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