Nazi Control
This was partly done through fear and intimidation.
- Death penalty offences went from 3 to 46 (such as listening to a foreign
radio station).
- Judges had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Trials were
predetermined. Ordinary police ignore Nazi crimes
The Gestapo were the Nazi secret police, and the SS were the military unit of
the Nazi party – people were very fearful of them.
● Schutzstaffel (SS) - Led by Heinrich Himmler, the SS was the most
important of these organisations and oversaw the others. Initially set up
as Hitler’s personal bodyguard service, the SS was fanatically loyal to
the Führer. It later set up concentration camps where ‘enemies of the
state’ were sent.
o Waffen SS (army)
o Death Head units
o Plus Gestapo and SD
● Gestapo - This was the Nazis’ secret police force. Its job was to monitor
the German population for signs of opposition or resistance to Nazi rule.
It was greatly helped by ordinary German people informing on their
fellow citizens.
● Sicherheitsdienst (SD) - This was the intelligence gathering agency of
the SS. It was responsible for the security of Hitler and other top Nazis
and was led by Himmler’s right-hand man, Reinhard Heydrich.
Propaganda was also used – Joseph Goebbels oversaw this.
- Censorship of press, control of radios (made cheap and affordable)
and use of loudspeakers, Mass rallies (Nuremberg), Berlin Olympics 1936
- 1937 – removal of over 6500 degenerate art, book burning from 1933,
films such as 1935 Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl. Artists had to
register with the Reich Chamber of Culture.
Women – were taken off the employment register and employers
encouraged to sack them. They were encouraged to have children and stag
at home, 3k’s) Children (Kinder), church (Kirche), and kitchen (Kuchen).
Introducing the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage which gave
newlywed couples a loan of 1,000 marks and allowed them to keep 250
marks for each child they had. Motherhood cross: bronze (4), silver (6) and
gold (8)
They were not expected to wear make-up or trousers, dye their hair or smoke
in public. They were discouraged from staying slim, because it was thought
that thin women had trouble giving birth. Contraception and abortion
banned.
Lebensborn: encouraged unmarried Aryan women to have children with SS
officers.
Youth – textbooks taught the Nazi beliefs and indoctrinated children
(lebensraum for geography, ‘social arithmetic’ for maths). Teacher had to be
part of the Nazi party (Nazi teacher league). New subjects such as Eugenics
(race studies).
Hitler Youth (1939 compulsory) – taught boys how to fight and be a good
soldier through fitness and physical military training. Girls joined the League of
German Maidens.
The League of German Maidens taught girls how to be good mothers and
look after a home.
Church – set up the Reich Church led by Bishop Muller. The bible was
replaced by Mein Kampf.
Protestant Church – Confessional Church set up. Martin Niemoller openly
spoke out against the Nazis. Niemöller was sent to a concentration camp
alongside 800 other pastors.
Catholic Church - In 1933 the Nazis signed the Concordat with the Catholic
Church- they agreed to keep out of each other’s affairs. However, Nazis
close down Catholic youth groups and schools. In 1937, the Pope's message
'With Burning Concern' attacked Hitler as 'a mad prophet with repulsive
arrogance' and was read in every Catholic Church.
The Catholic Archbishop, von Galen, is placed under house arrest after
campaigning against Nazi euthanasia programme.
Resistance
Youth: White Rose movement (Hans and Sophie Scholl) handed out anti-Nazi
leaflets. They were executed for this.
Edelweiss Pirates: attacked Nazi officials, their leaders were hanged (public
hanging in Cologne 1944).
Swing youth: danced to jazz and drank alcohol.
Army – July bomb plot 1944. Some army leaders (von Stauffenberg) tried to
assassinate Hitler. It failed and they were executed.
Economy under the Nazis
Employment:
By January 1939 unemployment was at 302,000 – but Jews and women were
not on the employment register.
RAD (National Labour Service – made all men between the ages of 18-25
work for 6 months (building autobahns, hospitals, schools, etc.) – but wages
and conditions were poor.
Hitler rearmed Germany – building new weapons created jobs.
Public work schemes such as building of autobahns.
Conscription 1935 men ages 18-35 were forced to complete at least 2 years
in the army.
Preparing for war:
Schacht had been economic minister since 1933 – he told Hitler economy
would not be ready for war by 1939 so he was demoted.
Goering launched the 4 year plan in 1936 to get Germany ready for war.
They needed Autarky (self-sufficiency). Goering’s slogan was ‘arms not
butter’. But by 1939 1/3 of German raw materials came from abroad.
Farmers: By 1937, agricultural prices had increased by 20 per cent and
agricultural wages rose more quickly than those in industry.
The Hereditary Farm Law of 1933 prevented farms from being repossessed
from their owners, which gave farming families greater security.
DAF (German Labour Front) was the Nazi trade union. It ran two schemes:
-Beauty of Labour – aimed at improving working conditions (safety
equipment, wash rooms etc.)
- KDF (Strength Through Joy) – aimed at rewarding workers with cheap
holidays.
Persecution
The Nazis believed the Aryan race was superior. They did not want anyone to
comprimise this.
They therefore persecuted homosexuals, gypsies, pacifists and the mentally
and physically ill.
It was their persecution of the Jews that was the most prolific.
1933 – Jewish lawyers, teachers and judges sacked. Race studies introduced
into schools.
1935 – Nuremberg laws. Jews had their citizenship rights taken away.
1938 – Kristallnacht. Organised campaign of violence against synagogues
and Jewish businesses. 100 Jews killed, 20,000 sent to concentration camps.
1939 – Start of WWII, more Jews came under Nazi control. Einsatzgruppen
(death squads) start murdering Jews.
1942 – Wannsee Conference. The final solution is decided. Mass murder Jews
in death camps using gas chambers.
Impact of WW2 (RARE)
● Rationing 1939: one egg per week, lots of bread and potatoes. Warm
water twice a week.
● Area bombing from 1942: 7 million homeless, destruction of transport
and power cuts.
● Refugees: 8 million victims of forced labour from refugees inside
Germany.
● Employment: Total War 1942, Goebbels announces closures of non-
essential businesses. Women worked in factories, longer working hours.
No magazines, sweets, toilet paper and other essentials.
