nazi germany history

• Reichstag fire

  February 1933

  reichstag building burnt down and hitler used this to blame communists and had 4000 communist party members arrested

  Hitler persuaded Hinderberg to declare a state of emergency so he could use article 48
• how did the election in march 1933 increase nazi votes

  as hitler was chancellor he

  imprisoned his opponents and burnt their newspapers,

  ordered police to ignore SA who were arresting and attacking communists

  banned communists, taking their 81 seats

  Nazi Party increased to 288 seats which was a 2/3 majority so they could bypass constitution
• the enabling act 1933

  banned all parties but the Nazi Party, and smashed offices of opposing parties

  allowed hitler to make decisions without Reichstags approval,

  banned communists from voting.

  abolished local government
• why did the enabling act ban trade unions

  seen as too strong as they could cause strikes like they did for the kapp putsch.

  also banned strikes
• why did hitler cause the Night of Long Knives (1934)

  Ernest Rohm was still in charge of the 3million SA who could of been a big threat as they were mostly loyal to him, not Hitler
• what happened during the Night of the Long Knives (1934)

  hitler arranged to meet with rohm and 100 SA leaders, who were all arrested shot and killed

  there wasn't much opposition to the events as most were glad the hatred, violent SA had been taken down
• what were the SS

  240,000 men of hitlers loyal, private army,

  brutal as they would kill and arrest people without any reason,

  had to be 'perfect' aryan men who would marry pure women to have pure racial children
• what were the SD

  led by Heydrich

  monitor and kept files on opposing parties and spied on them
• what were the Gestapo

  led by Heydrich

  listened to conversations and arrested anyone opposing the nazis and would use tortue methods in confessions,

  most feared and nobody knew who they were.
• What were concentration camps?

  Prison camps used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany.

  conditions were inhuman and inmates were beaten and not fed properly, so often died of wounds or starvation
• Who were the main targets of concentration camps?

  People who opposed Nazis, homosexuals, minority groups such as Jews, and communists.
• how did Hitler control the courts

  all judges had to be nazis and no jury so nazis were in charge,

  judges were told that the nazis rules were more important than the law
• why were the christian church a threat to hitler

  95% of germans were christians

  christianity taught peace while the nazis were violent
• why were the Catholic Church a threat to hitler

  catholics owed their first allegiance to the pope not hitler,

  catholic schools taught different values than the nazis state schools
• what did hitler do to stop the threat of the catholic church

  drew up an agreement with the pope to allow catholics to worship freely and keep their schools

  but hitler didn't keep his promise as priests were arrested, schools closed and banned catholic youth groups
• Reich Church

  protestants who worked with the Nazis as they thought Hitler would protect them from the atheist communists

  allowed to continue giving services if the pastors supported the nazis
• Pastors Emergency League

  campaigns and vocal in opposing nazi views

  however this got 800 pastors arrested and sent to concentration camps so they had to help in secret
• hitler youth group ( to the hitler youth group )

  way of nazi controlling young people

  taught about the injustice of the treaty of versailles and how jews were trying to take over the world

  trained children how to use military weapons and made them swear and oath of loyalty

  membership was compulsory and there were over 7 million members
• youth opposition groups

  Edelweiss Pirates and Swing Youth
• Edelweiss Pirates

  working class youths who hated the military discipline of the hitler youth and lack of freedom that the nazis allowed

  taunt of beat up hitler youth members and mocked hitler
• Swing Youth

  Middle-class youths who listened to illegal imported music and danced forbidden dances.

  smoked and drank against the rules for young people

  punished harshly by being sent to concentration camps
• where the youth opposition groups effective

  not effective as their numbers were very few compared to the youth group and as they were not organised they never were a threat to the Nazi Party
• why did the nazis want to encourage childbirth

  birth rates were falling due to the more freedom women had got, which concerned the nazis as fewer children meant fewer German workers and soldiers later on
• Law for the Encouragement of Marriage

  Newly married Germans were given a loan of 1000 marks, if the women quit work

  For every child they had 25% of the loans were paid off, so if a women had 4 children the loan would be completely paid off
• Divorce laws

  if a women couldn't or didn't want to have children, or had an abortion, this could be used by the husband as grounds for divorce
• Mothers Cross

  a medal given to women for the amount of children they had

  4 for bronze, 6 for silver, 8 for gold.

  hitler youth members saluted those with gold

  mothers had to name their 10th child Adolf if it was a boy
• Lebensborn

  Places where pure German women have the job of making pure German babies with SS men

  only gave support and aid to women who had children with SS men as it would create 'genetically pure' children
• nazi opinions of women in employment

  worked to reduce the numbers of women in employment, as they believed a women's place was in the home, raising a family

  propaganda showed women as wives and mothers and speeches encouraged women to become housewives
• how did nazis stop women from working

  banned them from professional posts as teachers, doctors and civil servants, then as judges, lawyers or doing jury work

  360,000 women had given up work

  schoolgirls were trained for motherhood, not work and grammar schools for girls were banned
• nazis view on a womens appearance

  nazis never forced women to look a certain way but propaganda encouraged women to wear modest clothes, with their hair tied back and not to wear makeup
• What were the Nazi youth groups for boys focused on?

  Teaching boys to fight, obey orders, and become strong, healthy soldiers fiercely loyal to Hitler.
• What oath did members of Nazi youth groups have to swear?

  An oath of loyalty to Hitler and a commitment to report anyone disloyal to the Nazis, even their own parents, friends, and teachers.
• nazi youth groups for girls

  sporting and camping activities like the boys but were less physically challenging

  learnt domestic science where they were taught to cook, take care of as baby and give first aid
• education under the nazis for women

  lessons on racial hygiene to encourage women to chose a suitable husband, ideally an aryan with blond hair and blue eyes.

  learnt domestic science to become better housewives
• how the nazis changed education

  PE time was doubled to make stronger soldiers and healthy mothers

  all textbooks had to be approved by nazis and history books explained how the treaty of versailles was a 'stab in the back' and that jews were evil
• invisible unemployment

  under the nazis, unemployment fell from 45-2%, however these new numbers didn't include

  jews dismissed from their jobs

  women dismissed or who gave up their jobs

  opponents to nazis who were put in concentration camps
• rearmament

  hitler was determined to build up the armed forces so he re-introduced conscription (having to join the army), so the army grew from 100,000 - 1,400,000. a job for many more men

  billions were spent producing tanks, aircraft and ships, which would also give people more jobs
• reich labour service

  a scheme to provide young men with manual labour jobs, which was compulsory for all men for six months and the pay was very low

  gave men a job for six months
• job creation schemes

  introduced a massive road building program to provide Germany with 7000km of motorway, which he believed would enable troops to move rapidly in the event of war

  125,000 men had jobs to build the road