Post on 06-Jan-2016
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GCSE History Revision
Life in Nazi Germany
The Purpose of Dictatorship
• Hitler had 3 main purposes:
• To rebuild Germany’s ruined economy
• To make Germany powerful again
• To make Germany ‘pure’ by eliminating ‘inferior races’
Work and Bread(1)
• There were 6 million unemployed in 1933
• The National Labour Service provided manual work for thousands
• Hitler put them into uniform and they lived in work camps
Work and Bread (2)
• 1935 Reich Labour Service Law said all men between 18-25 must join Labour Service for 6 months
• Nazis built motorways by hand
• Rearmament – all 18-25 year olds had to do 2 years in Army
How successful was Hitler?
• Unemployment fell rapidly• Workers were poorly paid – often they got little
more than pocket money• Many were skilled men doing labouring jobs• Re-armament swallowed up many unemployed• By 1939 there was a labour shortage!• Workers lost rights eg to be in a union
Racism (1)
• Hitler wrote about Germans being racially pure – Aryans
• Jews had been badly treated in Europe for centuries
• Anti-Semitism was a major feature of Nazi policy
Racism (2)
• Key dates were:• 1935 The Nuremberg
Laws• 1938 Krystallnacht• 1942 The start of the
‘Final Solution’ – the extermination of Jews in Europe
• Other persecuted groups included gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses & homosexuals
How racism worked
• Newspapers and magazines contained negative images of Jews
• German girls with Jewish partners were publicly humiliated
• Jews had to wear a Star of David badge• Children were taught that Jews were evil• Hitler blamed all of Germany’s problems
on the Jews
Control (1)
• Germany was controlled by the Nazi Party & the police
• Police network run by the SS - one of most feared branches was the Gestapo
• ½ million Party members snooped on their neighbours and informed on them
Control (2)
• The Nazis made extensive use of propaganda
• They controlled the press, radio and cinema
• 70% German homes had a radio – “The People’s Receiver”
Women in Nazi Germany
• Women were to bear healthy babies for the Army
• “Kinder, Kirche & Kucher”
• Early marriage encouraged
• Women were sacked from jobs
• Unsuitable mothers were sterilised
Young People (1)
• Hitler and the Nazis worked hard to win the support of the young
• Girls joined the League of German Maidens
• The boys joined the Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth
• All youth groups merged into Hitler Youth Movement 1936
• 1939 Membership compulsory
• Girls raised to be mothers
• Boys trained to be soldiers
Young Rebels
• Not all young Germans joined the HY
• Groups like the Edelweiss Pirates deliberately challenged Nazi ideals
• As the war went on sometimes they helped deserters and carried out acts of sabotage
Christianity & the Nazis
• Concordat signed with the Pope 1933
• Nazis set up a ‘Reich Church’ - churches had pictures of Hitler
• Martin Niemoller set up the Confessional Church
• Other religious groups were banned
“Strength Through Joy”
• KDF set up to encourage workers
• The ‘People’s Car’ was launched
• Thousands of German
workers enjoyed cheap holidays abroad on new cruise ships