This is a revision powerpoint of this area of history, for GCSE really

1. History
Germany from 1918-39

2. Constitution
Proportional Representation
 There was a Large number of Parties so that meant
no majority was met
 This lead to no decisions being made
President
 Elected every 7 years
 Had the power of Article 48

3. Army
 Leaders of the army wanted to retain under the
Kaiser
Civil servants and Judges
 Many senior judges and civil servants disagreed with
the liberal views of the Weimar government

4. Treaty of Versailles
Territorial Losses Economical Financial Losses
Losses
All colonies Only allowed £6600 in
given to the allies 100,000 men and reparations to
(especially 15,000 sailors make up for the
African) No tanks, war
Alsace-Lorraine submarines or any Sheep and
given to France Air Force Cattle given to
Polish Corridor 6 naval Ships France and
Saar under Rhineland Belgium
control of the demilitarised Build
League of Nations replacement ships
for the Allies

5. Spartacist Uprising
 Lead by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
 On the 6th of January 1919 tries to overthrow the
government and create a communist state
 They used the army and the Freikorps to put down
the rebellion
 The leader were found dead days later. In March
more communist uprisings happened
 It resulted in 1000 people dead

6. Kapp Putsch
 The leader of the Freikorps, Wolfgang Kapp, tried to
seize Berlin on the 13th March 1920
 The government asked people to strike against it,
this left them easy to beat
 More communist uprising happened but defeated
 However 2 Weimar ministers were assassinated,
???

7. NSDAP
 In February 1920- 25 point programme
 They brought the Volkischer Beobatcher to spread
their message
 Hitler became their Leader in July 1921
 They then adopt the Swastika
 In July 1920 = 1100 members
 In November 1922 = 55,000 members

8. Invasion of the Ruhr
 Reparations a £100 million a year. Couldn‟t pay so
France invaded the Ruhr
 They confiscated raw material and manufactured
goods. The workers went on passive resistance but it
was met with violence
 This disrupted the economy further

9. Hyperinflation
 They still couldn‟t pay so they printed more money
 They had 300 paper mills and 2000 printing shops
 Imports dried up and people lost their savings
 1919- 1mark= £1
 1923- 20 billion marks= £1

10. Plans and Pacts
November 1923- Rentenmark
 Based on gold reserves
 Led to stability
August 1924- Dawes Plan
 Reparations to increase from 1 billion to 2.5 million
over 4 years
 USA loans of 800 million marks

11. 1925- Locarno Treaty
 Between Britain, France, Italy and Germany
 Agreed on the Borders
September 1926- League of Nations
 Permanent Seats
 Confirmed Germany having a power status

12. 1928- Kellogg-Briand Pact
 Germany and 64 other nations
 Said that armies were only for self defence
1929- Young Plan
 Reduced payments from £6600 to £1850
 They had to pay 2.05 billion for 59 years

13. Great Depression
 October 1929 the US stock market fell, they recalled
their loans. This left the German government and
companies poor
 So they sacked workers, this left them unemployed
 By January 1932 6million people were unemployed
 People were desperate and turned
towards extremist parties

14. Economic Crisis
 In March 1930 elections there was no majority
 So Bruning relied on Hindenburg - Article 48
 In September Nazi Party had 107 seats and were
the second most popular
 Bruning cut unemployment benefits because the
government had no money
 Bruning resigned in May 1932

15. Nazi party in 1924
 Created branches around Germany called Guae
 Ernst Rohm became the leader of the SA
 They had 27,000 members in 1925
 It exceeded 100,000 members in 1928
 In the 1928 elections they won only 12 seats

16. Josef Goebbels
 He was the propaganda leader from 1929-33
 The Nazi had: Mass rallies, posters, banners
 By 1930s Nazis owned 120 newspapers
 Radio- 70% of Germans owned a radio
 Planes to visit cities

17. Nazi party offered
 Strong government
 A united Germany
 Scrap Treaty of Versailles
 Blame Jews

18. Presidential Election
 Election 1932
 In the first round Hindenburg failed to get over 50%
of the vote
 In the second round he did
 However Hitler received 11,340,000 votes in the first
round

19. Financial support
 1932, 600,000 copies of the Nazi programme was
produced
 Funds from big business that was scared of
communism
 Used the SA to disrupt meetings
 In 1931 SA had increased from 100,000 to 170,000

20. Elections
 July 1932- 117 people killed
- won 230 seats
 Largest party so Hitler demanded to be chancellor
but Hindenburg elected Von Papen
 Papen had no support so Von Schleicher was
elected (possibly communist)
 30 Jan 1933 Von Papen and Hitler joined forces and
became Chancellor and Vice chancellor

21. Reichstag Fire
 27th February 1933 Reichstag building set alight by
the Dutch communist, Marius van der Lubbe.
 “Decree for the protection of People” allowed Nazis
to arrest communists and suspend peoples civil
rights
 March 1933 won 288 seats but still need a coalition
government

22. Effects of the Fire
 Enabling Bill was passed but by foul means on 24
March 1933, and it was the end of the Weimar
constitution and democracy
 14th July 1933, Law against the formation of Parties
which left the NSDAP as the only party
 In November 1933 they won 95.2% of the votes but
3 million were spoilt

23. Nazi regime
 Enabling Bill meant Nazis had control over all the
Laws
 2nd May 1933 trade unions were banned and the
Nazi Labour Front was set up
 They also made concentration camps
 They released 130 emergency decrees and
centralised the country

24. Night of the Long Knives
 SS had been a key part of Nazi growth
 However the Leader Ernst Rohm had too much
power over SA and army
 On the 30th June 1934 four hundred people were
killed
 This included Rohm and Von Scheilcher
 SA was absorbed by the SS and army

25. Army
 They had previously had loyalty to Ernst Rohm
 In August 1934 Hindenburg Died
 The army swore a oath of Loyalty to Hitler
 90% of Germany agreed with his actions

26. SS and Gestapo
 SS and Gestapo were run by Himmler
 By 1934 the SS had 55,000 members
 The Gestapo wore plain clothes and could arrest and
imprison anyone they suspected to opposing the
state
 By 1939, 160,000 people were arrested for political
crimes

27. Legal system
 In October 1933 the German Lawyers Front was set
up. It immediately had 10,000 members
 In 1934, the People‟s court was set up to try cases of
treason
 By the end of 1934 Hitler controlled the army and the
legal system

28. Concentration camps
The SA and SS ran them. The earliest was
Dachau, near Munich. They arrested:
 Jews and Black people
 Professional Criminals
 Foreign Forced Labour groups
 Religious groups
 Sex offenders
 Political prisoners
 Work shy
 Disabled

29. Catholic Church
 Almost a third of Germans were Catholic
 Catholic had 1st allegiance to the Pope not Hitler.
Also they had catholic schools and youth groups
 He signed the concordat in July 1933 protecting
Catholic
 In a few months later he arrested priests, abolished
catholic schools, closed youth movements and
closed monasteries

30. Protestant Church
 Leader was Reich-bishop Ludwig Muller, September
1933
 They praised Hitler and Mein Kampf
 However many protestants opposed Nazism
 Pastor Niemoller set up the Confessional Church
against Hitler. He was arrested in 1937 and the
confessional was banned

31. Propaganda
Rallies- An annual rally was held at Nuremburg to
show the power of the Nazis. Local rallies were run
by the SA
Radio- The Nazi mass produced cheap radios so the
whole nations could hear Hitler speak
Posters- They cleverly used posters to put across the
Nazi message and ideologies especially targeted at
the young

32. Censorship
Newspapers- All papers were owned by the Nazis and
editors were told what they could print
Books- May 1933 20,000 books were burnt because
they were Jewish or anti-Nazi
Cinema- The Nazi produced 100 films a year, which in
1933 250 million people saw. All films started with
Nazi messages

33. The Arts
Music- banned jazz because it was too black.
Encouraged German folk music and Bach or
Beethoven
Theatre- concentrated on German history and political
dramas. The tickets were cheap to encourage
people to watch them
Art- all modern art was banned because it was
„backward and Jewish‟. Traditional only

34. Olympics
 The games were designed to impress the world,
with the modern and well organised society
 However Hitler refused to give 9 athletes their gold
medals because they were black. This included
Jesse Owens who won 4 gold medals and had
broken 11 Olympic records

35. Controlling the Young- p86
Teachers- swear an oath of loyalty and join the Nazi
teachers league
Textbooks- Were rewritten to fit the Nazi view. Mein
Kampf was a regular text
Lessons- Began and ended with “Heil Hitler”.
Curriculum- 15% was devoted to sport. Girls took
needlework and cookery. They introduced race
studies

36. Hitler Youth
 Hitler youth for boys between 14-18. They were
prepared for the army by camping, athletics,
marching and map reading
 From 1936 membership was compulsory
 By 1939 there were 7million members
 The League of German maidens did the same as the
HY except they also did domestic skills and
motherhood

37. Youth
 Gang appeared that played their own music and
boys and girls were free to be together.
 They grew their hair long and wore their choice of
clothes. They even beat up members of the HY
 The Edelweiss pirates listened to swing music and
produced anti-Nazi graffiti. They had membership of
2000 in 1939

38. Women
Change Weimar Women Nazi Women
Politically Women over 20 had the vote. By Women were to have no
1933 10% of the Reichstag was interest in politics
female
Economically Many had careers in teaching, Women would be
medicine and in the civil service. mothers and
Plus the civil servants earned the homemakers. If they did
same as men. By 1933 100,000 work they earned
women teachers and 3000 doctors considerably less than
men
Socially Women went out unescorted. They Women were always
smoke and drank in public. They escorted. They would
were slim and fashion conscious. never smoke, drink or
They had short hair and wore make- diet. They would have
up hair in a bun and would
not wear make up

39. Idyllic Nazi Woman
o Did not wear make-up oWas blonde, either in
plait or bun.
oWas athletic oDid not smoke

40. oWore flat shoes oWore a full skirt
oDid all household duties, especially cooking

41. Women
 1933 the Law for encouragement of Marriage meant
loans were given to new couples
 Medal were given out on 2nd may
 In 1938 the divorce Law changed
 Lebenborn was set up and the German‟s Women‟s
Enterprise
 From 1937 onwards women were forced to work a
„duty year‟ because of rearming

42. Reducing Unemployment
Job creation schemes- Spent 37 billion on it in 1938.
They subsided the construction industry. They
introduced the building of the autobahns
Invisible unemployment- Jews taken from there jobs,
unmarried men sent to the Labour service Corps,
Women dismissed from jobs for homemaking and
opponents of the Nazis held in concentration camps

43. Rearmament- introduced conscription in 1935, army
had 1.4 million men in 1939. Heavy industry
expanded. This meant coal and chemicals doubled
in 1933-39. Billions was spent creating tanks, aircraft
and ships. This gave people more jobs

44. Better off under the Nazi’s
 Strength through joy – organisation to replace the
trade unions. It organised holidays and day trips for
workers. They were low cost so ordinary workers
could afford them
 Beauty of work- this improved working conditions i.e.
by better lighting
 Volkswagen- scheme for people to save 5 marks a
week for a car
 Wages- average wage rose from 86marks in 1932 to
109marks in 1938

45. Worse off under the Nazi’s
 Lack of freedom- trade unions were banned so
workers couldn‟t negotiate for better wages
 Strength through joy – hardly any workers could
afford the holidays
 Volkswagen- By the time the war broke out not one
person had a car, and their money wasn‟t refunded
 Cost of living- all groceries cost more in 1939
compares to 33. This is because food was in short
supply, the was to keep farmers benefits
 Hours of work- increases from 42.9% of the week to
47% in 1939

46. Why persecute the Jews?
 Traditionally- they were different and blamed for the
execution of Christ. Also some Jews were
moneylenders and became wealthy. People
resented them for this
 Hitler- when he was homeless in Vienna (where
there is a tradition of anti-Semitism) the despised the
wealthy Jews
 Master Race- this did not include the 100,00 Jews
living in Germany

47. Jewish persecution
April 1933- Boycott of Jewish Shops
The SA painted „Jude‟ on Jewish shops and urged
people not to enter
1934- Ban on Public Places
Jews could not enter public parks, fields and
swimming pools
May 1935- No army
Jewish people banned from the army

48. September 1935- Nuremburg Laws
Jews weren‟t citizens, they could not vote and could
not marry a German (Law for protection of German
blood)
1936- nothing because of the Olympics
March-October 1938
Register possessions , carry identity cards, star of
David on their clothes, add „Israel‟ or „Sarah‟ to their
names, stamped „J‟ on their passports

49. Kristallnacht
 8th November 1938, a polish Jew kills a Nazi official
in the German embassy in Paris
 9th-10th Jewish shops, homes and synagogues were
smashed up
 91 Jews died and 20,000 sent to concentration
camps
 They are fined 1 billion marks and are not allowed to
run business‟ or send their children to school

50. Other groups
Sterilisation Law- Passes in July 1933 allowed the
Nazis the sterilise alcoholics and disabled people
Concentration Camps- was were the locked up
prostitutes, homosexuals, juvenile delinquents,
gypsies, tramps and beggars
Euthanasia campaign- in 1939 the Nazis secretly
began to kill mentally ill people. Around 6,000
disabled babies, children and teenagers were
murdered by starvation or lethal injection