Nazism and Hitler’s Germany-Class Notes



Nazism and Hitler’s Germany-Class Notes

Pre 1933

-Nazi Party Programme- 1921: Socialism, Anti-Semitism and Nationalism

-Nazis rise to power in the early 1920’s –economic conditions worsen,

inflation is on the rise, unemployment on the rise….some political parties seem to have the answer.

-The Weimar Republic is weak , corrupt and in shambles. The Treaty of Versailles is at the core of the problem.

-Brownshirts start to appear in the street. These are a uniformed, military type group who are used to intimidate voters and citizens to

“ see” the Nazi way is the right way.

-1922- Munich Putsch: Hitler and a group of fellow Nazis try to take over the government and are imprisoned.

-While imprisoned in Landsberg Castle , H . writes Mein Kampff (My Struggle) . He is pardoned …….

Reflection:

I am able to……

-make a link between the Versailles Settlement and the rise of the Nazis and Communists.

-explain why the Nazi movement took root in Germany. (3)

-explain why the Nazi Party Programme appealed to the people of Germany.

1933 – 1938 Towards Fuhrer and Nazification of Germany

Towards Dictatorship or Fuhrer:

-The Nazis have a good showing in the elections of 1932.

-In 1933 they win some more seats and Von Hindenburg invites Hitler to form a government.

-H. passes an Enabling Law, creating a dictatorship almost overnight.

-H. has all his opponents (Rohm and Brownshirt leaders) killed during the Night of the Long Knives.1934.

-Organizes the Block System or Glei……..

-the policy of Autarchy or self - sufficiency.

-Von Hindenburg dies in 1934 and all opposition crumbles.

Gradual Nazification

-Theory of Nazism states that the Aryan Race is the supreme race, or Herrenvolk.

-increasing use of symbols and imagery to reinforce message.

-Hitler Youth grow 1932 - 30 000 1935 - 300 000.

-Nazi Leagues sprout up everywhere.

-Race Purity Laws Nuremburg Laws are passed in 1936.

-the Untermenschen or sub humans live among us so the question of what to do with them is discussed at the highest levels.

-Lebensraum or living space for the master race must be created…first by purifying Germany,

then the surrounding countries and by 1939 Poland….next is Russia etc…...

Reflect upon….. The work of murder is the work of average, everyday people. If it is acceptable for the state to do it…..then what’s to stop the murderers?

WHAT WAS THE HOLOCAUST?

Taken from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

 

In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany would occupy or influence during World War II. By 1945, the Germans and their collaborators killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the "Final Solution," the Nazi policy to murder the Jews of Europe. Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). At least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients, mainly Germans, living in institutional settings, were murdered in the so-called Euthanasia Program.

The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.

Methodology

With the purification of Germany done, and the union of Austria(1938),invasion and conquest of Sudetenland(1938) and Czechoslovakia(1939) done Hitler set his sights on Poland(1939) and the rest of Europe.WW2 officially began Sept. 1st., 1939.

Their plan was …..

Germanize all areas they invaded in the East (Poland and Russia) as they had the most land. They would clean out the Untermenschen (subhumans) and create new Lebensraum (living space) for the new German citizens who would be arriving soon.

How…..

-Create lists and round up people who were Jewish / of impure races.

-Create ghettos (areas of concentration) set apart from regular cities walled off.

-Create lists and prioritize people who would enter the ghettos.

-Shut off all access to and from the ghettos. Jewish Council.

-Send the SS/ or Army in to cleanse (liquidate) the ghetto.

-Any survivors would be sent to one of the 8000 or so camps spread across the Nazi Empire….by 1940 Britain is alone in Europe.

-concentration camps

-work camps (Arbeit Macht Frei)

-Death Camps( Auschwitz-Birkenau and 5 others….

-Eliminate the impure by shootings and mass executions, starvation, firing squads, mass graves, gassings and eventually crematoriums.

Ironically the financing for this undertaking was provided by the conquered peoples or Jews themselves…..

THE END OF THE HOLOCAUST

 

In the final months of the war, SS guards moved camp inmates by train or on forced marches, often called “death marches,” in an attempt to prevent the Allied liberation of large numbers of prisoners. As Allied forces moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Germany, they began to encounter and liberate concentration camp prisoners, as well as prisoners en route by forced march from one camp to another. The marches continued until May 7, 1945, the day the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. For the western Allies, World War II officially ended in Europe on the next day, May 8 (V-E Day), while Soviet forces announced their “Victory Day” on May 9, 1945.

There were 2 sets of trials that happened in which Nazis were put on trial for a new crime…Genocide. This was a Crime Against Humanity. There was a secret set of trials and the more famous Nuremburg Trials held in 1945 in which 21 prominent and not so prominent Nazis were put on trial.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download