notes 10 nazi germany Flashcards
(10 cards)
weimar republic
1918-1933
- democratic(initially..) gov of germany, becomes incredibly right-wing to avoid communism
- feared communism + encouraged anti-communist forces and movements
- communist party initially with 10-15% of vote
- radicals and reactionaries both acting against gov (coups and mini revolutions)
- needed some way to control rising violence
- police + judicial systems leaning conservative and reactionary (bias = problem)
- 1925 von hindenburg (very conservative) becomes president
collapse of weimar republic
–> 1922 - hyperinflation
- printing too much money
- people worried prices will keep rising so they buy now so demand goes up and prices keep rising…
–> 1929 - great depression
- most support for democracy is lost in crisis
- unemployment at 30% (much quicker than US)
–> support increases for extremist parties
- extreme left: communism
- extreme right: nazism
–> 1930 - germany is run mostly by presidential decree by now
- proportional representation made it impossible to get majority gov
- resulting elections increasing support of nazi party (“simple solution”)
nazi takeover
- 1933 - hitler appointed chancellor to “control him” (didn’t work, obviously)
- reichstag fire right before elections, blamed communists so they would get less votes
- nazis used threats and supression to bring in enabling act (similar to war measures act in canada) to gain full power
enabling act
- nazis pushed for this in germany
- allows for leader to rule by decree if achieving 67% support
- through elimination of opposition (arrests), lying, and threatening, nazi party achieves the 67% to bring in enabling act
- they said they would only keep this power for 4 years, but kept it longer by eliminating opposition
nazi party
fascist single party in power over germany from 1933-1945
–> “restore national honour” after ww1
- race-based, ultranationalist, militarist ideas
- “living space” was obtained from other countries (expansion) for germans to live in because people other than the “aryan” race were seen as less-than
- support from many large companies helped them come to power
- promised to end violence on the streets (which was mostly caused by them) which they did, but only by suppression of opposition
- promised to end the economic crisis, lowered unemployment by hiring young men (“brownshirts”) to beat people on the streets to further their campaign of intimidation
did the nazis end the great depression in germany?
yes and no
–> yes:
- gdp⬆️, poverty + unemployment ⬇️
- output (trade) from germany rose rapidly under nazi rule
–> no:
- they benefit from work + planning that had already been started by the previous gov
- came to power at the end of the crisis anyway, it had stopped getting worse
- decreased quality of life, food was bad and prices were high –> autarky
- only economic focus was war, which they were bad at
- minority and opposition groups living in MUCH worse situations
autarky
a government system that only imports what it absolutely needs, otherwise completely self-sufficient
often results in very high prices to sustain local companies
different than communism by still embracing privatization, but excluding international products even if they were purchased by the government
ex. germany in ww2 and under nazi party, also stalin’s ussr
examples of terror in nazi germany
- gestapo (secret police) and SS (from nazi party)
- concentration camps for political prisoners (jews mostly in “extermination camps” initially)
- 1934 - night of the long knives - the execution of hundreds of people politically opposed to nazi party, consolidated gov to one party, no more levels of power (just hitler)
- jewish people and their businesses subject to terror early on
- 1938 - night of the broken glass - a planned movement of mass violence against jews (beginning of large-scale state-directed targeting of jews)
life under nazi rule
- constant, excessive propaganda (ex. volksempfanger - the first portable radio, but what was aired was fully controlled by nazis)
- “cult of personality” depicting hitler as superior to anyone else
- gov makes all decisions, and elections are held but intimidation, forced participation, and no secret ballot give false sense of democracy
- “strength through joy” leisure + entertainment organisation that would reward people (ex. cheap vacations) for being loyal/submissive, makes people think nazi rule is beneficial
how did germany operate in war
- nazi ideas didn’t allow for peaceful coexistence between nations
- lacked resources and manpower so the only way they could fight was stealing from others
- “living space” from other nations was taken and given to germany citizens to live on, killing or enslaving former residents
- “an economy based on theft and exploitation”
- the war went badly for germany
