Unit 2: The World in Crisis: Chapter 2: Rise of Authoritarian Regimes - Nazi Germany
Unit 2: The World in Crisis: Chapter 2: Rise of Authoritarian Regimes - Nazi Germany
Unit 2: The World in Crisis: Chapter 2: Rise of Authoritarian Regimes - Nazi Germany
Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
2. Hitler’s abilities
Re-organised the Nazi party to gain political support
- He used his abilities and took advantage of the opportunities present to rise to
power.
- Hitler had the natural ability to capture people’s attention with his public speaking
skills.
- He was able to inspire confidence and belief among Germans that he could be the
one to lead Germany out of its problems.
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Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
- Under Hitler’s leadership, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP)
or Nazi Party grew and came up with its first programme known as the Twenty-five
Points in 1920.
- For his role in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, he was arrested.
- However, his stirring speech made the judges sympathetic towards him and he
received a light sentence of a five-year jail sentence. He was released on parole
after only nine months.
- The jail term proved to be a turning point.
- It convinced Hitler that legal means and not force alone would help him gain
power.
- Upon release, he concentrated his efforts on reorganising the Nazi Party.
- Among the changes made was the setting up of branches in different parts of
Germany as well as the creation of a youth movement.
Shrewd use of propaganda to spread messages that people were desperate to hear
- Initially, the Nazi Party had very little support from the people.
- The working class supported either the Social Democratic Party or the
Communists.
- The years 1924–1929 saw general economic prosperity and political stability.
Thus, the people did not see the need to vote out the Weimar Government.
- At the time, most Germans were not interested in Nazi calls to keep Jews out of
German political life nor in the Nazi plan to invade other countries. The people
also did not like the way the Nazis beat up their opponents to intimidate them.
- After the Great Depression in 1929, many Germans suffered. The Weimar
Government’s popularity dipped even further.
- With improved organisation, Hitler was able to gain much popularity and support.
- The Nazi Party and the Communists became popular during the difficult times
after the Great Depression.
- Many Germans believed that the Weimar Government had failed them and were
open to trying out alternative forms of government.
- Hitler made use of propaganda to spread fear about the aims of Communism.
- He convinced people that the Nazi Party was the only party capable of providing
order and stopping the Communists.
- Many rich industrialists supported the Nazis as they wanted an anti-Communist
government.
- With strong financial support, Hitler was able to build a sizeable private army —
the Sturmabteilung (SA) or Stormtroopers.
- The Nazis won less than three per cent of the votes in the 1928 Elections.
- By 1930, they had won 37.3 per cent, making them the party with the most seats
in the Reichstag.
Skilful at making deals with politicians
- In 1932, President von Hindenburg was pressurised to agree to Hitler’s demand
for chancellorship. He was persuaded by Franz von Papen who thought that the
conservatives could channel their support for Hitler into support for the policies of
the cabinet.
- Furthermore, it was hoped that Hitler could help the government to control the
Communists.
- This was welcomed by the rich industrialists who then supported the appointment
of Hitler as Chancellor.
- On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor. Within months, he ended
Weimar Germany and started the Third Reich.
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Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
Political Impact
Consolidation of Power I: The Reichstag Fire and the Communists
Hoping for full control, Hitler dissolved the Reichstag and called for fresh elections in
March 1933.
A week before the elections however, the Reichstag building caught fire.
Blaming the incident on the Communists and claiming that the state was in danger,
Hitler managed to convince the President to grant him emergency powers.
Using these powers, Hitler arrested the Communists and other political opponents.
On 5 March 1933, the Nazis won 43.9 per cent of the votes in the Reichstag.
This act gave Hitler full dictatorial powers for four years.
To pass the Enabling Act, Hitler needed a two-thirds majority of the Reichstag.
To achieve this, Hitler outlawed the Communist Party and arrested most of them to
prevent them from voting against him.
On March 1933, he got two-thirds of the votes with the support of the Nationalists
and the Catholic Centre Party.
Within a month, Hitler made use of his powers to strengthen his control.
Social Impact
Lack of Freedom and Terror as Control Tactics
The Nazis divided each town into smaller units called viertels or quarters.
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Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
Each quarter had its own Nazi Quarter Warden who would visit the houses in his
quarter every week to check and gather information on everyone.
The Quarter Wardens acted as informers to the Nazi Party of any possible opposition.
People were encouraged to report on their families and neighbours who did not show
total support for Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Concentration camps were built to house the huge number of people arrested for
being anti-government.
Between 1933 and 1939, more than 200 000 Germans were arrested and sent to the
concentration camps.
The people were very badly treated there — they were forced to work very hard and
had very little food to eat.
As a result of the hardship and suffering they had to endure, there were many deaths
in the concentration camps.
Under Nazi rule, all cultural activities, such as musical performances, films and art
exhibitions, were aimed at shaping the minds of the Germans to think like Nazis.
The Nazis organised a lot of cultural activities to encourage the Germans to support
Hitler.
The development of other forms of culture was not permitted.
Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler’s most trusted ministers, was put in charge of the
Nazi propaganda programme.
He played an important role in spreading Nazi propaganda in Germany to gain the
people’s support for the ‘Führer and the Fatherland’.
The Nazis brought all radio stations under their total control. All Germans were
encouraged to buy radios which were sold very cheaply in Germany, and radio
loudspeakers were also installed in all public and work areas.
Whenever Hitler gave speeches, orders would be given for everyone to switch on
their radios and listen to his speech.
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Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
Creation of the Ideal Nazi Aryan and the Response of the Youths
Boys went through programmes of military athletics while girls were prepared for
eventual motherhood.
German youths who were not members of these youth organisations found it difficult
to enter universities or obtain jobs.
Through these programmes, German youths were brainwashed by the Nazis.
Though many young people enthusiastically joined these organisations, others did
not. One of the largest anti-Nazi youth groups was the ‘Edelweiss Pirates’.
The ‘Edelweiss Pirates’ were youths who did not like the strictly-controlled life
required by Nazi youth organisations.
The Nazis punished the members of the ‘Edelweiss Pirates’ by putting thousands of
them in prison and hanging the leaders of the group, but this did not deter them.
The presence of these groups showed that the Nazis did not have complete control
over the German people.
Hitler made sure that schools encouraged loyalty and obedience to Nazi beliefs.
All teachers had to attend special training camps to help them teach Nazi beliefs
more effectively.
Physical Education was emphasised to ensure all German children were healthy.
Students were taught how unfair the Treaty of Versailles was.
Textbooks portrayed the Jews and the Communists negatively.
Students were also taught the superiority of the German (Aryan) race.
The Nazis believed that women should only be concerned about ‘children, church,
kitchen’ (kinder, kirche, kuche).
Hitler thought the role of German women was to produce racially pure and healthy
German babies and to look after their families.
Many professional women were forced to give up their jobs and stay at home.
Women who bore many children received special awards and cash to encourage
them to have more children.
Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
More than 90 Jews were killed while another 30 000 were arrested.
This event was known in history as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).
Note: It is not definite why the Nazis (and Hitler in particular) had such a deep-seated hatred
of the Jews. There are many theories that revolve around this. Some theorize that Hitler had
spent a part of his youth peddling postcards he painted in a rich Jewish neighbourhood,
which bred in him a strong resentment towards the Jews. However, what is important and
interesting to note is that anti-Jewish sentiments is not something that Hitler introduced to
Europe. In fact, there had already been underlying resentment against the Jews from the
18th century onwards, when the Jews settled in Europe and rose to economic prominence
(as most of them were traders / merchants). During the Great Depression, these feelings
were obviously intensified. As such, Hitler’s use of the Jews as a ‘scapegoat’ (to be
responsible for / bear the blame for) all of the problems Germany was facing was also a
brilliant political tactic – whether or not he had a personal vendetta against them – as people
in desperate times often look for someone (other than themselves) to blame.
Control of Religion
The Reich Church controlled all Protestant churches and preached Nazi values.
Members of the Catholic church who opposed the Nazi party were arrested and sent
to concentration camps.
Hitler was able to reduce the influence of Christian churches over the people
significantly.
This was achieved through closing all church schools and church youth groups.
Economic Impact
Hitler’s three main economic policies were :
1. To reduce unemployment.
2. To build up the German weapons building industry so as to create jobs and make
Germany a great military power again.
3. To achieve autarky or economic self-sufficiency.
To ensure that the industries were not disrupted, Hitler banned all trade unions and
declared strikes illegal in 1933.
The German Labour Front (DAF) replaced the trade unions.
The DAF controlled the workers to ensure that wages were fixed according to the
employers.
Efforts were made to improve the lives of the workers, e.g. the ‘Strength through Joy’
(Kraft durch Freude) programmes included cheap holidays, cruises and sporting
activities to encourage the workers.
The DAF also included a programme that enabled all workers to own cars at low
prices. This was stopped however, when war broke out. Many workers paid their
instalments but did not receive their cars.
Hitler spent large sums of money on government projects that involved many workers.
The National Labour Service employed many jobless people in government building
projects. Schools, hospitals and highways (autobahns) were built using this labour.
The civil service was expanded to provide more jobs.
Unemployment was further reduced with the reintroduction of conscription and the
removal of Jews from their jobs.
Overall unemployment fell from six million in 1933 to below one million in 1939.
The rearmament programme benefited big businesses.
This was due to the increase in demand in the coal, steel, chemical and transport
sectors.
Small businesses did not benefit as they were not treated as favourably by the Nazis,
compare to the large companies.
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Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School
History Unit
Upper Secondary Notes
However, due to the lack of natural resources, Germany did not achieve self-
sufficiency. Germany was still spending money to buy goods from abroad.
Overall, although unemployment fell, the German economy did not improve.
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Humanities Dept
Commonwealth Secondary School