Hitler’s Germany Revision guide

Hitler’s Germany 1929 - 1945

How and why was Hitler able to become Chancellor in January 1933?

Hitler’s rise to Power was based on many long term factors:

  • Resentment in the German people
  • Weakness of the Weimar government
  • The terror of his storm troopers
  • The brilliance of his speeches

The Nazi’s had been ignored in the “roaring twenties”, but when the Great Depression ruined their lives, they voted for him in increasing numbers. Needing support, and thinking he could control Hitler, President Hindenburg made the mistake in January 1933 of giving Hitler the post of Chancellor.

Impact of the Wall Street Crash and Depression in Germany

American economy crashed following Wall Street Crash 1929 – This led to depression spreading across Europe, hitting Germany badly.

American banks demanded the repayment of loans given since 1924.

German businesses went bankrupt.

By 1932 6 million people were unemployed.

Many people became homeless.

The Government was powerless (coalition government made it difficult to get decisions made)

With life becoming difficult the people looked towards the extremist parties; Communists and Nazi’s

Nazi’s used propaganda to spread their ideas across.

Josef Goebbels was head of propaganda and used all possibilities open to him; the opposition parties did not use propaganda as effectively.

The Nazi’s also used their private army (SA) to threaten political opponents.

Weimar system of Government

Coalition governments made it difficult for decisions to be made. The President could however pass laws without the Reichstag in times of emergency.

It was Hindenburg’s job to establish a stable government and find a solution to the economic crisis.

The Chancellor of Germany, Bruning, was very unpopular. He raised taxes, cut benefits and reduced government salaries.

Nazi’s were growing in popularity.

Hitler appealed to the people’s nationalism, pride that had been badly dented; and their belief that Germany had been “stabbed in the back”

He was quick to blame the Jews for the economical crisis.

As Hitler became well known within Germany, he decided to run for President against Hindenburg. Hindenburg won with 19million votes; Hitler was second with 13 million votes.

Hitler had used the opportunity to hammer home the main Nazi messages:

  • Nationalism of Germans
  • Hatred of the Treaty of Versailles
  • Suspicion of the Jews

Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor

May 1932, Hindenburg appointed Von Papen as the new Chancellor. He was unpopular and lacked support in the Reichstag and so called a General election in July 1932.

The Nazis gained a lot of support in this election.

Von Papen still needed more support so called another election in November 1932. This resulted in even less support and so he resigned. Von Schleicher became Chancellor.

He couldn’t achieve a majority in the Reichstag either.

Hindenburg was forced to ask Hitler to become Chancellor, pressure had been on him to do this since July 1932, but Hindenburg despised Hitler and the Nazis.

Jan 1933 Hitler became Chancellor. There was an attempt to limit his power by making Von Papen Vice-Chancellor and restricting number of Nazi’s in the Cabinet to 2.

How did Hitler change Germany from a democracy to a dictatorship? 1933-4

The Reichstag fire, February 1933

  • Hitler called for an election in March 1933- concerned that communists had a lot of support
  • 27th February 1933 the Reichstag was damaged in a fire. – Communists blamed.
  • Hitler said that the communists were a murderous group.
  • Dutch Communist was arrested, Marinus van der Lubbe, found guilty and beheaded.
  • Communists and other parties have different versions – Nazis started the fire so that Hitler could blame the communists.
  • 28th February, Hindenburg passed an Emergency decree, giving Hitler sweeping powers to arrest any opposition to the government. . –“Protection of the People and the State”.
  • It also ended all personal liberty, and took control of the press.
  • Hitler could now act against his opponents; many were arrested or intimidated by the SA.

March Elections and the Enabling Act

  • Hitler did not gain a majority in the election, only 44%
  • He used the Emergency law passed by Hindenburg to stop the communists taking the seats they had won.
  • He gained support of the Nationalist Party and the Centre Party by promising to protect the Catholic Church.
  • When they arrived at the temporary Reichstag they were ushered in by armed SA men
  • The Reichstag passed the Enabling act – Giving Hitler power to pass laws without them being consulted.
  • Germany was now in a Dictatorship.

Elimination of Political opposition

  • May-July 1933 all Political parties excepting Nazi’s were banned
  • Nazi’s became only Political Party
  • New Parties could not be formed.
  • Prominent Socialists and Communists were arrested
  • Trade Unions were closed and replaced with the Nazi’s German Labour Front
  • July 1933 Hitler signed a concordat with the Pope agreeing not to interfere with the Catholic Church

Elimination of the SA

  • Hitler saw the SA as a threat
  • They had a bad reputation
  • Its leaders wanted more power.
  • Hitler wanted the SS (black shirts – personal bodyguards) to replace the SA (brown shirts)
  • 30th June 1934 Hitler used the SS to arrest and shoot the SA
  • The leading member had been having a meeting near Munich and at 7am, Hitler began arresting the leaders including Rohm.
  • Rohm was shot in his prison cell after refusing to commit suicide; others were shot as they answered their doors.
  • Hitler told the Nation he had done this to save the Nation from civil war. The Reichstag (all Nazi’s) accepted his version.
  • Became known as the Night of the Long Knives.

The Fuhrer

August 1934 President Hindenburg Dies, Hitler combines jobs of Chancellor and President and declares himself Fuhrer. – Leader of Germany.

The Army now swears an oath of loyalty to Hitler.

One-Party State

  • Hitler was all-powerful; he was Fuhrer.
  • He left most of the detailed work and decision up to his top officials.
  • Hitler preferred to dream up grand plans.

Law and Order

  • Abolished the right to trial before imprisonment.
  • Judges were replaced with Nazi supporters.
  • Concentration camps were set up.
  • “Peoples court” was set up. Tried people for crimes against the state.

SS and Gestapo

SS – Hitler’s personal bodyguard. By 1930’s they were the Nazi’s own Police force. Led by Himmler

Gestapo= Secret Police, Led by Heydrich. – It sought out the opponents of the Nazi’s and arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps. It used informers to uncover attempts of opposition and used torture to extract information and confessions.

Concentration Camps

Gestapo used these to imprison opponents to Nazi Regime indefinitely. First held mainly political opponents.

Run by SS guards – Death’s Head Unit – trained to be ruthless and cruel. Punishments ranged from beatings to execution.

Propaganda

Josef Goebbels was in charge of German Propaganda.

  • Used to impose the Nazi ideas over others
  • Most effective with simple ideas, short slogans and powerful visual images.
  • Three main points : Criticising treaty of Versailles

Making Germany great

Blaming the Jews for Germany’s disasters.

  • Presented in Posters, newspapers, films, speeches, and radio
  • Huge rallies and marches were used to demonstrate achievements in Germany.
  • Film maker, Leni Riefenstahl was used to produce films that glorified the Nazis.
  • Largest propaganda event was the Olympics held in Berlin in 1936
  • Reports carefully controlled
  • Anti-Jewish slogans were removed
  • Visitors left with a positive view of Nazi Germany
  • Propaganda used to promote Hitler as a powerful, yet caring leader.
  • Many people were attracted to Hitler by his promises.

Censorship

Influenced every aspect of daily life; nothing was allowed to contradict the propaganda concerning the greatness of the Nazi state.

  • Media
  • Radio under state control 1934, loudspeakers were set up in public places. Cheap radios were manufactured. Foreign stations were difficult to tune in to.
  • News controlled by the State controlled press.
  • Cinema provided mixture of entertainment and politics.
  • Books not approved were burnt. 20,000 burnt in bonfire of may 1933, 2,500 writers were banned
  • Control of education
  • Controlled as soon as they entered education.
  • Learnt Nazi beliefs
  • Nazi version of history was taught – Germany stabbed in back by politicians influenced by the Jews
  • Boys taught military, girls housekeeping.
  • Eugenics introduced – how to improve the German race
  • Jewish teachers sacked – others swore loyalty to Hitler.
  • Youth movements
  • Out of school organisations
  • Compulsory to join after 1936
  • Age ranges were 6-10, 10-14, 14-18 year olds.
  • Lots of Physical training
  • Boys – military discipline. Girls – League of German Girls – make them fit and strong to be a good mother
  • Advantages – offered families opportunities for weekends away camping and hiking.
  • Girls could travel and meet other teenagers giving them a break from the role of homemaker.
  • Control of the churches
  • Hitler kept his own view on Christianity vague as many of his supporters were Christian,
  • Nazi opposition to communism (an atheist party) would have gained him some Christian support.
  • Catholics should havebenefited from the concordat but Hitler interfered with the curriculum in Catholic schools and some teachers were dismissed.
  • Protestant churches were grouped together into the Reich Church.
  • Some objected and formed their own church – a challenge to Nazi power. These were arrested and some were sent to concentration camps.

To what extent did the Germans benefit from Nazi rule?

Economic Policies

  • Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, the economy was in ruins, and unemployment was at 6 million.
  • Hitler acted swiftly and unemployment fell (much more than had done within democratic countries)
  • Huge amounts were spent on employment schemes – doubling between 1933 and 1938.
  • Road building was a major project – 7000km of autobahn (motorways)
  • German Labour Front (Nazi trade union) organised workers into jobs.
  • Public works provided thousands of jobs: Forestry work, water projects, building new hospitals, schools and sports stadiums. – by 1939 Labour Front had 45,500 paid officials
  • Another promise was to get rid of the treaty of Versailles – programme of rearmament and conscription created jobs. Huge amounts were spent on producing equipment such as aircraft and tanks.
  • Increase in military spending stimulated other industries and provided many more jobs. 1933-1939, coal &chemical production doubled; oil iron and steel trebled; iron ore mining increased 500 %
  • The official Nazi figures put unemployment at 0. Jews were not included, women who left work to have a family were not included, and people held in concentration camps were not included.
  • Hitler aimed to make Germany self – sufficient by 1940. – He didn’t want to pay for the huge amounts of imports
  • He didn’t succeed;still remained dependant on Swedish iron ore and some food was also imported.
  • Hitler wanted to be ready for war but self-sufficiency was impossible because of the limited amount of raw materials in Germany.
  • Hitler’s only solution to become self sufficient was take over other countries with the raw materials and food it needed. – Linking to Nazi policy of Lebensraum (living space).

Social policies and standards of living.

  • Many believed that Nazi rule was improving people’s lives. (+)
  • Unemployment decreased and less people starving (+)
  • Wages improved a little but the working week had increased (+ &-)
  • Small businesses did well because of less competition from Jewish businesses, which had been closed by the Nazis(+ &-)
  • Big businesses benefited from construction projects – as long as they produced what the Nazis wanted (+ &-)
  • July 1935 – compulsory for men between 18-25 to do 6 months work on practical projects. They received pocket money not wages, but did provide a sense of purpose. (+ &-)
  • “Strength through Joy” organisation provided leisure activities to ensure a happy workforce many had been unable to afford a holiday before.(–)
  • “Strengththrough Joy” also encouraged people to save 5 marks a week to own their own car- The Volkswagen (peoples car) -never received the cars. (–)
  • Pride was increasing amongst Germans as they were pleased with effects of Nazi policies:
  1. Unemployment falling
  2. Hosted Olympic Games in 1936
  3. Troops put into the demilitarised Rhineland 1936 – feeling of security
  4. Anschluss with Austria in March 1938

Effects of Nazi Policies on the lives of Women.

  • Nazi’s wanted women to stick to their “natural” occupations. – Wives and mothers.
  • “kinder, Kirche und Kuche” (children, Church and Kitchen)
  • Propaganda was used to show ideal Nazi Family.
  • 4 children (at least)
  • Girls playing with dolls
  • Boys ‘building’
  • Nazis wanted to promote a ‘racially-pure’ Aryan race.
  • Incentives for women to stay at home and have children
  • Interest free loans of 1000 Reichmarks for newlyweds if the woman gave up work
  • Quarter of loan cancelled for every child born
  • Special medals for productive mothers (4 = bronze, 6= silver, 8 = gold)
  • Laws against abortion strictly enforced
  • Special maternity homes set up – ‘breeding centres’
  • Racially pure Aryan women matched with SS men
  • German women who held positions of responsibility were sacked.
  • Doctors and civil servants (1933)
  • Teachers
  • Judges and serving on juries (1936)
  • Campaigns to affect the way women looked and dressed.
  • Hair – plaits or bun, no dye or perms
  • No make-up, trousers
  • Slimming criticised
  • The policy of women being out of employment was not successful due to the priority given to rearmament.
  • Building materials in shortage – large families unable to afford suitable house
  • By 1939 more women were in paid employment than compared with 1933
  • 1937 – clause of marriage loan scheme changed to allow women to work

Effects of Nazi Policies on German culture.

  • Culture restricted through censorship and propaganda.
  • Only allowed if promoted Nazi ideals- included- Art, film, plays, books, science, and music.
  • Tolerant permissive society of Weimar Germany with nightclubs and American music banned
  • Many artist, authors and scientists chose to emigrate.
  • Albert Einstein – emigrated and later helped develop the nuclear bomb.
  • In 1933 the benefits (listed below) seemed to outweigh the disadvantages and concerns of the policies
  • Living standards recovering from depression
  • Pride increasing
  • Workers benefiting as long as they were obedient.
  • Negative aspects of policies – Political, social and cultural- only became prominent in later 1930’s

Racial persecution: the Jews and other alien groups.

Nazi’s believed Jews were members of an inferior race.

True Germans were the master race, destined to rule over other races.

Hitler had made his views about the Jews clear in Mein Kampf and in speeches before he came to power. He had blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in WW1.

Jews in Germany made up less than 1% of the total population but many held important positions in society. This gave the impression that Jews were trying to control Society and the economy.

In Austria, there was a large concentration of Jews in the Capital, Vienna, again giving the impression of the Jews in control.

No organised policy to begin with, but some extremists in the Party encouraged actions.

  • April 1933 – Official one day boycott of Jewish Shops, lawyers and doctors. After this SA members stood outside and physically stopped the customers entering.
  • 1934 – Anti-Jewish Propaganda increased
  • Sep 1935 – Nuremberg Laws
  • Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour banned marriages between Jews and Aryans, banned sexual relations outside of marriage.
  • Reich Citizenship Law made Jews ‘subjects’ rather than ‘citizens’, this made them lose some legal rights.
  • 1936 – Lull in persecution during Olympic Games with Anti-Jewish Slogans removed from public display.
  • September 1937 – Hitler Spoke out against the Jews, and many Jewish businesses were seized (taken over)
  • June-July 1938 – Jewish doctors, dentists and lawyers were forbidden to treat Aryans.
  • October 1938 – Jews had to have a red letter ‘J’ stamped on their passports.
  • November 1938 - Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht

The Night of Broken Glass. A Jewish Youth shot a German embassy official in Paris.

Josef Goebbels, announced that there were to be ‘demonstrations’ against the Jews during the night of 9th November.

8,000 Jewish Shops, homes and most of the Synagogues were attacked.

100 Jews were killed. 20,000 sent to concentration camps.

The property damaged was actually rented by the Jews from German owners.

Jews were fined 1billion Reichmarks to repair damage by the Nazis.

All remaining businesses were confiscated. Jewish children were only allowed to go to Jewish schools.

Jews were expected to do the worst jobs and German people were encouraged to treat them badly. Same policies were followed in Austria after March 1938 when Anschluss took place.

In 1939, Jews were encouraged to emigrate. Many couldn’t afford to or couldn’t get visas.

March 1939, first mass arrest of the Jews took place. 30,000 men and boys taken to concentration camps.

Treatment of undesirable groups.

Nazis acted against other groups seen as alien – not pure German.

Gypsies were unpopular, many Germans were happy when the Nuremburg laws of 1935 were applied to gypsies.

Tramps and beggars were arrested and put to forced labour.

People with physical disabilities and mental problems were seen as a threat to Aryan superiority if they were allowed to have children.

July 1933, law passed for compulsory sterilisation, including people with depression, epilepsy, blindness and deafness. By 1937, almost 200,000 had been preformed.

Later policies included euthanasia or ‘mercy killing’ by lethal injection.

Mistreatment of the Jews and other ‘undesirable’ groups got worse after the war started in September 1939.

Germany at War