Download ULTIMATE LIST OF QUESTIONS – NAZI GERMANY

ULTIMATE LIST OF ANSWERS – NAZI GERMANY
Use these answers with the Ultimate list of questions to make sure you know
everything you need to know for the Nazi Germany exam!
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
1.) 1918. Germany had to accept full blame for WW1, could not re-arm and
had to accept war reparations equivalent to £6,600 million.
2.) President – Chancellor – Reichstag (German parliament) – people.
3.) Said that in an emergency the President could make laws without the
Reichstag.
4.) Poltical parties were allocated seats in line with the number of votes
received.
5.) A belief held by many Germans that at the end of WW1 they had not really
lost but had been betrayed by their own leaders, namely the Weimar
republic.
6.) Groups of ex-soldiers who continued serving despite not being paid in
attempt to help Germany through its troubled times.
7.) A group of Communists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht who
attempted to turn a worker’s protest in January 1919 into a revolution.
They captured the government controlled newspaper and telegraph HQs
but were eventually beaten and killed by the amry and Friekorp units.
8.) 1920: A group of workers, led by Communists who were angry about pay
and working conditions. They occupied the Ruhr region of Germany and
took over its raw materials but were beaten by the German army and
Friekorps/.
9.) 1920, Friekorps leader Wolfgang Kapp unsuccessfully tried to seize
control from the Weimar government in Berlin. Workers in Berlin refused
to accept this and went on strike, causing Kapp to flee.
10.) 1923, Hitler and the Nazis first attempt to take power in Germany by
capturing the government with their SA troops in Munich. Beaten by the
police and the army following which Hitler was sent to prison.
11.) The French occupation of the Ruhr, hyperinflation and the Munich
Putsch.
12.) Chancellor of Germany in 1923.
13.) Convinced striking workers in the Ruhr to return to their jobs,
introduced a new currency called the Rentenmark (1 rentenmark replaced
1000 billion marks), and got Germany financial aid from overseas by coorganising…
14.) The Dawes plan was proposed by American banker Charles Dawed in
1924. It gave economic relief to Germany by giving them a huge loan from
America.
15.) Artists and film directors whose work typified the divided nature pf
Weimar society in the late 1920s: half decadent and indulgent, half poor
and resentful.
HITLER’S RISE TO POWER
1.) 1919
2.) National Socialist German Worker’s party.
3.) The Sturm-Abteilung or stormtroopers. Hitler’s brown-shirted private
army, commanded by Ernst Rohm.
4.) The Nazis were unsuccessful with the violent approach they had used in
the Munich putsch and Hitler ended up in prison.
5.) A political approach which aimed to take control of Germany through the
democratic process and then change it into what the Nazis wanted.
6.) Hitler’s auto-biography written during his imprisonment. It stands for ‘My
Struggle’ and details many of Hitler’s plans for Germany and his ideas on
race etc.
7.) The Wall street Crash in America.
8.) 6 million.
9.) The Communists.
10.) A powerful and inspiring public speaker, could identify with his
audiences, people believed in him.
11.) Solve Germany’s economic problems, provide strong leadership,
ignore the Treaty of Versailles, build up the army, make Germany great
again.
12.) They were well organised and well funded.
13.) That Hitler was their last hope and that only the Nazis could save
Germany from economic turmoil.
14.) People who wouldn’t normally vote for the Nazis decided they’d rather
have them in charge than the Communists who would take their money and
possessions.
15.) Political deals! Von papen was unsuccessful as Chancellor so was
sacked by Hindenburg who replaced him with Von Schleicher. Schleicher
also had little success with the Nazi dominated Reichstag. Meanwhile, von
Papen wanted his revenge on von Schleicher so made a deal with Hitler
who become a ‘puppet’ chancellor to be controlled by Hindenburg and
him as vice-chancellor.
16.) January 1933.
17.) July: 230, November:196
HITLER’S CONSOLIDATION OF POWER
1.) The Reichstag, Hindenburg and the SA.
2.) February 1933
3.) A Dutch Communist named Van der Lubbe. This helped the Nazis because
it made the Communists less powerful and gave Hitler Emergency powers
which ment people could be arrested and detained without charge.
4.) 288
5.) Opponents were killed, Sa and police pressure at polling booths, the
Nazis’ anti-Communist message reinforced on radio.
6.) March 1933. It gave Hitler the power to pass laws without the Reichstag,
basically ruling Germany on his own.
7.) July.
8.) Because the army didn’t like Rohm and the SA whilst Rohm wanted
command of the army. Hitler knew he needed the armies support to stay in
charge.
9.) 29th -30th June 1934. Ernst Rohm, SA leaders and other opponents were
killed by the SS on Hitler’s orders.
10.) He died. Hitler then merged the position of President with Chancellor
and became all powerful leader of Germany.
11.) Swear an oath of personal loyalty to him.
CONTROL
1.) Himmler was in charge of all the Nazis’ work to do with ‘terror’ as a
means of controlling people.
2.) The SS (Schutz Staffel ‘Protectuion squad’) were Hitler’s fiercly loyal and
ruthless, black shirted private army.
3.) For the imprisionment of anybody who opposed the Nazis eg Jews,
Communists, Socialists, trade unionists, church leaders.
4.) The state secret police. Could arrest, imprison and torture people without
trial.
5.) The police continued their duties but also needed to report on anti-Nazi
activity. Crimes committed by Nazis were ignored. In the courts, all judges
were Nazis so a fair trial became impossible.
6.) 46
7.) Kept an eye on the people living in their ‘block,’ collected weekly
‘donations’ to the Nazis and reported on anti-Nazi activity.
8.) Goebbels was in charge of all the Nazi’s work to do with propaganda as a
means of controlling people.
9.) Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda sent daily instructions to newspapers
telling them what to print etc.
10.) Hundreds of thousands of Nazis would march around and show thei
support for Hitler. They were intimidating displays of order and control.
11.) All books not approved of by the Nazis were publicly burned. Eg.
Books by Communists, socialists or Jews.
12.) Produced cheap radios called ‘people’s receivers’ for everyone to buy
then regularly broadcasted Hitler’s speeches and other pro-Nazi, proGerman content. Overseas radio stations were not allowed to be listened
to.
13.) As well as making pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic films (such as ‘the Eternal
Jew’) the pre-film newsreels were all made by Goebbels’ Minsitry of
Propaganda.
OPPOSITION
1.) People were too afraid to act, didn’t want to act through fear of losing a
good deal (incentives etc.) or the action they did take was not powerful
enough eg. Passive resistance.
2.) Socilaists, Communists and trade union members.
3.) Held secret meetings, wrote anti Nazi graffiti, organised strikes, handed
out leaflets.
4.) A Concordat made with the Pope in 1933 ensured he would not interfere
in or speak out against Nazi politics on the condition that German
Catholics would be left alone.
5.) Started to organise all Protestant churches into one ‘Reich church.’
Slogan: ‘the swastika on our chests and the cross in our hearts.’
6.) He trained young Protestants ministers and publicly declared that to
support the Nazis was anti-Christian. He was eventually executed in 1945.
7.) A small group of university students led by Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl and
Christoph Probst. They spread anti nazi messages through leaflets, posters
and graffiti. Tortured and executed in 1943.
8.) Local groups of working class young people who were anti-Nazi and antiHitler. They sung songs making fun of Hitler, had sex, drunk a lot and in
later years some groups helped prisoners of war and Jews to escape the
Nazis. In Cologne 1944, some Pirates were hanged.
9.) Groups of Middle class students who continued to drink, smoke and dance
to ‘swing’ music despite not being allowed to. Some even set up swing
clubs which were periodically shut down by the Nazis.
10.) July 1944.
11.) Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
12.) The briefcase containing the bomb was moved behind a table leg
which offered Hitler some protection from the blast so he was not killed.
LIFE IN NAZI GERMANY
1.) Blond hair, blue eyes, the ideal German.
2.) Jews, gypsies, black people, Slavs, homsexuals, disabled people, mentally
ill people…
3.) Head of the Nazi women’s bureau.
4.) They wanted them to be plain, pure, produce lots of baby, not have jobs, be
home-makers…
5.) World war 2 started meaning many men had to leave their jobs and go to
war. Many women were drafted for a ;duty year’ of working.
6.) Reduce unemployment, rearm Germany, make Germany economically selfsufficient.
7.) Difficulty exporting goods due to world depression, Germany short of
essential raw materials, Germany couldn’t afford to pay for many imports.
8.) Schacht was Minister of the economy from 1934. A brilliant financial
expert, his New Plan solved the economic crisis in Germany and allowed
Hitler to rearm his forces. However, he began to clash with Hitler
concerning the speed of rearming for war. He resigned in 1937 and later
ended up in a concentration camp.
9.) Hermann Goering
10.) A plan to prepare Germany for war within four years. Proposed in
1937 when Goering took over as head of the economy, the plan famously
had the slogan ‘arms not butter.’
11.) Not fully successful; by 1939 Germany still depended on foreign
imports for one third of its raw materials.
12.) Indoctrinate means make people think the way you want them to
without them realising it.
13.) They could be fully indoctrinated and were the future of Hitler’s
Germanyy.
14.) Through schools and youth programmes.
15.) Boys: hiking, running, jumping, war games and training. Girls:
keeping fit home making
16.) The whole curriculum was brought in line with Nazi ideas and
teachers who refused to teach them were sacked. Eg. Eg. Biology taught
about the physical superiority of Aryans and Geography taught students
about lands that were once German and needed to be retaken.
17.) Doctor Robert Ley was in charge of the DAF (Deutshe Arbeitsfront), a
workers organisation that all German workers had to join.
18.) Building projects such a motorways, hospitals, schools and other
public buildings.
19.) A DAF organisation, persuaded employers to improve working
conditions and factories.
20.) A DAF organisation, organised the leisure time of workers and offered
incentives. Eg. Volkswagen cars and Nazi cruise ships.
21.) Reich Bishop Miller was the pro-Nazi in charge of all the Protestant
churches of Germany that had been brought together as one ‘reich
church.’
22.) A Nazi alternative to Christianity. Pagan in nature, it was popular
mainly with SS members.
ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE HOLOCAUST
1.) A boycott of Jewish shops and businesses.
2.) Passed in 1935, the Nuremberg Laws made Jews ‘subjects’ rather than
citizens, thus reducing their rights. It also banned marriages between Jews
and Aryans.
3.) Kristallnacht occurred on 9-10th November 1938. Nazis destroyed Jewish
homes, shops and synagogues in a night of organised terror.
4.) 6 million.
5.) Agreed in 1942, the Final solution was the Nazi plan to exterminate all
Jewish people as the only workable answer to what they called ‘The
Jewish problem.’
6.) Fear, trickery on the part of the Nazis (eg the shower rooms), the gradual
nature of Anti-Semitic discrimination, hope hat if they did not cause a fuss
it would all stop.
7.) Not all countries knew what was going on. Those that did, eg Britain, put
winning WW2 as their priority.
MISCELLANEOUS
1.) 1939-45.
2.) 1936.?
3.) Jessie Owens, a black American, won four gold medals. This challenged
Hitler’s message of Aryan superiority.
4.) Ancient civilisations and empires such as the Greeks and the Romans.
5.) Approved works depicting scenes of wholesome life in Nazi Germany.
6.) Any art that had been banned by the Reich chamber of commerce. They
would be displayed without frames and labelled with rude explanations or
filthy jokes.
7.) The degenerate collection!
8.) Nazi architect who designed many of the most striking new buildings in
Germany.