Issue #2: To what extent is resistance to liberalism

justified?

Twentieth-Century Rejections of Liberalism-Germany

Totalitarianism in Germany

• 1919 – Germany becomes a republic with modern liberal democratic ideals. (Weimar Republic)

• Constitution contained several democratic ideas such as referendums.

*How did Germany end up with a totalitarian government?

• Treaty of Versailles provoked lasting resentment in Germany (remember the clauses from 20-1)

• Even thought the government had not been part of the negotiations of the treaty they were blamed for the resulting humiliation and economic hardships.

Totalitarianism in Germany con’t

• Liberalism was associated with the victors of WW1.• Economy following the war was in ruins.• The economy recovered a bit under the Dawes Plan

where American banks lent money to the German government.

• However this left Germany with a large debt and the stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression plunged the country into economic hardship once again.

• Hitler and the Nazi party declared that it was the responsibility of the state to provide every citizen with an opportunity to earn a living.

Totalitarianism in Germany con’t

• Nazi party also stated that profits of industry should be shared by citizens and everyone should work for a living

• These policies were not strictly followed once the Nazis had gained power.

The depression after the Wall Street Crash made many more people vote for the Nazis. In 1933 Von Papen (chancellor) convinced Hindenburg (president) that Hitler should become Chancellor.

Ironically, the government agreed as they thought Hitler posed no real threat and could be easily manipulated.

January 1933

February 1933

The Reichstag building burnt down.

A communist was found inside the building. He admitted responsibility.

Chancellor Hitler was able to convince people that the Communists were trying to take power by terrorism.

He was able to have the Communists banned from the Reichstag (parliament), thus ridding the government of his main opposition

• Passed on March 23, 1933

•Formal name was the “ Law to Remedy the Distress of the people and the Nation”

• Helped Adolf Hitler get closer to his goal of achieving full control over the German Parliament

•Although many members of parliament disagreed with the idea of the Enabling Act, the military influence of Hitler’s “SA men” forced them to change their minds

•It granted Hitler the right to enact laws without consulting the German Parliament for a period of four years

•Formed the legal and constitutional basis for the Third Reich because it allowed Hitler’s plans to deviate from the existing constitution

•It encouraged the dissolving of all parties other than the Nazi party, and formed the platform for Hitler’s dictatorship

The night of the Long Knives took place between June 30TH and July 2nd 1934.

Hitler moved against the SA and its leader Ernst Rohm because he saw them as a threat to his power, he also moved against conservative critics of his regime.

Over 100 people were killed for political reasons by the SS and the Gestapo and more than 1000 were arrested.

August 1934

PRESIDENT HINDENBURG’SDEATH GAVE HITLER THEOPPORTUNITY TO COMBINETHE ROLE OF CHANCELLORAND PRESIDENT. HE CALLEDHIMSELF ‘DER FUHRER’.

Every soldier swore a personal oath of loyalty to ADOLF HITLER.

HITLERBECAMECHANCELLOR

THE REICHSTAGFIRE

THEENABLING

ACT

THE NIGHTOF THELONG

KNIVES

DEATH OFPRESIDENT

HINDENBURG

OATH OFLOYALTY

TOHITLER

So…..

Hitler and the Economy• Six million Germans were unemployed in 1932, by

1936 there were fewer than 1 million unemployed.

• Public projects such as the building of roads and the re-arming of the military stimulated the economy

• Subsidies were given to farmers

• Yet, workers had few rights and industrialist benefited from the banning of unions and protests.

• In most cases, women were not allowed to work outside the home, and couples received payment for each child.

Hitler and the YouthBoys – focused on future military roles

• Cubs

- ages 6-10

• Young German Boys - ages 10-14

• Hitler Youth - age 14

• Labour service or armed forces

- 18 onward

Girls – focused on domesticity

• Young Maidens - 10-14

• League of German Maidens

- 14 onward

Children were encouraged to report any inappropriate (ie: anti-Nazi) behaviour or comments

Read “Nazism Reacting to Feminism” on page 193 and complete the

questions

VIEW:

“Education for Death: The Education of one of Hitler’s Children”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASW3UCc17AI

• Germany ceased paying reparations altogether

• Began secret rearmament

• Germany began to build an air force

• Reoccupied the Rhineland, which had remained a part of Germany but was demilitarized under the terms of the Versailles treaty

• Annexation of Austria

• Annexed Memel ( in Lithuania)

•The Nuremburg laws were denaturalization laws passed in 1935 that were used as a basis for racial discrimination against Jewish people

•Some of the laws were:

•Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.

•Extramarital intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of Germany or related blood is forbidden

•Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors(For more restrictions placed on the Jewish population, see pg 189)

Read the section “Nazi Eugenics” on pages 190-191 and compare with the accounts under “Lives of Aryan Germans”

a) Self-determination and the Sudetenland Issue• 3 million German speaking people• Wanted the right to self-determination

b) The Munich Agreement (1938)• Chamberlain (Britain)• Deladier (France)• Mussolini (Italy)• Hitler (Germany)

c) March, 1939• Hitler takes all of Czech.

Agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland

The Munich Agreement was signed on September 30, 1938

•It was an attempt to avoid another full-scale war

•British Prime Minister Chamberlain met with Hitler on September 15 and 16, where it was agreed that Germany would not make any military advances on Czechoslovakia.

•Britain and France had promised to protect Czech sovereignty after WWI, yet the decision was made without a representative from Czechoslovakia present.

•The people of France and Britain did not want another war, and were anxious to avoid confrontation

•The signing of the agreement was celebrated in Britain; in Czechoslovakia it was viewed as a betrayal.

September 3, 1939

• Britain & France declare war on Germany after Hitler refuses to withdraw from Poland.

• Although war is declared no actual battles will be fought until 1940.

The Holocaust• The Final Solution or liquidation of all Jews,

Gypsies, and most Slavs in Europe. (including all who opposed the Nazi Party)

• Death camps were created to rid the Third Reich of the unwanted.– Auschwitz (12 000/per day)

Liberation of Auschwitz– 67% (6 million) of Jewish population in Europe

was annihilated. (90% in Poland/Germany)

The Holocaust

Group

Jews

Slavs

Russian POW’s

Gypsies/Homosexuals

Approximate # Killed

6 Million

10-11 Million

3 Million

1 Million

Approximately 21 million killedApproximately 21 million killed

•Located across all areas controlled by Germany prior to and during WWII

•Were built to torture the people within and use them as cheap labor

•Housed political prisoners and “undesirables” such as Jews and outspoken journalists

•Camps became larger to house more prisoners after the start of WWII and became more vicious

•Deeper into the war the prisoners began being used as medical experiments under the German doctors