Transcript File - Miss Cummings` Social Studies Homepage

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Appeal of Hitler
• Germany was in the midst of an economic
depression with hyper-inflation
• Hitler was a WW I hero who talked about
bringing glory back to the “Fatherland”
• He promised the rich industrialists that he
would end any communist threat in Germany
• Constantly blamed Jews for Germany’s
problems, not the German people.
• Hitler was an excellent public speaker.
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Structure of Government
• Single-party state: one in which
only one political party holds
power
• Centralized state: one in which
power comes from a central
location
• “Working towards the Fuhrer”
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A “Moderate” Approach
Consider:
What evidence is there so far
that Hitler is a “moderate”?
Has Hitler been “radical” so
far? Explain
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A “Moderate” Approach
• Law Against Formation of
New Parties
• Law to Safeguard the Unity
of Party and State
• Law Concerning the Head
of the German Reich
• Parallel Institutions
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Night of the Long Knives
• By mid-1934, Hitler seemed to be master of all
Germany.
• He had banned opposition parties, taken control
of the press, outlawed troublesome unions and
thrown communists and other political
dissidents into concentration camps.
• The only significant elements of Germany not
subject to Nazi control or infiltration were the
Reichswehr (military), wealthy industrialists
and some higher levels of the bureaucracy. 7
Night of the Long Knives
• Hitler now attended to problems and potential
threats within the Nazi movement, especially
the Sturmabteilung (SA).
• The SA had played an important role in Hitler’s
elevation to power, particularly during the three
Reichstag elections of 1932-33.
• Now, in early 1934, the SA leader Earnest
Rohm, one of the veterans of the Beer Hall
Putsch and who had help the SA membership
skyrocket, has now rivaled the popularity of
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Hitler.
Night of the Long Knives
• Hindenburg, suggested imposing martial law to
deal with the SA and hustled Hitler into action.
• On June 30th 1934 he called on the fiercely loyal
Schutzstaffel (SS), ordering them to arrest Rohm
and dozens of other prominent SA leaders.
• Those arrested were either
– Executed
– shot resisting arrest
– forced to commit suicide
• The death toll was listed as 85 people, though it
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may have been much higher.
Night of the Long Knives
• Ernst Rohm was held in a prison cell for two days, while
Hitler considered what to do with his former friend. In the
end, Hitler gave the order for Rohm’s execution. SS officers
presented Rohm with a pistol and invited him to commit
suicide. When he refused, they shot him themselves.
• Hitler also used the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ to eliminate
political opponents and settle some old scores.
– Former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, who was plotting
the return of the Hohenzollern monarchy, was shot dead,
along with his wife.
– The man who had engineered Hitler’s rise to power, vicechancellor Franz von Papen, was arrested and removed
from office.
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Night of the Long Knives
Rohm
Strasser
Von
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Schleicher
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Propaganda
Early tool of the Nazi Party
First influence by Hitler directly
Minister of Propaganda and National
Enlightenment Joseph Goebbels
Goebbels
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The essence of propaganda consists in
winning people over to an idea so
sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they
succumb to it utterly and can never escape
from it.
-Goebbels
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Language Propaganda
•
•
•
•
•
Employment office- “labor mobilization”
Worker- “Soldier of Labor”
Work- “Service to Fuehrer and folk”
Factory Meeting- “Factory Roll Call”
Production- “The Production Battle”
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Message
Anti-Semitism
Nationalism
Master Race
Lebensraum
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRHhPNzQX
HI
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Film
The Eternal Jew (1940)
Jew Suss (1940)
Which is more effective? Why?
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Volksempfanger
Radio was Hitler’s most
effective tool
Poor quality
Volksempfänger was sold
at low prices to ensure
that the Nazi message
was spread
70% ownership
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Other Propaganda
• Press – 82% owned by state
• Music – Wagner’s music represented Volkish values
– Under the Nazi regime, all music produced had to fit
within certain standards defined as "good" German
music.
– Suppression of specific artists and their works was
common, yet musicians were permitted limited artistic
freedom.
– The Nazis attempted to create a balance between
censorship and creativity in music to appease the
German people.
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This blend of art and politics led to a three-prong policy regarding
musicians and artists:
• Loyal Nazi members who were talented musicians were
guaranteed a job.
• Loyal Nazi members who were not talented musicians were
not guaranteed a job.
Any non-Jewish person who demonstrated a "genius" for music
and was a member of the Reichsmusikkammer (Reich Music
Chamber) was permitted employment.
• This exception in policy permitted musicians like conductor
Wilhelm Furtwangler and composer Richard Strauss to
continue working.
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According to Hitler and Goebbels (Hitler's second in
command), the three master composers that
represented good German music were Ludwig van
Beethoven, Richard Wagner, and Anton Bruckner.
All three composers lived prior to the 20th century.
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) believed that
"strength is the morality of the man who stands out
from the rest."
• Hitler identified himself with Beethoven as possessing
that heroic German spirit. Beethoven was so loved by
the German people that his legacy of music was
unrivaled by any other composer.
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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mvutiDRvQ
Richard Wagner (1818-1883) was Hitler's favorite composer. During World War I,
it is reported, he carried Wagner's music from Tristan in his knapsack. Often Hitler
had Wagner's music performed at party rallies and functions. Wagner's music was
uncompromisingly serious, and intensely Teutonic. It was not only Wagner's music
that 'struck a chord' with Hitler, but also his political views. Wagner wrote a
violently antisemitic booklet in the 1850s called Das Judebthum in die
Musik (Judaism in Music) insisting the Jews poisoned public taste in the arts.
He founded the Bayreuth festival, which in the 1930s and 1940s was used by the
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Nazi party as a propaganda tool against the Jews.
• Censorship of Literature and Book Burning
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-HZz5Qv8E
• SHIFT to anti-intellectual
• Art—Doesn’t reflect much
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Points to consider:
•
Why was the “moderate” approach successful?
•
What elements of propaganda were most
successful? Why?
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Indoctrination
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Nationalist Socialist Teachers
League
Goal: Spread the Nazi world view
Unanimous support of teachers
by 1937
Reported on political “reliability” of
teachers for purpose of
promotions, and ensured Nazi
indoctrination of teachers
Actively resisted intrusions by
other organizations
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Hitler Youth
Founded 1922 as youth branch
of the SA
HJ (Hitler-Jugend):
14-18 year old males
German Youth for boys 10-14
Purpose: create future Aryan
supermen who would become
mentally & physically fit soldiers
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Hitler Youth
Shift from anti-establishment to
pro-establishment weakened
appeal of Hitler Youth
1933: 2,300,000 members;
result of mergers with other youth
groups
1936: 5,000,000 members; law
making membership mandatory
for Aryans
1939: over 80% of young men
were members of HJ
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League of German Girls
BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel);
girls’ alternative to Hitler Youth
Goal: wife, mother, and
homemaker (anti-feminist)
Push for childbirth led to many
illegitimate births; creating
conflict between the ideals of
Party and individual families
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Labor Fronts
DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront)
replaced Germany’s trade unions
Against both capitalism and
worker-based revolution (?)
Newly negotiated contracts;
promised benefits for Nazi loyalty
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Labor Fronts
Strength through Joy (KdF; Kraft durch Freude):
cheap holidays; subsidized sporting & leisure facilities
Beauty of Work (SdA; Schönheit der Arbeit):
renovated outdated factories with new lounges, cleaner
working spaces, etc. to appeal to workers
Reich Labor Service (RAD; Reichsarbeitsdienst):
addressed unemployment by requiring unemployed men
ages 16-25 to work on national projects (ex: Autobahns)
Reichsberufswettkampf: national vocational competition
Women’s League
National Socialist Women's
League (NS-Frauenschaft)
provided political role for women
contrary to Nazi anti-feminism
Released bi-weekly pro-Nazi
women‘s magazine
Instructed women in the use of
German-manufactured products,
such as butter and rayon, as part
of the self-sufficiency program
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Christian Church
Reich Church attendance minimal
Nazi Church Secession campaign failed to
get Germans to leave Church
Confessional Church established in
reaction to “Aryan Paragraph,”
encroachments on Christianity,
anti-Semitism, and euthanasia
Niemoller
Bonhoeffer
Obstacle to full totalitarian state
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SS
Schutzstaffel “Defense Corps”
-part of Nazis since 1920
-originally an element of the SA
-especially loyal to Hitler
Sig runes
SS selected members to
establish an order of Aryan
men who were superior in
racial purity and ability –
a model for the Nazi vision
of a master race.
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SS
Led by Heinrich Himmler since 1925
Recognized as a state organization
once Hitler comes to power in 1933
Played a crucial role in
Night of the Long Knives (1933),
effectively replacing SA
Established the SD in 1932 and
absorbed the Gestapo in 1934
Controlled concentration camps
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SD
Sicherheitsdienst “Security Service”
Nazi intelligence agency established in 1932
Task: Detection of the enemies of Nazi leadership
through intricate informant network
Divided into a number sections by 1939
Domestic
Foreign
Legal
Racial
Culture & Religion
Industry & Commerce
High Society
Espionage by region
W. Europe
USSR & Japan
Americas
E. Europe
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Gestapo
Secret police used against German citizens
Established by Hermann Göring in
1933 after gaining control of the
Prussian police; became nation-wide
force under Himmler in 1934.
Considered sister-organization of SD
Pervasiveness of secret police &
threat of concentration camps established
state of fear (even if not very effective)
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Gestapo
Department A (Political opponents)
Department B (Sects and Churches)
Department C (Administration and Party Affairs)
responsible for card files of all personnel, including all officials
Department D (Occupied Territories)
Department E (Counterintelligence)
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Securing the Military
1933: Night of the Long Knives
1935: Expands peacetime army
1938: Reorganization allows
Hitler to solidify control
Pre-War “successes”
-remilitarization of Rhineland
-expansion into Austria
-expansion into Czechoslovakia
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Reich Main Security Office
SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt established in 1939 to
merge SD, Gestapo, and other SS subgroups
RSHA coordinated “security” in occupied territories;
SS oversaw Ghettos and the “Final Solution”
Waffen-SS: combat branch of SS during WWII;
used to secure Hitler’s control of military
Represents the dominance of the Nazi police state OR
epitomizes “overblown Nazi bureaucracy”
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Opposition(?)
Edelweiss Pirates were young men who dodged HJ
and military by leaving school before 17 years of age
White Rose student group increasingly spread anti-Nazi
pamphlets and propoganda
Widerstand (Nazi Resistance) united various
underground movements within Nazi groups, as well as
remnant Socialist Party and the Red Orchestra
6 attempts on Hitler’s life during WWII by army
officers; most famous being the 20 July plot (1944)
which led to the execution of over 5000 officers
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Points to consider
Who were the targets of indoctrination? Why?
Analyze the strengths & weaknesses of
indoctrination.
Explain the transition from Nazi State to SS Police
State.
Analyze the strengths & weaknesses of repression.
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THE
END
.......................Until the start of World War II
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