DEPTH STUDY B: GERMANY 1918–45
3 How important was the work of Goebbels in the Nazi takeover in Germany?
Explain your answer.
Yes Joined Nazi Party in 1924, party head in Berlin and Brandenburg in 1926; 1929
made head of party propaganda. Minister of Propaganda and Public enlightenment –
used mass communication of radio, film, posters, school books to create a cult of
Hitler's infallibility; Good speaker. Control of art and literature; control over
newspapers. German devotion to Hitler would seem to prove his effectiveness etc.
No Contributions of others, e.g. Hitle r, Himmler, even early Rohm. Activities of SS,
SA, Gestapo. Germans receptive to Nazi message and policies after Wall Street Crash
and the onset of the Great Depression. Fear of Communism; resentment at Versailles;
wanted a leader and government that were decisive and took decisions etc. [40]
OR
4 How significant was Stresemann in the recovery of Germany after 1923?
Explain your answer.
Yes Overcame the Ruhr crisis and invasion of French and Belgian troops; began
paying reparations again; increased foreign confidence; Rentenmark; increased
production; vibrant arts scene; negotiated Dawes and Young Plans; increased
production and investment; greater acceptance by inter national community through
treaties, League of Nations increased business confidence; redu ction in support for
minority parties; things quietened down etc. No Any recovery was based on American
loans; could not foresee the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression; death in 1929
undermined confidence; weakness of coalition governments and the Weimar
Constitution; conservative and agricultural communities critical – wanted the old
system back, felt entertainment vulgar and crude; critical of reduction of moral
standards; still high unemployment and many Germans resentful of hyperinflation.
Versailles and humiliation etc. [40]
Depth Study B: Germany, 1918–1945 2015 paper
3 How significant were Rohm and the SA in the development of the Nazi Party to
1934? Explain your answer.
Yes Rohm, army links, member of the Freikorps 1919 and GWP; loyal to Hitler;
founding member of the SA; populist, anti-capitalist, revolutionary aims; reflected
more working class membership/appeal; drew recruits especially from
unemployed/ex-Freikorps; SA major role in political battles on the streets, especially
against Communists, and terrorising Jews; membership of SA under Rohm rose from
70 000 in 1931 to 170 000 by 1933 and about three million by 1934; Rohm suspicious
of Hitler's links to business; wanted a 'second revolution' after Enabling Act, and
integration of SA and army under his command; Night of the Long Knives major
effects on SA etc. No After Beer Hall Putsch SA banned; Rohm fled to Bolivia in
1925, only recalled by Hitler in 1931; homosexuality scandal; rivalry with others such
as Goering and Himmler; other leaders more influential – Drexler as founder; Hitler
leader by 1921; named NSDAP, Munich Putsch, Mein Kampf, Aryan supremacy,
adoption of legal means; Goering; Goebbels in charge of Party propaganda machine
from 1931; image – uniforms, swastika, rallies, Hitler Youth; 'socialist' programme
became more nationalist; hierarchical Party structure; weaknesses of other political
parties/leaders; 25 Point Programme; hyperinflation; Depression etc.
4 How important were women in German society under the Nazis? Explain your
answer.
Yes League of German Maidens; Nazi Women's leader Gertrud Sholtz-Klink; support
of conservatism for traditional role of wives and mothers, KKK; working women
seen as keeping men out of jobs; women doctors, lawyers and civil servants dismissed
in 1934; women no longer eligible for jury service; financial incentives to marriage
and child bearing raised the birth rate from 15 to 20 per thousand of population;
unmarried mothers encouraged in war years; women under 25 a year's labour service,
voluntary from 1936, compulsory from 1939; work on munitions during war; 1933
first concentration camp for women; some women in SS – not allowed to give orders
to a man etc.
No Little real change; women not regarded as important – e.g. limited number and
influence in Party; wage discrimination continued; working class women's
employment continued. All Nazi propaganda showed women in supportive roles,
either to husband or children; the education, indoctrination of children was far more
important to the regime; Hitler wanted to keep women at arm's length; propaganda re
Goebbels, his wife and children; youth policies more important; racial policies;
propaganda etc.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxb8msg/revision/1
Women were to serve and nurture their family while men were in charge and had to protect their
family. Hitler said this was "the natural order"
Depth Study B: Germany, 1918–1945
3 How significant was the weakness of the political leaders of the
Weimar Republic in
1932–33 as a reason for Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January
1933? Explain your answer.
YES President Hindenburg had effectively ended democracy through the use
of ‘rule by decree’; political instability with the Chancellorship; Chancellors von
Papen and von Schleicher could not form a majority government in the
Reichstag; rivalry between von Papen and von Schleicher led to secret
meetings with industrialists to agree to Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor;
Hitler underestimated by von Papen and Hindenburg; Bruning and Weimar
government were not effective at dealing with effects of Depression, etc.
NO Depression had led to huge increase of Nazi support – largest party in the
Reichstag in 1932; Nazis led an effective propaganda campaign; Hitler’s
leadership skills and campaigning; Hitler’s promises appealed to many classes
in Germany; Nazis maintained a strong image with the public and promised
strong, nationalist government; anti-Communism and ‘negative cohesion’;
citizens disillusionment with democratic government; Wall Street Crash, etc.
4 How important was the use of the SS in maintaining Nazi control of
Germany after 1933? Explain your answer.
YES SS were used in Night of the Long Knives to remove internal threat of
SA; ‘Death’s Head’ SS units ran concentration camps; SS took over all
policing by 1936; Gestapo unlimited powers of arrest; relied on informers; SS
used intimidation and violence;visually important to German citizens –
represented the elite of Nazi Germany; enforcers of Nazi ideology – Himmler
second in power to Hitler, etc. NO Propaganda under Goebbels equally
effective; control of all media; indoctrination of youth in schools/curriculum –
boys and girls; youth organisations – Hitler Youth and League of German
Maidens taught Nazi ideology and loyalty to Hitler; youth taught to inform on
parents; lots of Nazi supporters in Germany – Hitler most popular by 1940
defeat of France; economic problems especially unemployment had been
solved under Nazi rule; many citizens satisfied with authoritarian government
and nationalist aims; accept Gestapo as non SS or SS; Unions and DEF; gain
support of Germans through Strength Through Joy; accept valid use of
resistance by youth movements, e.g. Swing movement; accept valid use of
Church to gain support or oppose, etc.