
Resistance by SPD + limitations
- Campaigned for March 1933 elections but suffered SA violence
- Vote against Enabling Act
- end of 1933 thousands of activists were dead or rounded up
- Ernest Schumacher organised Party in Prague links to Berlin but overall fear of Gestapo overrides success
28
Resistance by KPD + limitations
- 1933 10% killed
- Revolutionary Unions in Berlin and Hamburg but Broke up by Gestapo
- Factory cells
- more about survival rather than open resistance
29
Resistance by workers + limitations
- trade unions and links to left stopped, absorbed into German Labour Front
- 1935, 37 strikes in areas such as Rhineland
- 1935 to 6 increase strikes due to food prices, 4000 out of 25000 imprisoned
- 1937, 250 strikes recorded
- 1938 new labour regulations which penalised ‘slackers’
- 1938-1939 ‘sabotaging’ machines made criminal offence
30
Resistance by Protestant Church + limitations
- 1933 Pastors emergency league
- 1934 Confessional Church under Martin Niemoller, was anti-Semitic but believed Jews should be able to change to a Christianity
- 1933 introduction of ‘Aryan Paragraph’ looked to remove pastors who had converted
- end of 1937, 700 pastors imprisoned
31
Resistance by Catholic Church + limitations
- had more Independance
- Concordat 1933, granted privileges
- 1937 Papal Encylical condemned Nazis and this document was secretly shared in Churches by March
- overall resistance limited
32
Resistance by Young people + limitations
- Decrease in Hitler Youth attendance as was a big commitment
- Hitler youth membership made compulsory in 1939
- Youth cliques
- Meuten Gangs in Leipzig late 1930s
33
Resistance by Elites + limitations
- some aristocratic generals + senior civil servants saw Hitler as threat to old Germany
- however Army and Civil Service had loyalty to whoever was in charge
- Nov 1937 Hitler set out aims of union with Austria + Czechoslovakia, Defence Minister Blomberg + Commander-in-chief Fritsch expressed doubts but they were purged in 3 months
- plot to overthrow but Britain and France appeased Hitler instead taking over Sudetenland + Czechoslovakia peacefully
34
Newspaper propaganda
- Jan 1933, 4700 privately owned newspapers, Nazi limited circulation
- end of 1933 Nazi had 27 newspapers, 2.4mil circulation per day
- it was all state controlled, so became bland and circulation decreased
35
Radio propaganda
- 1933 Hitler made 50 speeches, loudspeakers in town squares and factories
- 1939, 70% houses owned a radio
- 13% staff dismissed on political/ Racial grounds by Goebbels
- 1934 Reich Radio Company
36
Film propaganda
- Goebbels responsible for approving every film in 1933
- from 1933 1000 feature films produced, attendance increased 4 fold
- only 14% had overly ‘political theme’
- promoted escapism (getting away from struggle of daily life)
37
Parade and spectacles propaganda
- household expected to put up Swastika flags
- ‘block leaders’ kept people in check, face consequences for failure to conform eg. Sacked from job
- Annual Party rallies in Nuremberg, 1937 rally involved 100,000 people
38
Hitler Myth v Reality
- Hard working, tough
- political genius for getting Germany out of it’s struggle in 1933
- lived simple life, sacrificing personal happiness
- Hitler surrounded by competing officials, interpreted his wishes
- far from hard working, reluctant to read official documents and rarely involved in detailed policy discussion
39
Why the Hitler myth was important for the regime
- Goebbels 1941 claimed it as ‘greatest achievement’
| - End of 1934 Hitler was the national symbol, hiding its failings
40
Key Changes in policy to recover the economy
- money for houses
- 4000km of Autobahns
- Tax concessions + grants
- Subsides to firms, increase workers
- controlled wages
- Mefo Bills
41
Battle for work
- 1933 6 mil unemployed, 1936 under 2 million
- 1935 Reich Labour Service, unemployed men 6 months of farming or construction
- 1935 military conscription for young men
42
‘New Plan’ 1934
- imports growing faster than exports, shortage of foreign currency needed to purchase goods
- controls on imports
- Trade agreements with Balkans and South America
43
Mefo Bills
- key for rearmament as payed for arms without actual money
- keep it off governmental records
- after 5 years is up, economy has grown enough to cover 4% interests
44
4 Year Plan- Goering
- Managed economy, controls of labour, prices, raw materials
- production targets for priv companies
- Herman Goering Steelworks, bypass sceptical Ruhr iron and steel firms worried about production of poor quality and expensive iron ore
- I.G Farben, production of synthetic materials, 1935-1939 profits increased from 71mil to 240mil
45
Key Features of economic autarky + failures
- propaganda campaigns to buy German own goods and eat German food
- 1937 collections of scrap metal campaign
- but 1939 Germany still imported 1/3 of it’s goods
46
Living standards
- employees offered benefits and bonus’ to get around frozen wages
- People worked for long hours, higher prices
- food shortages on eggs, meat, wheat and rye
- Overall, discontent limited as propaganda and use of terror overshadowed key problems
47
How Hitler was economically helped at the start of his reign
- Economy had troughs Nov 1932, on way up
- Schleicher + Papen job creation schemes
- 1931 Hoover Moratirum, 1 year stop of reparations payments
- 1932 Lausanne Conference, France Britain Germany agree extension on reparations
48
Volksgemeinshaft v Gleichschaltung
- national unified by blood race and ideology
- no opposition
- comrade fit and loyal
- ‘bringing into line’
- standardisation of Political, economy and social institution
49
Policies for schools
Teacher
- 1933 establishment of Civil Service sacked political unreliable teachers
- National Socialist Teachers League
- Ministry of Education
Curriculum
- Focus on racial health and eduction
- Biology, Quasi scientist ideas of ‘survival of the fittest’
50
Policies universities
- restricted access due to focus on labour and military
- 1.5% Jew, 10% women
- 15% uni staff dismissed 1933
- Students join ‘German Students League’ but 25% did not
51
Figures about Hitler Youth
Jan 1933 60k
| 1935 4 million
52
League of German Girls
- Preparation for Motherhood
| - 1934 Years work on land or domestic service
53
Policies towards women
- marriage loans if left job and married Aryan man
- medals for large families
- 1.7mil women had attended Reich Mothers Service by 1939
- German’s Women’s League, 6 mil members 1939
54
Policies towards workers
- creation of German Labour Front 1933 under Robert Ley
- banned trade unions
- built banks and construction companies
- 1939, 44500 paid employs of Labour Front
- own propaganda department
55
Strength through Joy campaign (KDF)
- indoctrinate during Leisure time
- 1936, 35million members
- Promoted mass tourism
- attempts to break down class divisions
- however generally for mittlestand or higher, on one cruise to Norway only 10% from Working Class
56
Success and failures of policies towards Churches
Success
- Reich Church, Ludwig Muller
- Aryan Paragraph could find enemies of state
- Pastors changed to support Nazis
- German Christian pressure group of 600,000 supported
- weakened Catholic Church, 1939 campaign to close Church Schools
Failures
- 5% of people listed as ‘God Believers’
- Nazi Party members could not come into Church leadership
- SS could not wear uniform at services
- Pastor’s emergency league of 5000 pastors
- Confessional Church
