KQ3a - How effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933-45? Flashcards
How was architecture used by the Nazis to influence people?
Monumental style
- Used to show Nazi Power
- Used to show that the state was more important than the individual
Country Style
- Used to encourage the role of a woman as mother and home-maker and the man as the provider
How was Art used by the Nazis to influence people?
- In 1937, the Nazis opened the House of German Art to show officially approved art, depicting heroic German figures, the ‘master race’ or rural family scenes as Hitler liked and approved of these.
- ‘Degenerate’ art exhibitions of pieces that the Reich Chamber of Culture had banned were held at the House of German Art where the art was not framed and had rude explanations and dirty jokes to remind the people of what was not acceptable
How was the 1936 Olympics used by the Nazis to influence people?
- Goebells thought that the Nazis could use the Olympics as a way to:
- Showcase Nazi ideals
- Show the world that Germany was a modern, well-organised and civilised
society - Demonstrate the ‘superiority’ of the Aryan Race
- A new stadium for over 100,000 people was built with modern electric lighting and television cameras
How did the Nazis respond to attempted boycotts of the Berlin Olympics due to the persecution of the Jews?
Germany included one token German athlete in their team
How was the SS used to deal with political opponents?
- Used to crush opponents and had its own courts by 1936
- The Death’s Head unit ran the concentration camps
- The SD (security services) investigated disloyalty within the Nazi party
- Waffen-SS fought alongside the army
How was the Gestapo used to keep tabs on ordinary Germans?
- It used networks of informers to spy on the German population and tap phone lines to find enemies of the Nazies
- It had unlimited arrest powers and could send people to concentration camps without trial
How were informers used by the Nazis?
- Local Nazi officials used loyal residents to inform the Gestapo of suspicious behaviour or treasonous activities
- Some informers would report on disliked neighbours and fabricate stories.
- Some children even reported on their parents
How did the Nazis control Judges and Courts?
- All magistrates and judges took an oath of loyalty to Hitler
- By 1943, there were 43 offences (including telling anti-Nazi jokes) that were punishable by death
How were concentration camps used by the Nazis to deal with their political opponents?
- Many communists, social democrats and other political opponents were sent to the centration camp near Dachau when the enabling act was passed in 1933
- Run by the SS, the conditions were harsh and many died of disease or beatings
- Hitler also used camps to imprison beggars, prostitutes, alcoholics, homosexuals, Jews and gypsies
How was propaganda used to try to control German hearts and minds?
- Goebells used control of the arts, media and culture to inform the German people of Nazi achievements and demonise the enemies of Nazi Germany and ensure Hitler was portrayed as a saviour
- Posters all over Germany bombarded the people with Nazi messages
How were the Nuremberg Rallies used to keep people loyal to Hitler and the Nazis?
Uniformed SS, swastikas, bands and flying displays were used to create a sense of belonging to the Nazi movement. They emphasised order over chaos and celebrated Hitler as a leader
How was control over media used to control German hearts and minds?
- Goebells shut down all anti-Nazi newspapers and sacked Jewish and left-wing journalists. Editors were told to print pro-Nazis messages
- Expressionist art from the Weimar period was removed from galleries and new buildings were built in a more classical style
- Jazz music was banned and classical/folk music was promoted
- Movies carried pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic messages and foreign films were heavily censored
- All books had to be approved by Goebells. It is no surprise that ‘Main Kampf’ became a best-seller
- Goebells orchestrated an organised book-burning
- A cheap radio called ‘The Peoples Receiver’ was affordable and was in 70% of homes by 1939 - Foreign broadcasts could not be listened to on it and all radio stations were controlled by Nazis
Why did the Nazis persecute specific groups in German society?
- The Nazis wanted to create an Aryan ‘master race’
- Hitler and the Nazis believed that the Germans were an aryan race and that Germany would be powerful again if it was racially purified.
- In Main Kampf, Hitler blamed the loss of WW1 and Germany’s economic problems on the pollution of Aryan blood
Why were Jews persecuted?
- Fear and hatred towards Jews, who were demonised as parasites
- Jews were blamed for the death of Jesus Christ
- They were seen as prosperous and a well-educated minority
- This idea threatened Hitler’s notion of Aryan superiority and therefore took immediate action
What groups were persecuted by the Nazis?
- Blacks
- Gypsies
- Jews
- Alcoholic
- Prostitutes
- Beggars
- Homosexuals
- Mentally handicapped
