section 4

• Hitler wanted to reduce the Church's power
• in the 1930s most Germans were Christian and the Church was very influential as during the Weimar republic the state and church had worked very close together. The church was also involved in national matters such as education.
• some prominent nazis were anti-christian and Nazi ideology disagreed with the role the church had traditionally had in society
• Hitler thought that religion should comply with the state and wanted churches to promote Nazi ideals. BUT Hitler had to be careful to maintain support of the catholic and protestant churches during his rise to power as they were so popular
• 1933 - concordat signed between the pope and Nazi government to agree that If Hitler stayed out of the catholic church the pope would do the same with Nazi politics.
• The catholic church was now banned from speaking out against the Nazi party , But Hitler soon broke his side of the deel.
• • the Nazi party wanted to restrict the catholic church's role in education.
• 1936 -> all crucifixes removed from schools
• 1939 -> Catholic education had been destroyed
• 1935 -> Nazis began arresting priests and putting them on trial
• catholic newspapers were suppressed and Catholic youth groups disbanded
• 1937 -> pope spoke out against Hitler in a letter to catholic Churches in Germany. They stance of the German church had changed, but many Germans were to scared to speak out.
• The Nazi party controlled the Protestant church
• the protestant church was reorganised and fell under Nazi control

  • when Hitler came to power there were 28 independent protestant churches and they were politically divided - some formed a group known as the 'German Christians'
• the 'German Christians' supported Hitler and favoured the Anit-semtic version of christianity
• the Nazis backed the German Christians and believed all churches should follow its principles.
• 1936 - all protestant churches were merged to form the Reich church
• the Reich church Nazified Christianity

  • cross replaced with a swastika
  • bible replaced with Mien Kamf
  • only Nazis could give sermons
• the political left opposed Hitler but it was divided and weak
• One in power the Nazis had banned other political parties including the KPD and the SPD. But their members formed underground groups and tried to organise industrial unrest. But these networks were often infiltrated with the Gestapo and party members were executed. Their impact was limited because different parties of the left were divided and did not cooperate.
• Martin Niemoller

  • was a protestant reformer, who was once a Nazi supporter
  • he objected to Nazi interference with the church
  • he was one of the founders of the confessing church
  • he issued a sermon in 1937 to protest against the persecution of the church members and as a result spent several years in a concentration camp
• The Edelweiss Pirates and Swing Kids were youth movements
• swing Kids

  • rebelled over the tight control the Nazis had over culture
  • and the acted in ways considered as 'degenerate'
  • drank alcohol
  • listened to American music
  • they were considered more of a nuisance rather than a real threat, but some members were arrested and even sent to concentration camps.
• Edelweiss pirates

  • rejected Nazi values and the Hitler Youth
  • they helped army deserters, forced labourers and escaped concentration camp prisoners
  • at first they were ignored, but many were arrested and hung after they began distributing anit-nazi leader Propaganda
• Women were expected to raise large families
• 1936 - women banned from being lawers
• women were expected to dress plainly and were discouraged from wearing makeup and smoking. At school girls studied subjects such as cookery .
• the German league of maidens

  • spread the Nazi idea that it was an honour to produce large families
  • awards given
  • financial aid given to married couples.
• 1933 - lots of jobs made after construction of Autobahns
• public works and Rearmament meant unemployment fell
• all men between the age of 18 and 23 could be recruited into the national labour service for a Job
• Hitler also bought in in military conscription and encouraged German industry to manufacture more ships, aircraft and weapons for the military
• although unemployment fell after the depression, the Nazis fiddled ith the statistics to make it look lower than it really was
• Many groups in society felt better of as the Nazis made efforts to maintain the support of German workers and made them feel important.
• strength through joy

  • a scheme which provided workers with cheap holidays and leisure activities
• beauty of labour

  • encouraged factory owners to improve working conditions
• volkswagen

  • 'the peoples car'
  • a luxury people could aspire to own
• but even though many people felt better of, workers and small business owners had lost out in some ways.

  • cost of living rose by 25%
  • workers did not have the right to strike or resign
  • high taxes
• youth movements helped produce committed Nazis
• 1926 - hitler youth was founded