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SOCIAL STUDIES 30
NAZI GERMANY
BACKGROUND
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GERMANY UNHAPPY WITH
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
ECONOMY WEAK INFLATION
ANGER AT WEIMAR GOVT
FOR SIGNING TREATY
DEFEAT IN WW I BLAMED
ON COMMUNISTS AND
JEWS
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
HARSH
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REPARATIONS
LOST ALSACE – LORRAINE
LOST OVERSEAS COLONIES
WAR GUILT CLAUSE
RISE OF HITLER
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HITLER FORMS NATIONAL SOCIALIST
GERMAN WORKERS PARTY
1923 – MUNICH BEER HALL PUTSCH
SENT TO PRISON – 8 MONTHS
WROTE ‘MEIN KAMPF’ (MY STRUGGLE)
USE OF DEMOCRACY
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HITLER USED DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
1928 – 7 SEATS IN REICHSTAG
1932 – 230 SEATS
Jan 1933 –President Hindenburg appoints Hitler as
Chancellor
Feb 1933 – Reichstag fire just before election
Mar 1933 – Hitler swept to power – 45% of vote
Coerced remaining minority parties to give him 2/3
majority for Enabling Act- right to rule by decree &
suspended civil liberties – b/c threat of Communist
revolution
1934 – ABSOLUTE DICTATOR
USE OF THE LAW / DEMOCRACY
ENABLING ACT
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RESTRICTIONS ON
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PERSONAL LIBERTY
RIGHT OF FREE EXPRESSION
OF OPINION
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
RIGHT OF ASSEMBLY
RIGHT OF ASSOCIATION
VIOLATIONS ON PRIVACY OF
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POSTAL
TELEGRAPHIC
TELEPHONIC
COMMUNICATIONS
WARRANTS FOR HOUSE
SEARCHES
ORDER FOR CONFISCATIONS
ENABLING ACT CONT…
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NAZI PARTY IS ONLY
POLITICAL PARTY IN
GERMANY
IF FORM ANOTHER
POLITICAL PARTYPUNISHED WITH PENAL
SERVITUDE UPTO 3
YEARS
FUHRER DETERMINES
STATUTES
POLICE SUPERVISION
OF ‘NO’ VOTES ON
PLEBISCITES
USE OF THE LAW
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NUREMBURG LAWS
– ISOLATE JEWISH PEOPLE
FROM CONTACT WITH
OTHERS
– CONCENTRATED IN GHETTOS
– DENIED CIVIL / SOCIAL RIGHTS
– NO HOLD PUBLIC JOBS
– PROPERTY PILLAGED
COURT JUSTICE IN THE THIRD
REICH
JUDGE NO RIGHT TO SCRUTINIZE
DECISIONS MADE BY FUHRER
AND ISSUED IN THE FORM OF
LAW OR A DECREE
JUDGE ALSO BOUND BY ANY
OTHER DECISION OF FUHRER
JEWISH BUREAU
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1936 ESTABLISHED
JEWISH BUREAU
CONTROLLED BY
ADOLPH EICHMANN
HE SUPERVISE STATES
‘PROCESSING’ OF
JEWISH POPULATION
TRIED TO REMOVE
JEWS VIA EMIGRATION
– NO ONE TAKE THEM
(IN MIDST OF
DEPRESSION)
USE OF PERSONALITY / CHARISMA
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GREAT ORATOR
COULD READ AN AUDIENCE
WOULD WAIT A FEW
MINUTES BEFORE SPEAKING
AT RALLY
CHOSEN TIME MAGAZINE’S
‘MAN OF THE YEAR’ – 1938
PROPAGANDA
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ARYAN RACE – RACIAL SUPERIORITY / PURITY
SCAPEGOATS – JEWS / COMMUNISTS
ANTI - SEMITISM
SCAPEGOATS
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JEWS
GYPSIES
HOMOSEXUALS
COMMUNISTS
SOCIALISTS
WEIMAR
GOVERNMENT
TREATY OF
VERSAILLES
JOSEPH GOEBBELS
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MINISTER OF
PROPAGANDA & PUBLIC
ENTERTAINMENT
HE CONTROLLED
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ART
MOTION PICTURES
SPORTS
CELEBRATION OF NATIONAL
HOLIDAYS
RADIO
NEWSPAPERS
MUSIC
MUSEUMS
TOURISM
POST OFFICE
LIBRARIES
NATIONAL ANTHEM
1936 OLYMPICS - BERLIN
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HITLER & MASTER RACE
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BLACKS AN ‘INFERIOR RACE’
JESSIE OWENS STORY
REICHSTAG FIRE-1933
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Scapegoat / direction of popular
discontent
Hitler declared fire set by
Communists & had party leaders
arrested. Hitler declared state of
emergency & abolished most of
human rights.
Under torture, alleged communist
confessed, & brought to trial, along
with leaders of opposition
Communist Party.
With leaders in jail & denied access
to press, Communists badly
defeated in next election & those
Communist deputies that were
elected to Reichstag not permitted
by SA to take seats.
NIGHT OF THE BROKEN GLASS
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1938 – KRISTALLNACHT
SCAPEGOAT / DIRECTION
OF POPULAR DISCONTENT
A GERMAN DIPLOMAT WAS
ASSASSINATED IN PARIS
BY A JEWISH YOUTH
200 SYNAGOGUES
26 000 MALE JEWS
ARRESTED & SENT TO
CAMPS
70 MURDERED
NUMEROUS RAPES
JEWS FINED 25 MILLION
DEUTSCH MARKS
DENIED USE OF PUBLIC
FACILITIESTRANSPORTATION /
HOSPITALS / RETIREMENT
MASS RALLIES
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PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
OF EVOKING PUBLIC’S EMOTIONS
THROUGH MASS
DEMOSTRATIONS
ULTRA NATIONALISM – WHIP UP
INTO A FRENZY
1934 NUREMBURG RALLY
USE OF EDUCATION,
INDOCTRINATION & YOUTH
GROUPS
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SCHOOLS WERE AGENTS IN
CREATING PROPER
CITIZENS
STUDENTS TO READ ‘MEIN
KAMPF’
HISTORY TEXTS ALTERED –
EDUCATION & INDOCTRINATION
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TARGETED YOUTH – FUTURE WARRIORS DURING
WORLD WAR II
LIMITED EDUCATION TO NON-NORDIC RACE
ANTI-SEMITISM
HITLER & CHRISTIANITY
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Hitler tried to nationalize churches with restrictions allowing only
German membership. A common Nazi song replaced words to
Silent Night with following lyrics:
 Silent night! Holy night!
 All is calm, and all is bright
 Only the Chancellor steadfast in fight
 Watches o’er Germany by day and by night
 Always caring for us.
 Silent night! Holy night!
 All is calm, and all is bright
 Adolf Hitler is Germany’s wealth
 Brings us greatness, favor and health
 Oh give us Germans all power!
Hitler to restrict Christianity & remove it as political influence.
Hitler adapted elements of Christian theology into speeches.
HITLER YOUTH
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Established in 1926.
NAZI Party set up
training system for
young Germans to gain
military training &
develop understanding
of & obedience to Nazi
ideology.
In 1933 authorities
banned all other youth
groups & merged
membership into Hitler
Youth.
Membership became
compulsory for youths
over 17 in 1939 & for all
over age of ten in 1941
HITLER YOUTH CONT…
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trained future “Aryan supermen" & future
soldiers who serve Third Reich faithfully.
Physical & military training took
precedence over academic & scientific
education.
learn to use weapons, build up physical
strength, learned war strategies, &
became indoctrinated with anti-semitism.
uniforms - light brown shirts & brown
shorts, similar to children in military camp.
HITLER YOUTH CONT…
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fought with great courage.
One group managed to hold off Soviet
tank division for three days.
Many soldiers said no one scared
them more than Hitler Youth.
After war, new authorities dissolved &
banned Hitler Youth movement.
VIOLENCE,
OPPRESSION, & FEAR
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SA (BROWNSHIRTS)
ERNST ROHM
NIGHT OF THE LONG
KNIVES
SS
GESTAPO (SECRET POLICE)
NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES
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HITLER VS. ERNST ROHM &
SA (BROWNSHIRTS)
HITLER MET WITH ALL SA
LEADERS
ALL LEADERS GUNNED
DOWN IN BEDROOMS BY SS
TROOPS
83 OPPONENTS OF THE
STATE MURDERED
SS NOW HITLER’S
PERSONAL BODYGUARD
GESTAPO (SECRET POLICE)
S.S. & HEINRICH HIMMLER
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HEAD OF SS
HITLER & HIMMLER TALK OF
NEED TO ELIMINATE JEWS,
SLAVS, GYPSIES, &
HOMOSEXUALS
‘EINSATZGRUPPEN’ – DEATH
SQUADS
‘FINAL SOLUTION’
CREATE A ‘NEW ORDER’
DACHAU
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CONCENTRATION
CAMP SET UP
IN 1933
LOCATED JUST
OUTSIDE OF
MUNICH
MOVIE / FILM – LENI RIEFENSTAHL
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Riefenstahl began directing
films. Her artistic work
earned her acclaim, and
film awards across Europe.
"Triumph of the Will"
documentary about Adolf
Hitler, would come back to
haunt her after atrocities of
WWII.
Despite her protests to
contrary, Riefenstahl
considered an intricate part
of Third Reich's
propaganda machine.
Castigated, she has not
made movie in past 50
years."