Living under Nazi Germany

Question 1

What caused poverty and suffering in Germany after WWI and during the Great Depression?

Answer 1

-Germany was forced to accept the blame for WWI, pay reparations, and experienced mass unemployment after the 1929 Wall Street Crash, which led to Germany’s biggest bank collapse in 1931.

Question 2

How did the Great Depression increase Nazi popularity?

Answer 2

-The Nazis promised prosperity and hope. Hitler was seen as a charismatic leader and war hero. His anti-communist and anti-Jewish views appealed to many.

Question 3

What was the significance of Mein Kampf?

Answer 3

-It outlined Hitler’s beliefs which included Aryan superiority, inferiority of other races, and the right to Lebensraum (“living space”).

Question 4

Who particularly supported the Nazis during the Depression?

Answer 4

• The unemployed, anti-communists, anti-Semites, and businesspeople affected by bankruptcy.

Question 5

By how much had Nazi membership grown by 1930?

Answer 5

-Over 300,000 members.

Question 6

Why did Hitler gain power in 1933 despite losing popularity in 1932?

Answer 6

• Hitler was made Chancellor via a political deal including Papen and Hindenburg , where he promised to make Papen Vice-chancellor. Hindenburg thought he could control Hitler so he agreed .

Question 7

How did the Nazis use dirty tricks to win in 1933?

Answer 7

-Controlled media and banned opposition.
-Used the SA to terrorise.
-Blamed communists for the Reichstag fire.
-Used emergency powers to suspend rights.
-Intimidated and eliminated opposition.

Question 8

What was the Enabling Act and why was it important?

Answer 8

-Passed in 1933, it let Hitler rule without parliament for 4 years, marking Germany’s transition to a dictatorship.

Question 9

How did the Nazis make Germany a one-party state?

Answer 9

-By July 1933, all political parties except the Nazi Party were banned.

Question 10

What was the role of the Reichstag fire in Hitler’s rise?

Answer 10

-It allowed Hitler to exploit fear of communism and justify emergency powers.

Question 11

Why was the SA a threat to Hitler?

Answer 11

-The SA, led by Röhm, had grown more powerful than the German army and was unpopular with German elites and ordinary Germans.

Question 12

What was the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 12

-On 29–30 June 1934, Hitler ordered the arrest and execution of Röhm and other SA leaders, along with political opponents, consolidating his power.

Question 13

Why was the Night of the Long Knives significant?

Answer 13

-It eliminated threats within the Nazi Party, showed Hitler’s ruthlessness, and increased support from the army.

Question 14

How did Hitler take full control of the national and local government?

Answer 14

-After Hindenburg’s death in 1934, Hitler merged Chancellor and President roles, becoming Führer. Germany was divided into Gaue led by loyal Nazis.

Question 15

What was the Führerprinzip and how did it affect government control?

Answer 15

-It was the idea that Hitler had absolute authority. Every level of government was controlled by Nazis loyal to Hitler.

Question 16

What oath did the army take in 1934 and what did it mean?

Answer 16

-The army swore loyalty to Hitler personally, not Germany—ensuring their support for his dictatorship.

Question 17

How did Germany become a police state under the Nazis?

Answer 17

-The Enabling Act allowed Nazis to control mail and phone calls. They used the police to supervise citizens and removed civil servants who opposed them.

Question 18

How did the legal system change under the Nazis?

Answer 18

-Judges followed Nazi policy
-Special courts suspended rights.
-The People’s Court always found defendants guilty.

Question 19

What was the role of the SS and Gestapo?

Answer 19

-The SS enforced Nazi ideology. The Gestapo used torture, spying, and imprisonment without trial.

Question 20

How were people terrorised into conforming?

Answer 20

-Locals reported each other; people were imprisoned; concentration camps were set up.

Question 21

Did everyone live in fear under the Nazis?

Answer 21

-No. Some supported Nazi aims or accepted the regime, even if they disliked its brutality.

Question 22

What was the aim of Nazi propaganda?

Answer 22

-To control how people think and behave by spreading only Nazi-approved messages.

Question 23

How did Nazi propaganda use repetition and simple ideas?

Answer 23

-It repeated messages like the ‘Hitler Myth’, blamed Jews and communists, and rewrote history.

Question 24

How did the Nazis use media for propaganda?

Answer 24

-They censored content, controlled newspapers and films, sold cheap radios, and created posters.

Question 25

How did propaganda use displays and spectacle?

Answer 25

-Massive rallies (e.g., Nuremberg), Olympics, and architecture showed Nazi strength.

Question 26

How was propaganda used in culture and education?

Answer 26

-Modern art was banned, textbooks rewritten, and school content Nazified to spread ideology.

Question 27

When was propaganda most effective?

Answer 27

-: When reinforcing pre-existing beliefs like antisemitism, nationalism, or hatred of the Treaty of Versailles.

Question 28

Why was the political left's opposition to Hitler weak?

Answer 28

-The Communist and SPD parties were banned, divided, and infiltrated by the Gestapo.

Question 29

How did the Church oppose the Nazis?

Answer 29

-Pastors like Niemöller and Bonhoeffer resisted. The Confessing Church defied Nazi control.

Question 30

Who were the Edelweiss Pirates and Swing Kids?

Answer 30

-Youths who rejected Nazi culture, helped deserters, and spread anti-Nazi leaflets. Some were arrested or executed.

Question 31

What was expected of women under the Nazis?

Answer 31

-To raise large families, avoid work, dress modestly, and marry ‘Aryan’ men.

Question 32

How did public works and rearmament affect employment?

Answer 32

-Massive job creation through autobahns, rearmament, and the Labour Service reduced unemployment.

Question 33

Which groups in society felt better off?

Answer 33

-Workers (via ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ and ‘Strength Through Joy’), small business owners, and middle-class professionals.

Question 34

What were the Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens?

Answer 34

-Youth groups teaching Nazi values, physical training, loyalty, and traditional gender roles.

Question 35

How was education ‘Nazified’?

Answer 35

- Propaganda filled curriculums; antisemitism was taught; books burned; Jewish teachers removed.

Question 36

How did youth contribute to the war?

Answer 36

-Hitler Youth helped with defence work, farming, and later fought alongside adults.

Question 37

How did the Nazis treat people they didn’t like?

Answer 37

-Jews, Roma, disabled people, and homosexuals were persecuted, sterilised, or sent to camps.

Question 38

What legal changes targeted Jews?

Answer 38

-The 1935 Nuremberg Laws removed citizenship and banned intermarriage with Aryans.

Question 39

What was Kristallnacht?

Answer 39

-A Nazi-led pogrom in November 1938 where synagogues were destroyed and Jews were sent to camps.

Question 40

How did the economy prepare for war?

Answer 40

-The Four-Year Plan focused on rearmament, chemical production, and self-sufficiency.

Question 41

What economic changes occurred when war broke out?

Answer 41

-More workers were conscripted or used in weapon industries. Civilians became slave labour.

Question 42

How was daily life affected by war?

Answer 42

-Wages dropped, rationing worsened, and women and children had to work more.

Question 43

What was the Kreisau Circle?

Answer 43

-A group of anti-Nazi intellectuals who discussed post-Hitler reforms and were later executed.

Question 44

What happened during the Rosenstrasse Protest?

Answer 44

-Aryan wives protested against the arrest of Jewish husbands; they were released.

Question 45

Who were the White Rose Group?

Answer 45

-University students like Sophie and Hans Scholl who distributed anti-Nazi leaflets and were executed.

Question 46

What was the July Plot of 1944?

Answer 46

-A failed army bomb plot led by Claus von Stauffenberg to kill Hitler.