GCSE History Revision

1
GCSE History Revision

• Life in Nazi Germany

2
The Purpose of Dictatorship

• Hitler had 3 main purposes
• To rebuild Germanys ruined economy
• To make Germany powerful again
• To make Germany pure by eliminating inferior
  races

3
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

4
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

5
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

6
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

7
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,
  Jehovahs Witnesses homosexuals

8
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 Germanys problems on the
  Jews

9
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

10
Control (2)

• The Nazis made extensive use of propaganda
• They controlled the press, radio and cinema
• 70 German homes had a radio The Peoples
  Receiver

11
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

12
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

13
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

14
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

15
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

16
Strength Through Joy

• KDF set up to encourage workers
• The Peoples Car was launched
• Thousands of German
• workers enjoyed cheap holidays abroad on new
  cruise ships