Download Model answers: Life in Nazi Germany

Model answers: Life in Nazi Germany
Study Source C. why do you think this poster was published in 1931?
Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer.
6 marks
This poster was published by Social Democrats (left wing Nazi opposition) as a
response to a rise in Nazi support.
The Nazi party had been gradually growing since the wall street crash in 1929 as
unemployment raised and Hitler promised solutions such as the ‘removal’ of Jews, but
also women from the workplace. Hitler’s intent in his superhuman ‘third reich’ was for
women to remain concentrated on ‘Kinder, Kirch, Kuche’, or children, church and
cooking. They were to be subservient to their men at all times, and their only real
value was to produce racially pure German children. This poster highlights the
increasing involvement of Nazis in peoples lives, attempting to prevent Hitler’s rise to
power which happened in 1933.
Study Source D. How far does this source prove that the Nazis had
won the support of young Germans? Use the source and your
knowledge to explain your answer.
7 marks
Whilst this source may be understood as Hitler ‘winning’ the support of young
Germans this may not be the case. Outwardly they appear to as they give the ‘Heil
Hitler’ greeting, yet this is given as an order. Given as the SS and previously the SA
had caused much fear among the people who outwardly disobeyed the Nazis, such as
Hitler’s removal of the ‘White Race Group’ and also the SA on the ‘Night of the Long
Knives’, I believe that the young Germans did so because they were afraid of the
consequences of disobedience. Also as trusting young children they would all be
ready to accept this order if given by an adult in responsibility. Whilst Hitler was not
‘winning’ their support as suggested, but he was certainly gaining it. When combined
with his Hitler youth movement, this exposure to political issues at such an early age
(such as anti-semitism) caused the indoctrination of Germany’s youth, almost like
brainwashing the public into accepting Nazi ideals and policies. In this way he did
gain their support, which is hinted at in the article, but this article certainly does not
prove that he won their support, as is my own knowledge his methods prevent free
choice. The young would either obey, or be ‘convinced’ by his brutal and often
horrendous methods.
Study Source E. Why would the Nazi government want to publish
photographs like this? Use the source and your knowledge to explain
your answer.
7 marks
The Nazis would want to publish this photograph because it shows a large family who
look really happy. The Nazis wanted Germans to have lots of children because this
would help make Germany great again. They would produce lots of boys who could
become soldiers in the army and help Germany conquer more land. So this photograph
was published to encourage people to have lots of children.
Describe how the Nazis tried to win the loyalty of young people in
Germany.
4 marks
They tried to win the loyalty of the youth by indoctrination in school through
different curriculum for boys and girls. They also set up the Hitler Youth and the
League of German Maidens for children to join in their spare time. They also used
propaganda.
What were the main features of the education of German children
between 1933 and 1945?
1945?
4 marks
The education of children was closely controlled by the government and this was
designed to spread Nazi messages. This included the superiority of the Aryan race
and anti-Semitism. Boys were also taught skills designed for a life in the military and
girls were taught skills for homemaking and becoming mothers.
Explain why the Nazi regime tried to change the roles of women.
6 marks
The Nazis had strong views about the place of women in society. They wanted women
to produce lots of children. They were worried about the fall in the birth rate and
Germany would only be strong again there were lots of children to become soldiers
and workers. So the Nazis wanted women to give up their jobs and stay at home and
have lots of children. It was also important for women to produce pure Aryans. The
Nazis changed their views during the Second World War as they had to find ways of
getting women into work as part of the war effort to produce armaments and to
replace men fighting in the army.
Explain why
why some groups of young people opposed Nazi rule.
6 marks
Some young people in Germany opposed Nazi policies especially as the second world
war progressed. This was because they disliked the police state that had been
established which tried to control their lives.
The swing movement made up of middle class teenagers liked to listen to American
music such as ‘jazz’ and the ‘jitterbug’. These had been banned by the Nazis.
The Edelweiss Pirates were working class teenagers who sang songs which mocked
Germany. They also taunted and attacked groups of Hitler youth. The Edelweiss
Pirates also did not like the restrictions of the Nazi state especially the attitude
towards sex, which was frowned upon by the Nazis.
How successful was the Nazi regime in dealing
dealing with opposition to its
rule? Explain your answer.
10 marks
The Nazis were mostly very successful at getting rid of opposition. The SS went
round terrorising people into obedience. They could arrest people without trial and
put them in concentration camps where people were tortured or indoctrinated. The
Gestapo spied on people. They had informers everywhere and encouraged people to
inform on their neighbours and children to inform on their parents. They also tapped
phones. All this meant that for a long time the Nazis did not have many opponents.
However, during the war opposition grew. Some of the army officers were worried
the war was going badly and planned to blow Hitler up. It went wrong and they were
all executed. Some young people also began to rebel during the war like the Swing
Youth. They were fed up with the Nazis controlling their lives and giving them no
freedom
‘The most important factor enabling the Nazis to control the German
his statement?
people was their use of terror’. Do you agree with tthis
Explain your answer.
answer.
10 marks
The Nazis had two main methods for controlling Germany, terror and propaganda, so
the question really is which one of those was the most effective.
The Nazis did pour huge amounts of money into creating a police state that would
both terrorize the population into not resisting and removing those who did. But, in
many cases, these services were supported by ordinary German. The Gestapo, for
example, had thousands of civilian informers. It is easy to understand how terror on
its own would be enough to prevent the people from resisting the Nazis but to have
them actively supporting it, I think, requires something more. For people to turn in
their friends and relatives for anti-Nazi actions takes at least an element of belief in
the Nazi cause, terror alone cannot do that.
During the 1930s and early war years there was a startling lack of resistance to
Hitler’s regime. A few groups such as the White Rose made themselves heard but
there was nothing on a scale you would was originally thought and that it was by
terror that Germany was controlled.
This is all, however, only speculation as all that is known is that propaganda and terror
were massive operations that kept the German people either supportive or subdued
or, more than likely, a combination of the two. Therefore, I cannot say that terror
was the most important factor in controlling Germany but nor can I say that
propaganda or anything else was. It think it was almost certainly a combination of
these things, of which terror was an important factor that allowed the Nazis to
control Germany so successfully.
How far did the coming of the Second World War change life in
Germany? Explain your answer.
10 marks
Early on, little changed in Germany as war broke out. In some areas, the Nazis had
achieved autarky and military success and this brought a groundswell of patriotism.
However, as time progressed quality of life fell due to shortages, bombing raids hit
Germany badly and retreat on all front caused morale to plummet.
Persecution of the Jews had been heavy pre-war, but as more Jews came under
German rule in the east Nazi policy took a terrible turn. I do not need to say more
than that 6 million Jews and an unknown number of communists, gypsies and
‘untermenschen’ perished in concentration camps.
Opposition to the Nazis grew in the war. As well as a plot by Generals dating back to
Hitler’s accession, a Jewish resistance group sprang up and more than half a million
Germans were killed for resistance to Hitler.
Women returned to work. Although the rhetoric declaring that a woman allowed stay
at home was still aired, it was not longer believed. During the war more German
women worked than ever before.
‘'The most serious problem faced by the German people in the period
19391939-45 was the impact of the bombing raids.' Do you agree with this
statement? Explain your answer.
10 marks
The allied bombing raids on Germany did not begin until 1942, so the statement above
about its impact on the German people is incorrect, although after this date it was
important. However, it was one of a number of reasons which combined together to
affect German civilians (people). Up to 1942 Germany seemed to be doing well in the
war, and although there was some food and clothes rationing (you are only allowed so
much), the spoils of war (what could be gained by winning) seemed to outweigh any
sacrifices being made.
The bombing raids were linked to when war started to go badly for German. In 1942
Germany faced" major defeats at EI Alamein and Stalingrad. This caused major
concerns for the civilians back in Germany who had family fighting in the Germany
army. It also had another impact because sacrifices now had to be made at home
(back in Germany). For example, Albert Speer was put in charge of preparing the
German economy for 'total war'. This affected (had an impact) on civilians as food
rationing was cut even more, factories had to work longer hours (and with greater
risk of being blown up by bombing raids) and more labour was needed, so more women
had to work.
As the war went badly the bombing raids could now attack Germany and have an
impact on their people, because not only did they try and destroy production for the
war (by blowing up factories), but they also aimed at civilians (people) to try and
destroy their morale (will to go on fighting). By the end of the war the 'Thousand
Bomber Raids' were killing a lot of German people. In one raid (attack) on Dresden
(German city) 135,000 people were killed, so obviously this was a very serious problem
for civilians.As more bombs dropped this affected food and production, so more
German people began to starve and the damage to homes and cities was enormous.
However, there were other problems not connected to the bombing as well. For
example, Germany was a police state so if you were a trade union leader, an opponent
of Nazism - you were probably locked up in a concentration camp already, so the
bombing raids were only one more thing to worry about. For Germany's Jews, who
faced the death camps and the 'Final Solution', Bombs could have been a blessing (a
quick death/ less suffering). So as you can see there were various problems which
German civilians faced and it is their interrelationship that led to huge amounts of
suffering after 1942. So no single (one) problem was the most important.
How far did people of Germany benefit from Nazi Rule?
10 Marks
This is a balanced answer.
Begin with examples of those who did benefit and say why.
Those who benefited (gained)
(1) 6 million unemployed when Hitler came to power. By 1938 Hitler had reduced this
number to just 250,000. The unemployed obviously benefited because they now had
jobs and money.
2) Big business benefited because they had contracts. Also they benefited because
strikes were illegal and trade unions were banned.
(3) The army benefited because it managed to re-arm.
(4) Workers also benefited from new organizations like the 'Strength Through Joy'
movement which offered them cut price holidays, cheap theatre and sporting event
tickets and lead to the production of the 'People's Car'.
However, workers also lost their freedom of choice. They had to join the German
Workers' League, worked for longer hours and. for less pay..., but many didn't mind,
as they had bread and work, which was better than being unemployed.
Those who did not benefit
There were clearly also people who did not benefit under life under the Nazis;
1. The Jews were hated by Hitler and the Nazis. Discrimination (treated unfairly)
began against them as a soon as Hitler came to power. The Nazis tried to get people
to stop using Jewish businesses for example. Things got even worse for them in 1935
with the passing of the Nuremburg laws (anti-Jewish laws) and then in 1938 with the
attack on Jewish property and synagogues (Crystal Night / the. Night of the Broken
Glass)
From 1942 the Final Solution to the Jewish problem led to the holocaust or mass
murder of many Jews in death camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen. By the
end of the war six million out of eight million Jews had lost their lives under the
Nazis.
2. Anyone who opposed the Nazis was also persecuted. Individual church ministers
such as Bonhoeffer and Niemoller paid heavily for speaking out against the Nazis. So
too did the White Rose movement, who opposed the policies of the Nazis and those
involved in the Stauffenberg bomb plot in 1944.
3.There were other minority groups that did not benefit from life under the Nazis.
The gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill -people, beggars, prostitutes, habitual criminals
were all persecuted. Some lost their lives and others were thrown into the
concentration camps.
4. All other opposition parties did not benefit because they were banned under the
Enabling Act. Many of their leaders were thrown into concentration camps.
.
5. Ordinary Germans lost their freedom of speech and choice. By 1945 most had lost
a lot more as Germany "lay in ruins, and many had suffered under the Allied bombing
of the German cities. The war had also brought further hardship like the rationing of
rood and clothes. By the end of Nazi rule Germany was a defeated and occupied
country. In the end therefore it is difficult to say that the people of Germany did
benefit from Nazi rule.
Explain how the following together contributed
contributed to the success of the
1933-Nazis in maintaining (keeping themselves) in power in the period 1933
39;
(i) The Enabling Law
(ii) The Economic Policies of the Nazis
(iii) Nazi policies towards the young. (10 Marks)
All three reasons together help to explain how the Nazis maintained themselves in
power.
The Enabling law allowed Hitler to pass laws for four ears without having the
permission of the Reichstag. This meant he ruled more or less how he wanted. It gave
him a legal basis for doing what he did and this was important. It allowed him to ban
all other political parties for example, making him a legal dictator. Without the
Enabling law the Nazis might not have been able to stay in power. However, once they
had that authority, they certainly strengthened their position, helping themselves to
maintain themselves in power by their economic policies. Hitler had promised to
return Germany to prosperity and solve the unemployment problem. Therefore it was
vital (very important) that he did this. By 1939, mainly through rearmament and
public works, nearly everyone had a job and the economy seemed to have recovered.
They also strengthened their control with their policies towards the young. Hitler
realised this was vital because the young would be the future Nazis. Therefore he
needed to turn them into good Nazis, loyal and obedient to him. The Nazis did this by
controlling the school curriculum, making all teachers join the German Teacher's
League. Subjects like biology taught the superiority of the Aryan race and all History
was rewritten to portray a Nazi view of events, like the Munich Putsch. The Hitler
Youth was also created and in 1936 membership became compulsory (they had to
join). Other youth clubs and church organisations were shut down. The youth
organisations provided another way to indoctrinate the young and fill them with Nazi
ideas. The boys would be the future soldiers, the girls would become the mothers to
these future soldiers.
So really it was all three reasons working together which helped maintain the Nazis in
power.