This statistical source provides the reader with an approximate look at the decrease in unemployment. It must be noted that the scale on the x-axis changes from every four years to every one year. This makes it seem as if unemployment quadrupled in one year, when it most likely rose steadily over four years – statistics are easily manipulated. Also, it should be considered that Hitler forced women and Jews out of their jobs and then failed to include them on government statistics. Also missed out of the figures are those conscripted and those on Labour Schemes, so the numbers do not include every unemployed German. The actual numbers are probably greater than this. Furthermore, after the Depression, unemployment was gradually lowered naturally. The historian has most likely used this particular graph to exaggerate a point he has made, as it shows that Hitler did, to an extent, lower unemployment. Statistics do not always give us the full picture and are quite easily manipulated.
Hitler targeted young people in Germany, so that as they got older they would be strong Nazi supporters. He set up youth organisations such as Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth) for teenage boys and Bund Deutscher Madel (League of German Maidens) for teenage girls. Boys would join these schemes at the age of six, and girls at the age of ten. They would take place in the evening, with map skills and scout-like activities for boys and sports and motherhood exercises for girls. Membership to such schemes became obligatory from 1936.
In schools, textbooks were re-written to glorify Germans and persecute Jews. All non-Nazi educators were sacked and teachers would inform on those who didn’t support Hitler. Physical Education took up most of the timetable and boys were taught Science and Maths, whilst girls learnt about the three K’s: Kuchen, Kirche und Kinder (Cooking, Church and Children). Although it was difficult to openly protest against the Nazis, some young people did not agree with Hitler’s views, such as the later White Rose Group (1941 onwards), who were several University students from Munich who handed out leaflets against Hitler. One member, Hans Scholl, has previously been arrested in 1937 for rebellious activities against Hitler. Below, the photograph shows a meeting of the Hitler-Youth:
This is a primary source, taken by a German news photographer in 1938. It shows many members of Hitler Youth sat at a rally with a Hitler-Jugend leader in the foreground. The boys look no older then twelve or thirteen, and their uniforms make them seem as if they are already soldiers. It is haunting how young the children being trained are. It appears that they are training for a rally, as the boys in the front row are holding drums, as well as having Hitler-Jugend flags draped over their legs. The photographer, being a news photographer, would have wanted to capture an editorial-type picture, which he has achieved. The photo makes the boys seem well-organised and would have made the German people proud of their future generation. However, the photographer would not have wanted the Hitler-Youth to appear in a bad light and so would have shot a very flattering, powerful picture. It is quire clearly a staged photo as all of the boys look keen. The picture does not show us the negatives of the Hitler Youth. Also, we do not know how the boys, and their parents, felt towards the Hitler Youth – many may have disliked it but would have been unable to speak out.
Girls were brought up, from a young age, to believe that their only purpose was motherhood. Employers were encouraged to give men jobs, and women were pushed back into the home to bring up children. A family was considered a home with more than four children. Birth control, contraception and abortion were frowned upon. Those with large families were rewarded with medals, loans and allowances. Women were also encouraged to marry, whilst slimming was discouraged – women had to have a good childbearing figure. Maternity homes were set up (in reality, they were brothels), so that unmarried women could get pregnant by “racially pure” SS men. One woman describes her view below:
This autobiography is a primary source, written by a woman who lived in Germany through the Nazi regime. It is more of a factual account than an emotional account, but it still includes detailed information. We are told briefly of how Nazis affected the lives of women from a young age. This source shows how the Nazis were prepared to interfere with families, in order to create the German people they wanted. We are not told how much these ‘substantial sums’ are though, or whether women agreed with this life. In this extract, the effectiveness of the policy is not mentioned – we do not know whether the birth rate increased or decreased. The woman’s name suggests that she is not a German, but was an outsider living there during the Nazi regime. Her memories can easily be false and inaccurate and should be treated cynically. Also, her main purpose is to sell books, and will therefore have ensured that her book seems interesting and exciting.
The Nazis controlled all public information, such as newspapers, radios, books and films. Joseph Goebbels was the man in charge of this propaganda, and he ensured that Hitler and the Nazi party got support from the German people. Goebbels was a very skilled man at this job and managed to convince many of the German people that the Nazis were supreme. Germans were encouraged to inform on people who spoke out against the Nazis, and it was within the secret police’s (Gestapo) powers to arrest anyone who did so. A radio (Volksempfänger) was made, that could only transmit German broadcasts – British radio stations, such as the BBC, were banned. All films were checked by Goebbels, and only pro-German films were allowed. People were also banned from listening to certain types of music.
Jewish people were treated harshly under the Nazi regime and all writers, journalists and artists were banned. Jewish –written books were famously burned in 1933. The Nuremburg Laws decreed that Jewish people did not count as German citizens, and sexual relations and marriage were banned between Jews and non-Jews. Jewish people were also forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes. Hitler claimed that all of Germany’s problems were caused by Jews and he saw them as an inferior race. In 1938, during the ‘Night of the Broken Glass’ (Kristallnacht) the first mass arrests of Jewish citizens took place. The picture below shows the sort of propaganda used by the Nazis to encourage racial hatred:
This picture source was in a book printed by a Nazi publishing house, entitled ‘The Eternal Jew’. The purpose of the picture, and in fact the entire book, was to persuade and convince Germans that Jewish people were at the root of Germany’s problems. The book was later made into a famous Nazi propaganda film of the same name. The Jewish man in the picture is holding the hammer and sickle symbol of Communism, suggesting that all Jewish people are Communists – another enemy of Nazism. The man is holding money and it was common for propaganda to suggest that Jewish people were getting rich off the German people, to stir up hatred. The source is useful in that it gives us the Nazi leaders view of the situation, although it must be remembered that it is propaganda and its purpose is to sway people towards the Nazis and against the Jewish and Communists. Hitler tried to convince Germans that Jewish people were taking money that rightfully belonged to the German people, and so those who had lost money recently would be particularly influenced by this powerful image, and indeed the entire book. However, as with all propaganda, we are not aware of exactly how many people were affected by this image.
Although Hitler was brought up by a Catholic mother and spoke of God in his speeches, he did not conform to the church. Soon after the Nazis came to power, he expressed that he would not involve himself in the Church, if they stayed out of his affairs. The majority of the German population were Christians, and so Hitler knew the Church would be difficult to argue with. The National Reich Church that Hitler set up in 1933 aimed to get rid of any Jewish elements in Christianity, including the Old Testament, and eventually showed Jesus as an Aryan. The new sacred book became Hitler’s Mein Kampf, whilst swastikas replaced crucifixes. Ludwig Müller became what was called a Reich Bishop.
During the Thirties, Germany experienced a great many changes in every aspect of the country. Before Nazi rule, Germany was in deep unemployment and the peoples’ faith in the government was low – there is no denying that the Nazi Party turned this around. They gained improved social conditions such as good motorway systems and cars (the Volkswagen, for example) and their financial position had improved greatly. Although Nazis forced people to work hard, they encouraged people by providing them with rewards. The Treaty of Versailles had made Germans feel humiliated, but the Nazis brought back their self-esteem.
However, Jewish people, gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals and other such minority groups felt the changes more harshly than others, as they were persecuted under the Nazi regime. Hitler forced people to so his will and punished those who didn’t by using his Gestapo. Many people disagreed, but were forced to keep quiet. By the end of the Thirties Germany was a self-sustainable country (it produced its own food and weapons in order to support itself during the war – “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer.”). Hitler made sure, though propaganda, that German people believed that war was the right move, and so, in 1939, Hitler sent a prosperous German army into Poland, signalling the beginning of World War II.
