DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL BANGALORE NORTH

ACADEMIC SESSION 2022-23

NAZISM AND THE RISE OF HITLER

NOTE BOOK QUESTIONS

1. How did the birth of the Weimar Republic take place in Germany? Explain

 The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to
parliamentary parties to recast German polity.
 A national Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a
federal structure.
 Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament or Reichstag, on the basis of equal
and universal votes cast by all adults including women.

[Link] any three reasons to show that the treaty of Versailles was harsh and humiliating for
Germans.

i) Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13% of its territories, 75% of
its iron and 26% of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark, and Lithuania.

ii) The allied powers demilitarized Germany to weaken its power. Its army strength was
reduced and should not produce any war weapons.

iii) The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied
countries suffered. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion pounds.

iv) The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for many years.

[Link] war had a devastating impact on the entire continent both psychologically and
[Link] this statement with suitable points

i) The war had a devastating impact on the entire continent both psychologically and
financially. From a continent of creditors, Europe turned into one of the debtors.
ii) The infant Weimar Republic in Germany was being made to pay for the sins of the
old empire. The republic carried the burden of war guilt and national humiliation and
was financially crippled by being forced to pay compensation

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 iii) . iii) The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity. Soldiers
came to be placed above civilians.
iv) iv) Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive,
strong, and masculine. The media glorified trench life.
v) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public
sphere, while popular support grew for conservative dictatorships.

4. The German economy was the worst hit by economic crisis of [Link] this statement.

i) In 1923 Germany refused to pay the war compensation, and the French occupied its leading
industrial area, Ruhr to claim their coal.

ii) Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly. With too
much printed money in circulation, the value of the German mark fell. In April the US dollar was
equal to 24,000 marks and by December, the figure had run into trillions.

iii) As the value of the mark collapsed, prices of goods increased. The image of Germans
carrying cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely publicized evoking
worldwide sympathy. The crisis came to be known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise
phenomenally high.

5. The Weimar constitution had some inherent defects which made it unstable and vulnerable to
dictatorship. Justify the statement.

 The Weimar constitution had some inherent defects, which made it unstable and
vulnerable to dictatorship. One was proportional representation. This made achieving a
majority by any one party a near impossible task, leading to a rule by coalitions.

 Another defect was article 48, which gave the President the powers to impose emergency,
suspend civil rights and rule by decree.

 Within its short life, the Weimar Republic saw twenty different cabinets lasting on an
average 239 days, and a liberal use of Article 48

6. Explain the impact of Great Depression in [Link] the impact on Germany.

i) Great Depression originated in USA as a result of over production in the factories. It led to
closing of a few factories.

ii) The Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929. Fearing a fall in prices, people made frantic
efforts to sell their shares. On one single day, 24 October, 13 million shares were sold. All the
American banks were closed. This was the Great Economic Depression.

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iii) Over the next three years, between 1929 and 1932, the national income of the USA fell by
half. Factories shut down, exports fell, farmers were badly hit and speculators withdrew their
money from the market.

iv) The German economy was worst hit by the economic crisis. By 1932, industrial production
was reduced to 40% of the 1929 level. Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages.

v)As jobs disappeared, the youth took to criminal activities and total despair became
commonplace. The economic crisis created deep anxieties and fears in people.

vi) The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings diminish
when the currency lost its value. Small businessmen, the self-employed and retailers suffered as
their businesses got ruined. These sections of society were filled with the fear of
proletarianisation.

vii) Unemployment weakened their bargaining power. Big business was in crisis. The large mass
of peasantry was affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices and women, unable to fill their
children’s stomachs, were filled with a sense of deep despair.

7. The Nazi regime used language and media with care and often to great effect”.Explain and
Justify

 The Nazi regime used language and media with care, and often to great effect. The terms
they coined to describe their various practices are not only deceptive. They are chilling.
 Nazis never used the words kill or murder in their official communications.
 Mass killings were termed special treatment, final solution (for the Jews), euthanasia (for
the disabled), selection and disinfections. Evacuation meant deporting people to gas
chambers.
 Media was carefully used to win support for the regime and popularise its worldview.
Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and
leaflets.
 In posters, groups identified as the enemy of Germans were stereotyped, mocked, abused
and described as evil.
 Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate. They were attacked as
malicious foreign agents.
 Propaganda films were made to create hatred for Jews. The most infamous film was The
Eternal Jew.
 Orthodox Jews were stereotyped and marked. They were shown with flowing beards
wearing kaftans, whereas in reality it was difficult to distinguish German Jews by their
outward appearance. They were referred as vermin, rats and pests. Their movements were
compared to those of rodents.

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  Nazism worked on the minds of the people, tapped their emotions and turned their hatred
and anger at those marked as ‘undesirable’

8. How did Hitler destroy democracy in Germany?

i) Having acquired power, Hitler set out to destroy the structures of democratic rule. A
mysterious fire that broke out in the German Parliament building in February facilitated his move

ii) The Fire Decree of 28 February 1933 which was passed immediately after burring of
parliament building, indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and
assembly that had been guaranteed by the Weimar constitution.

iii) Then he turned on his archenemies, the Communists, most of whom were hurriedly packed
off to the newly established concentration camps. The repression of the Communists was severe.
They were about 52 types of victims persecuted by the Nazis across the country.

iv) On 3 March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in
Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree.

v)All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates.
The state established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.

vi) Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and order society in ways that
the Nazis wanted. Apart from the already existing regular police in green uniform and the SA or
the Storm Troopers, these included the Gestapo (secret state police), the SS (the protection
squads), criminal police and the Security Service (SD).

9. How did Hitler establish a racial state?

i) Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive
racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as
‘undesirable’ in the extended empire.

ii) Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They were alone considered
‘desirable’. Only they were seen as worthy of prospering and multiplying against all others who
were classed as ‘undesirable’.

iii) This meant that even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to
exist. Under the Euthanasia Programme, Nazi officials had condemned to death many Germans
who were considered mentally or physically unfit.

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iv) Jews were not the only community classified as ‘undesirable’. There were others. Many
Gypsies and blacks living in Nazi Germany were considered as racial `inferiors’ who threatened
the biological purity of the `superior Aryan’ race. They were widely persecuted.

v) Even Russians and Poles were considered subhuman, and hence undeserving of any humanity.
When Germany occupied Poland and parts of Russia, captured civilians were forced to work as
slave labour . Many of them died simply through hard work and starvation.

vi) Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They had been stereotyped as killers of
Christ and usurers. They were often persecuted through periodic organized violence, and
expulsions from the land.

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