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Germany in Transition knowledge checker Rise to power-1919-1934 What was the Treaty of Versailles and why did German people hate it? The Treaty of Versailles was the agreement signed in 1919 at the Palace of Versailles in France; the treaty was drawn up by Britain, France and America. Germany was forced to sign the treaty and the representatives of the Weimar Government that signed it were later referred to as the November Criminals. German people hated the Treaty of Versailles as it took land from Germany, blamed them for starting the First World War, limited their army to 100,000 men, banned their army from the border with France and forced Germany to pay £6,600 million for the damage (reparations) caused during the First World War. Describe the main weaknesses of the Weimar Republic The main weaknesses of the Weimar Republic are that Proportional Representation meant that there were too many parties in the Reichstag, often parties had to rule together as part of a coalition government and this made it difficult to make effective decisions, as parties found it hard to agree. Article 48 also meant that in a case of an emergency the chancellor could rule without consulting the Reichstag Government. Describe the events of the Munich Putsch On the 8th November 1923 Hitler and 600 of his SA men interrupted a meeting at a Beer Hall in Munich and at gunpoint forced von Kahr, the Bavarian Chief Minister to support them. In the early hours of the following morning 2000 SA men marched through Munich, they were confronted by police, sixteen Nazis were killed and Hitler was shot in the arm. Hitler was later arrested and placed on trial for treason. The trial gave Hitler a platform to promote his ideas, to criticise the Treaty of Versailles and he was handed a very lenient sentence of 9 months. Explain the importance of Mein Kampf Mein Kampf was Hitler’s book written whilst he was in prison in 1924; the title means ‘My Struggle in English. The book is important as it outlines Hitler’s plans for the future how he would challenge the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. He also told of his hatred of Jewish people and how he felt that they had no place in Germany. How and why did the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan help Germany? The Dawes Plan gave Germany loans and more time to pay off the Treaty of Versailles reparations which helped Germany to recover between 1924 and 1929 this helped life in Germany get better after the struggles of the early 1920s. The Young Plan in 1929 reduced the amount of money that Germany had to pay as part of the Treaty of Versailles . Why did the Wall Street Crash lead to an economic depression in Germany? The economic improvement in Germany between 1924-1929 was supported by the money that America had given as part of the Dawes Plan, when the Wall Street Crash happened America demanded that Germany pay back all of the money that they had borrowed and they could not lend Germany any more money. As a result German businesses could not survive and this led to millions of German people becoming unemployed. Explain why the German people voted for extremist parties after the Wall Street Crash? German people suffered financial hardships after the Wall Street Crash, people lost their jobs, homes and hope. The Nazis and the Communist promised change at a time when the Weimar Government seemed not to have any answers to the problems that millions of German people faced. Hitler got support from the millions of workers that were unemployed who were desperate for change and from businessmen who were afraid of losing their businesses if the Communists took over. Explain why the Reichstag Fire led to the Enabling Act in 1933 The Reichstag Fire led to the Enabling Act in 1933 because the Nazis blamed a Dutch communist Van der Lubbe for starting the fire, Hitler then went to President Hindenburg and demanded emergency powers (the Enabling Act) as he said that Germany was under attack from the communists. These powers gave Hitler power to rule and make laws without having to ask the German parliament for their approval; Hitler used the excuse that he was acting in the interests of the country. Why was the Night of the Long knives important to the Nazis? The Night of the Long Knives was important to the Nazis because it got rid of anyone that may have gone against the Nazis such as the Communists. Hitler was also able to get the support of the SA by joining them together with the army. Before the Night of the Long Knives there had been 2 million men in the SA that had sworn an oath to Roehm and only 100.000 in the army that swore loyalty to Hitler. Importantly Himmler had a chance to expand the SS into the army and increase their influence. Consolidation of power 1933-1939 How did the treatment of Jewish people in Germany change during the 1930s? In Germany in the 1930s the treatment of Jewish people got progressively worse, in 1933 Jewish people were forced to wear the Star of David so that they could be singled out and at this time SA officers stood outside Jewish shops to stop Germans from using these shops. In 1935 the Nuremberg Laws came into existence, these removed Jewish people’s rights as citizens, this meant that Jewish people were no longer protected by the law. In 1938 the Nazis allowed Kristallnacht to happen, this was a violent uprising of German people that saw Jewish people and their property to be attacked. By 1939 the Nazis were rounding up Jewish people and placing them into concentration camps, this showed that Jewish people were being removed from German society. Did the Nazis solve the problem of unemployment in Germany in the 1930s? When the Nazis came to power there were 6 million Germans unemployed and by 1939 there were 350,000 Germans unemployed, so on the surface it looks as though the Nazis solved the problem of unemployment. The Nazis created the National Labour Service Corps (RAD) from 1935 , it was compulsory for all men aged 18-25 to serve in the RAD for six months and they did manual jobs, lived in camps wore uniforms and carried out military duties. Public works programme- men worked on building motorways (autobahns), tree planting and the building of hospitals and schools. Rearmament- Hitler was building towards the Second World War the army went from 100,000 men in 1933 to 1,400,000 in 1939. Billions of marks were spent building tanks and planes. In reality the unemployment figures that the Nazis shared did not include Jewish people and women who lost their jobs in the 1930s. What were the Nazis policies towards women in the 1930s? Women were encouraged to follow a traditional role of being a house wife, the three K’s (kinder, kuche, kirche-children, kitchen, church) promoted the role of women at home rather than working. Women were limited in their social lives, they were not allowed to wear make-up, to dye their hair or go out at night without a male escort. Women were rewarded with loans to marry and have children, as long as they left their jobs. The Motherhood Cross rewarded women who had lots of children. Why was propaganda and censorship important to the Nazis in the 1930s? Propaganda and censorship were important to the Nazis in the 1930s as Josef Goebbels was in charge of propaganda and he aimed to control the thoughts, beliefs and opinions of German people. Radio stations, cinemas and newspapers were under Nazi control they were censored in what they could report and only Nazi approved ideas were allowed to be shared. Rallies were used to show the strength and loyalty of the Nazis party and its followers. So propaganda was used to promote and persuade German people of the Nazis and their policies and censorship was used to stop any criticism of the Nazis filtering through to the German public. How did the Nazis How did the Nazis use the ‘strength through joy movement to keep workers happy? The workers had to be kept happy, and the Strength through Joy Movement, or the KdF, was established to provide workers with leisure opportunities. It was a popular movement which developed into a business company. Through the KdF the state was able to control the individual, got everyone to conform and managed their leisure time. It was a way of removing social barriers. In the past, only the rich could afford a holiday. War and its impact on life in Germany 1939-1947 Why did life on the German home front change during the Second World War? At the start of life on the German home front was good, German had started the war well taking over Poland, Czechoslovakia, France and Holland. This helped to keep the morale of those on the German home front high, as they benefitted from the positivity of victories other nations. Propaganda was also used to share the positive start that Germany made to the war and there was very little bombing of German cities at the start of the war. During 1942-43 Germany suffered big defeats at the battles of Stalingrad and El Alamein and the war started to swing against Germany. In February 1943 Goebbels announced the policy of Total War which meant that all sections of society played a part in the war effort. By 1943 the Nazis called up three million women to work, but only 1 million took up the call. As the war turned against the Nazis the supply of food became an issue and food rations were reduced, this led to an increase in the number of German people using the ‘black market’. From May 1943 Britain and the USA began a heavy and sustained bombing of German cities, which had a negative impact on civilian morale. By 1945 many German cities such as Dresden, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin had been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed during the raids. The last line of defence on the German streets was the Volkssturm; this force was made up of men who were too old to fight and young boys from the Hitler Youth. How did the treatment of Jewish people change during WW2? The invasion of Poland brought three million Jewish people under Nazi control and Jewish people were separated into ghettos, these were walled areas of towns and cities and the conditions in the ghettos were poor. Einsatzgruppen or killing squads rounded up and shot Jewish people and put them into mass graves, by 1943 they had killed more than 2 million Jewish people. The Wannsee Conference took place in January 1942 and this led to the ‘Final Solution’ of the Jewish question, the decision was taken to build death camps in Poland. This led to gas chambers being built in Auschwitz and Treblinka, conditions in the camps were awful, many were worked to death and by the end of the war 6 million Jewish people had been killed in these camps. How was Germany punished at the end of the Second World War? At the end of the Second World War Germany was split into four zones, a British, an American, a Russian and a French zone. This had been decided at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 tensions rose between Russia and the other allied powers as Russia refused to withdraw from Berlin. What happened at the Nuremberg Trials? 22 senior ranking Nazis and 200 other Nazis were placed on trial at Nuremberg, charged with war crimes and committing crimes against peace and humanity. The trial lasted from 21st November 1945 until 1st October 1946, 142 were found guilty, and 24 received death sentences, although 11 later had their punishment changed to life imprisonment. Goering avoided death by committing suicide the evening before he was due to receive the death penalty. How did Denazification affect Germany? Denazification was a carefully considered policy of removing signs and symbols of Nazi rule from all parts of German society. The Nazi party was banned in October 1945, December 1945 all German military units were removed. In January 1946 all Nazis were removed from positions working for local government. It was difficult to work out exactly who had and who not played a more than a basic role in ‘supporting’ the Nazi and many escaped. May 1946 any books promoting the Nazis and their ideas were banned, this amounted to over 300,000 books.