Revision pack!!!

Volksgemeinschaft- Opposition

Churches…

Youth…

Women…

Workers…

Question from the last couple years…

• Can you group similar questions together?• Can you create an essay plan for the group of questions?

Women…Nazi attitudes to gender and the lives of women in Germany at this time were all shaped by the personal views of HitlerBecause of the way his childhood was (Brutal, harsh father. Caring simple mother) He came to prefer quiet motherly women. He disliked confident, outspoken or professionally successful women as they made his uncomfortable.In Hitler's mind the only role for women was domestics. They must tend the home, care for their husbands and bear and raise children.Hitler believe women had equal but distinct roles to which they must conform. These views shaped Nazi policies and propaganda.Hitler’s attempt to court German women and win their loyalty succeeded for the most part. Having been largely ignored by previous leaders, thousands of German Women considered him a saviour.

Youth…Hitler youth was set up in 1926 then expanded hugely when it received official state funding in 1933.All other youth movements were taken over by the Nazis- except catholic church ones as they were protected by the concordat).After 1936 membership of Nazi youth movement became compulsory.The Hitler youth tried to provide exciting activities to entice the young at the same time it tried to convert them to their way of thinking.HOWEVERNot everyone understood the propaganda aimed at them.Compulsory membership watered down those members that were actually dedicated. It became rebellious to avoid the meetings. Rival groups were set up that were not repressed.

Churches…Stage 1-

CONTROL- Gain as much control

of the remaining

churches as possible so

stage 2&3 can occur.

A) Creation of a unified

protestant Reich church- Failed since confessional church broke

away

B) Concordat with the pope.- initial harmony then criticism of

state interference.

Stage 2- WEAKEN-

Weaken the hold of traditional Christianity.

A) Make Protestantism more Nazi via

German Christians- provoked

reaction and increased

support for church.

B)Undermine Catholic church- public hostility.

Stage 3-REPLACE- Replace

Christianity with a new

Nazi religion.

A) Replace Christianity

with German faith

movement

Postponed till after the war.

Workers..KdF

Kraft Durch FreudeIt was created to try and win over former left wing workers of the benefits of national socialism.

KdF provided all Germans with free leisure activities.

BRAINWASHING PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUEThe strength through joy movement was set up so that all aspects of a workers life was controlled including non working time.

Served 2 Main purposes!!

Ensure that no one had too

much time on their hands to get involved in

untoward activities against

the state.

The second main purpose was to

produce an environment within Nazi

Germany where the people would be

grateful to the state

Key words Definition

Volksgemeinschaft Volksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning people's

community, where every individual knew their place and conformed to

this.Strength through joy Also known as the KdF. Strength

through joy was leisure activities for workers who could not necessarily

afford it on their own.

League of German maidenhood The League of German Maidenhood was

Opposition This was the people or party's that opposed Hitler.

Concordat An agreement with the pope initially harmony but then became criticism of

the state interference.

Historians Views…

The German historian Hans

Mommsen wrote that

“resistance in Germany was

"resistance without the

people" and that the number of those Germans

engaged in resistance to the

Nazi regime was very small.

Ian Kershaw - “ There was some

penetration of Nazi values and attitudes

but the regimes social propaganda made

little serious dent in traditional class

loyalties…The hold of the church and

clergy over population was often

strengthened by the Nazi religious

policies..”

Walter Mayer - “The government of Adolf Hitler was

popular with most Germans. Although the Gestapo (secret

state police) and the Security Service suppressed open

criticism of the regime, there was some German opposition

to the Nazi state and the regimentation of society that

took place through the process of "coordination" (Gleichschaltung)--the

alignment of individuals and institutions with Nazi goals.

Robert Ley- “We start our work when

the child is three years old. As soon as it

begins to think, a little flag is put in its

hand. Then comes school, the Hitler

youth, the storm troop. We never let a

single soul go and when they have gone

through all that there is the German

labour front which takes them as a

grown up and never lets lets hold of

them.. Whether they like or not.”

J Noakes- ‘Nazism’ – ‘The churches

were the only institution which

both had an alternative ideology to

the regime and that were allowed

to continue to exist. This made

them a major obstacle to the Nazis

attempt to gain total control over

German life”

R. Geary in ‘Hitler and Nazism’ –

“ a similar mix to that of the army of self interest, agreement

with certain aspects of Nazi policy and yet principled

opposition existed within the

churches”

Resisters to the Nazis…Carl Von Ossietzky.

He was part of the German

Peace society.

He criticised Nazism, militarism

and communism.

He did this as he was determined

to prevent war again.

He died in a concentration camp.

Sophie Scholl.She was the leader of the white rose group.She resisted by distributing anti-Nazi government pamphlets and led the group.She was against Nazi and being controlled by them.She was sentenced to death for resisting.

General Ludwig Beck.Army’s chief of staff.He opposed as the army was not

ready for war, Beck conceived a plan

to take control however he called it off again at last minute.

Beck remained in control but with opposite ideas.He was shot for bomb plot.

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler.

Mayor of Leipzig then joined the

government.

He did not like the way Hitler went

to war.

He travelled abroad with his anti-

Nazi message.

He was later arrested, tortured

and executed.

General Hans Oster

Ministry of defence.

He advised Britain to stand firm

and also sent the British

Government details.

The Nazis executed him.

Resisters to the Nazis…

Dietrich Bonhoffer

He was with the Churches and

with Christianity.

He tried to get help from abroad.

He resisted because of the

conflict.

He was executed as he was

against Nazism.

Julius Leber.Leader of the Lubeck SPD.Taking part in political activity- Leader of resistance.He resisted by planning and carrying

out activity against Hitler.Hung in January 1945.

Adolf Reichwein.SPD teacher.He resisted as he was concerned over the growth of the terror state.He was arrested imprisoned and condemned as he was betrayed by a political spy..

Joachim Goltschalk.He was an actor.He refused to perform in strength through joy and also

refused to leave his Jewish wife.He died when he committed

suicide after killing his kids and wife so no one else could.

Colonel Claus Schenk Graf.

He was an officer/official in the

army.

He tried to assassinate Hitler

and was involved in many bomb

plots.

He resisted because he was

suspicious of Hitler.

He was executed for all the

activity.

Quotes…Workers, Strength through Joy…

“By 1936 KdF had a membership of 30 million.”

“In 1934, 2.1 million people took part in some type of event.

By 1937 this had risen to 9.6million.”Peoples views

were…”Nobody ever bothered about us before”

and “KdF events had become unpopular”

“15,00 went on KdF cruises between 1934 and 1939” this was a considerable amount but short of the total membership.

“7.4 million participated in a KdF trips that year, with nearly 23 million not doing so”

Quotes…Women…

Views from Mein Kamph- “Equal but distinct roles. Women are the eternal mother of the nation”

Picture entitled ‘The family’ by Wolf Willrich shows the ideal German Family

“I am aware as a German woman and mother of my responsibility to look after my children”- Letter of thanks from a German woman to Hitler.Women were seen as less

important “a son… laughs in his mothers face. He regards her as a natural servant” Letter to Hitler published in a newspaper.

Men looked down upon women and their roles within German society. Women are merely tools of his aims- men were shown as stronger than women.

Quotes…Youth…

In 1932 there were 108,000 members of the Hitler

youth.

In 1934 there were 3,400,000 members of the

Hitler youth.

In 1939 there were 6,000,000+ members of the

Hitler youth.

Edelweiss pirates song-

“We are going to get rid of

Hitler and he cant do a

thing”

108,000 people joined voluntarily

Hitler 1939 “with my magnificent youngsters I can

make a new world”

“We start our work when the child is 3

years old. As soon as it begins to think a little flag is put in its hand”

Quotes…Churches…

Alfred Rosenberg was anti-sematic, anti Christian and a Nazi ideologue. He was made minister for occupied territories.

Martin Niemoller was originally a supporter of Nazi and Hitler but was later one of the founders of the confessional church.

Dietrich Bonhoffer joined the confessional church- he taught trainee pastors and encouraged them to resist Nazism.

Pope Pius XI allowed the dissolution of the centre party and agreed to the concordat.

Q- How successful were the Nazis in creating a national community (Volksegemeinschaft) in Germany between 1933 and 1939?A Volksegemeinschaft was a national community, which Hitler and the Nazi’s were trying to create so that they had the ‘perfect’ Germany. The suitable land they wanted with no opposition to government’- a centrally organised society. In which they dictated everything. In this essay I will be explaining how successful the Nazis were in creating this.Hitler and the Nazis were already trying to control every aspect of a German citizen’s life, free time, work life and relationships. The KdF or strength through joy movement was a newly introduced movement that the Nazis had introduced so that everybody had the chance to take part in leisure activities outside of work. Most citizens loved this as it meant they could have what they may not necessarily be able to afford by themselves. Trips out, holidays or organised activities heavily subsidised or free. The Nazis however did not do this for the German citizens, they did this so that they could control even more of the German citizens lives, by taking up their free time to stop organised meeting of opposition or demonstrations against themselves and Hitler. The less free time Germans had the less time they had to oppose Hitler and as it was advertised as being given by the state this made the people grateful. In 1934 2.1 million people took part in some kind of event this had risen to 9.6 million people in 1937 showing more and more support. The Nazis believed that if they controlled every political and social thought of the Germans they would gain more and more power by winning over former left wing socialists and the working class. However in secret reports ‘nobody ever bothered about us before’ was a common comment and the KdF had seen to become unpopular after only .4 million people participated in 1936 even though there were 30 million members.Hitler wanted to be omnipotent this meant overcoming all possible opposition one of which were the churches. They preached the opposite of what Hitler was trying to imprint, and Hitler saw them as weak and threatening to his Nazi regime. However many German citizens were strong believers in Christianity but this showed conflict between the Nazi policy and the churches. J Noakes ‘Nazism’ says that ‘Church's were the only institute which both had an alternative ideology to the Nazi regime and that were allowed to contribute to exist. this made them a major obstacle to the Nazis attempt to gain total control over German life’ Nazi’s often expressed dissatisfaction of torn loyalties with anti church policies but people saw this as the actions of radical Nazis instead of Hitler himself so lost little support. This conflict of loyalty meant that they were seen as supporters of one or the other. The churches were more often concerned with protecting their own institutions rather than speaking out against Hitler. Hitler had a lot of opposition, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer who joined the confessional church, he then taught trainee Pasteur's and encouraged people to resist Nazism. This was not creating a volksegemeinschaft due to the conflict of loyalties.

How to get an A- Model answer!

Another way in which Hitler and the Nazi’s tried to create a volksegemeinschaft was by concentrating on the female population of Germany. Hitler's attempts to court German women worked for the most part. Having been largely ignored by previous leaders, thousands of German women considered him a saviour, which further increased support and willingness to do as he said. Hitler promoted the day to day life of women, bearing children caring for their husbands and house works as the most important thing for Germany as it produced the next generation of the great nation. In Hitler's speeches he said ‘Women are the eternal mothers of the nation’ women were said to have equal but distinct role which they must conform. Women conforming to these roles showed succession of cooperation and the ‘ideal peoples’ community. Women sent letters of thanks ‘ I am aware as a German women and mother of my responsibility to look after my children’ showing their unaware involvement in volksegemeinschaft. This all strengthened propaganda Hitler used as German women were desperate for attention from being ignored for so long. Painting such as ‘Family’ by Wolf Willrich further strengthened this role of women and the perfect family and society to create volksegemeinschaft. Reinstating all this women heard a speech at National Socialist women's organisation in 1934 stating that ‘the great world cannot survive without women to preserve it with children’. Women’s roles were shown in a positive way by Hitler and the Nazi regime to encourage them. The youth were a major part of creating a successful volksegemeinschaft as they were the ‘future generation’. Robert ley said that ‘We start our work when the child is 3 years old. As soon as it begins to think a little flag is put in its hand’ This shows that the German youth were a major part of Hitler's plans and that they were important as they were worked with from such a young age. The Hitler Youth tried to provide exciting activities to entice the young, at the same time it tried to convert them to their way of thinking. This meant that the Nazi youth movement had a lot of success however not many understood the propaganda aimed at them so could not be converted to the Nazi way of thinking. By 1934, there were 3,400,000 members, showing that it was popular amongst the youth. However when it became compulsory the number of members had only just doubled, most of the new members didn't even want to be there. Which meant there were many rival organisations being set up such as the edelweiss pirates. The Edelweiss pirates rebelled against the Hitler youth by demonstrating, starting fights and refusing to be anything like them. This showed the weaknesses of the Nazis path to creating a volksegemeinschaft, especially seen as the youth would be the generation maintaining the possibility of a volksegemeinschaft. In conclusion, I think that in some parts the Nazis were very successful in creating ideal communities such as creation the supreme Aryan race and people conforming to roles. However the Nazis had largely unsuccessfully created or started to create a volksegemeinschaft as the German citizens still very much had their own opinion and their loyalties lied in other places such as the church and many were not afraid to voice their opinions to others. I agree with historian Ian Kershaw in Nazi dictatorship 1993- ‘there was some penetration of Nazis values and attitudes but the regimes social propaganda made little serious dent in traditional class loyalties particularly among other older industrial workers’. Because the Nazi regime was not the only thing German citizens could believe in, even though Hitler tried to make this the one and only, the propaganda was not as successful as the Nazis and Hitler had intended and so they had limited success in creating a successful volksegemeinschaft as there were holes and pockets of opposition all over the place which they could not overcome. The Nazis had the greatest impact on the young as they were more susceptible to propaganda and so could be brainwashed however even here they only had partial success as most youth did not understand the propaganda. The Nazis only had limited success.