Rise of Nazi Germany

1
Rise of Nazi Germany

• 1933-1945

2
Weimar Republic (1919-1933)

• End of WWI people revolted against Kaiser William
  II
• Voted for a Democratic Republic
• Constitution drawn up in Weimar called for
• Weak, elected president
• Bi-cameral (two house) legislature
• Reichstag, more powerful house, elected by the
  people
• Powerful Chancellor and cabinet responsible to
  Reichstag
• Bill of Rights
• Equality of men and women
• Protection of minority groups

3
More Weimar

• Weimar Republic signed Treaty of Versailles
• Provided a democratic Government until the Nazis
  came to power in 1933

4
Nazis are Formed

• After WWI, Hitler and a small group of extremists
  formed the National Socialist (Nazi) Party
• attacked democracy and Marxism
• Wanted extreme nationalism and militarism
• Called for a dictatorship

5
Factors allowing Nazi rise to Power

• Economic
• German government, instead of raising taxes,
  printed more money
• Led to huge inflation
• (before WWI, 4 Marks 1 after WWI,
  4,000,000,000 1)
• Ruined savings, pensions, insurance
• 1929 worldwide depression caused 6 million
  Germans to be unemployed

6
More Factors

• Fear of Communism
• Many Germans in financial strain came to follow
  Communism (15)
• Many feared a Communism revolution, the Nazis
  took this fear and gained power

7
Appeal of Nationalism

• Many Germans unable to accept defeat in WWI
• Nazis
• Denounced war guilt clause and TOV
• Demanded return of colonies
• Supported rearming
• Said Germans had been stabbed in the back by
  Communists and Jews, not beaten by Allies
• Hitler said Germans destined to rule because they
  were pure Aryan, a race physically and
  intellectually superior, the master race

8
Anti-Semitism

• Hitler hated the Jews and blamed them for all
  that was wrong in Germany became the scapegoats
• People wanted to loot and seize Jewish homes

9
Weakness of Weimar

• Reichstag split between many parties, by 1932
  extremist parties (Nazis and Communists) had more
  votes than moderates
• Made democratic government unstable
• Believed the democratic government responsible
  for the TOV

10
Leadership of Hitler

• Austrian artist who was in German army during WWI
• Imprisoned after an unsuccessful revolt wrote
  Mein Kampf (My Struggle) outlined plans for Nazi
  Germany
• Very charismatic used private armies, violence,
  and mass rallies to gain control

11
Nazis Seize Power

• 1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor, called for
  elections
• Nazi party gained control of Reichstag
• Ended Weimar Republic, Hitler became dictator
• Called government the Third Reich (Reich means
  realm/state in German, counting the Holy Roman
  Empire as the first and the 1871-1918 monarchy as
  the second)

This Cartoon, called Hitlers Dream is from
1932, this was seen as unrealistic
12
The Third Reich (1933-1945)

• Government
• Leader Hitler (der Führer), supreme power
• All parties except Nazis outlawed
• Heinrich Himmler lead the Gestapo, secret police,
  suppressed all opposition by torture and death in
  concentration camps
• Controlled every aspect of human activity
  totalitarian state

13
More Third Reich

• Propaganda
• Joseph Goebbels headed the Propaganda Ministry
• Used technique of big lie
• Any lie told with enough authority and often
  enough will be believed
• Education
• Only Nazis allowed to teach
• Textbooks and curriculum adopted to Nazi purpose
  (high school sciencemaking poison gases
  mathcalculate bombing distances social
  studiesevils of democracy superiority of Aryan
  race)

14
More Third Reich

• Science and Culture
• Scientist worked on weapons
• Sociologists worked to prove superiority of
  Aryans
• Writers wrote about greatness of Hitler and Nazis
• Book burnings held
• Banned works of Jews

15
Anti-Semitism

• 600,000 Jews of 80 million Germans
• Nuremburg Laws 1935
• Jews deprived of citizenship
• Jewish if you have one Jewish grandparent
• Cannot publish, act, teach, make art, belong to
  professional organizations
• SS (German storm troopers) sent Jews to
  Concentration camps
• Forced labor, torture, starvation, gas chambers
• Systematic genocide 6 million Jews killed
• 4 million others killed (gypsies, slavs,
  homosexuals, mentally handicapped, political
  prisoners, etc)

16
More Third Reich

• Sought to take control of Christianity ministers
  encouraged to teach acceptance of Nazi
  practices, Catholicism discouraged
• Women excluded from politics, devoted to kitchen
  tasks and childrearing (Hitler wanted more
  children)
• Nazis determined wages, hours, working conditions
• State controlled industry Guns not butter

17
Militarism

• Large conscripted army
• Powerful air force
• Remilitarized Rhineland
• Industry focused on war production
• Military training for children Hitler Youth
• Violated TOV but Allied took no action