Lecture notes HY4 - Wales/Eng, Nazi Germany WJEC A-level History Student Guide Unit 4: Nazi Germany c.
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HY4 - Wales/Eng, Nazi Germany
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WJEC A-level History Student Guide Unit 4: Nazi Germany c.1933-1945
An In-depth detailed set of notes of the Unit 4 Nazi Germany topic for WJEC A2 Level Exams.
Written using teacher notes, lectures, textbooks, revision guides, online resources, exam mark schemes, and further reading.
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Further Developments in the Nazi control of Germany after 1933
Hitlers consolidation of power 1933-4
● Eliminating the left - Reichstag Fire
● Legally - Enabling Act, sending political opponents to concentration camps
● Gleichschaltung - eliminating political parties, trade unions, civil service, press
● Used SS to establish a police state
Reichstag Fire - 27 Feb 1933
● German parliament burnt down
● Nazis claimed Van der Lubbe (communist) started fire for communist uprising
● 28 Feb 1933 Law for Protection of People and State:
○ Suspended right to assembly, freedom of speech/press
○ Restraints on police investigation - allowed to arrest communists without trial
○ Justified through article 48 - national emergency of fire
● Significance:
○ Nazis capitalised on fire - described as start of revolution
○ Blaming communists removed biggest political opponent
○ Paved way to dictatorship - removed political freedom
Enabling Act - 23 March 1933
● Allowed Reichstag government to issue laws without parliament consent
● Transferred full power to Chancellor for 4 years
● Required ⅔ votes to implement
● Judges viewed Hitler’s government as secure
● Used intimidation of SA to secure votes
● Significance:
○ Dictatorship grounded in legality
○ Allowed gov to issue laws without consent of parliament
○ Nazifed German society
Gleichschaltung 1933/4
● Meaning “Bring into line” - Nazification of German society (educational, cultural life)
● By power and freedom exploited by SA (revolution from below)
● By Nazi leadership from political centre (revolution from above)
● Aimed to establish one-party state (by 1933) - communists outlawed from Fire, Social
Dem removed after trade unions banned, other major parties agreed to dissolve
● Significance:
○ Hitler extended his power to key organisations by taking out/dealing with them
○ Judges had to swear oath of loyalty to Nazis
Night of the Long Knives - 30 June - 2 July 1934
● Hitler feared SA became too powerful - ordered SS to murder SA leader Ernst Rohm
● 150 killed & more arrested
● Significance:
○ Able to secure his own political supremacy
○ Neutralised the threat of Rohm, an individual to challenge him, & other threats
○ Sent a clear message that he was prepared to remove internal threats
, Impact of the death of President Hindenburg - 2 Aug 1934
● Hitler becomes President
● Abolishes office of president & becomes Fuhrer
● No legal restrictions to his dictatorship
● Significance:
○ Death solidified dictatorship - Hindenburg can't dismiss Hitler anymore
○ Strengthened Hitler’s power - gave him complete control of Germany
Propaganda
● Joseph Goebbles
● Aims - glorify Nazi regime, spread Nazi ideology
● Used Radio -
○ Bought all broadcasting under Nazi control by Reich Radio Company
○ 1932 >25% German households owned radio
○ Nazi gov mass produced cheaper set “People’s receiver”
○ 1939 70% German households owned radio
● Press -
○ 1933 - 4700 German privately owned newspapers - strong regional identities
○ Set up Eher Verlag publishing house (by 1939 controlled ⅔ German press)
○ Editors’ Law Oct 1933 - had to satisfy requirements of Propaganda Ministry
● Berlin Olympics -
○ Exploited as a propaganda goldmine
○ Glorified regime for world
○ Spread Nazism without international upset - anti semitic media played down
○ Focused on presenting “new Germany” positive image
○ Aryan race depicted - lighting torch etc.
Opposition and resistance to Nazi control
Youth
● White Rose Group:
○ Student resistance movement led by Hans & Sophie Scholl
○ Leaflets sent around- political, condemned values of Nazi regime
○ Weak security - Feb 1943 Gestapo arrested/executed the 6 leaders
● The Swing Movement/Swingjugend
○ Group of jazz/ lovers in Hamburg/Berlin formed in 1939
○ 14-21 year old mostly middle/upper class Germans
○ Admired British/American way of life
○ Opposed Nazism and Hitler Youth - rejected Nazi state
○ Rebelled against restriction with jazz
● Edelweiss Pirates/Cologne Pirates
○ General name given to working class youths that formed gangs
○ Alienated from Hitler’s Youth
○ Active resistance eg. 12 publicly hanged due to assassination of Gestapo
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