germany

• hitlers death and the end of the third reich


  in the closing days of WW2 hitler was holed up in his underground bunker in Berlin as Soviet troops fought german soldiers, hitler and wife Eva Braun got married in he bunker and both committed suicide on the 30th of April 1945, Admiral Doenitz was appointed as his successor, on the 7th of May 1945 germany surrendered, ending the third reich
• the july bomb plot


  organised by von Stauffenberg, planned to plant a bomb near Hitler and then enact Operation Valkyrie in Berlin - a plan to control the country in the event of Hitler's death, plotters would convince the army that hitler had been assassinated by his own men, have them arrested, then install Dr Goerdeler as Chancellor and end the war with the Allies, a briefcase with a bomb was left under the map table were Hitler was studying war plans, he left the room to return to Berlin and the bomb went off, Hitler was slightly injured but not killed - couldn't enact Operation Valkyrie in Berlin, Stauffenberg was assassinated by firing squad July 21st 1944 and over 6,000 other suspected opponents were executed
• the white rose group


  secret group of students based at the university of Munich, they were appalled at the slaughter of german soldiers on the eastern front and the treatment of jews in occupied territories, led by Hans and Sophie Scholl - siblings, illegally printed and distributed a series of six leaflets warning the german people about the horrors of war and called them to stand up to the nazis, in 1934 while distributing the leaflets they were caught by a janitor who reported them to nazi authorities, after interrogation by the gestapo Sophie confessed, Sophie and hans were executed by guillotine the day they were sentenced
• Edelweiss Pirates


  rebellious teenage youth group that opposed nazi ideals, founded in 1937, rejected nazi culture and listened to jazz music which was forbidden, wrote anti-nazi graffiti and beat up members of hitler youth - saw them as too militaristic and organised their own hikes and camping trips in the countryside, their activities became more serious after the war - hid army deserters or escapees from the camps, sabotaged the war effort by derailing trains, in 1944 in cologne a group of pirates attempted to blow up a gestapo but were caught and punished with a group hanging
• the effects of allied bombing

  from 1942 the british and american air force targeted civilian areas of german cities for bombing which led to: great damage towards civilian morale, between march and july 1943, 43 german cities were bombed, in 1943 42,600 civilians were killed in night raids on hamburg and half the city was destroyed, around 1 million germans had to flee the city, in 1945 Dresden was targeted and 25,000 died, n total around 600,000 civilians lost their lives, the government set up welfare organisations to provide food and drink, and help find accommodation for those who lost their homes, allied raids o the ruhr alley in 1944 are thought to have reduced metal production by 40%, affected the transportation of war goods - railway lines were destroyed
• rationing


  rationing was introduced t the start of the war in 1939, bread, dairy, and meat products were rationed along with soap, civilians could only purchase these products with food stamps, as germany invaded and occupied other countries it was able to use their resources to help supplement ratios, as the war dragged on the government cut rations further, by 1942 meat rations ere halved to 40g per day, in the final months of war refugees fleeing the soviet advance moved into areas already suffering shortages which led to starvation, over 1 million german civilians died of hunger
• total war

  all resources and efforts would be used for winning the war, workers from occupied countries were brought to germany to work as slave labours, from 1943 men aged 16-65 and women aged 17-45 were conscripted to work, small non-essential businesses were shut down, weekends were banned and a 60 hour working week was imposed, places of entertainment except cinemas were closed, postal services were redued to save fuel, the volksstrum was set up to protect germany from invasion - was mostly made up of young teenage boys and old men
• the german home front: changing role of women

  nazi's believed that a womens place was in the home nd once married to give up work, however war meant and increased demand for workers workers which led to a reluctant change in policy, in 1941 women without children and previous experience of work were conscripted to work, by 1943 all women aged 17-45 had to register for work, women made up 60% of workforce by the end war, women suffered during the war psychologically - years with absent fathers, sons, and husbands, coping with shortages and bomb raids, at the end of the war soviet troops advanced into germany - thousands of women were raped and many committed suicide
• the final solution

  at the wannsee conference in 1942 leading nazis planned a ore efficient way of killing the millions of jews they controlled, extermination camps were built (many of them in poland) with the largest one in auschwitz, jews rounded up from ghettos were put in cattle trucks and told they were being re-settled, n arrival they went to selection and were put in two lines - one for those fit to work and those to be killed immediately this included mothers with young children and older people they were told to undress for a shower but were instead gassed to death, their bodies were taken from gas chambers to ovens and burned, those that were fit to work endured terrible conditions in the camps of harsh punishments, a starvation diet, and in some cases medical experiments - average life expectancy was 6 months
• death squads

  were known as Einsatzgruppen, a specialist division of the SS, operated on the countryside of the soviet union, tasked with rounding up and killing large numbers of jews, when germany invaded the soviet union in 1941 4 million jews lived in the region - didn't want to put them in ghettos, instead nazis wanted to kill them, einsatzgruppen followed the german army into occupied territories and shot 1.3 million soviet jews, jews were rounded up and taken to he outskirts of towns/villages and were forced to dig a large pit, undress, then stood at the edge to be be shot in the head and fall in, when the pit was full it was covered in dirt and the einsatsgruppen moved on to the next village, himmler was concerned that the killings were a waste of man power and had a psychological effect n the soldiers
• ghettos


  when germany invaded poland in 1939 over 2 million polish jews came under nazi control - they were forced to live in walled-off slum areas of major cities conditions were awful: nazis withheld food, medicine and fuel, starvation was common and sanitation was inadequate, in the Warsaw ghetto over 100,000 jews died in two years, from 1941 nazis started sending jews from germany to the ghettos in poland, from 1942 nazis started to close down the ghettos and jews were rounded up and sent to extermination camps
• beauty of labour

  aimed to improve workers conditions by providing hot meals, imrpoved facilities like toilets and showers, however, workers were working longer hours for less pay and were worse off than in 1933
• strength of joy

  aimed to create satisfied workers who would work harder, provided leisure activities such as subsided holidays and cruises, theatre tickets, sport events, and concerts - millions took part, by 1939, all activities included propaganda like political lectures - people got bored
• the labour front


  replaced trade unions in 1933, led by Dr Ley, its purpose was to control the workforce and encourage them to work hard for germany, wanted to control workers in he workplace and heir leisure time, created two organisations - strength through joy and beauty of labour
• the labour service

  set up in 1935, put (working class) men aged 18-25 to work, were given 6 months of employment on public work schemes or in the countryside, were sent to different parts of the country away from home, housed in barracks and given a uniform, many went on to be conscripted in the army
• policies to reduce unemployment and their impact

  managed to reduced unemployment from 6 million in 1933 to 300k by 1939: doubled spending on public work schemes like motorways and big projects, and public buildings - created jobs and reduced unemployment, rearmament created more jobs - hitler broke the TOV and increased the german army to 900,000 by 1938, factories started building tanks and planes that the TOV had forbidden, unemployed men ages 18-25 were conscripted to join the national labour service - worked on government projects for little pay, Schact's new plan in 1933 and Goerrings four year plan in 1936 both aimed to cut imports, the real numbers of hidden employment meant not everyone was counted - jews and married women didn't count, temporary workers were counted as permanent
• kristallnacht (night of the broken glass)

  1938 november 8-9: jewish businesses and synagogues were attacked and burned down in nights of violence organised by the government, 30,000 jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps
• nuremberg laws

  1935: jews were banned from serving in the army, banned from using public placed like cinemas and parks, aryans couldn't marry non-aryans, jews could not have sex with non-jews, jews lost their status as german citizens, in 1938 jews had to register their possessions with the government and could have them confiscated, they were forced to carry identity cards stamped with a 'J' for juden
• the treatment of jews

  hitler made it clear that he regarded jews as a threat by his speeches and book, he blamed them for germanys defeat in WW1, the economic depression and communism in 1933 the nazis organised a 1 day boycott of jewish shops where the SA stood outside jewish owned shops to deter customers, jews were also banned from government jobs
• nazi policies and treatment of jews

  he regarded the aryan "master race" and was superior to jews who were "sub-human", nazis wanted to remove groups who weren't "racially pure", from 1933 mentally and physically disabled children and adults were sterilised to stop them from "contaminating" future racial health, from 1939 disabled children and adults were euthanised until 1941 because of complaints from the catholic church, gypsies were rounded up and sent to concentration camps in 1938, prostitutes and criminals were steralised in large numbers because they were seen as 'asocials' who might pass their traits to future generations
• hitler and the catholic church


  in 1933 hitler signed the concordat with the roman catholic church, he promised not to interfere with the church and schools and the pope agreed to not interfere in politics, in 1936 hitler broke the agreement - crucifixes were removed in catholic schools and catholic youth groups were replaced or closed, some catholic priests spoke out - in 1941 galen criticised euthanasia of the disabled
• hitler and the protestant church


  nazis set up their own national reich church which was a collection os protestant churches, it combined symbols such as the swastika with christian symbols like the cross, banned the old testament because it was written by the jews, some protestant pastors formed their own confessional church and openly criticised nazi policies, in 1937: nazis arrested 700 pastors for disobeying government rules in their religious speeches,
• why did hitler oppose the church

  95% of germans were christians and the church was the largest non-nazi organisation, he wanted to remove christian influence but never fully succeeded in controlling the church
• nazi policies towards young people

  nazis wanted young people to become committed nazi followers, boys could join the hitler youth and learn how to become loyal nazi soldiers, military style activities like camping and mock battles were enjoyed, by 1938 there were 8 million members and membership was made compulsory, girls joined the league of german maidens where they learned how to become good housewives and support soldiers they had to follow traditional styles of hair and dress, 82% of children belonged to a nazi youth group.
• nazi policies towards women

  believed their role was to support their family and raise as many children as possible with nazi ideals, 'kinder, kuche, kirche', marriage loans were offered to start a family early, medals called the german mothers' cross were awarded to women with 5 (bronze), 6 (silver), or 8 (gold), contraception was banned, divorces were easier to obtain so women could re-marry quicker and have more children, weren't encouraged to work, those in professions like lawyers and doctors had to leave their jobs, married working women in professions were sacked
• nazi control of education

  the nazi education minister Rust said that "the purpose of education is to produce nazis", school curriculum changed - history textbooks had been re-written to tell the nazi version of events, more PE to make the population fitter, nazi party beliefs was introduced as a new subject, 'race studies' was taught so people believed in the superiority of the aryan race, girls were given lessons on how to be good housewives, teachers were sacked if they didn't join the nazi teachers league
• nazi control: propoganda

  goebbels was the minestry of propganda and was extremely effective at pushing nazi ideas, simple messages were often repeated, nazis controlled all media and culture and information, the film industry made over 100 movies a year - goebbels realised people had to be entertained so subtle propaganda messages were included in films - eg evil characters may be jewish, musicians, actors, and artists had to be members of the reich chamber of culture, mass rallies were used to promote their values - impressive and showed the strength of the regime
• nazi control: censorship

  nazis controlled the ideas that people were exposed to to prevent anti-nazi ideas from emerging, goebbels ensured that the media, culture and information germs received was the 'nazi' version, radios, books, films, and newspapers were censored so nazi approved content was allowed, cheap radios were designed so they designed so they could not pick up foreign radio programmes, books had to be pre-approved by goebbels, nazis held 'book burning' ceremonies where non-nazi books were destroyed, all media promoted the official nazi view: aryan superiority, germany regaining its strength, and the importance of traditional values
• the nazi police state

  germany became a totalitarian state (a country where the government controlled all aspects of life), SS led by himmler in 1925 was loyal to hitler - destroyed opposition, concentration camps were set up in 1933 to jail political opponents like socialists and communists, by 1939 1.3 million germans had spent time in camps, gestapo (secret police) was set up by Himmler in 1933 to spy on people - people became scared to talk openly, police and courts were controlled by the nazis and judges were loyal to hitler - opponents rarely received fair trials
• hitler as fuhrer


  August 1934: Hindenburg dies and Hitler merges the role of President with Chancellor making himself the fuhrer (leader), had total politicial control, hitler got the army to swear an oath of personal loyalty to him - army was happy to do this because he got rid of threat from the SA
• night of long knives


  1934: had established a dictatorship and got rid of opposition, began 'nazifying' certain parts of german society, hpwever hitler wasn't yet in complete control - could still be dismissed as chancellor by hindenburg, army leaders were concerned at the growth of the SA, Rohm wanted the SA to become the official german army, rohm had disagreed with some of hitlers actions since becoming chancellor, on the 30th of june, he and the SS organised the arrest and murder of over 400 SA leaders including Rohm several other high profile opponents were killed, consolidated hitlers power and made the army happier about his future position as their leader
• enabling act


  nazis got 43% of seats in the reichstag but needed 66% to pass an enabling act, this would give hitler the power to make laws without the reichstags consent for 4 years - made him a dictator, made a deal with the catholic centre party - agreed to support the enabling act if nazis didn't interfere with catholic schools and religion, 444 votes in favour and 94 against - only socialist democratic party politicians voted against the enabling act, used the enabling act to ban all other opposition like trade unions and other political parties and create a one-party state dictatorship
• the reichstag fire

  in 1933, a week before the march planned election the reichstag building was caught on fire, dutch communist van der lubbe was caught and confessed to setting the building on fire - unknown whether he was set up and the nazis deliberately caused the fire to blame the communists, hitler used the attack to declare a state of emergency and had communist leaders arrested
• role of von Papen, von Schleicher and von Hindenburg

  Hitler was chosen by Hindenburg as chancellor in 1933, leading politicians made a deal to try and control Hitler but the plan backfired: Hindenburg as president used article 48 to appoint and sack chancellors who he thought could deal with the economy and the threat of the Communists, in 1932 he appointed von Papen as chancellor - lasted until the next election and von schleicher was appointed in december 1932, hitler was eventually appointed chancellor after Hindenburg reluctantly agreed - von papen persuaded Hindenburg as vice chancellor he would be able to control Hitler - underestimated him
• the role of the SA

  led by ernst rohm, many SA members were ex freikorps, helped control crowds at nazi events and provided protection, beat up opponents at political meetings, by 1931 there were 3 million members, frequent fights between the police, communists, and nazis - hitler knew this disorder alarmed many middle class germans so he exploited this by presenting the SA as the guardians of order at a time of chaos
• nazi methods to win support

  propaganda - used simple easy to repeat messages that appealed to a wide audience like "work and bread", also focused on the threat of a communist takeover - increasing numbers of middle-class germans voted nazi, hitler was presented as a strong leader, appealed to a broad range of people - middle class germans who feared the growth of communist, received large donations from german businessmen to pay for their campaigning, hitler appealed to younger voters and his charisma attracted the votes of women, gained the support of farmers because they campaigned effectively in many rural areas
• impact of the great depression

  the stock market crashed leading to many countries suffering but germany was worst hit because it relied on the US for loans, US banks recalled their loans and many german businesses lost money and were forced to close down or lay off workers - lead to mass unemployment - by 1932 there were 6 million germans unemployed, people went hungry and homeless, bruning was chancellor and government cut unemployment benefits to save money and struggled to tackle the depression, political parties like the nazis that were anti-democracy gained more votes, by 1932 they were the largest party with 230 seats
• reorganisation of the nazi party

  during hitlers 9 months in jail, he wrote "Mien Kampf", hitler decided to out-vote political parties in the reichstag to gain power rather than a violent takeover, the structure of the nazi party changed: local branches of the NSDAP were set up throughout germany, the youth wing of the nazi party was formed in 1926 called the hitler youth, the SS were established as hitlers private body guard, joseph goebbels was put in charge of propaganda and rallies were organised to show the might of the party, y 1928 there were 100,000 members, SA were encouraged to tone down their violence to give the impression of order, however by 1928 nazi party only gained 20 seats in the reichstag
• effects of the munich putsch

  hitler used the publicity of the trial to argue the weimar republic's leaders were "november criminals" who betrayed germany, hitler was able to present himself as a spokesperson for right wing nationalists and impressed many, the judge was sympathetic to hitler and gave him a lenient sentence of 5 years for treason - he only served 9 months, was a disaster for the nazis but it gave hitler the opportunity to reorganise and take a different approach
• events of the munich putsch


  1923: on the 8th of november hitler hijacked a political meeting of nationalist politicians in a beer hall in munich, he was supported by General Ludendorff and 2,000 nazis who began taking over government buildings, the next day they marched through munich but were shot by armed police, 16 nazis were killed, hitler was arrested and put on trial in 1924 and pleaded guilty