January 1933
The depression after the
Wall Street Crash made
many more people vote
for the Nazis. In 1933
Von Papen convinced
Hindenburg that Hitler
should become
Chancellor.
Ironically, the
government agreed as
they thought Hitler
posed no real threat and
could be easily
manipulated.
February 1933
The Reichstag building burnt
down.
A communist was found inside the
building. He admitted
responsibility.
Chancellor Hitler was able to
convince people that the
Communists were trying to take
power by terrorism.
He was able to have the
Communists banned from the
Reichstag, thus riding the
government of his main opposition
• Passed on March 23, 1933
•Formal name was the “ Law to Remedy the Distress of the people
and the Nation”
• Helped Adolf Hitler get closer to his goal of achieving full control
over the German Parliament
•Although many members of parliament disagreed with the idea of
the Enabling Act, the military influence of Hitler’s “SA men” forced
them to change their minds
•It granted Hitler the right to enact laws without consulting the
German Parliament for a period of four years
•Formed the legal and constitutional basis for the Third Reich
because it allowed Hitler’s plans to deviate from the existing
constitution
•It encouraged the dissolving of all parties other than the Nazi party,
and formed the platform for Hitler’s dictatorship
The night of the Long Knives took place between June
30TH and July 2nd 1934.
Hitler moved against the SA and its
leader Ernst Rohm because he saw
them as a threat to his power, he
also moved against conservative
critics of his regime.
Over 100 people were killed for political reasons by
the SS and the Gestapo and more than 1000 were
arrested.
August 1934
PRESIDENT HINDENBURG’S
DEATH GAVE HITLER THE
OPPORTUNITY TO COMBINE
THE ROLE OF CHANCELLOR
AND PRESIDENT. HE CALLED
HIMSELF ‘DER FUHRER’.
Every soldier swore a personal oath of
loyalty to ADOLF HITLER.
So…..
HITLER
BECAME
CHANCELLOR
OATH OF
LOYALTY
TO
HITLER
THE
REICHSTAG
FIRE
THE
ENABLING
ACT
DEATH OF
PRESIDENT
HINDENBURG
THE NIGHT
OF THE
LONG
KNIVES
Hitler and the Economy
• Six million Germans were unemployed in 1932, by
1936 there were fewer than 1 million unemployed.
• Public projects such as the building of roads and
the re-arming of the military stimulated the
economy
• Subsidies were given to farmers
• Yet, workers had few rights and industrialist
benefited from the banning of unions and protests.
• In most cases, women were not allowed to work
outside the home, and couples received payment
for each child.
Hitler and the Youth
Boys – focused on future military roles
• Cubs
- ages 6-10
• Young German Boys
- ages 10-14
•
Hitler Youth
Girls – focused on domesticity
• Young Maidens
- 10-14
• League of German
Maidens
- 14 onward
- age 14
• Labour service or armed
forces
- 18 onward
Read “Nazism Reacting
to Feminism” on page
193 and complete the
questions
Children were encouraged to
report any inappropriate (ie:
anti-Nazi) behaviour or
comments
VIEW:
“Education for Death: The Education of
one of Hitler’s Children”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASW3UC
c17AI
• Germany ceased paying reparations
altogether
• Began secret rearmament
• Germany began to build an air force
• Reoccupied the Rhineland, which had
remained a part of Germany but was
remilitarized under the terms of the
Versailles treaty
• Annexation of Austria
• Annexed Memel
( in Lithuania)
•The Nuremburg laws were denaturalization laws passed in 1935
that were used as a basis for racial discrimination against
Jewish people
•Some of the laws were:
•Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or
kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in
defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of
evading this law, they were concluded abroad.
•Extramarital intercourse between Jews and subjects of the
state of Germany or related blood is forbidden
•Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag
or the national colors
(For more restrictions placed on the Jewish population, see pg 189)
Read the section “Nazi Eugenics” on pages 190-191 and compare with the
accounts under “Lives of Aryan Germans”
It occurred on March 12, 1938. It
was the annexation of Austria and
Germany, in a Nazi attempt to
unify all German speaking
Countries. Austria’s Austrofascist
leadership was internally
overthrown by the German
supported National Socialist Party,
with no violence. A plebiscite was
held a month later, in which 99% of
people voted for the Nazi Party.
Earlier that year before the
annexation , Hitler met with
Chancellor of Austria, Kurt
Schuschnigg in order to convince
him to lift the ban on political parties
in Austria and to free imprisoned
Nazis. Hitler threatened military
action if the Chancellor did not
comply. Austria agreed to Hitler's
requests and appointed government
positions to several Nazis.
A referendum was called on March 9, 1938 when it was realized
that the Nazis appointed were trying to take over the
government , and Schuschnigg tried to inflame patriotism in
Austria. The German military invaded before any results could be
determined
Austria remained under Hitler’s power up until the end of WWII,
when the Anschluss was declared null and void.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
(August, 1939)
a) World Shock
•
Arch enemies
b) Secret Terms
•
•
Allowed for division of
Poland between the
two nations
Successor states to
be carved up.
a) Self-determination and the Sudetenland Issue
•
•
3 million German speaking people
Wanted the right to self-determination
b) The Munich Agreement (1938)
•
•
•
•
Chamberlain (Britain)
Deladier (France)
Mussolini (Italy)
Hitler (Germany)
c) March, 1939
•
Hitler takes all of Czech.
Agreed to give Hitler
the Sudetenland
 The Munich Agreement was signed on September 30, 1938
•It was an attempt to avoid another full-scale war
•British Prime Minister Chamberlain met with Hitler on September 15 and 16,
where it was agreed that Germany would not make any military advances
on Czechoslovakia. A plebiscite was held in the Sudetenland and all areas
that were more than 50% German were annexed by Germany
•Britain and France had promised to protect Czech sovereignty after WWI,
yet the decision was made without a representative from Czechoslovakia
present.
•The people of France and Britain did not want another war, and were
anxious to avoid confrontation
•The signing of the agreement was celebrated in Britain; in Czechoslovakia it
was viewed as a betrayal.
On November 9, 1938 a
massive coordinated attack
on the Jews occurred through
the German Reich. Mob
violence broke out as the
regular German police stood
by and crowds of spectators
watched. Nazi storm troopers
along with members of the SS
beat and murdered Jews,
broke into and wrecked their
homes, as well as torturing
Jewish women and children.
25,000 Jewish men were sent
to concentration camps.
The ghetto was first established in
1940 when its estimated population
was 440,000 but as people were
deported to concentration camps
the population decreased to about
70,000
It was filled with
disease and starvation
and the people who
lived within it were in
constant fear of
random killings
The Warsaw ghetto was
the largest of all the
ghettos in which Jewish
people were sectioned
off from the rest of the
population.
September 3, 1939
• Britain & France
declare war on
Germany after Hitler
refuses to withdraw
from Poland.
• Although war is
declared no actual
battles will be fought
until 1940.
September 17, 1939
• USSR invades Poland and then continues
north to capture the Baltic Republics.
(Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland)
The Holocaust
• The Final Solution or liquidation of all
Jews, Gypsies, and most Slavs in
Europe. (including all who opposed the
Nazi Party)
• Death camps were created to rid the
Third Reich of the unwanted.
– Auschwitz (12 000/per day) Liberation of
Auschwitz
– 67% (6 million) of Jewish population in
Europe was annihilated. (90% in
Poland/Germany)
The Holocaust
Group
Jews
Slavs
Russian POW’s
Gypsies/Homosexuals
Approximate # Killed
6
Million
10-11Million
3
Million
1
Million
Approximately 21 million killed
•Located across all areas
controlled by Germany prior to
and during WWII
•Were built to torture the people
within and use them as cheap
labor
•Housed political prisoners and
“undesirables” such as Jews and
outspoken journalists
•Camps became larger to house
more prisoners after the start of
WWII and became more vicious
•Deeper into the war the
prisoners began being used as
medical experiments under the
German doctors
• Were built in WWII and were
used for the sole purpose of
executing all prisoners who
entered
•Largest camp was AuschwitzBirkenau (this camp was also
used as a work camp)
•Largest camp meant for the
sole purpose of killing was
Chelmno
•Prisoners were mainly executed
in gas chambers (Zyklon B) and
mass shootings