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DS3: How effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933–45? What was it…

- - - - Nuremberg Rallies
        
        WWTS: bands, marching, flying displays, brilliant speeches by Hitler
        People liked colour/excitement
        Sense of belonging to great movement
        Demonstrated power of the state
        Emphasis on order out of chaos
      - 1936 Berlin Olympics - Hitler hoped to show that Germany was superior/Aryan supremacy
        Show achievements of Nazi Germany and technical efficacy
        Successful?
        Foreign visitors were impressed
        Excellence of facilities; efficiency of organisation
        German team won 33 gold, 26 silver, 30 bronze medals, far more than any other team
        Not Successful?
        Jesse Owens, a black American, won four gold medals, breaking 11 world records - Hitler not impressed
        Germany won the medals table - foreign visitors saw it as blatant propaganda, were shocked by overt army/SS presence
      - Books - successful as they could not be published without Goebbels's permission; Germany's best-seller was Mein Kampf; book-burnings organised.
        Effective way of preventing communication of Anti-Nazi ideas and promoting Nazi ideas.
      - Art - only Nazi-approved painters could exhibit; lots of paintings ad sculptures of heroic Aryans, military figures, ideal Aryan families
      - Newspapers - controlled by Goebbels. Not allowed to print Anti-Nazi ideas. Anti-Nazi newspapers closed down.
        However, they became dull reading; circulation fell by 10%
      - Cinema - all films had pro-Nazi message; preceded by newsreels about Hitler's greatness and Germany's achievements; all foreign films censored
      - Music - jazz banned because it was "black" music
      - Posters - plastered everywhere, proclaiming Hitler's successes and attacking opponents
      - Radio - cheap radios made available for all; stations controlled by Nazis; listening to foreign stations punishable by death loudspeakers in streets/bars; repetition of Hitler's speeches so often that they came to be believed
- - - - Birth rate increased from 15 per 1000 (1933) to 20 per 1000 (1939)
    - - Only prominent jobs were a film producer and Gertrude Scholz-Klink, Head fo the Nazi Women;s Bureau.
        Limited opportunities - encouraged discrimination against female applicants for jobs
      - U-turn - from late 1930's Nazis needed more female workers
        Low number of unemployed men
        Both had to go to work and look after families
  - - - Organisations
        Girls who were extramaritally pregnant sent to state maternity hostels
        German League of Maidens ensured women were physically fit, improved health during pregnancy
        Gold Mother's Cross of honour for having 8 children
        
        Expectations and Ideals
        Traditional role propagated by Hitler; supported by some women
        Rural areas and small towns that were traditional supported Nazi family/women ideals
        "No true German woman wears trousers", stated a Nazi newspaper headline
        
        Money and Jobs
        Money given to those with at least four children
        Women offered money to quit jobs/to be replaced by men
        1933-36 married women forced to leave their professions and civil service, encouraged to leave other jobs
        There were a few high profile women
        Many working class women gained the chance to travel
    - - Liberal-minded women of 1920s didn't like seeing themselves as baby-making machines
        U-turn on policies regarding women and jobs as from 1937 conscription meant that women needed to fill jobs in factories
        Many women struggled to balance work with family - torn between traditional roles and work
        During war, family life was constantly interfered with by Nazi organisations and propaganda
        
        Other policies/propaganda methods more important, e.g.
        Radios that played Hitler's speeches
        Hitler Youth and youth policies
        Nuremberg Laws and Jewish/racial "undesirables" policies
        Rearmament/conscription
        Nazi 5 points (lebensraum, Nazi expansion, "fuhrerprinzip", etc)
  - - - BUT
        There were 1.2 million more women working after six years of Nazi rule than there had been in 1933 - result of war economy
        Many women objected to being seen as second-class citizens; as a result they joined opposition parties like the Communists
        Others objected to giving up work, especially where years of training was involved
  - - - Jobs
        Women under 25 did a year's labour service; this was voluntary from 1936, but compulsory from 1939
        Women worked on munitions during the war
        1933 - first concentration camp for women
        Some women in SS, but not allowed to give orders to a man, etc.
      - Organisations
        League of German Maidens created for women
        Nazi Women's Bureau supported conservatism; for women to remain in traditional roles, since working women were seen as keeping men out of jobs
        Women doctors/lawyers/civil servants kicked out by 1934
        Women no longer part of jury service
      - Bearing children for a future workforce
        Financial incentives to marriage and child-bearing
        Important to increase population of Germany; money could help support families
        Raised birth rate from 15 to 20 per thousand of population
        Unmarried mothers encouraged in war years
    - - There was little real change; women were not regarded as important - e.g. limited number and influence in Party
        Wage discrimination continued
        Working class women's employment continued
        Nazprop. showed women in supportive roles
        Education/indoctrination of children was far more important to the regime
        Hitler wanted to keep women away from Nazi matters
        Propaganda/youth policies/racial policies may have been more important
- - - - Reorganisation of school curriculum, e.g. History was about the former greatness of Germany
        They were taught the "stab in the back" myth and the wickedness of the Jews
        Learned that hardships of 1919-23 were caused by Jews squeezing profits out of honest Germans.
      - Amount of time spent on Physical Education trebled in the 1930s.
      - Biology lessons - informed them that they were special, part of Aryan race, superior in intelligence and strength to the Jews and Slavs.
      - Maths and Science - military matters, e.g. explosives and ballistics
        Domestic Science for girls
        Girls also learned other subjects for motherhood and raising a family
      - Teachers had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Teachers had to join the Nazi Teachers' League
    - - Hitler Youth
        
        Founded in 1926. By 1939 it had over 7 million members, the vast majority of young Germans
        Many were happy to join; other clubs were banned; HY offered many activities
        
        Offered many outdoor activities including camps and a wide range of sports.
        Many enjoyed these activities as they saw them as preparation for adult life, e.g. being prepared for the armed forces
      - League of German Maidens - produced activities to train girls for their roles in German society - wife, mother, housemaker
        "Home evenings" revolved around domestic training
        Activities on how to bring up babies, cooking, needlework
        Sessions on German history, folk dancing and singing
        
        On Saturdays, there was strenuous outdoor training involving running, jumping and swimming. This was to ensure good health for a future mother
        Girls were also encouraged to go on camps, though not as numerous as boys
    - - Some young people opposed the Nazis:
        
        The "Swing" movement: middle-class teenagers, who liked English and American music, e.g. jitterbug and jazz; talked about and enjoyed sex; deliberately scruffy; accepted Jews
        
        Edelweiss Pirates
        working-class teenagers aged 14-17
        sang anti-Nazi songs
        fought Hitler Youth
        free attitude to sex
        In Cologne they helped to shelter army deserters and escaped prisoners
        They also stole armaments
      - In 1936, membership of the Hitler Youth was made compulsory although some young people were reluctant to join.
        About 1 million failed to join
        Many joined the Catholic Youth organisation rather than the Hitler Youth.
        Some gangs considered themselves part of the Edelweiss Pirates - anti-authority, anti-Nazi. During the war they helped deserters and escaped prisoners.
  - - - Hitler Youth had 7.3m members by 1939
        Compulsory for German citizens aged 10-18 after 1936
        Military organisation and training
        League of German Maidens taught women to fulfil traditional roles
        Used youth to break up other youth groups
        Used youth to spy on teachers and parents
        Ministry of Education and Science took over from Lander-based control of schools
        National Socialist Teachers' League membership essential
        Constant in-school indoctrination of Aryan superiority
        Glorification of German consciousness and Nazi ideas and objectives
        Women rewarded for more births
        Overall, control by indoctrination and production of soldiers
    - - Other aspects more significant in control of Germany, e.g.
        Use of Enabling Act
        Loyalty of the army/SS/SA/Gestapo
        Popular support sympathy for Nazi aims - middle class, farmers industrialists, Labour Front
        Effect propaganda machine
        Control of religion
        Limited importance of young resistance groups e.g. Catholic Youth, Swing Movement, Edelweiss Pirates, etc.
- - - - Dr Hjalmar Schacht - reorganised finances to fund a work creation programme
        
        Government expenditure went from 5 billion Reichsmarks in 1933 to 30 billion in 1938
      - National Labour Service employed men on public works (e.g. building autobahns, houses, railways)
      - 1935 - Hitler reintroduced conscription to the army
      - Hitler's rearmament policy led to an increase in the iron and steel industry
      - Coal mining increased. He recovered the Saar coalfield. Jobs were created in coal mines, steel works and textile mills, with the need for weapons, equipment and uniforms
      - Formation of the Luftwaffe (Air Forces) - rapid increase in submarines and naval ships
      - There were housing projects and grandiose new public building projects such as the Reich Chancellery in Berlin
      - Women, Jews and minority groups were all "encouraged" to give up their jobs so that Aryan men could occupy them. They did not count as unemployed
    - - Launched in 1936 to increase employment, and to increase co-operation with industrial giants
        1936 - Goering was put in charge of the Four-Year Plan to prepare Germany for war
        This means recruiting more for the armed forces, producing weapons of war and breaking the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
    - - Autarky was achieved by:
        Increasing agricultural production
        Increasing production of material such as coal/steel/oil
        Synthetic alternatives for products such as oil and rubber had to be produced
        
        Scientists tried to make oil from coal.
        They worked to find substitutes for rubber, petrol, cotton and coffee.
        It was a partially successful policy
      - Autarky was the policy of making German economically self-sufficient
        Hitler wanted Germany to no longer depend on imports, especially if war began
        Wanted to import less food and raw materials
        1936 - Goering was put in charge of the Four-Year Plan to prepare Germany for war
      - Food
        Controls were put on imports farmers were subsidised to produce more food
        Food imports were reduced
  - - - Goering's Four-Year Plan benefitted male workers promising and delivering a low unemployment
        Schacht organised Germany's finances to fund a huge programme of job creation on public works projects
        Motorway network built
        Railways extended
        Major house building programmes
        Helped reduce unemployment drastically
      - Propaganda - praised workers, associated with Hitler
      - Schemes to provide cheap theatre and cinema tickets, courses, trips and sports events.
        Cut price cruises on luxury liners e.g. Wilhelm Gustloff, organised through the Strength Through Joy office (KDF)
        Schemes to provide
        KDF also was responsible for the production of an affordable car, the KDF-Wagen, later known as the Volkswagen Beetle. Scheme interrupted by war, no ordinary received one
      - Beauty of Labour Movement - Improved working conditions in factories, e.g. washing facilities, cheap canteens
    - - SPD - their main political party - was banned
      - Trade unions banned; strikes not allowed
      - All workers were forced to join the General Labour Front (DAF), run by Dr Robert Ley - kept strict control of workers
      - People's working week increased but wages lower in 1935 than in 1928.
      - Basic groceries (except fish) cost more in 1939 than in 1933
  - - - Reich Food Estate 1933
        Run by Richard Darre
        Central board to buy agricultural produce from farmers and distribute it to markets
        Gave peasants a guaranteed income
      - The Reich Entailed Farm Law - banks not allowed to seize farmers' lands if they could not repay loans or mortgages
    - - The Reich Food Estate held back efficient farmers
      - Banks were unwilling to lend farmers money because of the Reich Entailed Farm Law
      - Many farmers' children left the countryside to find better paid work in industry - resulted in rural depopulation of about 3% per year
  - - - Unemployment reduced to under 1 million by 1937; helped popular support for Nazis after 1933
      - National Labour Service provided work on public works projects and conservation programmes such as autobahns
      - Government expenditure funded economic recovery - most Germans happy to put up with Nazi government
      - Private business became prosperous - helped Nazis gain further support
      - Rearmament allowed munitions factories to open
        
        Preparation for war and Goering's Four Year Plan 1936
        
        Conscription reintroduced in 1935 allowed many unemployed to join armed forces
      - Increased national pride and many Germans felt Hitler was allowing Germany to emerge from the humiliation of defeat in the First World War and the Terms of the Treaty of Versailles
    - - Nazi propaganda was effective at maintaining support for the regime
      - SS and Gestapo used terror and conc. camps to remove political opposition
      - All parties banned under Enabling Act
      - Trade unions banned and leaders arrested
      - SA purged in NotLK
        
        Army support gained
        
        Army oath of loyalty to Hitler in 1934
      - Hindenburg death; Hitler President and Chancellor/Fuhrer
      - Use of DAF
      - Strength Through Joy to keep workers happy
      - Fear of losing job
      - Indoctrination of youth
      - Opposition small and underground
      - Hitler's foreign policy popular 1933-38
      - Concordat with Catholic Church 1933
- - - - Aryan superiority - blue eyes blond hair etc.
      - Inferiority of Jews/eastern Europeans/blacks/Gypsies
        
        Eastern Europeans lost their citizenship
      - Persecution of Jews
        
        Mein Kampf - Hitler outlined racial views, describing Jews as an inferior race and undermining German war effort
        
        Throughout Europe, Jews had experienced discrimination for hundreds of years. Anti-Semitism rife in Russia and Germany long before Nazism began
        
        Nazis used ill-feeling to blame Jews for many of Germany's woes, such as losing the First World War
        
        In Hitler's years of poverty in Vienna, he became obsessed by the fact that Jews ran many of the most successful businesses, particularly the large department stores. This offended his idea of the superiority of Aryans.
        
        Jews blamed by Nazi PGD for loss of WW1
        
        1933 - Jews were banned from the Civil Service and variety of public services, e.g. broadcsting/teaching
        
        SA and SS organised boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses marked with Star of David
        
        Nuremberg Laws 1935 - removed German citizenship from Jews; forbade Jews to marry or have sex with pure-blooded Germans
        
        PDG - anti-Semitic, encouraged ordinary Germans to be anti-Semitic
        
        Kristallnacht - November 1938 - Murder of a German diplomat by a Jew in Paris was used as an excuse to take violent revenge; SS smashed up Jewish shops and businesses, burned synagogues, murdered 91 Jews and sent 20k to conc. camps; thousands of Jews left Germany; a few Germans protested but were murdered
        
        Mass murder - 3 million Russian Jews and other EE Jews after invasion of USSR in 1941.
        Einsatzgruppen - special SS units - responsible for shooting them
        
        Death Camps - After the Wannsee Conference in 1942, Himmler in charge of Holocaust (the "Final Solution")
        Slave labour camps in Auschwits, Treblinka, Chelmo
        Old/sick/young people killed immediately
        Others used for slave labour or medical experiments
        Around 6 million Jews died from working to death, being shot, or gassed
        
        The Final Solution
        
        People to blame for the Genocide apart from Hitler
        
        Civil Service Bureaucracy - collected + stored info in Jews
        Police - many arrested by police not Gestapo/SS
        SS - Death's Head Units/Einsatzgruppen killings
        German Army/Wehrmacht - didn't stop although known to leaders
        Industry - VW/Mercedes used slave labour, chemical companies wanted contract to manufacture Cyclon B
        The German People - many anti-Semitic even if not believing in genocide; many ignored reality
        
        The "Final Solution" may have been planned from the start
        
        Hitler talked about extermination, but never made written orders
        
        He had a grudge against the Jews from his days in Vienna
        
        He regularly talked about the annihilation of the Jews
        
        Significance of WW2 in causing the Final Solution
        
        Significant
        
        German advances into Poland/Russia by 1941; in control of 5 million Jews in Eastern Europe
        
        Persecution more intense as done on Polish/Russian pop.
        
        Ghettos built in major Polish cities 1939-41; some used for slave labour for war effort; many died of starvation and disease
        
        Nazi anti-Semitism in EE led Nazis to racially cleanse for Lebensraum + Aryan settlement
        
        SS Einsatzgruppen carried out mas shootings Autumn 1941: estimated 1-1.5 million killed
        
        Wannsee Conference - Goering directed Heydrich to find Final Solution
        SS under Himmler put in charge of mass extermination of Jewish people in Europe under the cover of war
        Extermination camps, gas chambers created a factory killing process; aided by Germany industry
        
        Not as significant
        
        Hitler was already anti-Semitic since WW1 (Mein Kampf)
        Many Jews killed by SA, SS and others before Nazis came to power
        Nuremberg Laws 1935 reduced Jews to non-German status with no rights
        Jewish segregation in schools
        Nazi PGD and indoctrination led to violently anti-Semitic youth who would later help carry out Holocaust
        1938 Kristallnacht
        Widespread support for anti-Semitism
        
        Resistance
        
        Gad Beck - leader of Jewish resistance in Berlin, captured in 1945, rescued by the Red Army
        
        Jewish members of resistance organisations in occupied territories
        
        Jewish uprising in Warsaw ghetto in 1945, lasted 4 weeks
        
        Armed uprisings in some concentration camps
        
        Many non-Jews helped to hide Jews and smuggle them out of Germany, e.g. German industrialist Oskar Schindler, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenburg, and many ordinary low-profile people
      - Homosexuals threatened Nazi family life views
      - Mentally handicapped undermined "German Master Race"
        
        Sterilisation of people with a history of mental illness in their family (300,000 sterilisations 1934-45); 72k mentally ill patients gassed 1939-41 (until public backlash stopped this)
      - Communists accused of undermining WW1 efforts in Germany
      - Asocial people - alcoholics, homeless people, prostitutes, habitual criminals, beggars
    - - First camps were in disused factories/warehouses; by 1934 these camps became purpose built and were usually in isolated rural areas like Dachau near Munich
  - - - Led to little opposition for a long time - division of family unit, mutual mistrust
  - - - Spread anti-Hitler propaganda during war; 1944 was part of attack that killed a Gestapo officer. Some arrested and executed in public
    - - Student group led by Hans and Sophie Scholl in Munich
      - Executed 1943 for anti-Nazi activities
  - - - Martin Niemoller, theologian and Lutheran pastor, spent 1937-45 in a concentration camp
  - - - Other factors, e.g. propaganda, indoctrination, youth informers,
      - Lots of Nazi supporters in Germany - Hitler most popular by 1940 defeat of France
        
        Unemployment and other economic problems solved under Nazi rule
        
        Many citizens satisfied with authoritarian govt. and nationalist aims
        
        Gained support of workers through Strength Through Joy
- - - - Public works programme
        Recruitment for the armed forces
        Created millions of jobs
    - - Refused to pay reparations
      - Remilitarised Rhineland
      - Achieved the Anschluss with Austria
      - Made him popular for standing up for Germany
    - - Many Germans felt uncomfortable about his actions
    - - Needed SS/Gestapo/Concentration camps to keep control
      - Workers had no rights; had to join Nazi Labour Front; free trade unions banned; wages stayed low while working hours increased
  - - - Opponents killed/imprisoned
      - Scared into submission
      - Criticism done in private rather than public
      - Nazi's main opponents killed/exiled/put in prison
    - - Many Germans admired/trusted Hitler for his successes
      - Restoring German Economy
        
        Reduced unemployment through public works programme and rearmament programme
        
        Steered Germany to stability and prosperity
        Brought them national pride
      - Reinforcing traditional values
      - Clamping down on Communism
      - Reversing ToV
      - Willing to be ruled by terror and without political freedom in exchange for work, foreign policy success and strong government
    - - Fears that workers would lose jobs if expressed opposition
        Companies could lose business/go bankrupt if they didn't contribute to Nazi Party funds.
    - - Many did not find out about the bad things/ heard about them with a pro-Nazi bias
      - Maintained a positive image of Hitler - still widely respected as late as 1944
  - - - Enabling Laws - gave Hitler power to crush political opposition. All other parties banned
      - Gestapo - removed opposition, sent them to concentration camps.
        Few inmates left alive
        Spied on citizens - tapped telephones, intercepted mail, had informers
        Ordinary citizens too scared to speak out against the regime
      - Propaganda - only their message got put across
        Mass media - controlled, put forward Nazi/Hitler's views
    - - Some youth groups rejected Nazi ideas and in particular the activities of Hitler Youth
        
        Swing movement regarded as delinquents; dressed differently, favoured Jazz music
        
        Found it difficult to control Edelweiss pirates - totally rejected authority
      - Most remained outwardly loyal to Hitler during war
        However, increased opposition as war started to turn against the Nazis
        
        White Rose movement in Munich actively opposed Nazis
        
        July Plot of 1944 attempted to assassinate Hitler
      - Nazis were not in control of all citizens
        
        Kreisau Circle - organised secret meetings
        Discussed running Germany after Hitler's removal
        Members included aristocrats and army officers
        Prepared to risk lives to hold opposition meetings
- - - - Conscription age lowered to 17
      - Production focused on armaments
      - Speer and "total war"
      - Ended unemployment
      - Women to work
      - Conquered territories and labour initially improved economy
      - Rationing from 1939 - amount diminished later
      - More difficult after 1942
      - Blockade and shortages
      - Tighter security and censorship
      - SS role increased
      - Allied bombing/invasion meant civilian deaths - estimated at 3.5m by 1945
      - Resistance
      - Increased persecution
    - - Early victories celebrated
      - Major aspects (Hitler Yotuh, SS) carried on
      - Worker's rights already lost
      - Persecution carried on
      - Propaganda secure, disguised alter defeats
      - No major resistance to Nazi rule