IB HISTORY (Authoritarian States): Hitler

• Sophisticated propaganda


  especially surrounding controversial issues such as eugenics

  Eg. Famous propaganda film "Ich Klage An" (I accuse). Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1941. SS monitoring noted that 73% of the population agreed with the film's central message: the law should be changed to allow "mercy killing"
• Factors that induced compliance

  sophisticated propaganda, political terror, denunciations, relative lack of opposition
• Authoritarian control and the extent to which it was achieved

  Hitler's regime lasted just 12 years. It was destroyed by external factors, not internal disintegration. The degree of authoritarian control was profound.
• Legal methods of treatment of opposition

  Enabling act

  Law against the formation of new parties
• Methods of treatment of opposition

  Legal methods

  Terror

  Propaganda

  COMPLiANCE
• Active resistance in Nazi Germany

  Bomb plot of 1944

  White Rose group

  Kreisau Circle

  Edelweiss Pirates

  All of these had limited scope, scale and outcome
• Catholic intervention against sterilization programme

  1933

  intervention to try and overturn the verdict of the Reich Hereditary Health Court
• Removal of crucifixes from catholic classrooms

  1936

  District of Oldenburg, the local Nazi leadership attempted to subvert the agreement by removing crucifixes from catholic classrooms, yet they were soon replaced after protest
• Opposition in Nazi Germany

  concrete initiative to speak against the regime.

  Less common.

  Catholic intervention, speaking out

  1941 bishop publicly spoke out against euthanasia programme
• Dissent in Nazi Germany

  general complaining (working hours, wages, conditions) mundane non-political matters, jokes about hitler/other party members, refusal to salute.

  Widespread but not serious

  doesn't point to widespread opposition or active resistance.
• Extent of opposition


  Dissent, opposition, Active resistance
• Treatment of religious opposition

  Hitler was careful of his treatment of the Catholics because of agreement with the vatican and fear of loss of support

  The leader of the confessional church was arrested and imprisoned
• Agreement with the Vatican

  1933

  granted Catholics freedom of worship without molestation from the regime
• Opposition from religious groups


  From the most part we see compliance and muted opposition

  Catholic pressure against euthanasia and sterilization

  Bishop von Galen spoke out against the euthanasia programme in a sermon

  The confessional church was a more organised form of opposition

  Churches largely agreed with nazi views such as traditional family values and anti-communism
• Treatment of youth opposition

  Scholl siblings were caught and executed in 1943
• Youth opposition

  Usually on moral grounds or to demand more individual freedoms

  White Rose group by Hans and Sophie Scholl, moral opposition. They handed out fliers.

  Edelweiss Pirates, Swing Youth opposed authoritarian measures and the Hitler youth, they wanted to pursue freedoms that were restricted
• Treatment of military opposition

  leaders of the bomb plot were executed
• Military opposition


  Became more organized as ww2 progressed and officers became dissatisfied with hitler's leadership

  Kreisau Circle made up of high ranking military officers and members of the old aristocracy: July 1944 bomb plot
• Treatment of worker opposition

  Elimination of trade unions made opposition from workers difficult to organize
• Worker opposition

  NSBO election showed only 20% support for the nazis, workers could be seen as a hostile group

  low level resistance through strikes, refusal to salute and sabotage of factory machines
• Treatment of political opposition

  Their ability to coordinate was repressed by the law against the formation of new parties and violence against political opposition. they were imprisoned in concentration camps, the remaining hid from authorities and distributed leaflets as a form of opposition
• Political opposition

  Communists, Socialists
• Nature of opposition

  political, workers, religious groups, youth, military
• Assessing opposition in Nazi Germany

  difficult due to lack of source material (strict censorship)

  Plebiscite results: rigged and do not show attitudes towards nazism

  Diaries: too individualistic

  Memoirs: too much hindsight, can not tell us thoughts and opinions of the 30s

  Most reliable sources: SPD reports and NASDAP reports

  Reliability is compromised by who was spoken to and what the questions were

  Fear of punishment caused "tepid neutrality" among resistors
• Purpose of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

  to undermine France's attempts to surround germany with its allies

  meant Hitler would not have to worry about the Soviet Union as he invaded Poland and pursued war in Europe
• Nazi-Soviet pact

  23 August 1939
• Invasion of Poland

  1 September 1939

  Britain and France issued an ultimatum and later declared war
• Takeover of the Sudetenland


  1938

  thanks to the Munich conference of 1938, only example of appeasement as it was Chamberlain's initiative
• Anshluss

  1938

  Anschluss of Germany and Austria, majority of people voted for the union
• Anti-Comintern Pact

  25 november 1936

  Alliance between Germany, Italy, Japan
• Later foreign policy: steps to war

  1936-1939

  Sent troops to support Franco in the Spanish civil war

  Anti-comintern pact

  Anschluss

  Takeover of the Sudetenland (appeasement)

  Invasion of Poland

  Nazi-Soviet pact
• Remilitarization of the Rhineland

  1936

  in violation of versailles, little opposition from France or Britain

  Lack of response from France of Britain gave hitler to pursue more ambitious foreign policy
• rearmament of Germany

  from 1935 onwards in violation of versailles (army expanded and conscription reintroduced)
• Saar Plebiscite


  January 1935

  people voted to be part of Germany and not France: the saarland was returned to Germany
• withdrawal from the League of Nations

  october 1933
• Early foreign policy

  1933-1936

  Foreign policy achievements were aimed at overturning Versailles. His success in doing this improved his popularity

  Withdrawal from the league of nations

  The saar plebiscite

  Rearmament of Germany

  Remilitarization of the Rhineland
• debate surrounding hitler's foreign policy

  whether hitler was a master planner or an opportunist
• aim of foreign policy


  uniting the German people, overthrow of Versailles, pursuit of lebensraum

  evidence of success in these aims
• Consolidation and Maintenance of power: foreign policy

  Aggressive foreign policy which was ultimately the major cause of ww2

  Lack of response of early foreign policy from France and Britain gave hitler to pursue more ambitious foreign policy

  Later foreign policy sought to reinforce Hitler's position and expand German territory and influence.
• Consolidation and Maintenance of power: propaganda and censorship

  His image and words were used in propaganda to promote him and his message

  Ministry of propaganda was set up in 1933 with Goebbels in charge (but propaganda was also widely used before this, eg. Hitler over Germany)

  Outsiders were identified and negatively portrayed/discriminated against (jews, homosexuals...)

  Weekly newspaper used to spread nazi ideology and antisemitism

  Films were also used as propaganda (eg. the film "ich Klage an" to change views on mercy killing)

  All available media was used to spread nazi ideology and promote Hitler and the cult of personality (photography, books, music...)

  Censorship was widely used (book burnings)