Totalitarianism

Question 1

Beer Hall Putsch

Answer 1

Failed Nazi attempt to overthrow the Weimar government in 1923

Took place in Munich; quickly suppressed by police

Hitler was arrested and sentenced to prison

Wrote Mein Kampf during his imprisonment

Question 2

Hyperinflation

Answer 2

1920s Weimar Germany

Currency lost value rapidly

Wiped out savings

Fueled support for extremists

Question 2

Adolf Hitler

Answer 2

Leader of the Nazi Party and dictator of Nazi Germany

Rose to power in 1933, became Chancellor and later Führer

Promoted ideas of racial purity and Aryan supremacy

Led Germany into World War II and orchestrated the Holocaust

Question 3

S.S.

Answer 3

Nazi elite paramilitary group

Led by Heinrich Himmler

Ran concentration camps

Enforced racial policies

Question 4

Gestapo

Answer 4

Secret police of Nazi Germany

Used surveillance, intimidation, and torture to suppress opposition

Operated without judicial oversight

Instrumental in persecuting Jews and political dissidents

Question 5

Hitler Youth

Answer 5

Youth organization of the Nazi Party

Indoctrinated boys with Nazi ideology and military training

Girls were in the League of German Girls with domestic and racial education

Mandatory for German youth by the late 1930s

Question 6

Führer

Answer 6

German word for “leader”; title taken by Hitler after President Hindenburg’s death

Combined role of President and Chancellor

Symbol of absolute authority and centralized power

Central figure in the Nazi cult of personality

Question 7

Concentration Camp

Answer 7

Detention centers used to imprison political enemies, Jews, and other groups

Used for forced labor, punishment, and extermination

Question 8

Enabling Act

Answer 8

Passed in 1933 by the Reichstag after the Reichstag Fire

Allowed Hitler to rule by decree without parliamentary consent

Effectively ended democracy in Germany

Question 9

Gulag

Answer 9

Network of Soviet forced labor camps under Stalin

Used to imprison political enemies, criminals, and “enemies of the people”

Harsh conditions with high mortality rates

Question 10

Collectivization

Answer 10

Stalin’s policy to consolidate individual farms into large state-run farms

Aimed to increase agricultural efficiency and control the peasantry

Met with widespread resistance and led to famine (e.g., Ukraine)

Millions of peasants were displaced or killed

Question 11

Kulaks

Answer 11

Wealthier peasants in the Soviet Union

Blamed for resisting collectivization

Targeted for persecution, deportation, or execution

Question 12

Cult of Personality

Answer 12

Promotion of a leader as an idealized, heroic figure

Used by totalitarian regimes (e.g., Stalin, Hitler, Mao)

Reinforced through propaganda, art, and education

Question 13

The Great Purge

Answer 13

Campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union (1936–1938)

Led by Stalin to eliminate potential rivals within the Communist Party

Included show trials, mass arrests, and executions