Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-39

• What was agreed in the Concordat?

  Hitler promised not to interfere with the Catholic Church if the Church agreed to stay out of German politics.
• When was the Concordat agreed?

  July 1933
• How did Hitler break his half of the Concordat?

  • Started to restrict the Church's role in education
  • In 1936, all crucifixes were removed from school
  • By 1939, Catholic education had been destroyed
  • Started to arrest Catholic priests in 1935
  • Catholic newspapers were suppressed
• When did the Pope speak out against Hitler?

  1937
• When were all Protestant Churches merged? What did they form?

  1936, the Reich Church
• What did Hitler replace in the Church?

  • Cross with Nazi Swastika
  • Bible with Mein Kampf
• Who was Martin Niemöller?

  • Protestant pastor
  • Objected to Nazi interference in the Church
  • One of the founders of the Confessing Church
  • Used a sermon to protest against the persecution of Church members
  • Spent several years in concentration camps
• What was the Confessing Church?

  Protested against Hitler's attempt to unite the different Protestant Churches into one Reich Church
• Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

  • Protestant theologian and pastor
  • Opposed the Nazis
  • Member of Confessing Church
  • Helped Jewish people escape from Germany
  • Planned an assassination of Hitler
  • Executed weeks before the fall of the Nazis
• Who was Clemens August von Galen?

  • Catholic Bishop of Münster
  • Used his sermons to protest against Nazi racial policies and the 'euthanasia' of the disabled
  • Forced the Nazis to keep their doings secret
  • Nazis didn't execute him as they needed to maintain the support of German Catholics
• Who were the Edelweiss Pirates?

  Group of rebellious youths who rejected Nazi values and opposed the Hitler Youth. They helped army deserters, forced labourers and escaped concentration camp prisoners. They handed out anti-Nazi leaflets, which finally led to many members being arrested and several publicly hanged.
• Who were the Swing Kids?

  Groups of young people who rebelled against the tight control that the Nazis had over culture, acting in ways considered degenerate by the Nazi regime. For example: listening to American music and drinking alcohol. They were considered a nuisance not a threat. Some were arrested and sent to camps
• A shortage of workers after 1937 meant that women had to go back to work.
• Women were banned from being lawyers in 1936.
• What was the name of the League that spread the Nazi idea that it was an honour to produce large families?

  League of German Maidens
• What did he Law for the Encouragement of Marriage 1933 say?

  Gave loans to young couples to marry, provided the wife left her job. Couples were allowed to keep one quarter of the loan for each child born up to four.
• When were medals awarded to women with large families?

  12th August (Hitler's mother's birthday)
• How did the Nazis change the divorce law?

  Allowed divorce if the husband or wife could not have children
• What was the Lebensborn?

  Programme whereby specially chosen unmarried women could donate a baby to the Führer by becoming pregnant by racially pure SS men.
• What did the German Women's Enterprise do?

  Organised classes and radio talks on household topics and the skills of motherhood.
• What was university enrolment of women limited to?

  10 percent of the total entry
• What did the Sterilisation Law 1933 result in?

  320,000 being sterilised due to 'mental deficiency'
• What were the three K's?

  • Children
  • Kitchen
  • Church
• What was the Reich Labour Service?

  Scheme to provide young men with manual labour jobs. From 1935, it was compulsory for all men aged 18-25 to serve in the corps for 6 months. Workers lived in camps, wore uniforms, received very low pay and carried out military drill.
• How did the Nazis go about invisible unemployment?

  The official figures didn't include the following:

  • Jews dismissed from their jobs
  • Unmarried men under 25 who were pushed into National Labour schemes
  • Women dismissed from their jobs
  • Opponents of the Nazis put in concentration camps

  They also includes part-time workers as fully employed.
• How much did Hitler spend on job creation schemes?

  Billions
• How many men were involved in the autobahns construction?

  more than 125,000
• What did Hitler re-introduce in 1935?

  conscription
• How much did the army grow by?

  100,000 in 1933 to 1.4M in 1939
• Coal and chemicals doubled in the years 1933-1939. Oil, iron and steel trebled.
• What was the Strength Through Joy programme?

  • Sponsored a wide range of leisure and cultural trips
  • All were provided at a low cost, giving ordinary workers access to new activities
• What was Beauty of Labour?

  • Improved working conditions
  • Building of canteens, swimming pools and sports facilities
  • Better lighting in workplaces
  • Improved noise levels
• What was the Volkswagen scheme?

  Gave workers an opportunity to subscribe to 5 marks a week to a fund eventually allowing them to acquire a car.
• What was the problem with the Volkswagen scheme?

  It was a con trick, by the time that war broke out in 1939, not a single customer had been delivered a car. None of the money was refunded.
• How much did cost of living rise by?

  25%
• When did the Hitler Youth become compulsory?

  1936
• How many members were there by 1939? What did they think of it?

  7 million, they enjoyed the comradeship.
• Where were high achieving boys sent?

  Hitler Schools
• What was the female branch of the Hitler Youth?

  League of German Maidens
• How were schools 'nazified'?

  • Textbooks were rewritten
  • School teachers had to join the Nazi Teachers' League
  • 15% time was dedicated to PE
  • RE became optional
  • Lessons began and ended with saluting and saying 'Heil Hitler'
  • Maths problems dealt with social issues
  • History lessons taught the evils of communism and the severity of the TOV