Next, we will be looking at eugenics, another policy the Nazis were successful in. To achieve their Volksgemeinschaft of well-bred Germans they needed to eliminate all threat towards it. They wanted a master race so could not have any weaknesses in society. This relates to Hitler’s theories on ‘social Darwinism’ and ‘survival of the fittest’. Here are a few quotes from Hitler which show this:
In the 1933 Nuremberg party rally, Hitler proclaimed that ‘higher race subjects to itself a lower race …a right which we see in nature and which can be regarded as the sole conceivable right,’
(Tenenbaum, 1956, p211).
The Germans were the higher race, destined for a glorious evolutionary future. For this reason it was essential that the Jews should be segregated, otherwise mixed marriages would take place. Were this to happen, all nature’s efforts “to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being may thus be rendered futile” (Mein Kampf).
(Clark, 1975, p115)
Hitler states in Mein Kampf, ‘The strong must dominate and not blend with the weaker’
(Clark p259)
They targeted the mentally ill, gypsies, homosexuals, asocials, anyone with hereditary illness, Jews and the workshy. It is thought that 350,000 people were sterilized and in 1944 200,000 deemed mentally and physically disabled had been murdered.
The Nazis played upon the German peoples already dislike of Gypsies. They managed to murder 16,000 out of 20,000 gypsies in Germany, the majority. (Richard Overy, p92).
After ‘The Night of the Long Knifes’ the death penalty was now justified for homosexuals and government-sponsored murder became an acceptable practice for eradicating homosexuality (Landman, 1990s). Hitler showed the world that he could kill homosexuals, send them to prisons or concentration camps, all of this while terrorizing the rest of the German people with a sense of moral dignity. This supports the idea that Hitler was successful in maintaining his policies with little opposition (www.infopt.demon.co.uk/nazi.htm).
The Nazis managed to wipe out or sterilize the majority of their targets with eugenics showing that they were successful and had little opposition to their policies.
The next policy we will be looking at is workers.
The Nazis wanted to have full employment throughout Germany. They also wanted to integrate workers into Volksgemeinschaft, to end Trade Union power, to end women at work and to prepare workers for a ‘Werwortschaft’, war economy. After the depression unemployment was very high in Germany. In 1931, unemployment was as high as 8.5 million (Collier & Pedley, p97). In Hitler’s address to the Nation on January 31 1933, he said ‘within four years unemployment must be overcome’ (H&H p168). Soon after the NSDAP came to power in 1933, all trade unions were banned and the DAF was set up in their place. Membership went from 5 million in 1933 to 22 million in 1939. The Nazis used this organisation to rally support for them and it seemed to work. The number in employment in 1932 was 12.9 million by 1937 this figure had increased to 18.9 million (C&P p97). The Trade Unions put up little opposition and the DAF membership shows that they were popular. The Nazis were able to coordinate workers and fit them into the Volksgemeinschaft.
Now we turn to Nazi policies on religion. Article 24 of the NSDAP political programme promised Christians that they could support Nazism without compromising their own religious convictions (McDonough, 2001, p30), although in 1933 Hitler said in a private conversation ‘you are either Christian or a German. You can’t be both’ (H&H p304). This shows Hitler wanted Germans to be dedicated to the Volksgemeinschaft, even if that meant overlooking their own religion. It also shows that the Nazis lied about their policies to gain support. Hitler also said in March 1933 ‘The rights of the Churches will not be restricted, nor will their relationship to the state be changed’ (Matheson, 1981, p9). This is another example of Hitler lying publicly to appeal to individuals. Although the Nazis were fairly cautious when dealing with the main Christian Churches, they acted fiercely against small churches like Jehovah’s Witnesses. Historian Brian Dunn identifies three fundamental reasons why: (1) the international scope of the Witnesses, (2) their opposition to racism, and (3) their position of neutrality toward the State (www.watchtower.org/library/g/1998/7/8/article_01.htm). The Nazis were not very successful in overpowering this small group and their persecution seemed to make them stronger. The Nazis wanted to control the Roman Catholic Church, as it was very powerful. Also, Roman Catholic teaching was opposed to many Nazi policies. A concordat (agreement) was signed between Germany and Pope Pius XI. The Nazis broke this and began to suppress the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XI dies and his successor, Pius XII was thought to be pro-Nazi so doesn’t condemn the Nazis. Little opposition to Nazi policies is formed. Each state had its own Lutheran Church and Hitler wanted to unite all these Churches. The Reich Church was set up. Few people joined and the Church split. This was a total failure by the Nazis. Some Churches did manage to oppose Nazism but they were more concerned with defending the Church rather than to weaken the regime itself. The Catholic Church posed no opposition and only criticized some Nazi policies which they didn’t agree with. Overall the Churches posed no threat to Nazi regimes and the largest Church, Catholic was easily overcome.
Next, we will focus on youth and education. The Nazis were fairly successful in overcoming these two groups.
According to Hitler, the State’s primary educational task for the welfare of the German race was to install a racial consciousness into every boy and girl. This and this alone would ensure that the child would become a valuable member of the community. (Koch, 1975, p162). Hitler said ‘In a short time they [youths] will know nothing else but this new community’ (Layton, 1992, p95). Education in the Third Reich was therefore intended to indoctrinate its youth. HJ offered children activities which would appeal to them. Membership figures show us that many youths joined. (H&H, p279)
Although these figures show us that HJ was very popular, they may not be accurate as they came the HJ leader so may be exaggerated to make it seem more popular.
However, not all youths did join even though this was the only youth group available. It was the only group offering free holidays and smart uniforms to children. This would especially appeal to working class children who wouldn’t be able to afford these things otherwise, especially after the depression. Various alternative and opposition youth groups formed. They enjoyed doing the things that were not allowed in the HJ. Many of these members were executed to stop them spreading even more. This shows there were others out there who could be influenced by these groups. Source 2 in part A shows an example of this.
The Nazis wanted to indoctrinate the young with Nazi idealology, prepare boys for military service and to prepare girls to be good mothers and wives (Noakes & Pridham, p416). The policies on education seem somewhat contradictory with their policies on women. They wanted women to stay out of education and look after the home yet this ended up damaging them with the shortage of the professions. The Nazis changed the curriculum and included military matters, anti-Semitism and eugenics. They tried to make girls ‘German’ and ‘Aryan’ in attitude. The Nazis were fairly successful with education. 97% of teachers joined NSCB and by 1936 30% of teachers had joined the Nazi party (H&H, p281). The Nazis did however have to reverse their policy on HE as the number of students attending dropped dramatically due to the slump in girls.
The last policy we will be looking at was the least successful for them and was women. They had a lot of policies set out intended for women, but they were not as strict with them as with other policies like eugenics, for example. The Nazis also had to reverse some of their policies when war began for example when women were encouraged to go back to work because of the shortages. The aims the Nazis had were, to end the idea of equality between sexes (anti-feminism), to breed healthy Aryan children, to increase suitable marriages, to develop healthy Germans, to end women’s employment- they were to focus on kinder, kirch and kuche (children, church and cooking) and to be incorporated in the Volksgemeinschaft.
The Nazis did succeed in a few of their policies towards women but they failed in more. They did improve heath situations to help ‘develop healthy Germans’
“The regime did none the less achieve certain improvements in health situation for instance led to more intensive medical fitness tests, which were mandatory for all newly weds for applicants for marriage loans and family allowances.” (Grunberger, 1971, p284)
However there is evidence for failure in this area too.
“Signs of increased nervousness were not diagnosed only among the young, but among women who combine domestic responsibilities with wage earning and among men particularly piece rate workers.” (Grunberger p286)
Other failures were the fact that many women risked abortion even though it carried the death penalty. There is also evidence that shows failure to ‘end women’s employment’. Grunberger says:
“By 1944 every 8th doctor was a female compared to Weimar’s one in twenty.”
(P282)
“Nazis also increased the nursing force, so between 1932 and 1939 the proportion of nurses to every 10,000 of the population went up from eighteen to twenty.” (P282)
Overall the Nazis failed in their campaign to confine women to the home, although initially their policy appeared successful as it coincided with the withdrawal of female labour as a consequence of the slump. Women were defiant and went against Nazi policies.
In conclusion, Hitler and the Nazis did not create a complete social revolution in Germany during their rule. They did not manage to achieve their Volksgemeinschaft as failures and opposition stopped them as well as the contradictory nature of some of their policies.