Life in Nazi Germany
One party law and order the SS and Gestapo. Control of education, youth movements and the media; censorship and propaganda. Cultural, racial and religious persecution; Economic policy; increased employment through public works programmes, rearmament and conscription; self-sufficiency. Effects of Nazi policies on people living in Germany.
Make sure you have detailed factual knowledge about AND HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT the following issues and topics:
Nazi RULE IN GERMANY 1934-39 1. The nature of life in Nazi Germany, including ● Nazi Nazi Economic Policy ● The Holocaust
and that you are able to explain:
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Revision Focus This is a Paper 2 topic, so you need to have factual KNOWLEDGE IN DEPTH but also a degree of understanding which will allow you in the exam to write MULTI-CAUSAL EXPLANATIONS of the key issues. Linkse-book on Life in Nazi Germany
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NAZI RULE IN GERMANY 1934-39
Life in Nazi Germany(Different groups had different experiences. For some it was all good - for some it was all bad. For many people, it was a mixture of good and bad:)
(NOW YOU) Nazi Party members very happy - they got the best houses, jobs in the government and power over other people.
Ordinary people
Nazi economic policies gave
full employment/
the Strength through Joy
On the other hand,
Wages
fell/ strikers could be shot/ all culture had to be German.
Women
The
Nazis gave newly-wed
couples money for having babies/ women who had more than 8
children got a gold medal.
On the other hand,
Women doctors, teachers and civil servants were forced to give up their
careers.
Youth
Most were very happy - the
HJ provided exciting activities for young boys/ young
people had power because parents were frightened that their children
would report them to the Gestapo.
On the other hand,
SOME girls were unhappy with the emphasis on the three Cs (Church,
children, cooker)/ 'Aryan' girls were bred with selected 'Aryan' boys/ Eidelweiss
Pirates drank, danced to American jazz music, sheltered
army deserters and even attacked the Gestapo.
Opponents
Many Germans welcomed political repression because it brought political stability after
the Weimar years.
On the other hand,
Communists were put into concentration camps/
Protestant pastors such as Dietrich Bonhoffer were executed/ Blockleiters
and Gestapo informers made life terrifying for everybody..
Untermensch
Many Germans approved of Nazi racism.
On the other hand,
'The Holocaust'`-`Jews were forced
into walled ghettos, put into concentration camps, used for medical
experiments / 85% of Germany's gypsies killed/ black people sterilized/
mentally ill patients killed/ deaf people, physically disabled and
families with hereditary illness sterilized/ beggars, homosexuals,
prostitutes, alcoholics, pacifists, hooligans and criminals said to be
'anti-social' and put in concentration camps
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Nazi Economic Policies(There were FOUR aspects to Nazi economic policies:)
(EFIC)
Employment Unemployment fell from nearly 6 million to virtually nothing The RAD (National Labour Service) sent men on public works; eg the autobahns,
Re-armament set steel
mills, coal mines and factories back into production.
Farming
The government kept food prices at the 1928 level. Farmers were organised into the Reich Food Estate.
Although they were strictly controlled, they
were given subsidies.
Industry The Nazis believed that Germany should be self-sufficient. They stopped imports, and subsidised industry. Production rose, especially of oil, steel, coal and explosives. Businesses were strictly controlled, but they were happy because the workers were too. .
Conditions The Beauty of Work movement made people proud of their work.
Trade
Unions were banned, wages
fell
The
Strength through Joy movement gave people
cut-price holidays, theatre trips and concerts. The KdF designed the Volkswagen
(or Peoples Car) Beetle.
The Holocaust(LEARN THE FOLLOWING LIST OF FIVE KEY DATES:)
1935 -
'Nuremberg laws' - Jews were forbidden to
marry 'Aryans'. 1938 - Nazi mobs destroyed Jewish synagogues and businesses. It was called Kristallnacht, from the glass left from broken windows. After 1940 - All Jews were forced to live in separate ghettos and had to wear the yellow 'star of David'. 1941 - Conquest of Russia; the Germans captured vast numbers of Russian Jews. Einsatzgruppen were set up to shoot them all. 1942 - Wannsee Conference: decision to implement the 'final solution' - the genocide of gypsies and Jews.
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