Nazi Germany - Quiz #2

Nuremberg Rallies

(Need explanation)

The "Nazi Voter"

***not on quiz

Strength Through Joy

- a DAF unit that sponsored leisure pastimes in the mid 1930s. - Germans of all classes were encouraged to attend cultural events and pursue recreational pastimes - activities included cultural events, athletics, adult education, and tourism -------------- - Nazi's hoped to strengthen the Volksgemeinschaft and reinforce the people's community by overcoming regional and class differences by bringing people of different classes together - also purposed to help attach Germans to their land brought capital to impoverished areas

The Cathedral of Lights

- a display during the annual Nazi Party Rally in Nuremberg in 1936, directed by Albert Speer - The Nazis used over a hundred military anti-aircraft searchlights to illuminate the sky above the rally ground and create a grand and mystical display ----------- - The fact that military equipment was used for aesthetic purposes shows how propaganda and political ritual was central to the Nazi regime - propaganda was of most importance to the Nazi's - willing to risk other countries seeing how many search lights they had - effort to develop the Hitler Myth

Degenerate Art Exhibition, 1937

- art show that attempted to publicly shame many modernist and leftist works of art. - one of the Nazi Party responses to German culture not suitable for the Racial State - entailed hundreds of confiscated works of art from museums across Germany that were deemed untraditional or against Nazi ideals ----------- - attempt to highlight the cultural degeneration that the Nazi's claimed was born during the Weimar Republic - showed the importance that Hitler placed on art and culture, and was really an attempt to synchronize society with respect to the arts. - another way that the Nazi's isolated those who they did not want in the racial state. - the show however was extremely popular, which puts into question to what degree did Germans agree with Hitler's definition of fine art.

Editors are especially obligated to keep out of the newspapers anything which: 1. is misleading to the public by mixing selfish interests with community interests; 2. tends to weaken the strength of the German Reich, in foreign relations or domestically; the sense of community of the German people; German defense capability, culture, or the economy; or offends the religious sentiments of others; 3. offends the honor and dignity of Germany; 4. illegally offends the honor or the well-being of another, hurts his reputation, or ridicules or disparages him; 5. is immoral for other reasons

- comes from The Editorial Law (1933) - all German press came under the control of the state - set strong restrictions on what could be published to the German people - #5 is vague, which leaves lots of space for the Nazi's to interpret what is immoral, giving themselves great power ---------- - it decreased public knowledge of the true happenings in Germany and eliminated opposition in the papers and media - allowed anti-Semitic views to be propagated throughout the country - helped to achieve Gleichschaltung and coordinate society

Persons who can be editors are only those who: 1. possess German citizenship 2. have not lost their civic rights and the qualifications to hold public office 3. are of Aryan descent and are not married to a person of non-Aryan descent; 4. have completed their 21st year of age; 5. have the right to enter into contracts; 6. have been trained in their profession; 7. have the qualities which the task of exerting intellectual influence upon the public requires

- comes from the Editorial Law (1933) - Nazi's attempted to control the cultural life of the country through heavy censorship of the press. - created certain qualifications for who could be an editor, barring Jews and other "unwanted member of society", and allowed the Nazi state to have extreme control over the media. - Failing to comply with these rules would mean editors would lose their job, coercing many Germans to follow along with Nazi censorship and publish material championing Nazi ideals. ---------- - central parts of Nazi Gleichschaltung ideology, which attempted to synchronize virtually all elements of German life - attempting to destroy all opposition in the papers and media

Redemptive Antisemitism

- emphasized the "sacredness" of "Aryan" blood that has a religious aspect as it hoped for a German Christianity cleansed of the Jewish spirit. - implied that the Germans and Jews were locked in a struggle till death until one perished, and that redemption would come from the liberation of Jews - mainly limited to extreme radical right parties such as the NSDAP. ------------ - incorporates, or perhaps formed, much of Nazi ideology about racial purity being directly correlated to survival, and how the Jews were tainting the biological pool and the Volksgemeinschaft. - would push Nazi policy to further ostracize, and eventually murder, the Jews.

The Enabling Act

- enabled Hitler to pass laws without the consent of the parliament, which essentially allowed him and the Nazi party to put into action any law they wished. - Reichstag stripped themselves of legislative power - allowed the Nazi's to take control over many provincial state governments ------------ - allowed Hitler to do whatever he wanted and to totally destroy opposing political parties and opponents - helped with Gleichshaltung - did this through legal means and legitimizes the regime. - brings up to question, to what degree did Hitler believe that he would be able to maintain popular support.

"In the crowd he always feels somewhat sheltered, even if a thousand reasons actually argue against it. But the community of the great demonstration not only strengthens the individual, it also unites and helps to create an esprit de corp. ... [he] needs that strengthening which lies in the conviction, of being a member and a fighter in a great comprehensive body. And he obtains an impression of this body for the first time in the mass demonstration. When from his little workshop or big factory, in which he feels very small, he steps for the first time into a mass meeting and has thousands and thousands of people of the same opinion around him, when, as a seeker, he is swept away by three or four thousand others into the mighty effect of suggestive intoxication and enthusiasm, when the visible success and agreement of thousands confirm to him the rightness of the new doctrine and for the first time arouse doubt in the truth of his previous conviction - then he himself has succumbed to the magic influence of what we designate as 'mass suggestion.' The will, the longing, and also the power of thousands are accumulated in every individual. The man who enters such a meeting doubting and wavering leaves it inwardly reinforced: he has become a link in the community."

- excerpt from Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf - these mass meetings were an effective tool in creating a sense of community, a preaches for a Volksgemeinschaft. ---------- - significant because in these hard times (War, Treaty of V, Great Depression), a community where everybody comes together would appeal to struggling people. - shows how Hitler would entice people to conform to Nazi ideology in his speeches - evident in the Nuremberg Rallies - this political pageantry part of a plan to develop the Fuehrer Myth - shows the importance of the people's community.

"Borrowing a chapter from the Roman church, he is restoring pageantry and colour and mysticism to the drab lives of twentieth-century Germans."

- excerpt from a diary kept by William Shirer, an American journalist who was in Nuremberg at the time Adolf Hitler visited the city to address a Nazi party rally. - he was struck by how much the crowds loved Hitler ----------- - the Nazis portrayed an image of organization, and painted a picture of hope for Germany, and promised greatness - In this atmosphere of 'drabness', Hitler and the Nazi party easily managed to attract many people through their enticing political platforms calling for change. - By drawing upon the imagery of the Romans he created a presence of majesty and mysticism that drew many of the Germans in. It became a unifying force that they were part of something bigger, somewhat of a revolution. - great example of the Hitler Myth

Triumph of the Will

- film directed by Leni Riefenstahl - portrays Hitler as a beloved and all powerful national figure who successfully leads the German masses and has ultimate loyalty from his followers - referred to as one of the greatest examples of Nazi propaganda. - portrays Hitler as God-like. ---------- - important example of how the Nazis used art and aesthetics to create a myth of Hitler as Germany's sole, all-powerful and charismatic leader - fundamental to their ability to garner consent from Germans by tapping into their emotions (aims of propaganda) - propagated the "Hitler Myth"

Scientific / biological antisemitism

- focused on biological differences - identified the Jewish people as naturally inferior - Other groups targeted included homosexuals, and people deemed mentally or physically handicapped - thought the "so-called" Aryan people were evolutionarily fitter than Jews - The Nazi's stressed the need for biological renewal and looked to strengthen/purify their community by taking out these undesirable genes from he gene pool - Campaigns that focused on conceptions of difference that are biological or innate. These arguments define German Jews not by a common ethnic origin or cultural and religious differences, but by difference as inscribed in their blood. ---------- - gave Hitler justification for the actions he was starting to take against certain groups of people, mainly the Jews. - fostered a genuine fear of Jews and belief in the strength of the Aryan race. - Social Darwinism suggests that the communities that are most fit will survive, and the Nazi's wanted to take out these undesirable genes in order to make their society fitter.

(Hitler Picture - sitting down in a suit reading the paper, surrounded by nature)***

- one can see a relaxed, smiling Adolf Hitler leisurely reading a newspaper - this photographs makes Hitler seem approachable and relatable due to his light-hearted manner - camera angle is from above (not normally this way; not "above everybody else") ------- - significant because with images like this, the Nazis were able to distance him from aspects of Nazi ideology and Nazi crimes; making it easier for those "yes but" Nazis to overlook Hitler's anti-Semitism and other radical beliefs beliefs. - wanted to show that he was a man of the people

"We cannot, therefore, be satisfied with just telling the people what we want and enlightening them as to how we are doing it. We must, rather, replace this enlightenment with an active Government propaganda, a propaganda that aims at winning people over. It is not enough to reconcile people more or less to our regime, to move them towards a position of neutrality towards, us, we want rather to work on people until they are addicted to us, until they realise, in an ideological sense as well, that what is happening now in Germany not only must be allowed, but can be allowed."

- quote from Joseph Goebbels - illustrates the purpose of propaganda within the Nazi regime. - it was not enough for the population to merely be indifferent to or even approve of the regime, but he wanted people to become addicted the the Nazi's. - Would not completely sway people, but would build on existing approval and targeted people's emotions - wants to turn passive support into addiction ----------- - significant because it shows the importance than the Nazi's placed on propaganda and how this propaganda was intended to affect the masses - used propaganda to create the Hitler Myth and to coordinate society where they wanted everybody to think and act the same. - propaganda was not very successful when talking about specific policies, but instead when playing on emotions and creating the Hitler Myth.

Nazi "seizure of power" (Machtergriefung)

- refers to Hitler becoming Chancellor or Germany and several other members of the NSDAP gaining high-ranking government positions. - After the Beer Hall Putsch failed, Hitler and the NSDAP moved towards legal methods of taking power in Germany. - Hitler took advantage of existing laws like Article 48 to create new laws like the Enabling Act to further his party's rise. -------------- - significant because it proved to be an effective strategy for Hitler and the Nazi's to take control of Germany. - Using legal measures legitimized the party and helped the Nazis gain the support they needed to further their agenda. - the propaganda and myth-making that Nazi leaders such as Goebbels developed to re-shape the history of the Nazi party.

November Pogrom (1938)

- refers to the coordinated attacks by the Nazi SA and regular German citizens on Jews and Jewish businesses on November 9-10, 1938. - also known as Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass" referring to the Jewish-owned buildings, synagogues, and store's windows that were smashed - The attacks were started as a retaliation for the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst von Rath by a Jewish man, and was followed by additional sanctions and persecution of Jews in Germany. ----------------- - seen as a turning point in Nazi Germany's Anti-Semitism - some 30,000 Jews were seized and thrown into concentration camps - resulted in tens of thousands of Jews emigrating from Nazi Germany - reflects people's passive support for the regime's racial policies - formal introduction of violence - rallying cry for German's against Jews

The Racial State

- state which propagates a vision of utopia in which race and racist transformation is the central foundation of the existence of the state. - Antisemitism was the core element of Nazi social policy. ------------- - directed by a general fear that the human stock was in danger of fatal biological weakening from inferior races, and from the physically and mentally disabled. - stressed the need for biological 'renewal' and race war as the key to historical survival (Social Darwinism)

April 1933 Boycott of Jewish Stores

- string of boycotts against Jewish stores - the Nazi government and SA members persistently tried to persuade customers and clients to stay away from Jewish businesses. - SA troops were stationed outside of these stores and harassed any customer who entered - the boycott lacked public support in most places ------------- - Nazis used the boycotts as a way to economically hurt and frighten Jews while cultivating a climate of intimidation for non-Jews. - this brought up the question, who was a Jew? There was no clear set of guidelines that explicitly split Jews from "Aryans." - All these problems led to the cancellation of the boycott the same day it began. - This was an example of the Nazis testing the waters for support on their future measures and indicated that they need significantly more support to address more aggressive anti-Semitic measures in the future.

Volksgemeinschaft

- the idea of creating a people's community of a "pure" Aryan race. - believed that a strong community would restore Germany to greatness - operated on the foundation of exclusion, where they wanted to keep all "aliens" out. ------------ - represented the severe intolerance that the Nazis possessed for any person who did not fit their narrow characteristics - the basis for all exclusionary policies against "aliens" - included lots of scientific racism - antisemitism would intensify as a result - shows Social Darwinism, where they thought that the fittest community would survive.

Gleichschaltung

- the idea that German society was to run a single circuit - the Nazi's coordinated civil service, looking to rid Jews and Leftists from government jobs - the Nazi's put the Reich in control of all states, making it a unitary state. - used propaganda to make people think uniformly. ----------- - significant because is shows that the Nazi's were trying to rid their communities of Jew's and leftists and create a state of people who think, act, and look the same. This would strengthen their Volksgemeinschaft. - also shows them destroying all opposition to the Nazi party. - They were thereby able to bring Nazi ideology into the daily lives and activities of citizens who otherwise might not have been supportive of Nazi policies. - lead to self-coordination as well

Protest Voters

- the main voters of the Nazi Party because of their innate dissatisfaction with the Weimar political process. - the Nazi party originally sought to appeal to the German workers as voters, this plan was foiled due to close ties between the workers and the Social Democrats and Communists. - The Nazis then turned towards the lower middle class, as well as the poor, rural farmers. These groups of people were generally displeased with the Weimar system and sought the much more radical Nazi party for change. --------------- - they were not necessarily allured by Hitler and his policy but rather his ultra-natioanlistic idea of change. - while originally we thought that protest voters were the main sources of the Nazi vote, that doesn't completely explain their rise to power.

"Self-coordination"/"Self-Nazification"

- the process in which individuals voluntarily embraced Nazism - in some cases as an attempt to head off the risks of being labelled as opposition - civil servants, professionals, educators, and labor organizers joined under pressure. - shown on a greater scale by the massive increase in Party membership following the Nazi ascension to power in 1933. ---------------- - part of the reason why the party grew so rapidly - demonstrates both the difficulty with which Nazis could accurately measure public support for their policies and the difficulty for historians attempting to gauge the German public's support for and complicity in Nazi crimes. - difficult for historians to gauge support.

The "Hitler Myth"

- the reputation that the Nazis created about Hitler by using propaganda. - incarnation of Nazism - personification of all that was best for Germany - embodiment of the will of the German people - Hitler was the messiah ------------------- - demonstrates why so many Germans supported Hitler and the Nazis - the Hitler Myth was propagated by his followers. In all reality, Hitler was often described by those closest to him as lazy, disinterested with formalities, reliant on his advisors, and indecisive. - used to unify a multi-factional party - created this myth with propaganda and pageantry - played on people's emotion and a big reason why so many people became addicted

Flight Tax

- the tax that German Jews were forced to pay to emigrate out of Germany in the early years of Hitler's regime before World War Two. - to prevent them from taking their wealth and assets out of the country -------------- - significant to understanding why all German Jews didn't leave as soon as Hitler came to power due to financial obstacles - Jews didn't realize the upcoming dangers of WWII and the growing antisemitism

The Night of Long Knives

- was a purge of political opponents carried out by Himmler's SS at Hitler's order in 1934 - targeted Ernst Roehm, the radical SA leader and left wing Nazi leaders --------------- - significant as it consolidated Hitler's position in power significantly. - The potential threat of the SA was removed, and there was no one in the Nazi party who could challenge Hitler. - This ensured that in a few months upon Hindenburg's death, Hitler would succeed him as Germany's head of state, with the army swearing a personal oath of loyalty to him. - very little opposition left - SA never again played an important role in the Nazi movement - marked the rise of the SS***

Anyone is hereditarily ill within the meaning of this law who suffers from one of the following illnesses: (a) congenital [inborn] feeblemindedness. (b) schizophrenia. (c) manic depression. (d) Hereditary epilepsy. (3) Huntington's chorea. (f) hereditary blindness. (g) Hereditary deafness. (h) serious physical deformities. (iii) In addition, anyone who suffers from chronic alcoholism can be sterilized.

• A part of what was known as the "Sterilization Law" (July, 1933) • Cases that warrant sterilization • Enacted courts tasked with diagnosing these illnesses • Individuals could not object court rulings for sterilization ------------- • Introduction of scientific racism • Shows the Nazi's fear of the Aryan race being biologically weakened by these "lesser" individuals • refers to the notion of Volksmeinschaft, as it implies that the Aryan organic body is being tainted - here, the Nazi's have complete power due to the vague language, and because individuals could not appeal the court rulings. - reminiscent of Social Darwinism, that the Germans must continually fight to stay on top and that the strong "Aryan" race will survive while weaker races or characteristics will die because they are not as evolutionary fit. - One's body was suddenly property of the Third Reich

Religious Antisemitism

• Christians blamed the Jews for Christ and looked at as the demonic figure plotting against Christians. • Looked at Jews as outsiders • Thought Jews were Bolsheviks who were bringing violence to Germany ------------------ - earliest form of antisemitism - conversion was an acceptable way to stop anti-Semitic feelings if the type of anti-semitism that was prevalent was simply religious antisemitism.

Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service

• Effort towards "coordination" (Gleichschaltung) where they wanted to synchronize all aspects of German life • The law forced Jews and leftist Civil workers out of their government jobs - also lawyers, doctors, etc. • Did not apply to those who served on the front lines --------------- • removed much of the opposition that existed within the government. • Turnout out to be a mass exodus of elite intellectuals and high ranking (Albert Einstein) and high ranking government officials. - this law marked the first time since the last of the German Jews had been emancipated in 1871 that an anti-Semitic law had been passed in Germany.*******

Nuremberg Laws

• It stripped German Jews of their citizenship and disallowed them from having sexual relations with "Aryans". • did not classify Jews strictly on the base of religion but rather on ancestry as well • alienated Jews economically, socially, and politically since they were no longer deemed part of the German community. • Would later apply to Roma and Blacks -------------------- • part of the greater "coordination" to keep impurities out of the "Aryan" race - This was a moment in which we see racial legislation and policies move from trial-and-error to a more planned effort to ostracize and undermine German Jews. - biological antisemitism

"The Jew is responsible for our misery and he lives on it. That is the reason why we, as nationalists and as socialists, oppose the Jew. He has corrupted our race, fouled our morals, undermined our customs, and broken our power. The Jew is the plastic demon of the decline of mankind. The Jew is uncreative. He produces nothing, he only handles products. As long as he struggles against the state, he is a revolutionary; as soon as he has power, he preaches quiet and order so that he can consume his plunder at his convenience."

• excerpt from a pamphlet written by Joseph Goebbels, titled, "Why Are We Enemies of the Jews?" in 1941 • emphasizes the rationale behind Anti-Semitism and the Nazi's dislike of capitalism. • According to Goebbels, the Jews do not contribute, but only take, and pose a threat to the German race. ------------ • Significant because it reflects German's fear of the Jew's poisoning the Volksgemeinschaft (profiteering and not bringing anything to the table), and how they stilled viewed the Jews as "November Criminals" and brought in the unfavored armistice agreement. - shows redemptive antisemitism

Social Death

• refers to the ostracism and removal of Jews from German society through Nazi legislation • Jewish store owners were forced to sell their business to people of the so-called "Aryan race" • included the expulsion of Jewish children from state schools, not allowing Jews to access the general welfare system, the confiscation of driver's licenses. Jews were also banned from "theaters, cinemas, concert halls, museums, sports facilities, and other public places ----------------- • installed to destroy the daily lives of the Jews to the point where they would have no choice but to emigrate from Germany. In doing so, the so-called "Aryan state" would be purified by ridding itself of the Jewish "aliens." - The social death of Jews and German indifference to their increasingly horrific situation were absolute prerequisites for the Final Solution.