Nazi Germany 1933-1945

Question 1

government structure

Answer 1

• chancellor to Führer: Hitler appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933, Hitler merged positions of Chancellor and President, declaring himself Führer
• Enabling Act (23 March 1933): allowed Hitler to enact laws without Reichstag consent
• one-party state: by July 1933 all political parties except nazis were banned and the Law Against the Formation of New Parties criminalised establishment of new parties
• centralisation of power: Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (30 January 1934) abolished state parliaments

Question 2

key politicians

Answer 2

• Hitler: Führer and Chancellor, held ultimate authority over state and party
• Himmler: head of the SS and Gestapo, oversaw internal security and concentration camps
• Goebbles: Minister of Propaganda, controlled media, arts, and information dissemination
• Göring: commander of the Luftwaffe, initiated the Four-Year Plan aiming for economic self-sufficiency
• Hess: deputy Führer until 1941

Question 3

opposition

Answer 3

• political: SPD and KPD banned, leaders arrested, imprisoned or fled abroad
• religious: Confessing Church opposed Nazi interference in church affairs
• military: 20 July Plot (1944), July bomb plot led by von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate HItler
• youth: groups like the Edelweiss Pirated, White Rose Group Swing Youth resisted Nazi norms, promoting alternative lifestyles and music

Question 4

control mechanisms

Answer 4

• Gestapo: secret police force that relied heavily on public denunciations to identify “enemies of the state”
• SS: paramilitary organisation responsible for enforcing Nazi policies, running concentration camps and maintaining racial purity
• legal systems: judges were requires to swear loyalty to Hitler, People’s Court handled political offences
• Propaganda: Goebbles ministru controlled all media, promoting Nazi ideology through films, radio, newspapers and mass rallies

Question 5

consent

Answer 5

• economic recovery: unemployment dropped from 6 million in 1933 to less than 1 million by 1939, fostering public support
• Volksgemeinschaft: concept of a “peoples community” aimed to unify Germans under Nazi ideals, promoting social cohesion
• Plebiscites: referendums, such as the 1934 vote merging the presidency and chancellorship showed overwhelming support, these results were manipulated
• Hitler Myth: propaganda portrayed Hitler as Germany’s saviour

Question 6

early economic policies (1933-36)

Answer 6

• public works: initiatives like the Reich Labour Service (RAD) and Autobahn construction projects reduced unemployment
• rearmament: massive investment in military production stimulated economic growth and employment
• trade agreements: bilateral trade deals, especially with Southeastern Europe secured raw materials in exchange for German manufactured goods

Question 7

Four-Year Plan (1936-40)

Answer 7

• objective: achieve autarky and prepare the economy for war within four years
• implementation: Göring oversaw increased production of synthetic materials and expanded armaments manufacturing
• results: while military production soared, Germany remained depended on imports for certain raw materials

Question 8

wartime economy (1939-1945)

Answer 8

• total war: from 1942, under Speer, the economy shifted to total war footing, prioritising military needs over consumer goods
• forced labour: millions of foreign workers and POWs were employed in German industries under harsh conditions
• allied bombings: strategic bombing campaigns targeted industrial centres, crippling production and infrastructure

Question 9

role of women

Answer 9

• “Kinder, Küche, Kirche” (Children, Kitchen, Church)
• women encouraged to leave workforce to focus on raising families and maintaining the household
• Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933): newlywed couples given loan of 1,000 marks, with 250 marks deducted for each child
• Mother Cross: awarded to women bearing multiple children
• Lebensborn Program: established in 1935 to promote growth of Aryan population by supporting racially “pure” mothers
• women discouraged from pursuing higher education and professional careers
• by 1936, women barred from serving and judges or lawyers
• number of women in employment rose from 11.6 million in 1933 to 14.6 million in 1939

Question 10

cultural developments

Answer 10

• art and propaganda: Reich Chamber of Culture controlled artistic expression, regime promoted art that reflected Nazi ideals such as classical realism, condemned modernist movements as “degenerate art”
• cinema and literature: films used as propaganda tools, books by Jewish authors and other “undesirables” were banned and often publicly burned
• music and theatre: music by composers such as Wagner celebrated, jazz and other “non-Aryan” music suppressed

Question 11

education

Answer 11

• curriculum changes: education centralised under Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture, curricula emphasised racial theory, physical fitness and loyalty to Hitler
• youth organisation: Hitler Youth (mandatory for boys aged 14 and above focusing on military training and Nazi indoctrination)
  League of German Girls (prepared girls for motherhood and homemaking roles)
• teachers required to join the National Socialist Teachers League and adhere to Nazi principles

Question 12

attitudes towards ethnic minorities

Answer 12

• Jews: faced escalating persecution starting with 1935 Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht (1938) was a coordinated attach on Jewish businesses and synagogues, ultimately led to Holocaust where 6 million Jews murdered
• Roma and Sinti: subjected to racial laws and deportations, many in concentration camps
• disabled individuals: targeted under the T4 Euthanasia Program
• Homosexuals: criminalised under Paragraph 175, thousands arrested and placed in concentration camps
• Other groups such a Jehovah’s Witnesses, political dissidents, and others faced imprisonment, forced labour or execution