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Aspects of Nazi Germany 1933-39 Nazi Control Administration Theorized Nazi Germany - Gleichschaltung turned Germany into a single party state - 1933, Hitler is declared ‘the state’ through the Law to Ensure the Unity of Party and State - Fuhrer power = Power in the Reich Actual Nazi Germany - Old Ministerial Hierarchies vs. Party bodies for government influence ex. Foreign Affairs Office vs. Nazi Bureau for Foreign Affairs Note: Historians note that Hitler preferred departmental in-fighting as a means of maintaining his personal power Propaganda and Terror The Nazi party maintained power through the ‘Gestapo’ (Secret State Police) Ministry of Propaganda through Joseph Goebbles helped control propaganda and maintain Nazi power. - Heinrich Himmler as the commander of the SS SA vs SS - SA SS - Mass organization reliant upon numbers After 1934 were mostly flag waivers at party rallies - - Elite force under Hitler’s direct control Controlled the concentration camps 1932 domination of the party’s intelligence (secret police – the Gestapo) SS was in charge of the maintenance of power SS units in the regular German armed forces - ‘Night of Long Knives’ ensured the SS’s influence over military affairs. How radical were the economic changes that the Nazis brought about in Germany? Nazi regime depended upon the solution of economic problems Had to satisfy voters However, methods sometimes contradicted each other. Employment Poured money into public works Unemployed were recruited into Reich Labor Service 6 million unemployed 2.5 million unemployed within 18 months of Nazi’s coming to power Nazis could claim almost complete success by 1939: less than 200,000 unemployed Workers Met with less consistency, less obvious success Complex program of legislation introduced to preserve German peasantry 12 billion Reichsmarks = all peasant debts Peasant debt was suspended between March – October 1933 Allowed for the survival of small, traditional farmers, yet this stopped rise of larger farm units and new farming methods. Big Business/Autarky Law for the Protection of the Retail Trade was supposed to help small traders, yet big business prevailed. Supports larger regimes, by 1937, 70% was in the hands of monopolists Long term priorities are rearmament and self-sufficiency 1st phase of policy limited drain of foreign exchange by paying debts in Reichmarks 4 year plan to achieve self-sufficiency in 1936, which was to achieve selfsufficiency in industrial and agricultural. However Germany was well short of self-sufficiency in 1939 Outcome/Conclusion Nazi Germany’s economy was chaotic: Foreign reserves low, still in debt By mixture of Schacht’s clever financing and ‘windfalls’ (confiscated Jewish property) and seizure of Austrian assets, economy produced impressive results 1932 1935 1938 Unemployed (millions) Coal (million tons) Iron ore (million tons) Pig iron (million tons) Steel (million tons) 6.042 (January) 5.392 (July) 2.974 (January) 1.754 (July) 1.052 (January) 0.218 (July) 118.6 2.6 6.1 8.2 Arms budget (billion RM) 1.9 143.0 6.0 12.8 16.2 6.0 186.4 12.4 18.1 21.9 17.2 Did the Nazis bring about social and cultural revolutions in Germany? Living standards of the German worker German workers lost important rights Awarded prosperity as a consolation prize for loss of political freedom; greatest gain = employment Wages – levels were unclear Role of Women in Nazi society Propaganda in the phrase: “Children, Church, Kitchen.” (Kinder, Kirche, Küche) • Women were seen to only bear and raise a pure race Ideological attempt based on Nazi regard: eliminate women from flourishing in economic and political life, banned by law from legal, medical professions, civil services, and higher in the offices of the Nazi party • Policy implied that if women were removed from jobs, it made it easier for men to have full employment 1936: only 37 of Germany’s 7,000 university teachers were women Birthrate rose: 1934: 1,200,000 to 1,410,000 in 1939 Rejection of the Weimar culture Collapse of “old” Germany Cultural values of “old” society were re-interpreted and challenged • Inventiveness of Weimar culture: Dramatic work of Bertholt Brecht Music of Kurt Weill Architecture of the Bauhaus movement Goebels: “with the judgment that art remains free within its own laws of development but it is bound to the moral, social, and national principles of the state” Nazis devised complex machinery to implement the “co-ordination” Reich chamber of Culture (Reichkulturkammer) meant central body outside which no “maker of culture” could legally practice their craft Nazi Art 3 Major distinguishing features of the Third Reich: 1. Rejection of internationalism (“The response to cultural stimuli from abroad that had characterized the art of the Weimar period”) 2. Instead of internationalism, a glorification of Nazi values was stressed upon 3. Dominated by a conservatism, mostly a philistinism, that that reflected Germany’s new leaders Craig Gordon: “most of the products of this cultural ‘revolution were ‘of a quality so inferior as to be embarrassing.” Most of Nazi art was a disguise for propaganda Musical taste was overrun by the classical past’s Ludwig van Beethoven, Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Wagner Nazi Propaganda and the Cinema Film industry was made under Goebbles • Used film to influence the masses (propaganda) • Barely used and if used, used intelligently Used films as an expose with political points subtly conveyed with an artistic merit. Nazism and Education Theme of mediocrity (google dictionary definition: If you refer to the mediocrity of something, you mean that it is of average quality but you think it should be better) Reich Education Ministry (May 1934) did not change the structure of the educational system; revised syllabuses • More focus was put on history, biology, and German as the main classes while physical fitness and development raised the physical education department to a more “prestigious” level Universities • Dismissal of “unreliable” teachers • Banning of “Jewish” thesis as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity • 45% of all universities changed hands Boys and Girls between the ages of 10-14 • Boys Forced to serve in the Jungvolk organization Then to be part of the Hitlerjunged (“Hitler Youth”) until the age of 18 • Girls Forced to serve in Jungmädel organization Then to be part of the Bund Deutsche Mädchen (“German Girls League”) until the age of 18 Anti-Semitism Motives Ideologically part of Nazism A tool for achievement of other aims? (AJP Taylor – ‘a showy substitute for social change’) Hatred – Hitler believed them to be the source of ‘all evil, misfortune and tragedy’ (Lucy Dawidowicz) – Loss of WW1, Wall St. Crash, Great Depression etc Long tradition of German anti-semitism Improved status of Jews under Weimar Republic Measures to create a ‘Jew-Free State’ April 1933. Jews banned excluded from positions of social and political influence – civil service, universities, journalism Outbreaks of violence and boycotts against Jewish shops and businesses encouraged http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.einsatzgruppenarchives .com/ On 1 April 1933 the first boycott of Jewish shops, lawyers and doctors took place all over Germany. Members of the SA and SS stood outside Jewish stores and reminded each would-be shopper of the boycott slogan: "Germans protect yourselves. Do not buy from Jews." 1935. The Nuremburg Laws (Sept) and the National Law of Citizenship (November). Outlawed marital and sexual contact between Jews and Germans. Jews stripped of German nationality. http://images.google.com/ "I am the greatest pig in town - I have affairs with Jews only." This scene, organized for the press in Hamburg in 1935, appeared in all German newspapers. The man's sign says: "I only take German girls to my room." August 1936. Whole Jewish community would be held responsible for the act of a Jewish individual. 1938, November. Kristalnacht (Night of the broken glass). A German diplomat was murdered in Paris by a Jew and ins revenge 7,000 Jewish businesses in German were attacked and 100 Jews were murderded by the SS. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps as a result and the Jewish community was fined fro the damaged caused. 1937. Jews banned from stock broking and banking. 1938 November. The Decree Eliminating Jews from German Economic Life made it illegal for Jews to work un sales, services, crafts and management. 1939 January. Reich Centre for Jewish Emigration established to arrange for Jews to leave Germany. Results By 1939 500,000 German Jews were stranded without political or economic rights January 1939. Hitler’s first public referral to ‘the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.’ 1942. Wannsee Conference. ‘The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem’ was formulated. To what extent was Nazi authority resisted within Germany? Defiance from Irritation and Anger German Democratic Republic emphasized role of German Communists in resisting Nazism Significant dissatisfaction and discontent with Nazi rule “The extent of disillusionment and discontent in almost all sections of the population, rooted in the socio-economic experience of daily life, is remarkable.” – The Nazi Dictatorship (1993) by Ian Kershaw “Refusal to give the ‘Heil Hitler’ Greeting; insistence upon hanging out the church flag instead of the swastika banner; public criticism of anti-church measures by Catholic priests.” Bavaria at the Time of the Nazis (1997-83) by Martin Broszat Anti-social and Anti-establishment Movements ‘Edelweiss Pirates’ o German youth in contrast to Hitler youth o Developed socio-political activities o Sometimes received death penalty ‘Swing Movement’ o Cultural emphasis o American and British jazz music and dance o Unacceptable to regime Nazi ideal of totalitarian authority not fully achieved Above opposition have little impact Unable to reduce capacity of Nazi policies of aggressive war and genocide Political Opposition Resistance to obstruct Nazi intentions Nazis dealt ruthlessly with opposition SPD and KPD declared illegal o 150.000 of supporters were imprisoned o 40,000 exiled o 12,000 convicted of high treason Religious Opposition Catholic Church o 1937: Encyclical Mit Brenneder Sorge protested euthanasia o Encyclical: A papal letter, circulated to bishops of the Church, or to those in one particular country. o 1933: Euthanasia broken important provisions of Concordat o Moral objections did not deflect Nazis from purposes Protestant opposition o Less focused and more fragmented o Specifically pastors Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer “The majority of educated Germans were very distrustful of the Hitler propaganda. Very many felt at the time of Hitler’s victory that his political system was foreign to them.” – The Sword and the Sceptre (1972) by Gerhard Ritter Military Opposition Gave valuable support to Nazis in early stages of power Signs of alienation due to: o Nazi policies became more radical o Military defeat increasingly likely July 1944: Attempted assassination of Hitler by army officers at Rastenburg Nazi regime retained power through ruthless elimination of domestic opponents (military) Conclusion Different oppositions to Hitler portrayed unification, strength and bravery. However, did not pose a significant threat.