History
Lesson 2
Nazism and the Rise of Hitler
I Short Answers: -
1. State the verdict of Nuremberg Tribunal. Why did the Allies avoid harsh punishments of
Germany?
Ans:
Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced only eleven leading Nazis to death.
Many others were imprisoned for life.
The Allies were not in favour of harsh punishment to Nazis as they felt that the rise of Nazi
Germany could be party traced back to the German experience at the end of the First World
War.
2. Describe the events that happened in 1945, when Germany surrendered to Allies.
Ans:
In May 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies.
Anticipating, Hitler his propaganda minister Goebbels and his entire family committed
suicide collectively in his Berlin bunker in April.
At the end of the war, an international Military tribunal at Nuremberg was set up to
prosecute Nazi war criminals for crimes against peace, for war crimes and crimes against
Humanity.
3. State the features of the Sparta cist League.
Ans:
The birth of Weimer Republic coincided with the revolutionary uprising of the Sparta cist
League on the pattern of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia.
Soviets of workers and sailors were established in many cities. The political atmosphere in
Berlin was charged with demands of Soviet style of governance.
The anguished Sparta cists later founded the Communist Party of Germany.
4. Explain any three reasons why the Weimer republic was not received well by the people
of Germany.
Ans:
Many Germans held the new Weimer Republic responsible for defeat in the war and
disgrace at Versailles.
The peace of treaty was harsh and humiliating for the Germans.
The allied powers demilitarized Germany to weaken its power.
5. Highlight three main features of the political system setup after the defeat of Imperial
Germany in the First World War.
Ans:
The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to
parliamentary parties to recast Germany polity.
A National Assembly met at Weimer 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.
6. Why did Germany suffer from hyper- inflation in 1923?
Ans:
Germany fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold. This
heightened the economic crises of 1923.
The economic crises of 1923 created a situation when the prices of goods and services were
very high.
Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly. With too
much printed money in circulation the value of the German Mark fell.
This crisis came to known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.
II Long Answers: -
1. Highlight the effects of the recession of 1930 on the US economy.
Ans:
Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929.
Fearing in a fall in prices, people made frantic efforts to sell their shares.
On single day, 24 October, 13 million shares were sold. This was the start of the great
depression.
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 withdraw their
money from the market.
The effects of this recession in the US economy were felt worldwide.
2. Highlight the important features of the education imparted in Nazi Schools.
Ans:
Good German children were subjected to a process of Nazi schooling, a prolonged period of
ideological training.
School textbooks were rewritten. Racial science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race.
Stereotypes about Jews were popularized even through mathematics classes. Children were
taught to be loyal and submissive, hate Jews and worship Hitler.
Even the function of sports was to nurture a spirit of violence and aggression among
children.
Hitler believed that boxing could make children iron hearted strong and masculine.
[Link] any five features of Hitler’s foreign policy.
Ans:
In foreign policy also Hitler acquired quick success.
He pulled out of the League of Nations in 1933, reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936, and
integrates Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan, one people, one empire, and one
leader.
He then went on to wrest German-speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and gobbled
up the entire country.
In all of this he had the unspoken support of England, which had considered the Versailles
verdict too harsh.
These quick successes at home and abroad seemed to reverse the destiny of the country.
[Link] were the main problems faced by Weimer Republic in Germany?
Ans:
Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 percent of its colonies, 75
percent of its iron and 26 percent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania.
Weimer Republic 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 compensations.
Those who supported the Weimer Republic, mainly Socialists, Catholics and Democrats,
became easy targets of attack in the conservative nationalist circles.
The birth of Weimer Republic coincided with the revolutionary uprising of Spartacist League
on the pattern of the Bolsheviks.
[Link] was the Great Economic Depression of 1929-1932 destroyed German economy?
Ans:
The German economy was the worst hit by the economic crises. By 1932, industrial
production was reduced to 40 percent of the 1929 level.
Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages.
The number of unemployed touched an unprecedented 6 million.
On the streets of Germany, you could see men with placards around their neck saying,
“willing to work”. Unemployment youths play cards and simply sat at street corners, or
destroyed queued up at the local employment exchange.
The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings diminish
when the currency lost its value.