Nazi Economic Recovery and Rearmament

"Economic Recovery and Rearmament" in the Nazi Methods folder.

1. How did the Nazi Regime attempt to win the loyalty of its workers? Define the following:
a. Strength Through Joy program:
The workers were given cheap theatre and cinema tickets and organized trips and sports events. They were also given discounted cruise tickets.

b. Volkswagen Beetle (the people's car):
Designed by Ferdinand Prorsche, it became a symbol of the prosperous new Germany, even though no workers ever received a car because the car production was halted by the war in 1939.

c. Beauty of Labor movement:
This improved working conditions by introducing features not seen in many workplaces before, such as washing facilities and low cost canteens.

2. Define the following Farming Programs. Be sure to provide the pros and cons of each program:
a. Reich Food Estate:
This set up central boards to buy agricultural produce from the farmers and distribute it to markets across Germany. It gave the peasant farmers a guaranteed market for the goods at guaranteed prices.

b. Reich Entailed Farm Law:
This gave peasants state protection for their farms: banks could not seize their land if they could not pay loans or mortgages. This ensured that peasants' farms stayed in their hands.

3. Define Volksgemeinschaft. (Hint: It is in the reading, plus my notes)

-"National community"

-Under Nazi rule, workers, farmers etc. would no longer see themselves as primarily workers or farmers; they would see themselves as Germans. Their first loyalty would not be to their own social group but to Germany and the Fuhrer. They would be so proud to belong to a great nation that was racially and culturally superior to other nations that they would put the interests of Germany before their own.

How did the Nazis Implement Women's Policies?

Read "Women - How Nazis Implemented Ideas" in the Nazi Methods of Rule folder.
Choose TWO of the following areas that the Nazis tried to implement their ideas: Increased Births; Improved welfare; Reduced employment; Reduced education; Involvement in women's organizations.
Using those two areas above, complete the following:

Area 1: Increased Births

Key Measures Attempted
-Divorce became easier in order to boost the birth rate by ending unproductive marriages that were "worthless" to the national community.
-German women were "obliged to produce four children by racially pure German men. Whether these men are married is of no significance. Every family that already has four children must set the husband free for this action." Women's rights and morals in general were not as important as creating Aryan babies.

-Women with children were given support through a series of organizations for girls and women. They gave them mild, food, and clothing. There were kindergartens to look after children when their mothers were working.

-Mothers were awarded medals in recognition of their "contribution to national objectives" because they had a certain number of children.

-They were given financial incentives

-There were penalties: there where higher taxes on childless couples, tighter penalties on abortion, restrictions on contraception information among other things.

Successes
-The number of women attending recuperation homes after childbirth rose from 40,340 in 1934 to 77,723 in 1938.
-The number of kindergartens increased from 600 in 1934 to 8,700 in 1941.

Limitations and Failures

-1933-1939 the birth rate rose and then slowly declined

-The increase may have been due more to economic recovery than to Nazi measures

-The birthrate rose compared to during the Depression, but didn't get back to the levels of Weimar Germany

-Nazi eugenic policies reduced the population potential

Area 2: Reduced employment

Key Measures Attempted
-Marriage loans were granted to women who gave up their jobs.

-The official guidelines for recruiting civil servants and teachers in 1933 stated "In the even of males and females being equally qualified for employment in public service, the male applicant should be given preference."
-In 1933 women in top civil service and medical jobs were dismissed.

-In 1936 women were banned from being judges and lawyers.

Successes
-In 1939 there was a compulsory agricultural labor service for unmarried women under 25

Limitations and Failures

-Nazi policies had marginal effect on overall female employment

-The maine impact was on the professions

-The Nazis were forced to go against their values during the war. The supply of unemployed men ran out so they had to start having women work.

Treatment of Women in Nazi Germany

Using the green book or the reading that is in your shared file, "Women in Nazi Germany," complete the focus task on page 211 that involves an assessment of the Nazis treatment of women.

For each statement explain whether you agree or disagree with it and use examples from the text to support your explanation

-"Nazi policy for women was confused."

I agree with this statement because at first (early 1930s), the Nazis told the women that they needed to stay home and care for their children. They were awarded medals and a "privileged seat at Nazi meetings" for reaching a certain number of children. Then, in the late 1930s, the Nazis policy for women had to be changed because they needed workers and there weren't many more unemployed men left. Women had to struggle with taking care of their families and work responsibilities. The Nazis were "torn between their traditional stereotype of the mother and the actual needs of the workplace."

"Nazi policy for women was a failure."

I also agree with this statement for the same reasons. Ideology needs to be strong and well-grounded, not change drastically. The Nazis said that women need to stay home, but then when they are needed they're torn away from this. This is unsteady and not successful.

However, it was not a total failure in that many Aryan children were produced when the Nazis promoted families, and then some women joined the workforce when they were needed.

Nazi Youth Policies and Education Assessment

Using the green book, complete the focus task on page 204 (Nos. 1 & 2) that involves an assessment of Nazi Youth policies and education.

1) Write three paragraphs to explain why the Nazis were successful in winning over the youth. Include: why the Nazis wanted to control young people, how they set about doing it, what the attractions of the youth movements were. The Nazi regime was not successful in keeping the loyalty of all young people. Add a fourth paragraph to your essay to explain why some young people rejected the Nazi youth movements.

The Nazis wanted to control the young people because they were the future of the country. Also, children are easily persuaded into believing in what you want them to believe. If the Nazis got the children to support them, then when they grew up they would still support them. Also, there might be a chance that the children would tell their parents to support the Nazis. They might report their parents if they didn't.

The curriculum changed so that the children would learn about Nazi ideology. Source 32 shows that there was a Nazi message in every subject. The messages were subtle and simple so that they could easily understand them. Source 38, a picture from a Nazi's children book, shows that children shouldn't trust Jews because they will steal from them. Since children are easily persuaded and accept information passively, they believe that Jews are bad people. Also, the Nazis organized parades and camps for the youth.

The youth wanted to be involved in the movement because they felt like they belonged. Some of their parents didn't support the Nazis while they did, so here they could be accepted. This is shown in sours 36. Also, the parades were fun and exciting. All other youth organizations were made illegal, so they liked the leisure opportunities that the Nazis presented them. The Nazis said that the youth was the future of the nation, and this made them excited and feel like they were important to the country.

Some of the youth did not support the Nazis. The Swing movement was made up of middle class teenagers. They were really interested in British and American music and dances. They accepted Jews. They were against Nazis. The Nazis made a handbook about how to identify them, showing them with messy hair or overly exaggerated English clothing. The Edelweiss pirates were another group opposed to the Nazis. They were an unorganized group of working class teenagers. They were mainly 14-17 because they were allowed to leave school at 14 and didn't have to sign up for the military service until 17. This group included boys and girls, unlike the Hitler Youth program. They went camping on the weekend and if they saw bands of Hitler youth they teased and sometimes attacked them.

Was Nazi Youth Policy Successful?

1) Responses to Nazi youth policies:

Enthusiasm: 14.35

The youth were excited about being Nazis because they are easily persuaded to believe that Nazism is a good thing. Some might not even know anything about Nazi ideology, but they are still enthusiastic about being part of a community such as the Nazi community.

Conformity for career reasons: 14.35, 14.37

"Many believe that they will find job opportunities through the persecution of the Jews and Marxist." This shows that the youth wanted jobs, and they supported the Nazis because they saw there would be opportunities. Source 14.37 shows that many youths joined the party because they were promised jobs, but later they saw that these job positions were taken by slightly older Nazis. This may have been one of the few reasons they supported the Nazis, so after this they might reconsider their choice.

Conformity through fear: 14.36, 14.38

The teachers who were trying to force their students into the Hitler Youth program asked them if their parents were supporters of Hitler. They answered yes even if they were opposed because they were afraid of what would happen if they said they didn't support him. Source 14.38 shows that the Nazis were forcing the youths to do drills and other things in they Nazi Youth program. The youth was very scared of them so they conformed through fear.

Conformity through apathy/ natural obedience: 14.34

Even if they didn't believe in or know about Nazi ideology, some youths still conformed. In some places the Nazi ideology wasn't forced upon them, it was only slightly introduced into the curriculum. This meant that the youth didn't know about it enough to know they didn't believe it, and they kind of just went along with it. They were "politically programmed: to obey orders, to cultivate the soldierly 'virtue' of standing to attention and saying 'Yes, sir'..."

Nonconformity/ disillusion: 14.36

This source shows that eventually some of the youths were avoiding the Hitler Youth events because they were tired of the authority. They lost interest in the concept of the Nazi Youth program.

Criticism/ opposition: 14.36, 14.37, 14.39

Source 14/36 shows that although most of the youth were interested and excited about "uniforms and war games" at first, it became old and they wanted to rebel against the extreme amount of authority that they were under. Source 14.39 shows that some youths knew what was going on with the Nazi's brutality.

2) Do the sources suggest that the young people's reactions to the Nazis changed over time?

Yes, at first they were enthusiastic and interested in the Nazi's ideas and the youth program. However, after a while, they became uninterested in the war games and suspicious of the Nazi brutality.

3) Most of these sources come from either the German opposition or the police. How reliable on this topic do you think these two types of sources are?

I think that they both have the chance of being unreliable because they might sway the information in their favor to support their views, or have interpreted something differently that others would have. However, they do have some reliability because they experienced the situation first hand. Source 14.34, a man looking back on his childhood, could be more reliable because at the time he would have been to frightened to share his real views on the Nazi youth program.

4) Write your own judgement on the success of Nazi youth policy. Then compare it with those of the historians quoted in the chapter review. (pages 290-291)

-Nazi youth policy in general was somewhat successful at first, but as time went on it became less successful. The youth became rebellious against and uninterested in the Nazi's ideas in general.

-The success of the the Nazi youth policy varied from school to school and depended on the teachers and their views.

Nazi Education Policies

Read the .pdf reading, "Nazi Education Policies," in the shared file folder that is entitled Nazi Methods of Rule Readings.

1. Identify three important changes made by the Nazis to the education system. Explain the purpose of each change.

A. All teachers had to join the National Socialist Teachers' League (NSLB)
This was to ensure that all teachers followed what the Nazi's told them to teach. Members had to attend one month training courses, stressing Nazi ideology and physical education.

B. Nazi's changed the curriculum
There was a stress on physical exercise, Nazi ideas were incorporated unto subjects, especially biology and history. Religious education was removed. All textbooks had to be approved, and eventually new textbooks were produced reflecting Nazi values.

C. Co-ed schools were replaced by boys schools and girls schools
This was to ensure that boys and girls got the education that fit to them. Girls took needlework, music, language and home crafts. These taught them the skills they needed to be good mothers.

2. Give specific examples of how the Nazis tried in schools to develop the spirit of Volksgemeinschaft in the following seven goals:

Anti-intellectualism:
In 1933 the Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service purged schools and universities of extremely smart teachers because of racial or political reasons.

Anti-semitism:
University curricula were changed to include racial and eugenic ideas in medicine, law and politics.

Indifference to the weak:
Physical and military training was present in schools. The weak were not able to participate in these activities and were looked down upon. Students were forced to join the Nazi-controlled German Students' League and had to attend twice weekly sessions for fitness training.

Nationalism:
The official manual for teachers said, "The chief purpose of the schools is to train human beings to realize that the State is more important than the individual, that individuals must be willing and ready to sacrifice themselves for Nation and Fuhrer."

Militarism, Obedience and discipline:
Military training was included in the curriculum.
The Nazis built National Political Institutes of Education (NAPOLAs) for boys ages 10-18 to develop future leaders. They provided military style boarding education, with the atmosphere of a military camp.

Hitler Worship:
All teachers had to sign a "Declaration in Support of Hitler and the National Socialist State."

3. What methods did the Nazis use to try to ensure schools were teaching correctly?
The Nazi's made sure that all teachers supported Nazi ideology. Every subject had some piece of Nazi ideology integrated into it. Even math word problems had messages, for example it would cost the same amount of money for one insane asylum as it would to build 400 houses. Another example shows that it is a "waste" of money to spend it on disabled people. History was used to strengthen nationalism and pride for Germany. Also it showed how the Jews had been hurting the German country throughout the years. In the curriculum, there were things relating Hitler to Jesus.

4. Write out a statement that explains the main educational aims of the Nazi Education System. (Reference some of the sources from the packet.)
The main goal of the Nazi Education System is to educate the youth about the strength of Germany and Hitler (Sources 14.23, 14.25, 14.26), the inferiority of the Jew (14.23, 14.24) and the inferiority of the weak and disabled (14.21).

Nazi Rule in Germany

METHODS on how Hitler and the Nazi Regime ruled Germany beginning in 1933
Gdoc folder: "Hitler's Germany Readings." Read the chapters noted in the 10 questions below and answer the questions.

1. Study document A in Chapter 3. Make a detailed list of the kinds of people who were likely to be arrested as "Enemies of the State" in Nazi Germany.
-Politicals: i.e. Communist members of the Reichstag,
-Those accused of having spoken abusively towards the Fuehrer
-"Work-Shy" : those who turned down job offers in the navy or motor roads, after asking for unemployment relief
-"Bibelforscher" : A religious sect banned by the Gestapo since its members refused military service
-Homosexuals
-Professional criminals

2. Provide detailed notes on the following sub-topics in Chapter 4 (Jews in Nazi Germany):

Hitler's anti-Semitic ideas
-Hitler believed that the Jewish people were to blame for Germany's defeat in WWI and that Jewish businessmen were plotting to take control of the world.
-He believed that the Jews were an inferior race and should not be allowed to mix with the superior Aryan Germans.

The dismissal of Jews from jobs, 1933
-The SA organized a boycott of Jewish shops while Jews were removed from important jobs in the civil service, the law, universities and schools, broadcasting and newspapers.
-In 1934, all Jewish shops were marked with a yellow star or the word "Juden." Jews had to sit on separate seats in parks and on buses and trains. Anti-semitic ideas were taught in the schools.

The Nuremberg Laws, 1935
-Took away Jew's German citizenship
-Prohibited marriages between Jews and non-Jews

The "Night of Broken Glass",
-November 10, 1938
-Nearly 10,000 Jewish shop keepers had their shop windows smashed and the contents stolen. Jewish homes and synagogues were set on fire. Dozens of Jews were killed and thousands arrested.

1938 Violence against Jews
-Jews were ordered to pay a 1 billion mark fine.
- Jewish men and women were forced to scrub the streets.
-Himmler ordered a massive expansion of the concentration camps at Buchenwalk, Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Lichtenburg.

3. Why do you think Hitler and the Nazis put so much effort into organizing the lives of young people? (Chapter 5)
Hitler wanted to "educate" (more like indoctrinate) the youth about Nazism. Children are very easily impressionable so they believe what they are told. Also, Hitler wanted to get the weak out early and train the boys to be strong. They went through intensive training. Those who didn't die from the training went on to be "leaders of the future." Those with the best performance evaluations went to the Adolf Hitler Schools and the Order Castles.

4. Study the photographs carefully in Chapter 5. Then, using the information and evidence you have read about young people, write a diary of one day in a Hitler Youth camp.
Last night we went out in the middle of the night (in the winter) to do war "games" with live ammunition. It was terrifying because some of the people around me weren't very good with their weapons and I felt as if I could die at any moment if a bullet flew my way. On top of the danger of the weapons, the sub-zero temperatures gave us frostbite. I was so numb I couldn't feel my hands or feet. After having only a few short hours to sleep, we were awakened early this morning to bathe. We went to the stream and the water was the coldest I have ever felt. My frostbite from the night before hadn't even begun to improve, so this was just way too much. I fear I will have to have my feet amputated! Although I would like to make it through this program, I don't see how it is possible.

5. What effect did "the three Ks" have upon women? (Chapter 6)
Women should stick to the three Ks Kinder, Kirche und Kuche: Children, Church and Cooking. Women were forced to stay at home. Many women doctors, civil servants, lawyers and teachers were removed from their jobs. By 1939 there were few women left in professional jobs. Women were encouraged not to wear make-up and trousers. Dieting was discourages because that wasn't good for childbearing. The only thing that women were actively encouraged to do was to have children. Awards were given to those with the most children. The government set up homes for unmarried mothers.

6. Study the photograph in Chapter 6 (2nd page) and read the rules of the National Reich Church. Explain in your own words the kind of religion which the Nazis wanted Germans to follow.
Nazis wanted the Germans to follow the religion of the National Reich Church, which was ruled by the Nazis. Only certain people called "Orators of the Reich" were allowed to speak. All other religions were banned. The altars were only allowed to have Mein Kampf. There was no separation of church and state, and no religious freedom.

7. How did Hitler address the massive unemployment situation in Germany when he came to power? (Chapter 7)
Hitler set up a National Labour Service (RAD). This gave men jobs in public work areas, for example building the autobahns. Men in the RAD wore military uniform and lived in camps, and they were only payed very little. But this was better than no work at all, and they got free meals. Also, rearmament played an important role in decreasing unemployment. Hitler planned to make Germany a strong and independent country by building up the size and strength of the army. This meant that many people joined the military, and therefore weren't unemployed. Some people found work in the new industries that were found in making Germany self-sufficient. Also, the Jews who were removed from their jobs were not counted in the unemployment surveys, so the numbers are not taking them into account.

8. What is the significance of the German Labor Front? (Chapter 7)
The government had control over all of the workers in Germany. Strikes were made illegal and the limitations on the number of hours people could be made to work were lifted, among other things that took workers' rights away. Not many workers complained because they were being payed well.

9. In your own words, discuss the significance of the Strength through Joy program. (Chapter 8)
Hitler and the Nazi party wanted to control every part of people's lives, including their free time. The Strength through Joy program (KDF) organized activities for the people. Events were made accessible to everyone because they were cheap. The Nazis had control on every single aspect of German's life. Also, with the KDF providing affordable vacations, cars and other things that the people enjoyed, they would support the Nazis.

10. Describe Dr. Joseph Goebbels propaganda and censorship tactics. What effect did they have upon the German citizen? (Chapter 9).
Newspapers, the radio, and mass rallies were major forms of propaganda. Goebbels controlled all of the content of the newspapers. Radios were affordable, there were loudspeakers in town and everyone was required to listen to Hitler's speeches.
Rallies showed Germans that they wanted to be part of such a grand community. Goebbels used censorship to make sure opposing ideas were not spread. German student were encouraged to burn books that were written by Jews or communists. Germans were not allowed to speak negatively about Hitler even privately.