The Nazis in Power

Question 1

Gleichshalitung (Co-Ordination)

Answer 1

1. All aspects of life brought under the control of the Nazi Party.
2. Germany officially known as the ‘Third Reich’.
3. Hitler declares the Third Reich will last a thousand years.
4. Hitler establishes a totalitarian regime.

Question 2

Intimidation and Violence

Answer 2

1. During March 1933 election the SA fight street battles with the Communists.
2. Public meetings are broken up
3. Local police work with SA.
4. After the Reichstag fire 4000 Communists are arrested.
5. Hitlers new powers also see imprisonment without trial of opponents.

Question 3

Night of the Long Knives

Answer 3

1. On 30 June 1934
2. Hitler saw the SA and its leader Rohm as a threat - they numbered over 2 million.
3. Rohm also wanted to take over the army.
4. SS arrest leaders of the SA and other political figures e.g. von Schleicher.
5. Rohm was executed along with 90 others.

Question 4

Death of Hindenburg

Answer 4

1. Hindenburg dies on 2 August 1934
2. Hitler immediately takes over his role as President.
3. Hitler declares himself to be Fuhrer (Leader) of Germany.
4. German armed forces swear oath of allegiance to Hitler (in return for stopping the SA from taking over the army).

Question 5

Centralisation of Government

Answer 5

1. Trade Unions banned and replaced by the Nazi Labour Front.
2. Legal profession is purged of non-Nazis.
3. New Nazi People Courts established.
4. The State Police placed under the control of Heinrich Himmler (leader of the SS).
5. The SS and the Gestapo used to hunt down opponents of the Nazi regime.

Question 6

Education

Answer 6

1. History re-written to fit Nazi ideology. Lessons concentrate on the origins of the Nazi Party and the history of the Aryan Race.
2. Biology stressed the importance of racial purity.
3. Physical training emphasised in rebuilding the Master Race.
4. Religion phased out of schools.
5. Teachers purged to ensure support for Nazis.

Question 7

Youth Movements

Answer 7

1. Hitler Youth for Boys – emphasis on physical training and military drills.
2. League of German Maidens for girls – emphasis on Kinder, Kirche und Kuche (Children, Church and Kitchen).
3. By 1934 Hitler Youth had 3.5 million members. Initially attracted working class boys, but then became dominated by the sons of the middle class and the wealthy.

Question 8

Women in Nazi Germany

Answer 8

1. They were taught their role was as a good wife and mother and their place was in the home.
2. Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933) which gave newly weds a loan of 1000 marks to encourage having children.
3. 10 commandments for choice of spouse (1934) which encouraged people to marry Germans and keep race pure.
4. Not allowed to wear make-up, have hair dyed or have perms
5. Only to wear flat shoes and no trousers allowed
6. No slimming as thought unhealthy - would upset child-bearing
7. No smoking as seen as ‘un-German’
8. Long hair or put in bun or plaits
9. Women dismissed from the professions in 1934
10. By 1936 women could not be judges or sit on jury
11. Nazis Banned contraception and abortion
12. The racially ‘unpure’ were sterilised.