Volksgemeinschaft By Thomas, Joel, Elliott and Ethan.

What Was The Volksgemeinschaft? Volksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning people's community. The idea of uniting people across class divides to achieve a national purpose. Ideal society – Integrated, personal and organic. Every individual knew their place.

Reasons – For Nazi success The Hitler Youth had much success throughout the Nazi regime. It enjoyed high membership and much participation for many of its early years and successfully implanted Nazi ideas into Germany’s youth. German organisations such as the League of German Maidenhood were successful in their attempts to both educate German women on racial purity, and also in encouraging German women to get married and have children, as evidence by Germany’s increased birth rates. The Strength Through Joy movement encouraged support for the Nazi Government by providing activities and schemes for German workers that saw support sky rocket. Such as the holiday plans which allowed German workers the opportunity to experience expensive holidays that they would never have before. The Nazi party had initial success with the Church such as the Concordat which facilitated better relations between the Church and the State. M. Housden – “National socialism provided a vehicle for conflict between generations. It could be dynamic, exciting and purposeful.” We believe that Housden’s quote shows how national socialism appealed to the youth.

Reasons – Against Nazi success The Hitler did however, suffer from less participation, unpaid dues and an unmotivated membership after joining was made compulsory by the Nazis. Additionally rogue groups such as the Edelweiss pirates took it upon themselves to explicitly fight against the regime, by organising themselves and defying groups of the Hitler Youth. When the Nazi regime began to oppose the Church and its morals, the citizens of Germany became even more loyal than previously out of their respect to religious organisations. Because of the position of many Church officials, many high ranking members of the Clergy could openly speak their mind about Hitler and the Nazi party. This was often degrading. Despite the success of the KDF movement it was not without failure, as seen in the Volkswagen programme. German workers were promised a family car which they never received. K. Fischer – “It is not surprising that twelve years was not enough to break down two thousand years of cultural heritage.” Even though birth rates did initially rise, they began to fall after 1938 showing that Nazi policy was not long lasting.

Our opinion We disagree with Ian Kershaw’s quote, as we believe the Nazi party did have more successes than failures in their attempt to create the volksgemeinschaft. This can be seen in the success of Hitler’s youth policy and various points regarding women and education.