Rise of Hitler Focus 3: What was the impact of Hitler’s rule on Germany? Death of Democracy Discriminatory Treatment of Targeted Groups Impact of Hitler’s Rule Tight Control over German Life Reduced Unemployment

The Enabling Act  death of democracy  Other political parties banned  Trade unions banned and replaced by the German Labour Front  Opponents removed from civil service  Mass media under Nazi control  Opponents arrested, killed or imprisoned in concentration camps Political Impact

1. Tight control over all aspects of German life  Emergency laws  loss of political and civil rights  SS and Gestapo struck fear in the people  Propaganda used to spread Nazi beliefs and ideas  influenced people’s minds  Censorship imposed  controlled what people read, see and listen Social Impact

2. Treatment of various groups  Young people  Women  Jews  Christian churches Social Impact

 Nazi youth organisations were set up for different age groups and sexes  Aim – to believe in only Nazi ideas  Those who did not join found it difficult to enter universities or find jobs after leaving schools The Young People

 Boys – training to become soldiers  Little Fellows (6 to 10)  Young German Folk (10 to 14)  Hitler Youth (14 to 18) The Young People

 Girls – training to become mothers  Young Maidens (10 to 14)  League of German Maidens (14 to 18) The Young People

 Anti-Nazi youth groups, e.g. the ‘Edelweiss Pirates’, the ‘Swing Kids’, the ‘White Rose Society’  Nazis did not have complete control over the Germans The Young People

 Education system was controlled  Aim – to teach Nazi ideas and to instil a sense of loyalty  Subjects emphasised – History, Geography, Biology, Physical Education The Young People

 Role of women – to produce babies and to look after their families  Incentives given to encourage procreation  Working women were forced to give up their jobs The Women

 The Nazis blamed the Jews for all of Germany’s problems  Measures taken against the Jews:  Marriages between Germans and Jews forbidden  Jews considered racially impure and inferior  Did not want Jews to contaminate the Aryan race which Germans were part of The Jews

 Measures taken against the Jews:  Boycott of Jewish businesses, shops and professionals  Jews were not allowed to work in the civil service, excluded from public places  Nuremberg Laws (1935) – Jews were stripped of their German citizenship, forbidden to marry non-Jews The Jews

 The Crystal Night (9–10 Nov 1938)  Jewish shop windows smashed and synagogues burnt down  Jews were killed and arrested to be placed in concentration camps  The Holocaust  The ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’ was the mass execution of millions of Jews in gas chambers during WWII The Jews

 Established the Reich Church to preach Nazi values  To control the Protestant churches  Nazi Catholic groups set up to spread Nazi values  Those who opposed the Nazis were arrested and sent to concentration camps  Closed down all church schools and church youth groups  Reduced the influence of the church over the people The Christian Churches

 Two main economic aims:  To reduce unemployment  To achieve economic self- sufficiency (autarky) Economic Impact

To reduce unemployment:  Massive public works programme  Building of motorways (autobahns), schools and hospitals created jobs  Jobs meant people had money to buy goods  factories produced more  created jobs  Reclaiming waste land and pulling down slums in the cities  created jobs Economic Impact

To reduce unemployment:  Rearmament programme  Conscription was reintroduced  created jobs  Increasing size of army  more weapons needed  created more jobs in the arms factories Economic Impact

To reduce unemployment:  Removing Jews, Nazi opponents and women from the civil service  created jobs  Number of unemployed fell from 6 million (1933) to 2.5 million (1935) and then to 250,000 (1939)  Made Hitler very popular with the masses Economic Impact

 Rearmament programme benefitted only big businesses and not small businesses  Four-Year Economic Plan set up to make Germany self-sufficient  Failed to develop oil and rubber substitutes  Had to continue importing raw materials Economic Impact