How Did The Nazis Change And Control Peoples Lives In Germany After 1933?

Propaganda

The Nazis probably didn't control people's lives through propaganda but they changed it in the sense that they were everywhere: posters on the street, radio stations , parades etc . It was impossible to get away from the Nazis as they were omnipresent and their beliefs were drummed into the German public. The Nazis realised how important propaganda was as they even appointed a Minister Of propaganda

Religion

The Nazis controlled and changed people's lives through religion. Hitler signed an agreement with the Pope that, if the Pope persuades all bishops to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler then the Nazis would not interfere with the Catholic Church. However the Nazis had no intention of keeping this law and broke up the catholic youth league, shut monasteries and catholic schools and even put priests in concentration camps.

The Protestants in Germany were split up into 28 different groups, in 1933 after being pressurised by the Nazis they agreed to unite to form a 'Reich church'. They expelled non-Aryan pastors and made a Nazi their Reich bishop. However, many pastors didn't like this and, led by Martin Niemoller six thousand pastors broke away to form a 'confessional church'. 800 of these pastors were arrested and put into concentration camps.

The Nazis changed religion, and said Hitler was their god and not Christ as one song sung by the Hitler youth demonstrates "We don't need none of your Christian truth for Adolf Hitler is our leader" and "Horst Wessel (a Nazi killed in a fight with communists) leads us, Christ is nix (nothing)" as well as "we do not need the church to bless the swastika brings us happiness". So, It became a crime to be any religion you chose.

Force

Force was a huge element in the way Nazi's controlled peoples lives. The Nazis used force (i.e. the SS or storm troopers) to break up Communist Rally's and Opposition Meetings and often used the SS to take ordinary people away for committing a crime.

Often the SS struck so much fear into people that they became scare do commit a crime.

The Deprivation Of Free Speech

Soon after they came to power the Nazis made it an offence to say, write or do anything even remotely anti-nazi, for example telling an anti nazi joke or criticising Hitler became a crime . They also urged neighbours and children to tell if they heard an anti nazi comment even if it was from a member of the family.

As a result , many Germans became worried and never said a anti nazi word , especially when a system was set up . If you said an anti nazi joke and someone who lives in your flat block heard, they would tell your Zellenleiter (block leader) who would tell the local leader (ortsgruppefeuhrer) who would tell the area leader (kreisleiter) who would tell the district leader (gauleiter) who would send the SS for you.

The block leader's job was seen as extremely important to the Nazis as the party's book quotes: " The block leader must be a defender of national socialist ideas" and "the block leader must continually remind party members of their particular duties towards the people and the state".

The Nazis would also persecute anyone who wrote Anti Nazi literature, shut down all opposing political parties and shut down some newspapers and gagged the rest.

Economy

In 1930, before the Nazis came to power 35% of Germans were unemployed and the country didn't have much money. However, by 1939 practically every German Male was employed and the country's financial condition had improved considerably. Also

, As part of the treaty of Versailles a lot of industrial land where the Germans would export raw material had been lost (i.e. the Ruhr) but Germany reclaimed that. So the Nazis probably changed German peoples lives for the good this time how ever it is worth pointing out that the main reason why every male was employed was because the Nazi's made all German females give up their jobs.

Schools

The Nazis also changed schoolchildren's lives as well. They scrapped religious education from the timetable and gave double P.E lessons. They also introduced classes in German history, Politics and 'Racial Hygiene'.

They also sacked female and non-Aryan teachers and expelled non-Aryan children as well as making Girls learn to cook and clean. The Nazis also rewrote school textbooks to incorporate their ideas as one maths question shows "To keep a crippled person costs 5.50RM a day whilst many civil workers earn 4RM a day. IF there are 300,000 crippled people in Germany how much do they cost to keep per day?". This is just a pointless way of saying 300000 x 4 =? Only with more pointless and prejudiced statements coming out.

Hitler Youth

In 1936 the Nazis merged all of Germanys youth groups into one: the Hitler Youth Movement. This had 3.5 million members but by 1939 when laws had been passed to make it compulsory to join the Hitler Youth Movement, over 7 million people had joined.

The members of the Hitler Youth Movement also had to go to Hitler Youth Camps where they would hike , camp sing songs about Hitler etc. with the girls learning how to sew and the boys doing weigh training also.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, the Nazis controlled and changed peoples lives in many ways: for adults - Religion, Economy and Force and for children - schools and Hitler youth