Germany 1929-45 Cascade

Germany 1929-1945 [Revision Cascade]

This Cascade will give you points and ideas for writing an answer about any of the topics in the list. And, when it comes to revision, you can use it to test your memory of the points and ideas you might want to raise in the exam.

Click on the yellow arrows to reveal the paragraph points, and again to reveal ideas for developing the point.

I have given you five points for every topic but, in practical terms for the exam, you will probably get away with remembering three or four.

1. Nazi reorganisation 1924–28
- a. Merged with other right-wing parties
  - Hitler took over or merged with other Nationalist and right-wing groups, turning the Nazis into a national organisation; in 1925, the Nazi Party had 27,000 members; in 1928 it had 100,000
- b. Rich supporters in Germany and America
  - Hitler secured the help of rich backers in both Germany and America, by appealing to their fear of communism.
- c. Hitler Youth
  - Hitler set up the Hitler Youth (HJ) and BDM (Bund Deutscher Madel or League of German Girls), which gave young people fun, but taught them to love Hitler.
- d. Goebbels organised Nazi propaganda
  - Hitler put Josef Goebbels in charge of propaganda (e.g. posters and radio); the Nazis controlled the Volkischer Beobachter and Der Sturmer (which published scandals with a Nazi spin). .
- e. A modern organisation
  - Hitler made the Nazis appear a really modern organisation (e.g. he campaigned by plane).

2. Growth in Nazi support, 1929–32
- a. 1930s Depression
  - Alienated people and created angry young men who were prepared to adopt fascist ideas
- b. Financial backing
  - From financiers and industrialists such as Schacht and Krupp (and the American Ford) who wanted weak trade unions and feared communism
- c. Goebbels organised Nazi propaganda
  - Josef Goebbels was in charge of propaganda (e.g. posters, radio, Nuremberg rallies); the Nazis controlled the Volkischer Beobachter and Der Sturmer (which published scandals with a Nazi spin)
- d. Sturmabteilung
  - Attacks on other parties by the 60,000 SA not only frightened the Nazis’ opponents, but made voters want strong government and law and order .
- e. Hitler’s personal qualities
  - Hitler was a war-hero, well known because of Mein Kampf and the Munich Putsch, a brilliant speaker and a good organiser, motivated by driven self-belief; he travelled by plane (seemed modern)

3. Depression: impact on Germany
- a. Unemployment created anger
  - The Crash wrecked the economy – unemployment grew (from 2 million in 1928 to 6 million in 1932); many people blamed the government
- b. Bruning’s government, 1930–1932
  - Bruning’s government cut social benefits and public workers’ pay – there was social hardship and the government became unpopular
- c. Growth of Communism
  - Workers turned to Socialism – the number of Communists in the Reichstag grew (from 54 in 1928 to 101 in November 1932); but this frightened the middle class
- d. Hindenburg ruled by Article 48
  - Hindenburg was forced to rule by decree (Article 48) – a sign of the political chaos .
- e. Growth of the Nazi Party
  - The number of Nazi seats in the Reichstag rose (from 12 in 1928 to 230 in July 1932); the number of SA grew to 60,000

4. Failure to deal with the Depression
- a. Bruning
  - Bruning’s government (1930–1932) cut social benefits and public workers’ pay – there was social hardship and the government became unpopular
- b. Papen
  - Papen's government (Jun-Nov 1932) was called the 'cabinet of barons'; after riots and marshal law, he was defeated in a vote of confidence and had to resign
- c. Schleicher
  - Schleicher (Nov 1932) set up a huge public works programme, but he was hated by his Cabinet and unable to form a 'cross-front' of support in the Reichstag; in Jan 1933 he resigned
- d. Hindenburg
  - Hindenburg was forced to rule by decree (Article 48) – a sign of the political chaos .
- e. Hindenburg and Papen
  - Hindenburg and Papen foolishly invited Hitler to join the coalition government in 1933

5. Hitler became Chancellor: causes
- a. 1930s Depression
  - Alienated people and created angry young men who were prepared to adopt fascist ideas
- b. Weaknesses of the Weimar government
  - The historian AJP Taylor blamed the Weimar politicians – weak, selfish and uncommitted to democracy – more than anything else for the rise of Hitler
- c. Strong party organisation
  - Gave Hitler the finance and the platform for his bid for power
- d. The elections of 1930 and 1932
  - Did not give the Nazis a majority, but made them the largest party .
- e. Hindenburg and Papen
  - Hindenburg and Papen foolishly invited Hitler to join the coalition government in 1933

6. Hitler became Chancellor: events
- a. Bruning’s government, 1930–1932
  - Bruning’s government cut social benefits and public workers’ pay – there was social hardship and the government became unpopular
- b. Period of unstable government, 1932–33
  - Political disagreements over the crisis led to short, unstable, powerless governments (Bruning → Papen → Schleicher in 1932)
- c. Nazi electoral success, Jul & Nov 1932
  - The number of Nazi seats in the Reichstag rose (from 12 in 1928 to 230 in July 1932), though it fell back slightly to 196 in November 1932
- d. Papen’s offer to Hitler, 4 Jan 1933
  - On 4 January 1933, Franz von Papen offered Hitler the post of Vice Chancellor in a coalition government led by Papen; Hitler demanded to be Chancellor .
- e. Hitler becomes Chancellor, 30 Jan 1933
  - On 30 January 1933, Papen and Hindenburg agreed: Papen became Vice Chancellor – Hindenburg and Papen thought they could ‘box in’ Hitler

7. The coalition government, 1933: facts
- a. Papen became Vice Chancellor
  - Papen thought that through his allies in the Cabinet he would be the real power in the government – decisions were taken by a majority vote
- b. Hugenberg became Economic Minister
  - Papen’s DNVP ally Alfred Hugenberg was Economic Minister AND Minister of Agriculture
- c. The Cabinet was anti-Nazi
  - Of Hitler’s 10 Cabinet members, 6 had been in Papen’s ‘Cabinet of Barons’ (1932) and 2 more were from Papen’s allies the DNVP
- d. Frick and Goering
  - The Nazis only had two of the ten Cabinet seats – Wilhelm Frick Minister of the Interior, and Hermann Goering, Speaker of the Reichstag .
- e. Plans to ‘box in’ Hitler
  - Hindenburg and Papen thought by controlling the Cabinet they could ‘box in’ Hitler, whilst using his Nazi deputies to give them a majority in the Reichstag

8. Consolidating power: facts
- a. Reichstag Fire, 27 Feb 1933
  - Hitler used this as an opportunity to take emergency powers and arrest his Communist opponents
- b. General Election, 5 Mar 1933
  - Although only 44% voted Nazi, by arresting some deputies and terrorising others, Hitler was able to get a majority in the Reichstag
- c. Enabling Act, 23 Mar 1933
  - The Enabling Act gave the Cabinet the right to make laws and overrule the Constitution
- d. Elimination of opposition, 1933–34
  - A series of acts destroyed opposition – in the trade unions, other political parties and in the Nazi Party (‘Night of the Long Knives’) .
- e. Death of Hindenburg, Aug 1934
  - Hindenburg died and Hitler declared himself Fuhrer; the army swore an oath of allegiance to him, and a plebiscite gave Hitler a 90% approval

9. The Reichstag Fire, 27 Feb 1933: facts
- a. Van der Lubbe
  - A Dutch Communist was captured in the Reichstag with petrol, rags and matches – he was executed in 1934
- b. Leipzig Trial, Dec 1933
  - Held in Germany, it found der Lubbe guilty, but found the Communists accused with him NOT guilty
- c. Sefton Delmar
  - Delmar was a Daily Express journalist who happened to be with Hitler when he learned of the fire; he said Hitler was surprised, and immediately blamed the communists
- d. Paris counter-trial, 1934
  - Hitler’s opponents claimed the Nazis started the fire; in Paris, Communists held a counter-trial which produced a (forged) confession from an SA leader, Karl Ernst .
- e. Franz Halder
  - One of Hitler’s generals, at the Nuremberg trials after the war, claimed that in 1942 Goering had said he had started the fire; Goering denied this

10. The Reichstag Fire: results
- a. Reichstag Fire Decree
  - Abolished civil rights and allowed the Nazis to ban anti-Nazi leaflets
- b. Communists arrested
  - Hitler arrested thousands of Communists and prevented them voting in the march 1933 election
- c. Nazi propaganda of a Communist coup
  - Nazi propaganda terrified people that the Communists were about to take over, and of the need to vote Nazi in the March 1933 election
- d. General Election, 5 Mar 1933
  - By creating fear of a Communist coup, the Nazis were able to get 44 % of the vote in the March election, which (with the support of the DNVP) gave Hitler a majority in the Reichstag .
- e. People's Courts, Apr 1934
  - Hitler was furious with the Leipzig Trial – he introduced Volksgerichtshof ('People’s Courts’) with Nazi judges who gave the ‘right’ verdict

11. The Enabling Act, 23 Mar 1933: events
- a. General Election, 5 Mar 1933
  - Although only 44% voted Nazi, the Nazis were supported by the DNVP, giving Hitler 340 votes – he needed a two-thirds majority (432)
- b. Opponents arrested
  - Under the Reichstag Fire Decree, Hitler was able to arrest all the communist and some SDP deputies
- c. Catholic Centre Party's support
  - Hitler got the support of the Catholic Centre Party (73 votes) by promising its leader, Ludwig Kaas, protection for the Catholic religion and schools
- d. Intimidation by the SA
  - On the day of the vote, thousands of Nazi SA intimidated deputies as they entered the Chamber .
- e. Passed 444 to 94
  - Only 94 (SDP) deputies voted against the abolition of democracy in Germany

12. The Enabling Act: effects
- a. Hitler became legal dictator
  - The Act gave Hitler the right to make laws, break the constitution and ignore the President – it made him the legal dictator of Germany
- b. The Reichstag lost power
  - The Reichstag rarely met again, except to listen to Hitler’s speeches at key moments (such as the outbreak of war)
- c. German democracy was destroyed
  - The Weimar Republic, set up in 1919, came to end
- d. German elections
  - Future elections (Nov 1933, 1936 and 1938) simply asked voters to approve a list of Nazi Party candidates .
- e. Gleichschaltung
  - Gleichschaltung means ‘bringing into line’ – Hitler was able to use his powers to abolish all opposition, 1933-34

13. Nazi rule facts
- a. 42 Gauleiters
  - Germany was divided into 42 Gaus, each with a Nazi Gauleiter with the power to make laws
- b. Control of the police
  - The police were put under the control of Himmler
- c. Blockleiters
  - Each street and block of flats had a Blockleiter who reported ‘grumblers’ to the police
- d. People's Courts, Apr 1934
  - Volksgerichtshof (People’s Courts’) were set up with Nazi judges who gave the ‘right’ verdict .
- e. Volksgemeinschaft
  - The Nazis believed in ‘national community’ and encouraged community, charity and obedience; informers enthusiastically reported troublemakers to the Gestapo

14. Eliminating opposition: events
- a. Hitler set up the Gestapo, 26 Apr 1933
  - The Gestapo (State Secret Police) was formed under Heydrich; opposition groups like the Reichsbanner (SDP terrorists) were hunted down and destroyed
- b. Trade unions were banned, 2 May 1933
  - Trade unions were given May day as a holiday … and banned; their offices were raided, their leaders arrested and their funds confiscated
- c. Law against the Formation of Parties, 14 Jul 1933
  - All political parties except the Nazis were banned
- d. Night of the Long Knives, 30 Jun 1934
  - Codeword ‘Hummingbird’ – Hitler ordered the SS to kill more than 400 SA men .
- e. Hitler became Fuhrer, Aug 1934
  - Hindenburg died and Hitler declared himself Fuhrer; the army swore an oath of allegiance to him, and a plebiscite gave Hitler a 90% approval

15. Night of the Long Knives: causes
- a. A rebellious organisation
  - A million SA – formed to rebel and destabilise the government – were an embarrassment now Hitler was in power
- b. Rohm wanted a Socialist revolution
  - Rohm, the SA leader, wanted a socialist revolution; Hitler’s rich backers wanted a Fascist state
- c. Rohm wanted to control the Army
  - Rohm wanted control of the army; the generals wanted rid of him – Hitler chose the army
- d. Rohm was homosexual
  - Rohm and many SA were homosexuals; this contrasted with the traditional, ‘family’ morality Hitler wanted to encourage .
- e. Codeword ‘Hummingbird’
  - Codeword ‘Hummingbird’ – Hitler ordered the SS to kill more than 400 SA men

16. Nazi police state: facts
- a. Gestapo, 26 Apr 1933
  - The Gestapo (State Secret Police) was formed under Heydrich; informers enthusiastically reported troublemakers to the Gestapo
- b. 200,000 SS
  - Led by Himmler, the SS hunted down opponents and ran the concentration camps
- c. Concentration camps for opponents
  - Jews, Communists, gypsies, homosexuals, alcoholics and prostitutes were sent there for e.g. anti-Nazi graffiti, owning a banned book, saying business was bad
- d. Blockleiters
  - Each street and block of flats had a Blockleiter who reported ‘grumblers’ to the police .
- e. ‘Speak through a flower’
  - Germans learned Durch [die] Blume reden (‘speak through a flower’); parents feared their children would report them to the Gestapo

17. Censorship and propaganda: facts
- a. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda
  - Set up under Joseph Goebbels, it spread Nazi beliefs like Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community); newspapers were heavily censored
- b. Volksempfanger
  - Radio – every family was given a cheap Volksempfanger (‘people’s receivers’)
- c. Reich Chamber of Culture
  - Reich Chamber of Culture – ‘decadent’ art was stopped (book-burnings, jazz banned)
- d. Triumph of the Will
  - Films were produced – e.g. Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl (the 1934 Nuremburg rally) and Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew, 1940) .
- e. Olympic Games, Aug 1936
  - The August 1936 Olympic Games showcased Nazi achievements

18. Persecution of the Churches: facts
- a. Concordat with the Pope, 20 Jul 1933
  - Hitler agreed to leave the Catholic Church alone if it stayed out of politics
- b. Bishop von Galen of Munster
  - Bishop von Galen of Munster opposed euthanasia of the mentally ill; Hitler stopped it
- c. ‘'With Burning Concern’, 1937
  - The Pope issued the Encyclical ‘With Burning Concern’ against Nazism; priests and nuns were arrested
- d. Niemoller’s Confessional Church
  - Niemoller’s Confessional Church opposed Nazism; he was sent to a concentration camp .
- e. Reich Church
  - Hitler formed the Reich Church (old Aryan mythology) as an alternative religion

19. Opponents of the Nazis
- a. Reichsbanner, 1933
  - Reichsbanner (paramilitary wing of the SDP) – hunted down and destroyed in 1933
- b. Warsaw Ghetto, 1943
  - Some Jews fought back (e.g. Bielski brothers in Belarus; Warsaw ghetto uprising 1943)
- c. ‘'Swing’ groups, 1944–45
  - ‘Swing’ groups such as the Edelweiss Pirates – 12 youths arrested and hanged in Cologne, 1944
- d. Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, 1944
  - White Rose group (Munich students) led by Sophie Scholl – guillotined in 1944 .
- e. Claus Stauffenberg and the Beck Group, 1944
  - Beck group (army) attempted the 1944 bomb plot (led by Claus Stauffenberg) – all executed.

20. Jewish persecution: causes
- a. Long history of Anti-Semitism
  - There was a long history of anti-Semitism in Germany
- b. Gegenrasse theories
  - Nazi race theories led them to regard ‘lesser races’ as Untermenschen; Jews were held to be even worse – a Gegenrasse (an anti-race)
- c. Hitler blamed the Jews
  - Hitler blamed the Jews for all Germany’s problems
- d. Boycott of Jewish businesses, 1933
  - Many Germans hated Jewish businessmen for their success; the Nazi persecution started with a boycott of Jewish businesses .
- e. Juden sind hier unerwuenscht, 1935
  - The Nazis encouraged ordinary Germans to indulge their anti-Semitism; ‘Jews not wanted here’ signs were put up around Germany

21. Jewish persecution: facts
- a. Nuremberg Laws, Sep 1935
  - Law for Protection of German Blood forbade Germans to marry Jews; other Nuremberg Laws forbade Jews to vote, to be lawyers, own a bicycle, go out at night
- b. Kristallnacht, 8–9 Nov 1938
  - Kristallnacht – Jewish businesses, synagogues and homes were destroyed; many male Jews were killed or put in concentration camps
- c. Ghettoes, 1939 onwards
  - Jews were forced to live in ghettoes
- d. Einsatzgruppen, 1940–1941
  - Einsatzgruppen (1 million Jews were killed by shooting and executions) .
- e. Wannsee Conference, 20 Jan 1942
  - The Wannsee Conference was held which proposed the ‘Final Solution’ – death camps (Auschwitz), gassing, medical experiments

22. Other persecuted groups
- a. Untermenschen
  - The Nazi regime despised some people as socially or racially Untermensch (subhuman) – whom it called the 'germs of destruction'
- b. Gypsies
  - Gypsies were sent to extermination camps with the Jews – 85% of Germany's gypsies were killed
- c. Black people
  - Black people were sterilized and killed
- d. The physically or mentally disabled
  - The physically or mentally disabled, deaf people, and people with a hereditary illness were sterilised (and put to death before Bishop Galen’s campaign) .
- e. ‘'Undesirables’
  - ‘Undesirables’ (homosexuals, prostitutes, mentally ill) were sent to concentration camps

23. Control of education: facts
- a. Indoctrination
  - Indoctrination to create ‘Nazi’ people – e.g. Hitler: ‘Your child belongs to us already’; 97% teachers were in the Nazi Teachers’ League
- b. Nazi ideas
  - The work reinforced Nazi ideas (e.g. maths questions about the cost of the mentally ill, science taught Aryan superiority)
- c. Order Castles
  - There was an emphasis on PE; pupils good at sport went to Adolf Hitler schools, and the best to ‘Order Castles’, where they were trained to be soldiers
- d. Kinder, Kuche, Kirche
  - Girls’ education focussed on the three Ks – children, cooker, church – and become a mother .
- e. Anti-Semitism
  - Young pupils read anti-Semitic books such as the Poisonous Mushroom; Jewish children from the class used as examples that Jews were Untermenschen

24. Nazi boys facts
- a. Hitler Jugend
  - Range of youth groups – boys 6-10 went to the Little Fellows, boys 10-14 went to the Young Folk
- b. Youth Law, 1936
  - The Youth Law (1936) made the HJ (Hitler Youth) compulsory – it had 5 million members
- c. Military activities
  - ‘Military’ activities (uniforms, camps, marches, war games) to train boys for the army and to love Hitler
- d. Volkssturm
  - In 1945 Goebbels organised the Volkssturm (a German Home Defence Force) for teenagers and old men for a last defence of Berlin .
- e. Edelweiss Pirates
  - Towards 1945, youth gangs such as the Edelweiss Pirates rejected Nazi youth culture, drinking and dancing to American jazz and 'swing' music

25. Nazi girls facts
- a. Bund Deutscher Madel
  - Range of youth groups – girls 10-14 went to the Young Girls
- b. Lebensborn
  - ‘Aryan’ girls were sent to have babies to SS officers in special camps; Aryan-looking children were kidnapped and given to German families for adoption
- c. Preparation for motherhood
  - Activities to learn to be good mothers (cooking, chores) and keep fit for childbirth
- d. Community work
  - BDM girls took part in community service, and during the war collected money, knitted socks, visited wounded soldiers etc. Before starting work, many did a 'Land Girl Year' working on a farm .
- e. Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, 1944
  - Not all German girls accepted Nazi ideals (e.g. Sophie Scholl)

26. Nazi women: facts
- a. Job discrimination
  - Not equal to men – banned from jury service, ‘encouraged’ to resign jobs for men; they were not allowed to serve in the armed forces – even during the war
- b. Kinder, Kuche, Kirche
  - Emphasis on ‘family’: 3Ks – children, cooker, church
- c. Law for the Encouragement of Marriage, 1933
  - The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933: loans for newly-weds and families with children); Mother Cross (for having eight children)
- d. German Women’s Enterprise
  - German Women’s Enterprise trained women to be good wives and mothers .
- e. Plain peasant fashions
  - Women were banned from smoking, and encouraged to be plain (flat heels, plaited hair, no make-up)

27. Economic policy: features
- a. Autarky failed, 1936
  - The 4-Year Plan, first under Schacht, then Goering, tried to achieve autarky (self-sufficiency) – it failed
- b. Full employment
  - Full employment – on public works (autobahns, housing), on rearmament, on conscription (army, National Labour Service), and because Jews were sacked
- c. Rearmament
  - Schacht invented Mefo bills (a way of paying for rearmament without borrowing); the government bought 12 billion Reichsmarks’ worth of rearmament
- d. National Labour Service
  - National Labour Service – compulsory work camps for young men (e.g. environmental work) .
- e. Failure and crisis
  - Promises (e.g. rebuilding Berlin, ‘Volkswagen’) never happened and the public works and rearmament programmes created inflation and the 1939 economic crisis

28. Standard of living
- a. Nazi Party members benefited
  - Nazi Party members got the best jobs, best houses and special privileges; businessmen who joined the Nazi Party got government orders
- b. KdF and SdA
  - Kraft durch Freude (‘strength through joy’) offered such as picnics, theatre trips, holidays; Schonheit der Arbeit (Beauty of Work) taught workers to be proud
- c. DAF
  - Trade unions and strikes were illegal – under the DAF (German Labour Front), conditions and hours worsened, wages fell
- d. Better health
  - Smoking was discouraged and there was screening for breast cancer .
- e. Failed promises
  - Promises of hospitals, swimming baths, rebuilding Berlin, and the ‘Volkswagen’ never materialised

29. Germany in the Second World War
- a. Victory and defeat
  - Initial successes (controlled all Europe), but slide to defeat after Stalingrad (1943)
- b. Speer and the War economy
  - Economy geared up to war production; Speer became Minister of Armaments
- c. Slave labour
  - Use of slave labour (Jews, Slavs etc.) and prisoners of war
- d. Technological developments
  - German inventiveness was applied to military – nerve gas, rocket (first manned rocket flight, 1945), microwave ovens, missile guidance systems, ejection seat, atomic research .
- e. Economic disaster
  - The long war wrecked the German economy

30. Life in Germany in the Second World War
- a. Hardship and suffering
  - Hardship – food rationing (1939) and food shortages after 1942, no post, clubs closed, fear, grief and mourning for dead
- b. Bombing
  - Bombing (e.g. Dresden 1945) led to housing shortage and millions of refugees – led to loss of morale
- c. Patriotism
  - Patriotism – e.g. women donated fur coats for the Eastern Front
- d. Propaganda
  - Propaganda and increased repression; ghettoes and the Holocaust .
- e. Women were conscripted into war work
  - Women were never allowed to join the armed forces, but were conscripted to war work (1942)