Summary Unit 5 AQA A-Level Weimar and Nazi Germany A* Grade Notes - 'The Racial State'
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Course
Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1945
Institution
AQA
This summary synthesises information from the Oxford AQA History textbook and the SHP Advanced History Core Texts book as well as classwork and further research from other sources to provide everything you need to know to smash your Weimar and Nazi Germany History paper!
These notes helped me achi...
Section 5
The ‘Racial State’
1933-45
Master Document
Radicalisation of the Nazi State (chp. 17)
Nazi Policies towards the Jews 1933-37 (chp. 18)
Development of Anti-Semitic Policy 1938-40 (chp. 19)
Nazi Policies towards Jews 1940-41 (chp. 20)
The ‘Final Solution’ (section 6, chp. 23)
,This document is an amalgamation of the Oxford AQA A-Level History textbook and SHP Advanced History
Core Texts on Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-45 as well as classwork and research from other sources
and texts (for this unit, more information has come from Alan Farmer’s Access to History: Anti-Semitism
and the Holocaust).
There is a lot of information here so I suggest you condense these notes into a format from which you
simply memorise statistics, names, dates, etc… This could be physical flashcards or online flashcards (e.g:
Quizlet). To do this, I recommend first reading the whole document through and highlighting the key
information you want to memorise, then converting it into flashcards. If you would prefer to simply memorise
from pre-made flashcards, you can gain access to my Quizlet sets based off this document by following
these links:
Once you have reviewed your content, ‘blurt’ the information out on a blank piece of paper without your
flashcards to see how much you can remember. Then review your blurting with a different coloured pen to
fill in the gaps in your knowledge and memorise what you forgot. There’s also space in this document to
form plans for sample essay questions.
These notes and techniques helped me achieve an A* in AQA A-Level History in 2023, achieving 73/80 on
this paper.
If you enjoy using these A* grade notes, leave a review on www.stuvia.com and check out my other
documents for Weimar and Nazi Germany and for the Tudors.
Good luck for your exams!
Key abbreviations:
Gov - government Mil - million
TUs - trade unions DNVP - German National People’s Party
Information - info DVP - German People’s Party
No. - number Zentrum (Z) - Centre Party
WR - Weimar Republic (1918-33) SPD - Social Democratic Party
Pop. - population KPD - German Communist party
Esp. - especially HJ - Hitler Youth
RM - Reichsmarks L of N - League of Nations
For example - e.g: T of V - Treaty of Versailles
Inc. - including G.G. - General Government
Index
Radicalisation of the Nazi State - Chapter 17.............................................................................................. 3
Nazi Policies towards the Jews 1933-37 - Chapter 18................................................................................ 9
Development of Anti-Semitic Policy 1938-40 - Chapter 19...................................................................... 14
Nazi Policies towards the Jews 1940-41 - Chapter 20.............................................................................. 20
The ‘Final Solution’ 1942-45 - Chapter 23.................................................................................................. 23
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, Radicalisation of the Nazi State - Chapter 17
Phases of the Nazi regime:
The legal revolution, 1933-34
Hitler depended on political allies (army + Hindenburg), he couldn’t completely prevent SA’s violence, but
tried to control it. Consolidated power by legal means.
Creating the new Germany, 1934-37
By Aug 1934, the regime was secure. Hitler focused on economic revival and social coordination. Hitler still
worried about public opinion at home and abroad. He avoided confronting powerful groups like the army or
Churches. He knew Germany wasn’t prepared for war.
Radicalisation of the State, 1938-39
Economy had recovered, the SS completely controlled the police system. Hitler felt Germany was militarily
ready for war. Hitler took control of army, sacking its 2 most important commanders, Blomberg and Fritsch.
He let loose the radical persecution of his race enemies.
As the years continued, Nazi racial policy became more extreme, partially because of the effect of
cumulative radicalism as Nazi officials sought to outdo one another in fulfilling the führer’s ideology.
Nazi Racial Ideology
It was rooted in Social Darwinist ideas of natural biological selection and based on the science of eugenics
(a popular theory among Western cultures in late 19th and early 20th centuries which advocated the
improvement of ‘racial hygiene’ through selective breeding, birth control and sterilisation).
The science of eugenics had become increasingly influential after WWI, with declining birth rates, millions of
healthy young men lost in the war and improvements in medicine that prolonged the lives of those suffering
from hereditary conditions combined to raise concerns about the long-term health of nations.
Social Darwinism
An adaptation of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest to justify ideas of racial superiority and eugenics.
Hitler believed in the ‘biological struggle’ and viewed humanity as consisting of a hierarchy of races: the
Jews, black people and Slavs were the inferior ‘Untermenschen’ (= ‘less than human’), while the Herrenvolk
(‘master race’) was the Aryan peoples of northern Europe.
Hitler believed in the need to ‘purify’ the stronger races by eliminating the ‘germs’ that threatened to poison
them through inter-marriage with so-called ‘degenerate’ races.
Hitler believed it was the destiny of the Aryans to rule over the inferior races. In order to ensure their
success in this racial struggle, it was vital for Aryans to maintain their strength, health and racial purity.
1919 letter written by Hitler:
‘The Jews are definitely a race and not a religious community’
Mein Kampf 1925:
‘The very existence of the Jews becomes parasitic on the lives of other peoples.’
Hitler speaking to a Nazi party meeting 1920:
‘The poisoning of the people will never end until the cause, the Jews, are removed from our midst’
The Nazi principles of ‘racial hygiene’ justified the sterilisation of the mentally and physically disabled, the
Roma and other ‘racial undesirables’ such as homosexuals, pacifists and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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