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History Paper 1: Nazi Germany Pt 1 (Culture and the mass media…
History Paper 1: Nazi Germany Pt 1
Opposition to the Nazi regime
It is difficult to judge how much opposition there actually was because officially no opposition was recognised! Nazi propaganda gave the impression that everyone loved the Fuhrer and life in Nazi Germany
The Churches
In 1933 the Catholic Church and the Nazis signed the Concordat, but Hitler failed to keep his promise and started to interfere in church matters e.g. closing down Catholic Youth movements
In 1941 a letter from the Pope criticising the Nazis' 'euthanasia programme' was read out in all Catholic Churches. Hitler responded by sending nuns and priests to concentration camps
At first the churches seemed to be keen to work with the Nazis - this was due to the Nazi policies focused on family values and the campaign against the immorality of the Wiemar Era
800 Protestant churchmen, such as Pastor Niemoller were sent to labour camps for speaking out against the Nazis
The Young
The Swing Movement - enjoyed dancing to jazz music
The Edelweiss Pirates - liked to beat up members of the Hitler Youth and during WW2 they helped spread Allied propaganda. In 1944 a group of Edelweiss Pirates took part in an attack on the Gestapo in which a senior officers was killed. As a punishment 12 pirates were publically hanged
The Hitler Youth movement was very popular with most youngsters, but some objected to the restrictions placed on them
The White Rose Movement - a group of university students led by Hans and Sophie Scholl. They handed out leaflets appealing for people to oppose the Nazis' policies. The leaders were murdered in 1943
The Army
I July 1944 (the July Bomb Plot) von Stauffenberg placed a briefcase with a bomb in it under a table at a meeting attended by Hitler. Hitler wasn't seriously injured in the blast. 5000 were killed in reprisal
In 1934 the army had sworn a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler
Culture and the mass media (propaganda)
In May 1933 there was a public book burning in Berlin
The Nazis produced the 'People's Receiver' - a cheap radio which could only pick up German stations
Posters and photographs of Hitler were on display around Germany, as was the Swastika
Journalists were told what to write in their newspapers and what they could broadcast on the radio
The Nuremburg rally was held annually
Aims - get the Nazi message across and ensure that any views against the Nazis were supressed
In 1936 Germany hosted the Olympic Games - they used the event to promote German technical efficiency and the supremacy of the Aryan race. The German team won 33 gold medals
The Ministry for People's Enlightenment and Propaganda was set up under Goebbels
Women
Posters emphasised the qualities of 'traditional' German women
Employment opportunities for women decreased and they were banned from jury service as they were viewed as too emotional
Contraception was discouraged and women with 8 children received a 'Gold Cross'
During WW2 the Nazis had to change their policies and encourage women back into the workplace
Their duty was to stay at home, support their husband and raise the children
Did workers and farmers benefit from Nazi rule?
When Hitler came to power unemployment stood at 6 million. He brought this figure down to 218,000 by 1938 by encouraging women to stay at home, pushing the Jews out of employment, setting up public work schemes (building the autobahns) and breaking the military terms of the Treaty of Versailles
The level of wages didn't improve - they were lower in 1938 than they had been in 1928
'Strength Through Joy' organised cheap holidays and cruises
Hitler introduced measures to help farmers e.g. the Reich Entailed Farm Law gave peasants state protection for their farms, so banks couldn't seize their land if they didn't pay their loans or mortgages. However, banks became reluctant to lend farmers money
The Beauty of Labour organisation promoted better working conditions
German workers lost their trade unions and instead a Nazi union (German Labour Front) was set up to control them
There was a shortage of consumer goods to buy as the economy became focused on preparing for war
The impact of WW2 on life in Germany
In 1942 Albert Speer was made Armaments Minister - German factories were forced to work longer hours, food rations were cut and women were drafted into factories
German towns and cities were bombed by the Allies - an attack on Dresden (February 1945) killed 135,000
By the end of 1941 the advance on the Soviet Union had ground to a halt and people started to realise how hard war is. Supplies were needed for the armed forces and people were asked to make sacrifices
In the first few years there were victories so morale was high and Germans benefited from the spoils of war