Nazi Germany

Mohammed Bandali

Nazi Germany

Explain the nature and purpose of the ‘Hitler Youth’ movement.

a) To establish a stable future for the Nazi regime, Hitler was determined to gain control of the upcoming generation that was Germany’s youth, to do this he created several groups for both boys and girls to teach them Nazi ideology and how to be the ‘superior race’.

Hitler’s youth movement was made compulsory to join in 1936 and from then on boys at the age of 6-10 wore enlisted to the ‘Pimpf’, which translates as little fellows, here they took part in exercises such as hiking and camping. On surpassing the age of 10 they underwent a test from them to reach ‘Deutsche Jungvolk’ (or German young people). Only after this wore they enrolled in ‘Hitler youth’ when they wore between the ages of 14-18 and there they wore trained on military discipline. The Hitler youth was also used as a way teaching children in anti-Semitism, pride for Germany and allegiance to Hitler. Young children were expected to read books describing how Jewish things and people were evil. There was also the SRD which was a patrol service that would check that all the members of the Hitler Youth were looking smart and that they were carrying a clean handkerchief and comb, which defines the importance of the movement.

Baldur Von Schirach led the Hitler youth organization and he had the idea to create individual years for the Hitler youth movement and in 1934 it was the ‘Year of Training’ where the kids learned vocational training, and in October were sent to the country to harvest the crops. This was apparently to show them the value of hard manual labor, and how it pays off. The next year was ‘The Year of Physical Training’ which consisted of rigorous sport competitions and gladiator like fitness standards. Hitler felt that his youth should have more of a strong character and look more physically healthy rather than to be well educated in the classroom. Hitler wanted his youth to feel that they are better than others are and be proud to be Germans. When in the classroom the teachers taught their curriculum to emphasize Nazi themes and history.

The purpose of these male groups was that Hitler was training each and every boy in Germany to become soldiers; the uniforms that they wore were similar to that of the SS, an elite part of the army. The Hitler youth was really a training centre for future members of the SA or the SS. My theory on Hitler’s ‘Deutsche Jungvolk’ was that children were brainwashed with Nazi ideology and military tactics and concerns. Hitler had complete control over every single stage in the young German boy’s lives.

Girls were also forced to enrol in a group which was known as ‘Jungmadel’ (young maidens) at the age of 10 to 14 and Girls from fourteen to eighteen were in the ‘Bund Deutcher Madel’ (BDM) (League of German Girls), the BDM also offered a wide variety of other activities such as reduced rates at movie theaters, going on field trips, and attend camps that lasted anywhere from one day to several weeks. BDM groups got together 2 times a week, one of which was a sports afternoon, the other of which was called ‘Heimatabend’ (home evening). During the home evening, girls played music, learned and sang folk songs, played games, or did arts and crafts. The BDM placed big importance on the girls' educations and expected that they would finish school.

The purpose of the BDM was to teach women how to care for their health so they could prepare for motherhood and raise as many babies as the German population required and so they remained loyal to his Nazi regime.

In conclusion, Hitler used these groups as an opportunity to spread his ideas throughout the nation, and to create a new generation that would be loyal and unified. He gave those under he’s teachings a great discriminations of all Jewish people and taught them that they were a superior race. He believed that the future of Nazi Germany ...

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"The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel." – Adolf Hitler

(http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hitler_youth.htm)

And the groups wore created for this very purpose to serve him if any uprising occurred. He trained children at such a young age as they wore easily susceptible to corruption from Hitler’s words and they wore taught that he was a savior for all of Germany so the children looked up to him as if he was a god so they would remain loyal to him in the future.

Explain the reason for Nazi policies towards Women

b) Women are the foundation to a great new generation and Hitler came to comprehend this fact, to make a great new Germany he would have to control and persuade women to stay at home and raise big families, he saw women as only fit for motherhood and all his policies reflected that he wanted women to be only used to create a new generation of children loyal to Hitler’s legacy.

To convey his plans all equal rights towards women in the Weimar Republic were abolished. There was practically no equality as Nazi’s believed that women had a role that was separate to that of the men so equality was not in the question, they said each sex has different tasks to do and their own separate rights and through this the Nazi’s believed they wore being equal.. Hitler passed of laws which ensured that women fulfilled their duty at home and companies were encouraged to give all free job spaces to men. The first examples of women this happened to were women doctors and civil servants. Hitler also allowed no woman to be a judge or prosecutor as he thought they were unable to think logically and without emotion. Hitler needed women at home so that they could have more time on their hands to looking to raise a family so the German population would flourish.

Nazis had reasons for their inequality towards women in society as they thought their place was very much in the home as child-bearers and supporters of their husbands. Nazi policies for women were based on the ‘3 K’s, Kinder, Kirche, Kuche’ (Children, Church and the Kitchen) and encouraged these policies by offering loans, family allowances and child subsides for women to stay at home and were also given medals if they had a large family. By encouraging women to do this and offering rewards for large families Germany’s population would grow meaning more young boys being trained to being soldiers and more young girls turning into mothers so Hitler can fill the land he was planning to take control over with Germans.

Though there were some exceptions to the policies set by the Nazi’s, as if you was a woman of high importance and closely linked to Hitler personally there was some differences. Such as the film director Leni Riefenstahl, whom Hitler admired her work dearly. When he first attended one of her films showings, Hitler sought out the young director and after a very short time appointed her as 'Film Expert to the National Socialist Party'. Over the next five years Riefenstahl made several films in which Hitler had requested, which in a state where played a secondary role to men, Riefenstahl was given a free hand by Hitler to produce films for the regime. Hitler described Riefenstahl as 'the perfect German woman'.

Another exception was Eva Braun which was Hitler’s ‘wife’ whom he married only when both had reached a mutual decision to commit suicide a day after their marriage. Eva Braun met Hitler when she was 17 and at the age of 19 At the age of 19, she became Hitler's mistress, received a house, expensive clothes, fast cars and French perfume - but no wedding ring, she also was not pushed into having children which goes against Nazi policies.

In conclusion, each policy put in place concerning women in Germany was done so for the sole purpose that they would be fit and efficient mothers such as being discouraged from slimming as this was considered bad for child birth. Though there were the exceptions of a few women who Hitler allowed to lead a life of luxury and freedom, giving them benefits that no other Nazi women could dream of experiencing.

‘The most important reason why there was little opposition in Germany towards the Nazi regime was its use of propaganda.’ Explain how far you agree with this statement.

c) I agree to this statement to quite a far extent as I feel the Nazi regime cleverly used their use of propaganda to sway the hearts and minds of the German people. Through their complete control of the media the Nazi's wore able to convince people that they are right or were winning the war thus gaining trust throughout Germany. They wore also able to censor any stories or articles which in someway discredit Nazi powers. But their use of deception in the media was not the only reason there was little opposition towards them, fear also played a major part in halting any opposition the Nazi’s would otherwise have to face.

Hitler had elected Joseph Goebbels as minister for ‘National Enlightenment’ and he controlled the media and arts. It was his role to make sure that the media printed Nazi ideology and censored any other idea’s put forward. He also set up the ‘Reich Chamber of Commerce’ in 1933 and this was designed to deal with all literature, art, music, radio etc. and only those who was part of this chamber was allowed to produce anything from those categories but along side these restricts was the fear of punishment to oppose and of the policies set in place so you could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to.

The use of censorship saw that there was little or no opposition in Germany as when Hitler came into power the Nazi's showed what would happen to things that did not conform to Nazi ideology and Goebbels organized mass book burning sessions in which any book that didn’t agree with Nazi idea’s was taken out of the library and burnt. Films that wore made at the time concentrated on Nazi beliefs and how Germans wore treated in Eastern Europe. These films helped sway the mind of the people causing little resistance against Nazi regime.

Goebbels wanted every German to hear Nazi idea’s so he insisted that radios wore constructed and sold cheap to each German citizen so they could hear Hitler give speeches, loud speakers were put up in streets and Cafes and other such properties were ordered to play in public speeches by Hitler, and the consistent hearing of Nazi ideology brainwashed those who listened into believing that the Nazi was the superior race and political system,

"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it."- Goebbels

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/NaziGermany.htm

Goebbels used propaganda to fuel Hitler’s hatred for Jews and used them as a scapegoat for blaming Germany’s dire situation at the time, and he also implemented young people to Nazi propaganda, Hitler youth, so when they grew up they would not appose his rulings and would follow him in whatever he would say. Even the 1936 Berlin Olympics was used as a way to glorify Nazi Germany and that it was here to stay.

He also used propaganda to show how Hitler wanted best for the German people and was really a man of peace but was also determined to recover German territories 'lost' as a result of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, and this appealed to must Germans and they had felt dishonoured by the land lost so would now not stand up against Hitler. Propaganda also presented Hitler as some sort of ‘mythical figure’, for example his famous “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” ('One People, One Nation, One Leader') poster which gives the feeling that Hitler is guiding people’s destiny and also depicted Hitler as ‘a man of the people’.

Hitler used his youth groups as a form of propaganda, brainwashing the children into thinking that he is some sort of superior beings, there were even pictures of him in classrooms and it is reported that some children had started praying to the picture’s of him like he was a God. With this mindset Hitler had a strong grip on the next generation that would not appose him in the future.

But propaganda was not the only reason for the little opposition, Nazi’s made sure their was swift and harsh punishment for those who undermined their ruling and mocking Hitler became an offence that could be punished by being sent to a concentration camp which could possibly lead to death. Hitler’s secret police saw to it that anyone who went against the Nazi in any small way would be dealt the most serious of consequences and people wore expected to come to the police if they heard of any unrest against Nazi policies if they didn’t they too would be punished, people wore too afraid to stand up against Hitler and his SS men.

Also some Germans even though not liking Hitler’s rule preferred it over any left wing communist groups, as Hitler did well in lowering unemployment rates buy implementing building, road and house works. Also his order of conscription of men into the army further reduced the amount of unemployed and Germans found thousands of jobs in factory work and weapons production so they benefited from Hitler being in power. People found themselves at a higher standard of living and did not wish to sacrifice it and go back to the days of the depression.

Propaganda played a drastic part in why the Nazi’s wore able to maintain control with little opposition in Germany, the use of blaming the Jewish people and making out Hitler to be a god made people side with the Nazi regime. The repetitive speeches brainwashed the people into feeling compassionate towards Hitler’s cause but I do feel the pure fear of Hitler’s SS men did stop many of the German public from speaking out in fear of execution or being murdered and also the fact that all the good Hitler had brought to the country people did not wish to return to their previous state with inflation and mass unemployment.

Nazi Germany

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