Download 17-4 Powerpoint - McCook Public Schools

Section 4
Chp. 17
and the Rise of NAZI Germany
• What problems did the Weimar Republic face?
• How did Hitler come to power?
• What political, social, economic, and cultural
policies did Hitler pursue?
• How did Hitler take action against German
Jews?
Setting the Scene
• In November 1923, a German army veteran and
leader of an extremist party, Adolf Hitler, tried to
follow Mussolini's example. His brown-shirted
thugs burst into a beer hall in Munich, where a
political meeting was set to start. Hitler climbed
onto a table and fired his pistol. “The National
Socialist revolution has begun!” he shouted.
• The coup failed, and Hitler was soon behind
bars. But Hitler was a force that could not be
ignored forever. Within a decade, he made a
new bid for power. This time, he succeeded by
legal means.
The Weimar Republic
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• As WWI ended Germany was in trouble, almost
chaos at home. The Kaiser abdicated and the
new democratic government signed the
armistice and then under protest the Treaty of
Versailles
• In 1919 the Weimer Republic was created at
Weimer Germany. It was a constitutional
democracy with a parliamentary system led by a
Chancellor.
• The new government gave women the right to
vote and included a Bill of Rights
Struggles of the Republic
• The Weimar republic was weak from the start,
like France the government had many small
parties and to have control the Chancellor had to
build coalitions
• Both sides plastered the Democratic socialists in
the middle with demands
– The communists wanted reforms like those in the
USSR
– The conservatives attacked the government as too
weak
– Everyone blamed the Weimar Republic for the treaty
of Versailles and reparations
– Many people looked to scapegoats to blame, the
Jews
Inflation
• Economic problems didn’t help the Republic
• After Germany fell behind in payments to France,
France seized and occupied the Ruhr Valley, with
vast deposits of coal
• Germans resisted by refusing to work
• The Republic printed more money which caused
inflation
– An item that cost 100 marks in July 1922 cost 944,000
marks in August 1923
– Bread cost 10s of thousands of marks!
• Runaway inflation spread misery and despair,
even though wages rose they could not keep up
with costs, most lost everything they had saved
Recovery and Collapse
• The Republic eventually brought inflation
under control with the help of the United
States and the lessening of reparations
payments
• Then the Great Depression hit and all was
lost in Germany.
• Germans turned to an energetic leader
Adolf Hitler, who promised to solve the
problems and return Germany to
greatness.
Adolf Hitler
• Born in 1889 in Austria the son of a
minor customs official and a
peasant girl a poor student who
didn’t complete high school
• Applied to the Vienna Fine Arts
academy but was rejected for
lack of talent
• Stayed in Vienna until 1913 living off an orphan’s
pension and then selling some pictures he drew.
• In Vienna he developed anti-Jewish and antidemocratic beliefs, had an admiration for the
outstanding individual, and a contempt for the
masses
Adolf Hitler cont.
• Hitler moved to Germany and then
joined the German army during
World War I
• He never was promoted above the
rank of private 1st class because his
superiors thought him lacking in
leadership qualities
• After the war he joined the
nationalist German Worker’s party
and in 1920 went to work full time
for the party now known as the NAZI
party.
Mein Kampf
• While in prison Hitler wrote a book titled “Mein
Kampf” translated to “my struggle” it reflected
Hitler's obsessions:
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–
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Extreme Nationalism
Racism
Anti-Semitism
A Master Race of “Aryans” light skinned Europeans
whose greatest enemy was the Jews
• He believed Jews were not a religion but a race
anyone with one grandparent that was Jewish was a
Jew to Hitler
• He claimed that Germany had not lost the war
but had been betrayed by Marxists, Jews,
corrupt politicians, and business leaders
• Hitler urged Germans to unite and gain
Lebensraum or living space.
• He believed Germany needed a strong leader
and that he was that Fuhrer
The Road to Power
• Hitler served less than a year in prison, on
release he returned to his speech giving
• People listened and followed Hitler
because of the depression and
unemployment
• The Nazi party soon had over a million
members, appealing to workers, the lower
middle classes, small-town Germans, and
business people.
• Hitler promised to end reparations, create
jobs, and defy the treaty of Versailles by
rebuilding the military
• The Republic government was divided,
and the Nazis and Communists won seats
in the Reichstag, the conservative leaders
turned to Hitler even though they despised
him, because they thought they could
control him
The Road to Power cont.
• Hitler was elected chancellor in
1933
• Within a year he was master of
Germany, he suspended civil
rights, destroyed the socialists and
communists, and disbanded other
political parties.
• Germany became a one party
state, Nazi flags waved across the
country replacing the Weimer
Republic flags.
• Hitler purged his own party, by
brutally executing Nazis he
believed were not loyal
• Hitler demanded unquestioning
obedience
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The Third Reich
POLITICAL POLICIES
ECONOMIC POLICIES
Hitler repudiated, or rejected, the
hated Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler launched a large public works
program.
Hitler organized a system of terror,
repression, and totalitarian rule.
Hitler began to rearm Germany, in
violation of the Versailles treaty.
SOCIAL POLICIES
CULTURAL POLICIES
The Nazis indoctrinated young
people with their ideology.
School courses and textbooks were
written to reflect Nazi racial views.
Hitler spread his message of
racism.
The Nazis sought to purge, or purify,
German culture.
The Nazis sought to limit
women’s roles.
Hitler sought to replace religion with
his racial creed.
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Hitler’s Campaign Against the Jews
Hitler set out to drive Jews from Germany.
In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws placed severe restrictions on
Jews. Jews could:
No longer marring non-Jews etc.
No longer teach non-Jews
Not hold government jobs, practice law, or publish books
Many German Jews fled Germany and sought refuge in other
countries.
In 1938, Nazi-led mobs attacked Jewish communities all over
Germany in what came to be called Kristallnacht, or the “Night
of Broken Glass.”
Hitler sent tens of thousands of Jews to concentration
camps, detention centers for civilians considered enemies of
the state.
Hitler planned the “final solution”—the extermination of all
Jews.
Work will make you Free
Work Frees
Work Clears