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Hitler and the Rise of Nazism
1933-45
Pub Quiz Revision!
How did Hitler become Chancellor in
1933?
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Wall Street Crash decimated the German economy
Loss of confidence in the Weimar Republic
Nazi Party offered a solution and clear goal
Hitler gained credibility during the 1932 Presidential
campaign
Successive Chancellor’s failed – von Papen and von
Schleicher
Nazi vote did increase in elections, except Nov 1932
By 1933 they were the single largest party
Von Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor
Moderated thought they could control him
How did the Nazi Party Gain Full
Control?
• Use of force and threats - SA
• Reichstag Fire – used as propaganda to demonise
communists
• Enabling Law – passed with help from Nationalists, gave
Hitler control of law making process
• By Nov 1933, it was a one party state
• Other political parties and trade unions abolished
• 1934 – Night of the Long Knives eliminated Roehm and
the SA
• All meaningful opposition and restraint gone by 1934
• Army swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler himself
• Once von Hindenburg died, Hitler declared himself Fuhrer
Nazi Education
• A form of indoctrination – focus on children for recruitment
and control
• Complete control of the system. Lessons tailored to fit Nazi
ideology – Eugenics, Sport, History, Singing
• Teachers eventually had to be party members
• Boys and girls education tailored for specific future needs –
Boys for engineering, warfare and strength – Girls for
marriage, motherhood and domesticity
• Racial and nationalist policies delivered through education
• Long school days to ensure control
• Those different from the Ayran model were ridiculed and
ostracised
Propaganda
• Run by Goebbels at the Propaganda Ministry
• The Nazi Party had employed propaganda for many years
• Many different forms – Newspapers, Radio, Film, Posters,
Leaflets, Education. All carefully orchestrated and written
• Party Rallies in Nuremberg very effective – icons, order, mass
participation, strength, parade grounds specially built
• 1936 Olympic Games used to promote Germany and Hitler
• The Triumph of the Will = specific example of Nazi
propaganda
• Full censorship and government control ensured a consistent
and coordinated message
Nazi Youth Groups
• Hitler Youth for boys and League of German Maidens for girls
• Worked in tandem with education policies
• At first it was voluntary but by the mid to late 1930;s it
became compulsory to join
• Encouraged obedience and loyalty to the state – children
informing on parents
• Again – gender specific activities but a focus on physical
fitness and camaraderie
• Top achievers sent to Order Castles or Hitler Schools for
further training
• Some youth groups rebelled e.g. Edelweiss Pirates to show
that not all young people were successfully indoctrinated
Nazi Economy
• Hitler wanted Germany to be self sufficient - Autarky
• Came to power in an economic crisis and stabilised the economy
• Unemployment reduced – Jews and women removed from lists, Govt
provided armaments jobs and National Labour Service
• Conscription also introduced to cut unemployment
• Public building projects started – autobahns, bridges, canals etc
• Policy of Lebensraum also increased amount of raw materials
• Many people did benefit – but many also lost jobs and faced hardships
• Autarky not achieved by 1939
• This was a war economy
• Strength Through Joy provided leisure activities for workers and was
another form of propaganda
• It provided cheap cars, holidays and other worker benefits
Nazi Social Policies
• All culture was carefully monitored and became German /
Nazi culture – music, plays, books, films
• Jewish works were eventually banned and books burned
• Women were restricted to the ‘Three K’s or C’s’ – Church,
Cooker, Children. Very defined role but financially rewarded
for marriage and children.
• Complete control of press. No public political debate
• SS and Gestapo used very effectively to create an informer
state based on fear and suspicion. People encouraged to
report on each other – State before personal freedom or
community
Discrimination against Jews and
minorities 1
• Racial policy at the heart of Nazism
• Jews seen as the enemy and used as scapegoats – they help
finance jobs and so seen as responsible for the depression
• Communism and Judaism also linked – a worldwide
conspiracy to dominate the world
• Discrimination was gradual – shop boycott, removal from jobs,
wearing of ID badges, marriage restrictions, violence
• 1935 Nuremberg Laws – Jews no longer German citizens, no
longer protected by the law and could not hold public
positions
• 1938 Kristallnacht – destruction of synagogues, violence,
murder and arrests.
Discrimination against Jews and
minorities 2
• Implementation of concentration camps for Jews and other
minorities
• Political prisoners, gypsies, non-Aryans and those with
disabilities were all imprisoned or attacked
• This eventually evolved into sterilisation and medical killing of
‘undesirables’
• The promotion of Aryan genes and the Aryan people was
paramount
• The Nazi Party’s core principles and ideology was
underpinned by race and racial hatred
Did the German People Benefit? Yes
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Full employment
Public buildings and construction
Strength Through Joy programme
Renewed sense of national pride and spirit
Order was restored
Young people given outlets like Hitler Youth
Did the German People Benefit? No
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No personal freedom
No political discourse
Propaganda and Indoctrination
An informer state with fear and suspicion
Gender discrimination
Jewish population attacked and ostracised
Minorities discriminated against
German nation driven towards war
Opposition to the Third Reich
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Von Stauffenberg bomb plot – July 1944
The White Rose – students in Munich
The Kreisau Circle – aristocratic opposition
Edelweiss Pirates – young people opposed to
Hitler Youth
• Swing Groups – influenced by American music
and cinema, youth group opposition
Nazi Germany in WW2
• Rationing introduced early in the war – led to
rampant black market
• Children were evacuated
• Economy became completely focused on the war
effort – total war economy (munitions, use of
forced labour, mass employment)
• Bombing hit Germany hard – Dresden, Munich,
Hamburg, Berlin all targeted by Bomber
Command. Mass industrial and residential
devastation. Civilians became a legitimate target
for the Allies
The Holocaust
• As Germany gained new land it also took over control of
millions of people they considered sub human (Jews,
Gypsies, Homosexuals, Communists etc)
• The existing camp system could not cope and so the
concentration camps used for political prisoners and forced
labour evolved into death camps
• Death camps appeared in conquered territories. The Jewish
population of occupied Europe were told they were being
resettled – propaganda covered this story
• The SS manned and ran these camps – Himmler, Heydrich
and Eichmann
• Execution evolved from shootings by small army and police
groups to gassing and cremation. This was industrial death
• Final solution agreed upon at the Wannsee Conference in
January 1942
The Holocaust 2
• The rate of killing increased from 1942 onwards
• Transport was key in making sure this level of killing
could continue – trains were timetabled
• Killing continued right up to the end of the war – many
camps liberated in 1945
• As the Allies approached, the SS removed prisoners
and made forced ‘Death Marches’ back towards
Germany – thousands more died on these
• Final figure of the dead is upwards of 11 million, 6
million of whom were Jews
• This is the culmination of the escalating discrimination
against the Jewish population detailed earlier.