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Hitler and Nazi Germany McKay 966-971, Palmer 20.104 The Origins of Nazi Germany German Empire declared Germany declares war on Russia -WWI -Beer Hall Putsch -Hyperinflation -Mein Kampf 1871 1890 1914 1918 1922 1929 1933 Wilhelm II “drops the pilot” Germany surrenders -Diktat at Versailles Stock Market Crash leads to worldwide depression Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany 1939 Germany invades Poland -WWII begins The German Empire (1871-1918) • Germany’s national character embraced Prussian militarism/ respect for authority since 1871 • Germany’s democratic institutions (Reichstag) had never matured – “Iron and Blood” discredited liberals – Bismarck’s Realpolitik manipulated masses • Social Democrats elected 110 members to the Reichstag in 1912 – 1912 largest party in Reichstag – Yet held none of the highest government offices What’s the Take Away • German liberal and democracy never matured The Weimar Republic’s Inauspicious Beginnings • Formed November 9, 1918 • Parliamentary republican form of government comprised of social democrats • Issued decrees guaranteeing eight-hour workday, labor & agricultural reform, union recognition , social welfare relief , national health insurance, universal suffrage • Spartacist uprising – A general strike & attempted coup – led by communists Karl Liebknecht, & Rosa Luxemburg against the Weimar Republic – Weimar government used Freikorps to suppress it • Captured, tortured and murdered Liebknecht and Luxemburg • Freikorps= Ex-WWI right-winged anti-republic soldiers Weimar Republic (1918-1933) • Original Sin of Weimar • Signed Treaty of Versailles – Known as Diktat - “dictated peace” – Article 231 (War Guilt Clause) humiliated proud country • Reparations – $ 30 billion – gov. began to print more paper marks – Led to hyperinflation of 1923 – 1914- 4 marks = $1 Otto Dix, “We Want Bread” – 1923- 4 trillion marks = $1 A crowd of demonstrators • Effects marches in the street. One carries a declaration of their needs. His – helped big businessmen pay off loans – Crushed the savings of the middle & lower classes sign reads, "We want bread!" The crowd can be seen through the • Economy stabilized with help of Dawes Plan window of an elegant cafe. The – Germany experienced a “Roaring Twenties” from patrons are elegantly dressed and 1923-1929 shipping champagne. Despite the • But Weimar was forever tainted with treaty of Versailles ruckus in the street, they are – November Criminals stabbed the army in the back oblivious to those outside. • Communist Jews who betrayed the German army during WWI by surrendering Treaty of Versailles Germany after WWI Background of Adolf Hitler • • • • Born 1889 in Austria to Alois Schicklgruber (later Hitler) and Klara Pölzl Father was Austrian customs officials – Wanted Hitler to follow in footsteps – Quarreled often with Adolf – Died suddenly in 1903 (fluid in lungs) when Hitler was 13 Adolph – Not a good student but liked history (German) – Dreamed of becoming a priest, then an artist – Klara death of breast cancer in 1907 devastated Hitler • Hitler later allowed Dr. Block (Jewish) to escape Austria to US – Dropped out of HS at 16 &Given orphan’s pension Attempted to get into Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but rejected – Became a drifter, postcard painter Background of Adolf Hitler • Vienna – Culturally diverse city • Germans, Italians, Croats, Poles, Jews • Hitler – Rejected for Academy – Lived in boarding house – developed a hatred for: • the Habsburg court • Bourgousie Naschmarkt Wien (Market in Vienna, 1900 • Mixed (Hybridization) nationalities • Marxism • Especially Jews • Karl Lueger Austrian cartoon - JANUARY – the anti-Semitic mayor of Vienna 01: Karl Lueger: 'Do I look like influenced Hitler I would eat Jews?' World War I • Broke out in August 1914 following Sarajevo crisis, Blank Check • Hitler crossed border and joined German army • Served as dispatch runner to front line • Victim of gas attack and was temporarily blinded and unable to speak • Only rose to corporal but was awarded military medals – Iron Cross • Viewed war as thrilling, noble, liberating – sense of purpose, a higher cause – Influence of Nietzsche glorification of struggle • Shocked by the armistice in November 1918 The Birth of the Nazis • Post WWI Munich – hotbed of socialist and anti socialist activity • Hitler was hired as provocateur (spy) by army to infiltrate radical groups • Freikorps – Secret societies and paramilitary organizations led by discontented army officers agitated – Brownshirts (or Stormtroopers) formed by Ex Officers were one of these private armies • Hitler – joined the small party called the German Workers’ party and became its leader – Added National Socialist to its name – Nazis (from the German way of pronouncing 1st 2 syllables of National The Birth of the Nazis The “Beer Hall Putsch” • French army occupied the Ruhr in 1923 to collect reparations – Took tons of coal as payment – Forced Germans to walk in gutter/ remove their hats in presence of French soldiers – Germans were humilitated • Hitler – denounced Weimar for its weakness – thought time was ripe to a putsch (overthrow of government) – Used the “March to Rome” as model • Beer Hall Putsch in Munich – Hitler gave impassioned speech on platform of a beer hall (fired gun into ceiling) – Said “national revolution has broken out” – Quickly suppressed by the police – Hitler sentenced to 5 years (only served 1) Defendants in the Beer Hall Putsch trial. The Beer Hall Putsch Mein Kampf • While in jail Hitler wrote an autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle) • Stream of personal recollections, racism, nationalism, collectivism, historical interpretation, anti-Semitism, politics – Expounds main thesis of "the Jewish peril” (World Wide Jewish conspiracy) – Twin Evils (Communism & Judaism) – Openly states Germany’s destiny lies Eastward • Drang nach Osten (Yearning toward the East) • Book + 5 week trial gave Hitler national prominence • Supported by General Ludendorff • Nazi movement lost appeal after Dawes Plan fueled economic revival • But in ’29 the Great Depression hit and the lunatic fringe put Hit in stratosphere of Napoleon NAZIS Ideology • Nationalism – Master Race • Aryan Race were superior humans • Preached Germans (Blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryans) were chosen people • Forbade intermixing of Aryans with Untermensch – Rassenschande (race defilement) laws • Untermensch (subhumans) – Jews, Gypsies, Slavic race were inferior – Germania Irredentism • German lands and peoples taken after WWI must be redeemed to the Fatherland – Lebensraum • God given right of Master Race to spread itself into more living space to the Ural Mountains • Sex and Gender – Women excluded from politics – Woman’s Sphere • "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (Children, Kitchen, Church). – Homosexual German men were forced to “change” or be forced to concentration camps "Fellow Germans who engage in sexual relations with male or female civil workers of the Polish nationality, commit other immoral acts or engage in love affairs shall be arrested immediately." Water Sports (1936) by Albert Janesh Reflects Nazi theme of athleticism Farm Family from Kahlenberg (1939) by Adolph Wissel Nazi Folk Art idealizing simple rural life Nazi Ideology • Anti-Semiticism – Central creed of Nazism was Jewish Peril • World Wide conspiracy amongst Jews to control financial institutions • German Jews had risen to prominent positions in Germany – Well integrated into bourgeoisie society • Eastern European Jews were often part of lower classes – Lived in Shtetl (small villages) in the “Pale of Settlement” – Spoke Yiddish A Shtetl in Lakhva, Poland Nazi Ideology • Religion – Used Christianity for propaganda – Claimed Jesus was actually an Aryan, not Jewish – Used Martin Luther’s anti-Semitism – Hostile to Catholic church at first but singed a Concordat in 1933 • Cahtolic Church allowed German Catholics to join Nazi party • Economics – Anti Capitalist • Selfish individualism exploiting the worker – Anti Communist • Godless economic system of Russian Slavs – Favored a neo Mercantile System • German would use conquered territories for their resources in order to become self sufficient Nazi Ideology • Hitler Youth – made up German children aged 14 to 18 – Paramilitary organization meant to indoctrine the next generation of Nazis – Rooted in Turnvater Jahn gymnasiums and Prussian culture • Body Cult – Physical toughness, procreation were encouraged • Totalitarianism – Nazism emphasized that the needs of the individual were subordinate to the needs of the state – State would control all aspects of society for the good of the State "every activity and every need of every individual will be regulated by the collectivity represented by the party" and that "there are no longer any free realms in which the individual belongs to himself".[Hitler Germany in the Great Depression • Germany was hardest hit by GD • US gave Germany just 90 days to pay off loans • Foreign loans stopped or recalled • Weimar government credit stopped • Unemployment = 6 million (25% of workforce) • Middle class (still reeling from ’23) lost faith in government and economy • Lunatic fringe groups emerged – Communist and fascist brawls commonplace • Middle class looked for an alternative to Bolshevism • Old scapegoats reemerge – Versailles, Weimar, Jews, communists • Democracy itself (ideology that wholly satisfied none and crushed none) seemed foreign and un-German The Great Depression and the Rise of the Nazis Germany and the Great Depression • Stirred resentment against Versailles, Weimar democracy • Called for true democracy of the Volk • Lumped all Leftist together and claimed that his was the true socialism • Denounced war profiteers, big business • Denounced Jews (only 600 thousand in all Germany) & played on nation’s lowest common denominator • Utilization of militaristic culture brought nostalgia of German greatness • Nazi Seizure of Power – Infiltrated cities and towns – Recruited down and out vets – Indoctrinated them to become thugs • 1930= Won 107 seats in Reichstag • 6.5 million voted for them • 7/1932= had 230 seats (far from a majority) Nazi Racism • • • Hitler Named Chancellor Conservatives (Rhineland steel magnates, industrialist, nationalists, aristocrats, Junkers, army officers) believed that they could use and control Hitler – In spite of his anti-capitalistic ranting – Got President Paul von Hindenburg to name Hitler chancellor of a coalition cabinet Hitler legally became chancellor of German Republic 1/30/1933 – called for new elections – Halted as a mysterious fire burned down the Reichstag building – Nazis blamed the Communists – Communist party leaders arrested & imprisoned Enabling Act (1933) – Gave Hitler dictatorial powers for 4 years – Could create and enact laws without Reichstag – Freedom of speech, press, assembly ended – Brownshirts frightened population at the polls – With the backing of Nationalist the Nazis had 52% of the votes and gave Hitler dictatorial powers (national emergency) The Nazi State • Hit called new Germany the Third Reich – 1st was Holy Roman Empire – 2nd empire of Bismarck – Said the 3rd was outgrowth and natural historical culmination and would last 1 thousand years • Took title of Leader (Fuhrer) • Claimed to embody the sovereignty of the German people (General Will) • Democracy, parliamentarianism, liberalism were labeled as Jewish and therefore un-German • Classified anyone with one Jewish grandparent as Jewish • Drove them from public office, civil service, teaching (Nuremberg Laws of 1935) Coordinating German Society • Totalitarian state eliminated other parties, old states (Prussia, Bavaria) • Nazi party purged itself (6/30/34) • Old Brownshirts were accused of plotting against Hitler and were executed (Ernst Rohm, SA leader) – Night of the Long Knives (June 30-July 2, 1934) • Gestapo – (Geheime Staatspolizei) was a secret political police who with the People’s Courts suppressed decent and imprisoned thousands in concentration camps (Dachau) • Church leaders under state control • Hitler Youth – Nazi Youth Movement schools indoctrinated new generation Sophia Scholl -member of White Rose -Beheaded by Gestapo for distributing anti-war leaflets Play from 1:31-36, 1:46-1:49 Nazi Economic Policy • Four Year Plan (1936) – Nazi state directed economic plan – sought complete independence from foreign trade • Rearmament was driving stimulus of economy • National Labor Front – Replaced labor unions • “leadership principle” – set up employers as mini- Fuhrers • Strength Through Joy – subsidized low incomes with paid vacations, entertainment • Public works projects – eliminated unemployment – Autobahn • Vast network of roads • Would provide quick routes for military • Neo Continental System – Planned to eliminate trade barriers by relegating neighboring countries via conquer or satellites • Germany was transformed into a war machine with Hitler viewed as a savior • “Today Germany, tomorrow the whole world.” Economic Recovery and Rearmament Nazi Propaganda • Totalitarian regimes sought to shape people’s minds • Had existed but now became total • Formerly ideas were suppressed via censorship of books, people • Totalitarianism actually manufactured thought • Manipulated opinion and rewrote history • Books, newspapers encouraged whole ideologies • Loudspeakers blared in streets • Inexpensive radios available • Billboard size posters of the Fuhrer appeared everywhere • Triumph of the Will – Film by "Leni" Riefenstahl of the 1934 Nazi Party Congress – Made Hitler seem ‘god-like’ • Constant repetition fostered the belief in the most fantastic rubbish • People actually began to lose ability to use reason Nazi Propaganda Kristallnacht • Nuremberg laws of 1935 deprived Jews of citizenship and forbade intermarriage • Kristallnacht (11/9/38) “night of broken glass” • A 17 year old Polish Jewish student assassinated a German diplomat in Paris • Storm troopers smashed and looted Jewish stores, synagogues and beat up thousands • 30 thousand were sent off to concentration camps • Government issued Billion mark fine of the Jewish community for provoking the assault and collected the insurance payments for property damage • US and Europe closed their doors to those who wanted to flee Germany Kristallnacht