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Nazi Germany Flashcards

1
Q

6 reasons as to why Hitler was able to establish a dictatorship?

A

Reichstag fire
The Enabling Act
Gleischaltung
People’s courts
Night of long knives
Death of president Hindenburg

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2
Q

What was the ideology of the Nazi party?

A
  • To turn Germany into a one party state by removing all opposition, especially communists
  • To purify Germany by removing Jewish influences
  • To strengthen the army and the economy in preparation for war
  • To gain living space (Lebensraum) for the German people in eastern Europe
  • To create a Third Reich that would last for a thousand years
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3
Q

What led to increased Nazi support by 1933?

A
  • High unemployment during the Great Depression encouraged people to support extremist parties like the Nazis and the communists
  • Hitler’s private armies - the SA and the SS – intimidated the supporters of other parties
  • Nazi propaganda promised to end the Depression and remove the communist threat
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4
Q

When did Hitler become chancellor?

A

January 1933

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5
Q

When did Hindenburg die?

A

August 1934

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6
Q

How did night of long knives allow Hitler to establish power?

A
  • It removed the threat from Rohm and the SA
  • It secured the loyalty of the army
  • It deterred other rivals from moving against Hitler
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7
Q

When was nolk?

A

June 30th 1934

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8
Q

Why did Hitler want nolk?

A
  • The SA: the SA had three million men and its leader – Ernst Rohm – wanted to take over the army. When Hitler rejected his plan, Rohm publicly criticised him.
  • The Army: the army generals were worried about Rohm’s plans and were still loyal to Hindenburg, not Hitler.
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9
Q

What was Fuhrer?

A

Chancellor and President

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10
Q

What happened during nolk?

A
  • Hitler asked the leaders of the SS to make up evidence that Rohm was planning a rebellion
  • Using this as an excuse, Hitler ordered the SS to move against the SA
  • In total, 85 people were killed – including Rohm and other SA leaders
  • SA disbanded and moved into Army
  • Army had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler
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11
Q

What was Reichstag fire?

A
  • The Reichstag building was set on fire
  • Marinus Van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was arrested and found guilty of setting the fire
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12
Q

When was Reichstag fire?

A

February 1933

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13
Q

What was Reichstag fire?

A
  • Although Van der Lubbe had worked alone, Hitler and the Nazis claimed that the Reichstag Fire was part of a larger communist revolution
  • Hitler manipulated Hindenburg into passing the Reichstag Fire Decree
  • The Reichstag Fire Decree claimed to protect Germany from revolution by ending the freedom of the press and removing civil liberties (rights) such as the freedom from arrest
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14
Q

How did Nazis use new powers in the Reichstag Fire Decree to remove the communist threat?

A
  • More than 4000 communists were arrested, including 100 Reichstag deputies (MPs)
  • Communist newspapers and meetings were banned, even though there was an election coming up in March
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15
Q

What happened during March 1933 elections?

A

-Across Germany, the Nazis used violence and intimidation to stop other parties campaigning
- Communist deputies were still in prison
- Despite this, the Nazis only managed a majority by forming a coalition(alliance) with the Nationalist Party

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16
Q

What was Enabling act?

A
  • On 24th March 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act by 444 votes to 94
  • This new law gave Hitler the power to pass laws without needing the consent of the Reichstag
  • The Enabling Act ended German democracy – there were no more elections until 1945
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17
Q

How were Nazis able to pass Enabling Act?

A
  • After the March 1933 elections, the Nazis had a majority in the Reichstag
  • The communist deputies, who would have voted against the Nazis, were still in prison
  • The SA surrounded the debating chamber and intimidated deputies from other parties
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18
Q

What was included in Gleischaltung?

A
  • Anti-Semitic laws
  • Book burning
  • Ban on trade unions
  • Ban on other parties
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19
Q

What was Gleischaltung?

A
  • bringing Germany into line with Nazi ideas
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20
Q

What anti-semitic laws were included in Gleischaltung?

A
  • banning Jews from joining sports teams and choirs
  • stopping Jews from working as lawyers and judges
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21
Q

What was book burning - Gleischaltung?

A
  • In May 1933, the Nazis encouraged students to burn ‘un-German’ books written by Jewish or communist authors
  • 25,000 books were burned
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22
Q

What was ban on trade unions - Gleischaltung?

A
  • The Nazis offered trade union leaders a holiday for workers on 1st May in return for loyalty
  • On 2nd May, the Nazis banned trade unions and arrested their leaders
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23
Q

What was ban on other parties - Gleischaltung?

A
  • In July 1933, the Nazis banned other political parties, creating a one party state
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24
Q

Unemployment during Nazi reign?

A
  • The Nazis won elections by promising to end the Depression and reduce unemployment
  • Rearmament and preparation for war created thousands of industrial jobs and unemployment fell from 6 million in 1933 to 35,000 in 1939
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25
Q

What was German labour front?

A

-After banning trade unions, the Nazis established the DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) to look after workersreplaced trade unions
- The DAF introduced a variety of programmes to improve the lives of German workers:
-Strength Through Joy rewarded workers with cheap holidays on cruise ships, theatre tickets, and gym classes
-Beauty of Labour built new sports facilities and canteens in factories
- The Volkswagen Scheme helped workers save 5 marks per week towards a new Volkswagen Beetle

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26
Q

Problems of DAF during Nazi reign?

A
  • Although unemployment decreased, wages did not increase to keep up with inflation
  • No one ever received a car through the Volkswagen Scheme as the Second World War stopped production
  • Workers had to pay to join the DAF and, although membership was not compulsory, it was very difficult to get a job if you were not a member
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27
Q

Lives of women during Weimar Republic?

A
  • More women were able to work outside the home
  • Women won the right to vote and some became Reichstag deputies
  • More women went to university than ever before
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28
Q

Lives of women during Nazi reign?

A
  • Wanted women to play more traditional roles
  • Be fit and healthy so they could have lots of children
  • look after their children and husband
  • wear traditional German clothes and not wear any make up
  • Stay at home
  • The number of women at university fell drastically
  • The birth rate actually dropped between 1933 and 1939
  • The number of women at university fell drastically
  • The birth rate actually dropped between 1933 and 1939
  • More women worked in factories before and during the war women worked in factories before and during the war
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29
Q

What were marriage loans?

A
  • Newly married Aryan couples were offered loans if the woman agreed to give up her job
  • Repayments were reduced by one quarter for every child
30
Q

What was the mothercross?

A
  • The Mother Cross was a medal awarded to mothers of large families
  • Mothers of eight or more children were awarded the gold medal
31
Q

How did the Nazis control the school system?

A
  • The Nazis removed any teachers who opposed them
  • Jewish teachers were banned from teaching in non Jewish schools
  • Teachers had to join the Nazi Teachers’ League and those who didn’t agree were forced to resign
  • Pupils reported teachers who taught anti-Nazi material to the Gestapo
  • The school curriculum was Nazified (brought into line with Nazi ideas):
  • In History, pupils learnt about the greatness of Germany. The defeat in the First World War was blamed on Jews.
  • In Biology, students learnt the pseudoscience of race studies and how to identify Aryans and non-Aryans
  • PE took up 15% of lesson time because the Nazis wanted a fit and healthy population ready for war
32
Q

How did Hitler control the youth outside of school?

A
  • German boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18 were encouraged to join the Nazi youth organisation, the Hitler Youth
  • In boys groups, activities such as physical exercise, rifle shooting, and map reading prepared young men for war
  • In girls groups, activities such as cooking and nursing prepared young women for domestic life
  • Young people attended the Hitler Youth because
  • they enjoyed the activities, the holiday camps, and wearing a uniform
    -the Nazis shut down all other youth organisations
  • being a member of the Hitler Youth was the only way to access sports facilities
  • membership was compulsory after 1936
  • However, whilst young people were indoctrinated by the Hitler Youth, others were bored and some hated the physical activity
33
Q

What was the Nazi racial ideology?

A
  • Nazi racial thinking was based on pseudoscience (false science) that taught that different races could be identified by their facial features
  • The Nazis believed that the people of northern and western Europe – the Aryans – were Ubermenschen(superhumans)
  • Strong, athletic Aryans were represented in Nazi propaganda
  • Nazis wanted Germany to be filled with Aryans
34
Q

Who were untermenschen?

A
  • The Nazis believed that non-Aryans were Untermenschen (subhumans)
  • The Untermenschen included Gypsies, Black people, Slavs from Eastern Europe, and Jews
  • The Nazis were anti-Semitic and viewed Jews as a race rather than a religion
  • The Nazis treated anyone with a Jewish grandparent as a Jew
  • The Nazis made Jews scapegoats for Germany’s defeat in the First World War, the Great Depression, and the communist threat
35
Q

When was kristallnacht?

A

9th November 1938

36
Q

What were the ss?

A
  • The leader of the SS was Heinrich Himmler
  • Unlike the SA, the SS was a small elite unit that had started off as Hitler’s elite bodyguard
  • Himmler only recruited pure Aryans into the SS and used lectures and speeches to indoctrinate members
37
Q

How did the ss control the police state?

A
  • After the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, the SA lost power and the SS became Hitler’s most trusted security force
  • A special unit of the SS – the Death’s Heads - were responsible for the Nazi concentration camps
  • During the 1930s, Himmler’s SS took over the powers of the German police
38
Q

Role of ss during second world war?

A
  • In the Second World War, the SS fought on the frontline as part of the German army
  • The SS played a leading role in the Holocaust as members of the SS formed the Einsatzgruppen and ran the death camps
39
Q

What was SD?

A
  • The SD was the Nazi intelligence gathering service
  • The SD was led by Reinhard Heydrich
  • The SD identified potential opposition to the Nazis by spying on schools, churches, local governments, etc
  • The SD wrote reports on the attitudes of the German people that were used to target propaganda
  • The SD passed on opponents of the Nazis to the Gestapo
40
Q

Who were Gestapo?

A
  • Led by Heydrich
  • Had the power to arrest and imprison anyone they suspected of opposing the Nazis
  • only 15,000 Gestapo officers, or 1 per 4,400 people.
  • They had the power to tap telephones or intercept letters
  • They recruited blockwardens: volunteers who spied on their neighbours and could denounce them to the Gestapo
  • They used torture
41
Q

What was the people’s court?

A
  • The People’s Court was established in 1933 to provide quick and harsh decisions
  • Judges had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler
  • There was no jury
  • The court handed out a high number of death sentences
42
Q

How did the Nazi’s deter opposition?

A
  • The Nazis used the death sentence to deter opposition
  • Before the Nazis took power, there were only 3 offences that could be punished by the death sentence
  • By 1943, the Nazis had increased this to 46 offences
  • In total, 40,000 people were given the death sentence
43
Q

What were concentration camps?

A
  • Conditions in the concentration camps were brutal
  • Concentration camps were established as soon as Hitler became Chancellor
  • The first concentration camp was at Dachau
  • By the end of the 1933, there were 70 camps
  • Most prisoners were communists
44
Q

Who ran the concentration camps?

A
  • Concentration camps were run by Himmler and the SS
  • A unit of the SS – the Death’s Head unit – ran the camps
  • During the 1930s, conditions in the camps became worse:
  • The SS introduced harsh punishments: beatings, bread and water rations, and executions
  • Prisoners had to do hard labour
  • In 1937, Himmler declared that guards could not be punished for their actions
  • 69 prisoners were killed in Dachau in 1937
45
Q

Job of Joseph Goebbels?

A
  • Minister of propaganda
46
Q

How did Nazi’s control propaganda?

A
  • The Nazis took control of existing newspapers and published their own such as Der Sturmer
  • Goebbels introduced the Editor’s Law which meant that newspaper editors had to print what the Nazis wanted
  • Any newspapers that opposed the Nazis were shut down
47
Q

How did Nazi’s use radio to control Germany?

A
  • Goebbels controlled radio stations and encouraged producers to play Nazi speeches and traditional German music
  • The Nazis produced cheap radio sets called People’s Receivers which
  • were cheap so that almost all Germans could afford one
  • had a limited range so they couldn’t be used to listen to foreign radio stations
48
Q

How did Nazi’s use rallies to show power?

A
  • The largest rally was the annual Nuremburg Rally which included speeches and parades and was attended by 500,000 people
  • The film maker Leni Riefenstahl filmed the 1934 Nuremburg Rally for her film Triumph of the Will which glorified Hitler
49
Q

How did poster’s demonstrate Nazi power and ideology?

A
  • Propaganda posters were put up in towns and villages across Germany
  • The posters emphasised Nazi ideas such as anti Semitism, traditional roles for women, and loyalty to the Fuhrer
50
Q

How did the Nazi’s try to change everyday life to increase support?

A
  • German people were expected to greet each other with a Nazi salute and ‘Heil Hitler’
  • The Nazi symbol – the swastika – was displayed on all public buildings
51
Q

How did the communists oppose the Nazi’s?

A
  • The communists were the extreme left party who were the ideological rivals of the Nazis
  • Although the communist party had been banned, members continued to hold meetings and produce newsletters
  • Communists produced 10,000 copies of their newsletter – the Red Flag - each month
  • This highly visible opposition meant that many communists were quickly arrested by the Gestapo
52
Q

How did Social democrats oppose Nazi’s?

A
  • The Social Democrats were a left-wing party but were more moderate than the communists
  • After 1933, most Social Democrat leaders fled the country
  • The Social Democrats and communists were long-standing rivals and so didn’t work together against the Nazis
53
Q

How did young communists oppose Nazis?

A
  • Although the communist party was banned, the Young Communists continued to meet in secret
  • They disguised their meetings by organising hikes or camping trips
  • Young Communist gangs wore red neckerchiefs and greeted each other in Russian rather than say “Heil Hitler”
  • Like older communists, they were targeted by the Gestapo
54
Q

Religion in Nazi Germany?

A
  • In 1933, Germany was still a very religious country
  • In the South, many Germans were Catholics who were more loyal to the Pope than Hitler
  • In the North, many Germans were Protestants who believed that the Nazi’s actions clashed with the Bible
55
Q

How did the Nazis control the church?

A
  • In 1933, Hitler made an agreement with the Pope – the Concordat – in which he promised to leave German Catholics alone if they stopped opposing him
  • For Protestants, the Nazis set up a new Reich Church in which priests had to swear loyalty to Hitler
  • The SD spied on priests and church services
56
Q

How did swing kids oppose Nazis?

A
  • The Swing Kids met to listen to swing music, dance, and meet members of the opposite sex
  • Swing music was banned by the Nazis because it was associated with Black Americans
  • The Swing Kids rejected the uniforms worn by the Hitler Youth, instead dressing in American fashions and wearing their hair long
  • Himmler thought they were so dangerous that he ordered the Gestapo to arrest them
57
Q

Who was Martin Niemoller and how did he oppose the Nazis?

A
  • Niemoller was a Protestant priest who refused to join the Reich Church
  • Instead, Niemoller set up the Confessional Church which preached against Nazi racial policy
  • Niemoller and 800 other priests were sent to concentration camps
58
Q

Who was Cardinal Galen and how did he oppose the Nazis?

A
  • Galen, a Catholic bishop, used his sermons to criticise Nazi racial policy
  • Copies of Galen’s sermons were passed around, inspiring further resistance
  • The Concordat protected Galen, although he was placed under house arrest in 1941
59
Q

How did the Edelweiss pirates oppose the Nazis?

A
  • Members of the Edelweiss Pirates wore a white Edelweiss flower on their clothes
  • They organised camps and sang anti-Nazi songs
  • Some members picked fights with Hitler Youth members
  • In 1944, the Nazis hanged leaders of the Edelweiss Pirates, including six teenagers
60
Q

How did the Nazis achieve military success in the earlier years of the war?

A
  • In 1940, Germany invaded Denmark, Norway, and France
  • In 1941, Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union and advanced as far as Moscow
  • However, by 1942, Germany faced three powerful allies – the USA, Britain, and the Soviet Union – and needed an increased supply of weapons
61
Q

Who was Albert Speer and what did he do?

A

Speer’s plan to increase production included:
- employing more women in factories
- using concentration camp prisoners as workers
- excluding skilled workers from military service
- trusting industrialists, not generals, to manage production
- Speer’s changes were highly successful, for example:
- the number of tanks produced in 1944 was 10 times higher than in 1940
- the number of aircraft produced in 1944 was 4 times higher than in 1940
- ammunition production quadrupled by 1943

62
Q

What is a war economy?

A

an economy in which most workers and factories are producing goods for the war

63
Q

Shortages and rationing during war?

A
  • The war led to serious shortages of coal and food
  • The Nazis introduced a confusing system of rationing in which people were given points according to their age and job: food, clothing, shoes, and coal were all rationed
  • Jews were only allowed into shops just before closing time when most items were sold out
64
Q

Roles of women during war?

A

-Speer wanted women to work in factories and removed the restriction on marriage loans to encourage women to come back to work
- However, this clashed with Hitler’s traditional view of women and women were never conscripted into factory work like in Britain
- Although the number of women working in factories increased, most women chose to stay at home, especially with their husbands away in the army

65
Q

Bombing during world war 2 in Germany?

A
  • From 1940 onwards, British and American aircraft bombed German cities
  • The Nazis introduced measures to protect German civilians:
  • Air raid shelters were built in major cities
  • An evacuation programme – KLV – offered parents the opportunity to send their children to camps in the countryside
  • However, these measures were not very successful:
  • the German air force – the Luftwaffe – were unable to stop the raids, even in daylight
  • Air raid shelters often collapsed
  • Very few parents sent their children to KLV camps because they were run by the Hitler Youth, were very strict, and were mainly used to indoctrinate young children
66
Q

What three developments in 1943-1944 turned the course of the war against the Nazis?

A
  • In February 1943, the Russian army - the Red Army – halted the German advance into Russia at the Battle of Stalingrad and began their own advance towards Germany
  • In 1943, the British air force – the RAF – and the American air force – the USAAF – increased their air raids on German cities
  • On D-Day in June 1944, British, Canadian and American forces landed in France and began to advance towards Germany
67
Q

What is total war?

A

a war in which the entire population, including all civilians, is involved

68
Q

How did Move to total war affect civilians?

A
  1. Goebbels was appointed Minister for Total War, putting him in charge of getting every part of society working towards the war effort.
    This included:
    - using 7 million prisoners of war as forced labour in factories
    - finally conscripting women between 17 and 50 into the war effort, although many deliberately got pregnant to avoid work
    - activities that didn’t help the war effort – such as going to the theatre, getting your hair dyed, or buying a magazine – were banned
    - increasing propaganda to encourage people to keep working and fighting
  2. Men who hadn’t yet joined the army were conscripted into the Volkssturm
    - The Volkssturm was a new unit of the German army created to defend Germany itself
    - All men aged 16 to 60 were required to join the Volkssturm and most recruits were teenagers or older men
    - Members of the Volkssturm received only four days training and wore no uniform, just an arm band:
  3. Allied air raids became more intense
    - The RAF bombed German cities at night; the USAAF bombed military targets during the day. For example:
    - In July 1943, RAF and USAAF aircraft bombed Hamburg for 7 days and 7 nights, creating a firestorm that killed 30,000 people
    - In March 1945, over one thousand RAF bombers attacked Dortmund, destroying 98% of the buildings in the city
69
Q

What was everyday resistance?

A

During the war, examples of everyday resistance increased. For example
- telling anti-Nazi jokes
- saying ‘Good Morning’ rather than ‘Heil Hitler’
- listening to the BBC and other foreign radio stations
- These actions were still very dangerous: the Gestapo arrested and executed people for telling jokes

70
Q

Who were the Hampels?

A
  • Otto and Elise Hampel were an ordinary couple from Berlin
  • After Elise’s brother was killed in the war, they began writing postcards that criticised the Nazis and
    left them in public places around Berlin
  • Nearly all of the 200 postcards were handed into the Gestapo
  • After going on trial in the People’s Court, the Hampels were executed in 1943
71
Q

Who were the White Rose Group?

A
  • The White Rose was a group of students at Munich University led by Hans and Sophie Scholl and inspired by the sermons of Cardinal Galen
  • The Scholls and the White Rose distributed leaflets criticising Hitler and the war effort and encouraging other Germans to resist the Nazis
  • In 1943, a caretaker at the university saw the Scholls distributing the leaflets and told the Gestapo
  • The Scholls and the other leaders of the White Rose went on trial in the People’s Court and were executed
72
Q

What was the 1944 July bomb plot?

A

In July 1944, a German army officer – Colonel von Stauffenberg – attempted to assassinate Hitler
He and the other plotters were motivated by several factors:
- disagreement with Nazi policies towards Jews
- belief that Hitler’s leadership would lead to defeat in the war
- unhappiness with the Nazi persecution of Catholic priests
- However, von Stauffenberg’s bomb only injured Hitler
- The SS arrested and executed von Stauffenberg
- The Nazis used the failed plot to re-establish control over the army by executing 5000 officers
- Hitler’s popularity increased

History (5 decks)

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