Fall 2021

Authoritarian states –Overview: Germany – Hitler (1918-1945)

Key words, concepts, events, people, etc. Key words, concepts, events, people, etc.
Economic factors  Demobilised soldiers could not find work, and industrial land was Legal methods  March 1933: The Enabling Act was passed, and concentration camps
(condition) lost, as the Weimar Republic was not able to pay reparations— were established for the politicians who opposed the new regime.
the invasion of the Ruhr, which was an essential industrial  April: By the Law of Restoration of Professional Civil Service of April
area, by the French and Belgian troops in January 1923, which 1933, non-Aryans were forced to retire.
motivated the government to overprint money to alleviate  July: 5th Concordat with the Pope, Germany becomes a one-party state
the rising prices, leading to hyperinflation. as a result of the Law Against the Establishment of Parties of 14 July
 The new currency in 1924 hit the middle-class savings. 1933
 US loans--1924 Dawes Plan--dependent economy  Nov: Elections but only Nazis participated
 Not improving agriculture  Dec: The law to Ensure the Unity of Party and State
 Wall Street Crash of October 1929--withdrawal of loans

Social division  The threat of left-wing revolution (Spartacus League (left-wing
(condition) socialists) tries to overthrow Republic in 1919, communist cause
troubles in the Ruhr in March 1920 and in Saxony and Thuringia
in 1923)
 Conservative elite was hostile towards the new republic.
Use of force The Night of the Long Knives:
 On 30th June 1934, Röhm (head of SA) and 85 other officers and
political rivals were killed as a result of Hitler's concerns that the violent
and uncontrollable behaviour of the more radical part of SA can
threaten his rule by calling for the second revolution to establish
socialism and because the army was hostile to SA. Goebbels (head of

Consolidation and maintenance of power

propaganda) helped to portray Hitler as the saviour of the country and
allowed Himmler (head of SS) to assume dominance in Germany, while
Hitler sought support from the army.

Impact of war  The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 put constraints on the German Charismatic leadership  Hitler's devotion and commitment provided the German people with
Emergence

(condition) economy with reparations of 33 billion dollars at the time. hope for a better future and fulfilled their emotional needs, he was
 Industrial lands lost. portrayed as all-knowing and all-powerful.

Weakness of political  Proportional representation in the parliament implied that Dissemination of  Propaganda proved to be successful mainly through radio Reich
system multiple parties had to agree with each other. propaganda Broadcasting Corporation, radios were sold at low prices and were not
(Condition)  Abuse of emergency Article 48 by the chancellors, which capable of catching long-distance signals.
gave them almost dictatorial power.  Stamps carried slogans, and poster quotations,
 Kapp Putsch of March 1920 and the "White Terror" of 1920-  “heil Hitler” became the official form of greeting.
22, when 400 political murders occurred, Freikorps, Hitler's  Films were a bit less effective, and culture became propaganda itself,
Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923  Constant meetings, festivals, and rallies to establish and celebrate
 Weak government unable to resolve political and economic führer's birthday and his appointment as chancellor.
issues
Persuasion and  Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923 when he Nature, extent and  Individuals listened to American jazz, joined the Swing movement or
coercion persuaded 3 Bavarian leaders to assist him, but one of them treatment of opposition Edelweiss Pirates, anti-Nazi jokes, some socialists anti-Nazi leaflets and
(method) reported the event to the police, so the Munich Putsch failed slogans, emigration, joining SPD (operated from Prague), Berlin Red
but it yielded a propagandist success by portraying Hitler as Patrol, and Hanover Socialist Front. November 1939 a socialist (Georg
a devoted patriot who acted out of his concern for the Elser) planted a bomb in the beer hall where Hitler spoke. KPD
country. underground cells (Belin, Mannheim, Hamburg, central Germany). Rote
Kapelle (broken up in 1942) sent information to the Russians. Judges
who refused to administer "Nazi" justice, churchmen (Bishop Galen,
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (spoke against Nazis)). Kreisau Circle (home
of Helmut von Moltke) where aristocrats, lawyers, and SPD politicians
(Julius Leber, Bonhoeffer) discussed how to remove Hitler.
 1940 - 1944 6 attempts on Hilter by army officers.
 July Bomb of 1944, 5000 officers were executed,
 Nazi's intelligence agency (the Abwehr) was rife with resistance
workers.

Role of leader  Hitler exerting his leadership. Totalitarian government, ruled
(method) by a dictator, SS (1925-1926)—personal bodyguard, SA
(refounded 1926)—paramilitary force.
Fall 2021
 Opposition was considered treachery, involved execution or prolonged
incarceration in camps.
Impact of the success  October 1933 Germany leaves the League of Nations, rearmament, remilitarise
and/or failure of foreign Rhineland in 1936
policy  Attempted a takeover in Austria in 1934 (stopped by Italians) took advantage of
Saarlanders’ decision to vote in a plebiscite to join Germany rather than France (took
coal from the region for 15 years after 1919 as reparations)
 Conscription in March 1935
 Naval treaty with Britain in June won Hitler great acclaim at home.
 Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 gave Hitler opportunity to march into
Rhineland in 1936. Axis alliance with Mussolini of October 1936, fighting together in
the Spanish Civil War,
 Anschluss with Austria in March 1938,
 Munich agreement in September 1938 -- takeover of Czechoslovakian Sudetenland.
 Invasion of Czechoslovakia on March 1939, Nazi-Soviet Pact in September 1939.
 The seizure of Denmark and Norway (April 1940), Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg,
and France (May 1940), Yugolsavia and Greece (April 1941), -- picture of invincibility.
By 1942, forced overstreched. Invasion of USSR (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941,
war on USA December 1941,
 Anti-Comintern pact with Japan in 1936, bailing out Italian in Northern Africa put too
much constraint on Germany's resources.
 Second battle of el Alamein in Novermber 1942, Stalingrad in 1943, food shoratges,
allied bombings, loss of menfolk as women and the young tried to keep the economy
going. German people shielded from the news of defeat.
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Ideology  Superiority of German race Aims and impact of domestic  Volksgemeinschaft (every member of society works for the good of all the people),
(method)  Anti-Semitism economic, political, cultural  Control over life, work, leisure time, women's traditional roles as wives and mothers,
and social policies intolerant of the church, blood and race -- nationalism Aryans who are strive towards
 Anti-communism
the goals of the state (Volksgenossen), ideal German -- farmer depending on the soil
 Anti-capitalism with German roots, eradication of social outsider.
 Totalitarian government (cult of the leader)  All peasant debts of 12 billion marks were suspended between march and october 1933, high
 Survival of the fittest tariffs on imported food -- Reich Food Estate gave guaranteed prices for the produce
 National community  Reich entailed Farm Law september 1933 -- forbidding sale, confiscation, division, or mortgaging
 Nationalisation of any farm between 7.5 and 10 hectares
 Law for the Protection of the Retail Trade may 1933 -- forbidding setting up new department
 Lebensraum in the East stores
 In the late 20s, the socialistic values are removed. In the  National aspect driving the policies preparing the country for the future war (Wehrwirtschaft =
beginning nationalism and socialism are parts of the party's defence economy)
policies  Between july 1933 and december 1936 -- 1600 cartel agreement (merging to reduce costs and
increase efficiency). 40% of german production in hands of monopolies in 1933 -- 70% in 1937
 Rearmament
 Large-scale farms
 Never fully resolves the conflict between "guns and butter"
 Dr Hjalmar Schacht June 1933 law to reduce unemployment (government spending on public
works schemes (arbeitsdienst), subsidies for private construction, income tax loan to encourage
industrial activity, emergency relief schemes, recruitment into Reich Labour Service (formed in
1924), reconstruction of 7 000 km motorway (Autobahnen), no machinery on road building
when labour surplus, expansion of the party and national bureaucracy, discouragement of
female labour, in March 1935 conscription and an increase in rearmament)
 Mefo bills -- deficit financing which were paid back with interest after 5 years from the
increased government tax revenue, they were 50% of government expenditure between 1934-

Aims and results of policies

35. They helped finance housing, road construction, and a variety of other industries.
 Paying foreign debt in reichsmark -- limit drain of Germany's foreign exchange
 July 1934 -- debt repayment stopped -- creditor given bonds. Counties failed to pressure
Germany.
 New plan of September 1934 by schacht (governmetn regulation of imports, trade will less
well-developed countries, trade with central and south-east Europe) -- provided import of vital
raw material, paid in Reichsmarks -- buy german goods
 Avoid labour strikes since no trade unions and banning of strikes German Labour front in may
1933, popaganda, illusions of success, seizure of jewish property and Austrian assets --
Anschluss of 1938
 18 month after chancellor -- 6 million to 2.5 million unemployment, by 1936 unemployment 1.6
million, by 1939 -- 200 000. Public expenditure 23.6 billion Reichsmarks in 1939 -- 17.1 billion in
1932, 18.4 in 1933

Use of force  SS (1925-1926)—personal bodyguard, SA (refounded 1926)
(method) —paramilitary force.
 SA were primarily responsible for the protection of leading
Nazis and disrupting other political opponents’ meetings,
 The SS saw themselves as the ultimate defenders of the
‘Aryan’ race and Nazi ideology. They terrorized and aimed
to destroy any person or group that threatened this.
 SA and SS used to terrify opponents and eliminate them.
Impact of policies on
women and minorities
 Nazi propaganda: duties of the women were as mothers, housewives
supporting their husbands, and community organisers.
 In 1934, all married women were forced out of careers in medicine, the
legal profession and the Civil Service.
 When a labour shortage began to affect rearmament plans in 1936 some
women were once more drawn back into factories.
 1933—a law demanding the compulsory sterilization of those suffering
from specified hereditary illnesses.
 Persecution of Roma and Sinti people who were considered inferior.
From December 1938 registered and from 1940 deported to Poland to
work in camps, 1942—transferred to Auschwitz and subjected to
medical experiments
 As of the “Law for Protection of German Blood” of 1935, Jews were
forbidden to marry Germans and were denied German citizenship .In
1938 the persecution of Jews escalated they were no longer awarded
public contracts, no longer allowed to be employed in businesses, and all
Jewish children were required to have Israel or Sarah as a part of their
names.
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Propaganda  Hitler's devotion and commitment provided the German Authoritarian control and  Never achieved “blind obedience” as the regime was based on a number
(method) people with hope for the better future and fulfilled their the extent to which it was of compromises
emotion needs, he was portrayed as all-knowing and all- achieved  The chaotic government left a confusion of authority, while waging a
powerful. war meant that obedience to the dictates of Nazi ideology sometimes had
 Appealed to those like middle class and farmers in the to be overlooked.
northern Germany who did not benefit from “the golden  Comparatively little opposition in Nazi Germany, but it never
years” of the Weimar Republic. disappeared completely
 New party organisations for women, students, young people,  Compromises with the Churches and the position of women, Euthanasia
and teachers. project abandoned, and the persecution of minorities often veiled in
secrecy implying that the mass of the population had not been reconciled
to Nazi ideas.
Downfall?
 Hitler’s personality: lazy, erratic, easily bored and uninterested in detail (especially economics), obsessed with the war as can be seen in his last order to Speer to destroy all transport and factories, so they don’t
fall into enemies’ hands
 Opted out of government: set ministers against each other, allowed ministers and mayors to give different decisions and compete for influence, permanent confusion over planning
 Nazi programmes left unfinished: economic recovery not carried out fully, suggested Germany might be ready for war in 142-43 in the 1937 Hossbach memorandum, rearmament narrowly based and no war
economy until 1942
 Unresolved “guns and butter” problem
Historiography – Historians and historical schools of interpretation
 Structuralist: Mommsen, Kershaw, Jeremy Noakes and Broszat—the Third Reich was no a powerful totalitarian state and despite the authority of the Führer never being questioned, the policies and decisions
were a matter of guesswork and chaotic due to Hitler’s neglect
 Intentionalists: Bracher and Hugh Trevor-Roper suggest the overlapping of interests was deliberate and that Hitler was a powerful integrating figure at the centre of the government, the rivalries reinforced
Hitler’s position and power, Hitler took praise for the effective policies and blamed others for the ineffective ones.