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The Third Reich, 1933-1945. Kidner , Ch. 27, pp. 784-791. REVIEW: Hitler comes to power. 1924-29 : Building Nazism – vs. Bolshevism Attracted young leaders 1925-27 draw workers votes from socialism/communism 1928 won only 12 seats in Reichstag By 1929 turns toward middle classes
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The Third Reich, 1933-1945 Kidner, Ch. 27, pp. 784-791
REVIEW: Hitler comes to power • 1924-29: Building Nazism – vs. Bolshevism • Attracted young leaders • 1925-27 draw workers votes from socialism/communism • 1928 won only 12 seats in Reichstag • By 1929 turns toward middle classes • 1932: Hitler runs against Hindenburg for president and loses – “make way, you old ones” • 6 mill. Unemployed, Great Depression hits Germany hard • 1933, Hitler named as Chancellor by coalition!!!! • Reichstag Fire, 27 February 1933 - Blamed on communists –Enacted Article 48 of constitution – Communism Party outlawed • Nazis win 288 seats in March election • Enabling Act: dictatorial power to Hitler
Heil, Hitler! • April 1933 – German states’ power ended • Gleichschaltung – coordination of all institutions under Nazi control • Jews dismissed from civil service • Concentration camps established for all opponents of regime – Dachau in southern Germany • May 1933 – no independent labor unions, political parties, 2-day boycott of Jewish businesses • June 1934 – Night of Long Knives • purge political dissidents • August 1934 – complete control of the government • office of president abolished; Hitler voted “Führer of the German Reich and People”
Maintaining the Aryan Race • Eugenics • Sterilization • Euthanasia
Who is a Jew? Nuremberg Laws, 1935 ARTICLE 5 (1) A Jew is an individual who is descended from at least three grandparents who were, racially, full Jews... (2) A Jew is also an individual who is descended from two full-Jewish grandparents if: (a) he was a member of the Jewish religious community when this law was issued, or joined the community later; (b) when the law was issued, he was married to a person who was a Jew, or was subsequently married to a Jew; (c) he is the issue from a marriage with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, which was contracted after the coming into effect of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor of September 15, 1935; (d) he is the issue of an extramarital relationship with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, and was born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936. • September 15, 1935 – Nuremberg Laws • Defines Reich citizen as German or related blood; forbid interracial marriage
Kristallnacht, Nov. 9-10, 1938 • Night of Shattered Glass • At least 100 Jews killed, 30,000 Jewish men sent to concentration camps
Terror and Coercion • SS (Schutzstafel) • Lead by Heinrich Himmler • started out as personal bodyguards – ended as special security units • Controlled regular and secret police • Concentration camps, execution squads, death camps • Gestapo (Gehiemstaatspolizei) • Root out “undesirables”: Jews, Roma, Slavs, socialists, communists, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witness, feminists, disabled persons, people suffering from “genetic” illnesses
Nazi Ideology in the Lives of Women and Children • Cross of Honor of the German Mother • 4-5 children = bronze • 6-7 children = silver • 8+ = gold • Unfit mothers faced sterilization and/or death • For the Children • Hitler Jugend • Bund DeutscherMädchen
Hitler’s oppressive regime received support because he swiftly ended the Depression in Germany Massive public works programs Renunciation of the Treaty of Versailles leads Hitler to appoint Hermann Gőringto undertake a four-year plan to prepare the army and economy for war People would sacrifice all political and civil liberty, limit private exercise of capital in order to prepare for war and aggression Trade unions crushed and outlawed Nazi Economic Policy
Nazi Propaganda Machine • Film • Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will & 1936 Olympics • The Eternal Jew (Derewige Jude)
Resistance • Soviet Union = 1935 mutual-aid pacts with France and Czechoslavakia • France = Leon Blum and the Popular Front • Cultural Responses – art and literature become more engaged in socio-political happenings • Charlie Chaplin – The Great Dictator • Religious Resistance • Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Protestant) • St. Maximillian Kolbe • Pope Pius XII • Youth Resistance • White Rose
The Nazi Challenge to Europe • 1935, Re-militarization of Germany • Luftwaffe • Re-institution of the draft • March 1936, Occupation of the Rhineland • How did world react? How did their reaction affect Hitler? • Late 1936, Rome-Berlin Axis • Later included Japan
Appeasement • Why does Hitler continue to take more and more aggressive foreign policy actions? • March 1938, annexation of Austria • September 1938 – Munich Conference = annexation of Sudetenland • 6 months later all of Czechoslovakia under Nazi influence • GB and France pledge to protect Poland’s sovereignty • Aug. 1939, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact • Non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia – Poland’s fate is sealed
War Begins! • Sept. 1, 1939 – Germany begins blitzkrieg on Poland • Sept. 3, France and GB declare on Nazi Germany • Click on map for video link