Weimar and Nazi Germany Revision Booklet History (High School - United Kingdom), Exams of History

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Weimar and Nazi Germany Revision Booklet

History (High School - United Kingdom)

History GCSE

Revision Pack

Edexcel

Weimar and Nazi Germany

BOLINGBROKE ACADEMY

Course Overview:

was it significant? The November 1933 elections and how Hitler became Chancellor in 1933? The Nazi dictatorship 1933 - 39 and the removal of opposition What was the importance of the Reichstag fire? Why was the Enabling Bill important? How did the Nazis remove political opposition? What were the causes, key events and consequences of the Night of the Long Knives? How did Hitler become Fuhrer in 1934? What was the police state? How did the Nazis control the Church? How did the Nazis use propaganda and censorship? Nazi domestic policies 1933 to 1939 In what ways did the Nazis control the young? Did young people oppose the Nazis? How did the Nazis view and change the role of women? What were the Nazis economic policies? How successful were the Nazis at improving the economy 1933 to 1939? What were the Nazis’ aims for minorities in Germany? How did the Nazis carry out their theory of the racial state?

Exam Paper Overview:

The exam paper is 75 minutes long.

Revision Resources:

1. This revision pack!

2. Revision notes in the revision pack.
3. Past paper questions.
4. Your exercise books.
5. Extension reading and practice pack provided.
6. GCSE BBC Bitesize.
7. CGP Complete Revision and Practice – Edexcel Modern World History

Why did the Constitution of the Weimar Republic create problems? ▪ Germany had no tradition of democracy and of making democratic systems work. The Kaiser had despised democracy. Although he had fled, his generals, diplomats and civil servants remained. ▪ The Weimar constitution was one of the most democratic in the world, but it created difficulties. ▪ Proportional representation meant that it was worthwhile setting up new parties and the result was that no one party ever had a majority in the Reichstag. ▪ All governments had to be coalitions and these were frequently changing. Proportional representation meant that it was impossible for any one party to gain a majority in the Reichstag and for a strong government to emerge. ▪ The Weimar politicians who signed the treaty took all the anger of German nationalists. They were called the ‘November Criminals’. ▪ They were accused of ‘Stabbing the army in the back’ (because they believed – quite wrongly – that the army had not been defeated). ▪ The most important party in the 1920s was the Socialists (SPD), but they always needed the support of at least two other parties in order to form a government. The Chancellor was replaced about once a year. What was the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the Republic? ▪ The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June, five years to the day after the assassination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo. ▪ The German delegates had not been allowed to attend any of the meetings at Versailles, but had been shown the terms of the treaty in May. ▪ When they saw the terms, they were horrified. They had expected that the Treaty would be based upon Wilson's 'Fourteen Points', which recommended 'Self-Determination'. ▪ In fact the Treaty was heavily influenced by Clemenceau's desire to 'make Germany pay'. The German delegates considered restarting the war, but this was impossible. The main terms of the Treaty were as follows ▪ Land - Germany lost about 10% of her land, Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France, the Polish Corridor was created to give the new country of Poland a way out to the Baltic. This cut Germany into two. Germany also lost land to Belgium, Denmark and Czechoslovakia. ▪ Colonies - all German colonies were taken away and were handed to Britain and France to look after under League of Nations mandates until they were ready for independence. ▪ Armed forces - the German army was reduced to 100,000 men and conscription was banned, the navy was reduced to six ships and submarines were banned, the airforce was to be completely destroyed. ▪ The Rhineland - this was to be demilitarised, no soldiers or military equipment were to be kept within thirty miles of the east bank of the river. The Allies would occupy it for fifteen years. ▪ The Saar - this was to be occupied for fifteen years and France would be able to mine coal in it for those years. ▪ Reparations -In 1919 the Germans were required to pay for all of the civilian damage caused during the First World War. The final bill was presented on 1 May 1921 and was fixed at £6,600,000,000. To be paid over thirty years.

1. Germany was to hand over all merchant ships of over 1600 tonnes, half of those between 800 and 1600 tonnes and one quarter of her fishing fleet. She was also to build 200,000 tonnes of shipping for the Allies in each of the next five years.

2. Large quantities of coal were to be handed over to France, Belgium and Italy for the next ten years.
3. Germany was to pay for the cost of the armies of occupation and had to agree to the sale of German property in the Allied countries. ▪ War Guilt - Germany was to accept the blame for the war, alone. Why was the Treaty very unpopular in Germany? ▪ The Germans had expected that they would be treated much more leniently because they had opened peace negotiations on the basis of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which had explicitly denied that it would be a vengeful peace. ▪ The German people had not been told much about the war, they thought they were fighting a defensive war against aggressive neighbours; they did not know about the scale of Germany’s defeat in autumn, 1918. The terms therefore came as a huge surprise to many of the German people. ▪ The Reparations were regarded as very severe as they punished the German people for years to come, not the Kaiser who had fled to Holland. ▪ The German government had not been allowed to take part in the negotiations; it was presented with the final version and told to sign it or else the war would continue. ▪ The War Guilt Clause was regarded as very unfair. The war had been sparked off by the murder of an Austrian by a Serb. Germany had only been one of the countries which became involved. Many Germans believed that they were being used as scapegoats for all of the other countries. ▪ Some of this was justified – the negotiations had been opened on the basis of the 14 Points and Reparations had more to do with revenge and with French war-debts than with fairness. ▪ However, the losses of territory and resources were not that great. The German economy revived rapidly and successfully in the later 1920s. ▪ Also, Germany had rejected the 14 Points while they stood a chance of winning the war and their own treatment of Russia at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 was very punitive. ▪ Germany had suffered worse than any of the other major countries, except possibly for Russia. Two million German soldiers had been killed and the German economy had been ruined by the blockade set up by the Allies. Conditions in Germany in the winter of 1918/19 were very bad. ▪ The politicians who had signed the Armistice were called the November Criminals by Hitler, who joined a small extreme party in Bavaria in 1919. The government became very unpopular and from 1919 onwards there was increasing violence and large numbers of murders. ▪ Many soldiers did not believe that the army had actually been defeated, as Germany had surrendered before it had been invaded. ▪ Some wanted to fight on, but the odds against Germany had been very long indeed, with Britain, France and the USA all on the other side. When they returned home they were treated like heroes. Unrest in Germany ▪ The first signs of unrest had been the Spartacist Revolt in January 1919; this had been crushed by the Freikorps. ▪ The Freikorps were gangs of ex-soldiers who paraded around towns and cities attacking opponents. ▪ In 1920, Ebert, the German president tried to disband the Freikorps, but this only led to an attempted coup by the Freikorps in March 1920, the Kapp Putsch.

▪ Shopkeepers tried to keep their shops closed, but the government forced them to open. ▪ A loaf of bread which cost 29 pfennigs in 1913, cost 1200 marks by summer 1923 and 428,000,000,000 marks by November 1923. ▪ But some people benefited. Anybody who had borrowed money could repay the loan very easily, speculators and gamblers did very well and multi-millionaires appeared overnight. ▪ Foreigners flocked into Germany to buy up works of art as Germans desperately tried to make ends meet. ▪ In fact, despite the chaos, the Weimar government became more popular for the first time. Its support for the strikers began to swing popular opinion behind it. ▪ Hyperinflation was seen as something forced upon Germany from outside. The Recovery of the Republic under Stresemann ▪ In August 1923, Gustav Stresemann came to power. He immediately offered to call off passive resistance and restart reparations if the French and Belgians would withdraw. ▪ Passive resistance was called off in September and Stresemann then immediately tackled hyperinflation. ▪ Stresemann issued a new currency called the Rentenmark, which was based upon German land and not gold. The old marks could be exchanged for Rentenmarks at the very good rate of 300,000,000 to

▪ He then persuaded the Allies to agree to the Dawes Plan. This was a programme of loans from US bankers to help German economy to recover. 25 billion marks were invested in Germany in the next five years. ▪ The Dawes Plan also cut the amount of reparations Germany had to pay and extended the time they had to pay it. ▪ With some economic recovery, some reparations were paid. With some reparations paid, the French and Belgians withdrew their troops from the Ruhr in 1925. ▪ As relations between Germany and her neighbours improved, Stresemann signed the Locarno Pact. The Locarno Pacts ▪ The Locarno Pacts were signed in October 1925 by France, Belgium and Germany. They guaranteed the borders between France and Belgium and Germany. Britain and Italy signed as guarantors of the treaty. ▪ A second set of agreements finalised arbitration treaties between Germany and France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland. These were intended to bring an end to the bitterness that had prevailed after the First World War. ▪ A third section created mutual defence pacts between France and Poland and Czechoslovakia. These were intended as protection against any future German aggression. Why were the Locarno Pacts important? ▪ At the time they were seen as important steps in the process of Collective Security. There was talk of the 'spirit of Locarno', which seemed to offer the prospect of a Europe free from war. ▪ Locarno marked the re-emergence of Germany onto the European stage, thanks to the leadership of Stresemann.

▪ In 1926 Germany was admitted to the League of Nations and became one of the Permanent Council Members. This was a major triumph for Stresemann. The recovery of Germany ▪ Germany now appeared to have recovered from the effects of the war and the political unrest that had succeeded it. ▪ There was growing support from many Germans for the Weimar government, however, coalitions continued to come and go regularly and there was a new chancellor on average every twelve months. ▪ There was increasing support for Democracy, from Germans who wanted their country run on democratic lines for the first time. Germany in the late 1920s ▪ Businesses, which prospered again under the recovery programme. New industries, like cars, radios, telephones, aircraft as well as shipbuilding all did very well. ▪ Artists enjoyed the new freedom from censorship, which Weimar offered after the heavy hand of the Kaiser. Film-makers, like Fritz Lang, and architects like Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus school, led the world. ▪ Jazz clubs and cabarets did well as people spent the money they now had. Berlin became one of the most popular and freest cities in Europe. ▪ Berlin had 120 newspapers and 40 theatres. ▪ In 1929 the Young Plan reduced Germany’s reparations still further. The amount payable by Germany was reduced to 1,707,000,000 marks per year, of which only 660,000,000 had to be paid. ▪ The rest could be postponed for up to two years. Payments would gradually increase for thirty-six years and would end in 1988. ▪ Because the payments under the Young Plan were less than Germany was making under the Dawes Plan, most people expected this to be a final settlement of the reparations problems. ▪ However, the Young Plan was attacked by right-wing parties and Hitler was used as a spokesman by Alfred Hugenberg, the leader of the German National Party. The impact of the Great Depression ▪ On 3 October 1929 Gustav Stresemann died. He had been responsible, more than any other politician, for Germany’s recovery in the 1920s. ▪ On 24 October 1929 Wall Street, the American Stock Exchange crashed. US bankers called in their loans to Germany. German companies had to close down. ▪ This led to the Depression of the 1930s, which affected Germany more than any other country. By 1932 6,000,000 Germans (One in three of all workers) were out of work. ▪ Unemployment pay only lasted six months. After that came real poverty and homelessness. ▪ The Weimar government seemed unable to deal with the crisis (along with most governments in the world). ▪ The worst effects were felt from 1931 onwards when a series of banks went bust. This ruined many ordinary Germans and led to them losing their homes and being forced to live on the streets.

Key Topic 2: Hitler and the growth of the Nazi Party 1918- 33 The founding and early growth of the Nazi Party, 1919- Hitler and the German Workers Party ▪ Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. Both his parents died when he was young and he drifted to Vienna and tried to get into an Academy of Art. He was rejected twice. He lived rough and earned a living painting postcards. ▪ He later claimed that his hatred of Jews began in Vienna, although there is no evidence for this because he often met Jews, worked for them and ate in their houses ▪ In 1914, he volunteered for the German army and served throughout the First World War. He won the Iron Cross First Class and was promoted to Lance-Corporal. He later described it as the happiest time of his life. ▪ Hitler, who was gassed in October, spent the last weeks of the war in hospital. Like many he did not understand why the government had surrendered and came to believe in a Jewish conspiracy to save property in Germany. ▪ He accused the November Criminals, the politicians who had signed the Armistice, of betraying Germany. ▪ Hitler remained in the army after the war and eventually got a job as a spy for the German army. In September 1919, he was ordered to join the German Workers' Party. ▪ Hitler joined the Party Committee and was appointed to be in charge of propaganda. In 1921, he became the leader. ▪ Hitler changed the name of the Party to the 'National Socialist German Workers' Party'. He wanted to attract as many supporters as possible, National was intended to entice attract right- wing nationalists, and Socialist to attract workingmen. ▪ The party soon became nick-named the Nazis by their opponents. But this was a term never used by Hitler. He always referred to his followers as National Socialists. ▪ The Nazis were just one of a number of extremist fringe parties in Bavaria in the early 1920s. They had a few thousand supporters, but were unknown in the other parts of Germany. ▪ Their main appeal was through the speeches of Hitler, who soon gained a reputation as a powerful orator, despite his Austrian accent. ▪ Hitler set up his own private army, the Sturm Abteilung, led by a violent ex-soldier Ernst Roehm, and used it to attack his opponents in the streets. ▪ He tried to pose as a strong man who could solve Germany’ problems. In 1920, Hitler published the 25 Point Programme; some of the main aims were:

1. We demand the union of all Germany in a Greater Germany on the basis of the right of national self- determination.
2. We demand land and territory (colonies) to feed our people and to settle our surplus population.
3. Only members of the nation may be citizens of the State. Only those of German blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation. Accordingly, no Jew may be a member of the nation.

5. Non-citizens may live in Germany only as guests and must be subject to laws for aliens.
6. All non-German immigration must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans who entered Germany after 2 August 1914 shall be required to leave the Reich forthwith.
7. We demand controls on the press to prevent deliberate lies being spread about political parties. The publishing of papers which do not support to the national welfare must be forbidden.
8. To put the whole of this programme into effect, we demand the creation of a strong central state power for the Reich. The Munich Putsch and the lean years ▪ Hitler saw the chaos that Hyperinflation caused in 1923 as an opportunity to try to seize power. He had already tried to stage a coup in May, but this had been easily broken up by the authorities. ▪ This time, therefore, he delayed until members of his own party demanded action. When he heard of a meeting at the Burgerbraukeller in Munich on 8 November, at which three Bavarian ministers were due to be present, he decided to act. ▪ At exactly 8.30 p.m., Hitler broke up the meeting; he fired a gun at the ceiling and announced that he was going to try to take over the government the following morning. ▪ The ministers present agreed to support him, but in the confusion they escaped and the authorities were warned of the plot. ▪ The night was spent drinking and the owner of the beer hall later claimed that the Nazis had drunk nearly 2,400 pints of beer and caused considerable damage. What happened on 9 November? ▪ The following day, Ernst Roehm, the leader of the Sturm Abteilung, the Storm Troopers, seized the Post Office in Munich at about 8.30 a.m. and waited for Hitler to march to his support. ▪ In the meantime, Hitler had got up late, probably because the Nazis had been drinking heavily all night and had a late breakfast. He did not begin the march until about 11.00 a.m. ▪ Hitler and the war-hero Ludendorff led the march into Munich the next morning. They had about 2,000 supporters. ▪ They hoped the police would not fire at them and that the people would rise in support. In fact no one joined them, the police opened fire and 16 Nazis were killed, including Hitler’s bodyguard who dived on top of Hitler to protect him. What happened to Hitler? ▪ In a Nazi biography, Hitler claimed that his shoulder was dislocated when the man next to him was shot. Other versions of the story suggest that he fell to the ground to avoid being shot. ▪ Hitler fled and was arrested two days later. Hitler was tried for high treason. He was found guilty and sentenced to just five years in prison by a pro-Nazi judge. ▪ While Hitler was in prison after the Beer Hall Putsch, he wrote ‘Mein Kampf’(My Struggle), which was a cross between his autobiography and a list of his political ideas. Hitler also decided that he would have to change his tactics and the way that his party was organised. ▪ After only eleven months in prison Hitler was let out.

Numbers of Nazi members in the Reichstag 1928 12 1930 107 1932 230 Why did support for the Hitler and the Nazis grow so quickly? ▪ Hitler told the German people that the problems of the Depression were not their fault. He blamed the Jews and the Weimar democrats for Germany’s problems. He used them as a scapegoat. ▪ The Nazi Party propaganda chief, Goebbels, had Hugenberg’s money and newspapers to back them. Hitler hired a private plane to fly around Germany. He was the first politician to do this. ▪ Goebbels organised torchlight processions, rallies, radio broadcasts, films. Nazi propaganda was far ahead of any of their rivals. ▪ Hitler said that he would be able to solve the problems. He offered strong leadership and easy solutions. ▪ Hitler said that he would do away with the Treaty of Versailles, which had treated Germany so badly, and make their country great again. ▪ He was always backed up by large numbers of disciplined and uniformed followers. The SA rose in numbers from 30,000 in 1929 to 440,000 in 1932. ▪ The discipline, the processions and the uniforms gave the impression of toughness and knowing what was needed. It reminded people of the old days under the Kaiser. ▪ The violence of the SA increased. This gave the impression of action and purpose. They particularly attacked Communists, which pleased middle class and business people. It also made the Weimar system look as though they couldn’t keep order. ▪ Hitler promised different things to different groups of people. To businessmen he promised that he would control the Trade Unions and deal with the Communists. To workers he promised that he would provide jobs. How did Hitler become chancellor? ▪ In 1932 Hitler stood in the presidential elections against Hindenburg. Hindenburg won 17 million votes, Hitler won 11 million. ▪ Hindenburg was very angry that Hitler had dared to stand against him. ▪ In the July 1932 general election, the Nazis became the biggest party in Reichstag, but Hindenburg refused to appoint Hitler Chancellor. Franz von Papen became chancellor. ▪ Von Papen was a political nobody with almost no support in the Reichstag. In November there was another general election. ▪ In the November 1932 election, the Nazis lost some support, but were still the biggest party in the Reichstag. Franz von Papen was replaced as chancellor by General Kurt von Schleicher. ▪ Schleicher had even less support than von Papen and only lasted a month. The problem was that Hindenburg wanted a chancellor who he could trust (preferably a general), but the Reichstag was dominated by the Nazis, Socialists and Communists.

▪ Von Papen was furious that von Schleicher had taken his place and was determined to get rid of him. ▪ In January 1933, he suggested that Hindenburg appoint Hitler as chancellor, with von Papen as vice- chancellor in a coalition government. Von Papen thought he could control Hitler. ▪ Hindenburg against his better judgement agreed. On 31 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany. He led a coalition government, which included four Nazis.

Why did Hitler order the Night of the Long Knives? ▪ Hitler did not want the socialists within the party to take control. He wanted a right wing dictatorship. ▪ He needed the support of the army for his plans for war and knew that the generals would not accept Roehm as their leader. ▪ Hitler had to act before President Hindenburg died. It would be very difficult to deny Roehm power when Hitler became Fuhrer. ▪ Roehm claimed that the SA was growing rapidly. He put the membership at 3,000,000, although it was probably nearer 500,000. ▪ Roehm ordered all members of the SA to go on holiday for the month of July 1934 and summoned the leaders to Munich for a conference. ▪ On the night of 30 th^ June 1934, 400 SA leaders, including Rohm, were assassinated by the SS on Hitler’s orders. Also murdered were General Kurt von Schleicher and his wife. The Police State ▪ The Gestapo (Geheime Staats Polizei), or secret police, was set up in 1933 and was run by Himmler after 1936. ▪ It was responsible for investigating cases of espionage, treason and sabotage and was exempt from the jurisdiction of the courts. ▪ That meant that complaints against it could not be made and cases could not be brought against its actions. ▪ Consequently, the Gestapo could take any action that it wished without fear of protest or restraint. ▪ Evidence from informers was used – people were encouraged to inform on neighbours, colleagues, even their own family. ▪ Every block or street had an informer who reported on any behaviour that might suggest non-Nazi views e.g. not giving the Hitler salute. ▪ People who offended could be arrested and sent away for ‘re-education’, which usually meant a spell in ‘protective custody’. ▪ Protective custody involved the arrest and detention of individuals, who then had to sign a document stating that they had requested being given protection against personal harm ▪ Nazi 'People’s Courts' tried people, often in secret. The judges were all Nazis. By 1939 more than 160,000 political prisoners in Germany. ▪ The first concentration camps had been opened in 1933. They were deliberately made as hard as possible to act as a deterrent. Political opponents, gypsies, or anybody else that the Nazis regarded as 'untermensch', were simply locked away. The Nazis and the Catholic Church ▪ In 1933, Hitler signed a Concordat with the Pope to protect the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. ▪ He agreed to safeguard the rights of the Catholics if the Church kept out of politics. No agreement was made with the Protestant Churches. ▪ Criticisms of brutality and changes in education began in 1935 and resulted in priests being arrested, often on trumped up charges. ▪ In March 1937, Pope Pius IX attacked Nazis in an encyclical (open letter) and the regime reacted by arresting hundreds of priests; many were sent to concentration camps and even shot.

The Protestant Churches ▪ Unlike Catholics, Protestants belonged to many different Churches, consequently, the Nazis believed that they would be able to deal more effectively with them. ▪ The Nazis were supported by ‘German Christians’, an organisation which believed that National Socialism and Christianity shared common values. ▪ Opposition to Nazification was led by Martin Niemoller who set up the Confessional Church; this soon claimed 75% support amongst church ministers. ▪ The Nazis declared the Church illegal and arrested ministers; 800 alone in 1937, many of whom were sent to concentration camps. ▪ Some Protestants formed a ‘Reich Church’, as part of the Nazi Party. Mein Kampf was placed next to the bible on the altar and the swastika was given equal prominence with the cross. Many Protestants refused to join and many were arrested. ▪ Many other religious groups persecuted. Censorship and propaganda ▪ In 1933 Josef Goebbels became Minister for People's Enlightenment and Propaganda. He controlled all forms of communication: books, newspapers, films, newsreels, radio as well as music and the arts. ▪ Films and parades became major features of Nazi propaganda. The Nazis produced hundreds of films all glorifying themselves and Germany. ▪ Feature films were made about German heroes, such as the Teutonic Knights and Frederick the Great, who had created the state of Prussia in the eighteenth century. ▪ Thousands of extras were used to create massive battle scenes in which the Germans were always successful. ▪ Newsreel films were made by directors like Leni Riefenstahl, who filmed the Olympic Games in 1936. ▪ Her most famous film was ‘The Triumph of the Will’, which encouraged people to fight against the odds. ▪ These films were intended to emphasise the superiority of the German people and show how much progress had been made under the Nazis. ▪ No non-Nazi views were ever heard in newspapers and books. Only messages praising Hitler and the Nazis reached the public. ▪ In 1934 the ‘Burning of the books’ took place. Nazi students took books by Jewish or anti-Nazi authors out of libraries and burnt them in huge bonfires. ▪ The novels of H G Wells were banned because one, ‘Things to Come’, described a future war in which humanity was destroyed. ▪ Cheap radios were produced. Hitler’s portrait was in every public place. People almost worshipped him; he was portrayed as Germany’s saviour from disaster. ▪ Rallies were held regularly at which Nazi flags were carried and speeches made praising Hitler. The 1936 Olympic Games were a propaganda coup for Hitler. ▪ Photographers, writers, musicians and others had to join Nazi organisations in order to work. If they did not, their work was banned.