History: Chapter 9D

What was it like to live in Nazi Germany?

● Young People in Nazi Germany:

★ At School: You will learn about the history of German. You would be
outraged to find out how the German army was “Stabbed in the back”
During the Biology lessons you would be informed that you are special
as a member of the Aryan Race, that is superior in intelligence and
strength.
★ In Hitler’s youth: “German Young People” if you were a boy from age
of 10 to 14. If you were a girl you attended a similar organization called
“League of German Maidens”.
★ Physical activities and organizations: They should march in exciting
parades with loud bands. You would be physically fit. Your leisure time
would be devoted to Hitler and the Nazis. You would be a strong
cross-country runner and confident at reading maps.
★ Summer camps: After years of summer camps, they were comfortable
camping out of doors. If you were a boy, you had learned how to clean
a rifle and keep it in good condition. If you were a girl, you would have
learned sewing, cooking and other domestic tasks. Also, you would
know about race, and how to be a good German mother.

● Did all people support the Nazis?

★ Many like them because of their leisure opportunities. But they do not
really have other alternatives in order to join or not. All the others have
been absorbed or made illegal. By 1936, the Hitler Youth had around 6
million members. If you didn’t join, this would look surprising and
suspicious.

● How did the children feel?

★ They feel great, as if they belonged to a great nation again. They have
the feeling of being in safe hands and they would help to build a strong
Germany. Some Families argue they were not in favor of this, they felt
estranged from their childs and were against hitler regime which was
against their backgrounds as working men. Many young Germans feel
moved and have a feeling of attachment to Hitler.

● At Home: Children felt estranged from their parents. Not as keen on the
Nazis as them. Families felt wrong: Loyalty of their kids is Hitler, not them.
Hitler made it clear, he should be the first loyalty of Hitler Youth.
● The whole story? It was believed that the nazis really did control the
● hearts and minds of young people. But, Many members saw the organization
as boring. Many juvenile crimes. Some didn't know about Nazi ideals.
Politically programmed to obey orders.
 ● Woman in Nazi Germany:
Traditional view of the role of the German woman. Roles for the women: being
homemakers and mothers. Main Aim: To support their husbands as many womens
in rural areas did
Early 1930s: resentment toward working women→they were seen as keeping men
out of job. Higher pressure on women to agree with traditional roles. Leni
Riefenstahl: high-profile film producer. Gertrude Scholz-Klink: the head of the Nazi
Women's Bureau. Working-class girls and women had the opportunity to travel
thanks to the Nazi women's organization. Married professional: forced to give up
their jobs and discrimination against women applying for jobs is encouraged.

● Rewards for Mothers:

★ Financial incentives: Offered for married couples to have at least 4
children
★ Gold cross: Given to mothers for having 8 children
★ Posters, radio, Broadcast and newsreels: Celebrated the idea of
motherhood and homebuilding and this idea of motherhood was also
reintroduced in schools.
★ This caused: Birth rate from 15% in 1933 to 20% in 1939. Increase
pregnancies outside marriage.

● Impacts of the war: Late 1930s: the Nazis did an about-turn as they needed
more women workers. Women struggled with both housework and work
responsibilities.
★ Crisis years of 1942-45: German industries struggling to cope with the
war supplies demand. The woman Nazi policy was still torn between
their traditional stereotype of mothers and the actual needs of the
workplace.

● Impact of the Second World War: In 1930, Hitler fulfilled his promises of
reversing the Treaty of Versailles,rebuilding Germany's armed forces, Unite
Germany and Austria, Eextend German territory.
➔ Food rationing
➔ Clothes rationing
➔ Cut back heating, work longer hours, recycle rubbish
➔ Donations of 1.5 million fur coats for the army
➔ 1942 the beginning of “the final solution”
➔ Postal services suspended
➔ Entertainment closed
➔ Cinemas opened only for propaganda films
➔ Women became the labor force
➔ Evacuees from eastern europe into the country areas
➔ SS has its own armed forces, armaments industry and labor
camps.
➔ The war economy became more efficient after 1942 because
Germany focused production away from civilian goods and onto
military equipment - Support for the Nazis weakened.

● The Bombing of Dresden: It was the bombing of Germany which had the
 most dramatic effect on the lives of German civilians. In 1942 allies decided
on a new policy toward the bombing. Under Arthur ´Bomber´ Harris, the
British began an assault on areas of Germany. They had two objectives,
cripple German industry and lower the morale of civilians terrorizing them into
submission. It ended in February 1945. 35,000 and 150,000 people were
killed.
● The End of the War:
➔ By 1945, Germans were desperate
➔ Decrease of food supplies
➔ 3.5 million german civilians had died
➔ Refugees fleeing the russian advancing
➔ Germany's war was over
➔ Hitler, Goebbels and Nazis commited suicide or were captured
➔ Germany surrendered
➔ Germany was divided up

● The Ghettos: The Ghettos Persecution of the jews developing in intensity out
of the outbreak of war in 1939. After defeating Poland in 1939, the Nazis set
about Germanising Western Poland. Polish Jews were herded into sealed
areas called Ghettos.
● Mass Murder: Mass murder In 1941 Germany invaded the USSR, this was a
great success. The Nazis were in control of 3 million Russian jews in addition
to the jews of other countries, German forces had orders to round up and
shoot communist party activists and their Jewish supporters. The shooting
was carried out by special SS units called Einsatzgruppen.
● “The Final Solution”: The “Final Solution” In January 1942, at the Wannsee
Conference. Himmler, head of the SS and Gestapo was put in charge of the
systematic killing of all jews within germany and German occupied territory,
this was called the final solution.
➔ Responsibility: Hitler was responsible but there were organizations
and other people that were also responsible: The Civil Service
bureaucracy. Police forces in Germany and occupied territories,
The SS, The Wehrmacht (The German armed forces), Industry,
German people.

● The July Bomb Plot, 1944: By this stage, many army officers were sure that
the war was lost and that Hitler was leading Germany to ruin. On 20 July he
planted a bomb in Hitler's conference room. The plan was to kill Hitler, close
down the radio stations, round up the other leading Nazis and take over
Germany.
● Teenagers:
➔ The Swing Movement
➢ Middle class teenagers.
➢ They listen to English and American music.
➢ They accepted jews at their clubs.
➢ They were deliberately slovenly.

➔ Edelweiss Pirates:
➢ Working class teenagers.
➢ Organized movements
➢ Between fourteen and seventeen.
➢ Attacked bands of the hitler youth.
➢ In 1942, the Gestapo broke up 28 groups containing 739
teenagers.
➢ The Nazis don't kill them because they need future workers or
future soldiers.
➢ Nazis sometimes arrest the pirates and sometimes ignore them.
➢ In 1944, in Cologne, the pirates help prisoners to escape, and
twelve of them were hanged,