Describe the problems faced by the Weimar Republic.
Discuss why Nazism become popular in Germany by 1930.
What are the peculiar features of Nazi thinking?
Nazi propaganda skillfully projected Hitler as a messiah, a saviour, as someone who had arrived to deliver people from their distress. Having acquired Chancellorship in 1933, Hitler set out to dismantle the structures of democratic rule. The Fire Decree of 28 February 1933 indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the Weimar constitution. Then he turned on his arch enemies, the communists most of whom were hurriedly packed off to the newly established concentration camps. The repression of communists was severe.
On 3rd March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established the dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all the powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates. Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and order society in the ways that the Nazis wanted.
Explain why Nazi propaganda was effective in creating a hatred for Jews.
1. Nazi ideology was synonymous with Hitler’s worldview. Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They had been stereotyped as killers of Christ and ursurers.
2. Until medieval times Jews were barred from owning land. Hitler’s hatred of Jews was based on pseudoscientific theories of race, which held that conversion was no solution to the ‘Jewish Problem’. It could be solved through their total elimination.
3. The Nazi regime used language and media with care, and often to great effect. The terms they coined to describe their various practices were not only deceptive but were chilling.
4. Nazis never used the words ‘kill’ or ‘murder’ in their official communications. Mass killings for the Jews were termed as special treatment, final solution.
5. Propaganda films were made to create hatred for Jews. Nazism worked on the minds of the people, tapped their emotions and their hatred and anger at those marked as ‘undesirable’.
Explain what role women had in Nazi society?
1. From childhood, girls were told that they had to become good mothers and rear pure-blooded Aryan children.
2. They were taught about health, beauty, cooking, needle-work, etc.
3. They were supposed to be homemakers of society.
4. All ‘Aryan’ women who deviated from the prescribed code of conduct were publicly condemned and severely punished.
In what ways did the Nazi state seek to establish total control over its people?
Following are the ways in which the Nazi state tried to establish total control over its people:
● On March 3, 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. It gave Hitler all the powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi party and its affiliates.
● Super surveillance and security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted.
● Apart from already existing regular police in green uniform and the SA or the Storm Troopers, some new forces were included: the Gestapo, the SS, criminal police and the Security Service. It was the extra-constitutional powers of these newly organized forces that gave the Nazi state its reputation as the most dreaded criminal state. The police forces acquired powers to rule with impunity.
● The Nazi party used the media carefully to win the support for the regime and popularize its worldview. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radios, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets.
● The Nazis made equal efforts to appeal to different sections of the population. They sought to win their support by suggesting that the Nazis alone could solve all their problems.