A short Summary of ‘Nazism and the rise of Hitler’ is given here for class 9 students. The key points are given under proper headings. This summary will help revise the chapter in a short period of time.
GERMANY IN WORLD WAR–I
- The First World War was fought between Germany, the Austrian empire and Turkey (Central powers) against the Allies (England, France and Russia).
- They all joined the war assuming a quick gain and a quick victory.
- France and Belgium were occupied by Germany resulting in initial gains for it.
- But soon after USA joined the War (in 1917), the situation turned around.
- In 1918, the First World War was won by the Allies by defeating Germany and the Central powers.
THE BIRTH OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
- After the defeat of Germany in the First World War and the abdication of the king, the German polity was rebuilt.
- There were two major defects in the Weimar constitution which resulted in its instability and vulnerability to dictatorship.
- Proportional representation. This created problem for any one party to gain majority, leading to a rule by coalition
- Article 48, which gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspended civil rights and rule by decree.
- The Weimar Republic dissolved about 20 times by the President within a span of 239 days. Due to this democratic parliamentary system, crisis in the economy, polity and society leading to the rise of Hitler to power.
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
- Signed between Germany and the Allied Powers (England, France and Russia)
- Germany lost all its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population and 13% of its territories.
- 26% of its coal mines and 75% of its iron mines were given to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania.
- To weaken its powers, the allied powers demilitarised Germany.
- The resource rich Rhineland of Germany was occupied by the Allied armies.
- Germany was held responsible for the First World War and the damages suffered by the Allied countries. Due to this reason, Germany was forced to pay compensation of £6 billion.
EFFECTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ON GERMANY
Social Effects
Due to the harsh impact of
the war, the soldiers were
placed above civilians.
There was great stress laid
on for men to be aggressive,
strong and masculine by the
political leaders and media.
Aggressive war propaganda
and national honour resulted
in popular support for
conservative dictatorship
Political Effects
The birth of Weimar Republic
coincided with the
revolutionary uprising of the
Spartacist League.
Soviet –style of government
was demanded in Berlin.
But the uprising was
suppressed with the help of
war veterans’ organisation
known as ‘Free Corps’.
Economic Crisis (Hyperinflation)
Germany fought the First
World War mainly on loans and
later had to repay it in gold.
This resulted in depletion of
gold reserves.
As Germany refused to pay the
loan in 1923, in return France
occupied its leading industrial
area, Ruhr.
Germany began printing paper
currency recklessly and this
resulted in over circulation of
the paper currency, due to which
the value of German mark fell.
This came to be known as
hyperinflation, a situation
when prices rose phenomenally
high
HITLER’S WORLD VIEW
- According to his views, there was a racial hierarchy that followed and no equality between people.
- Hitler considered Blacks, Gypsies and Jews as racial inferiors. They were persecuted on a wide scale.
- He wanted a society consisting of only pure and healthy Nordic Aryans.
- In his views, blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung. They came to be regarded as an anti-race, the arch-enemies of the Aryans.
- Another ideology of Hitler was Lebensraum, i.e. living space. He believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement. This would widen the area of his motherland and their resources.
- But the worst sufferers were the Jews. They were stereotyped as killers of Christ and usurers by the Nazis. They were made to live in separately marked areas known as ghettos. Concentration camps and gas chambers were built to execute them on a larger scale
YOUTH OF NAZI GERMANY
- The teachers who were Jews or seen as politically unreliable were dismissed from the job. In Nazi terms the schools were cleansed and purified.
- The children of German and Jews were segregated. They were not allowed to sit or play together anymore. And soon the physically handicapped, Gypsies and Jews were thrown out of the school as they were considered as undesirable The German children went through an ideological training in Nazi schools. Where school textbooks were re-written, radical science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race. Stereotypes about Jews were popularised.
- The ideologies of Nazis included the hatred towards Jews and worshipping Hitler and to be loyal and submissive towards him.
- Even the function of sports was utilised to make children iron hearted, strong and masculine.
- Youth Organisations were responsible for educating German youth in the spirit of National Socialism. Ten-year-olds had to enter Jung Volk.
- At 14, all boys had to join the Nazi youth organization called Hitler Youth, where they learnt to worship war, glorify aggression and violence, condemn democracy, and hate Jews, communists, Gypsies and all those categorised as undesirable.
NAZI PROPAGANDA
- The Nazi regime were careful of using language and media. They never used the word kill or murder in their official communications. Mass killing were termed as special treatment, final solution, euthanasia, selection and disinfections.
- Media won the support and helped in popularising their worldview. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets.
- The Germans, mocked, abused and stereotyped the group identities of their enemies in the posters. Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate.
- Orthodox Jews were shown with flowing beards wearing kaftans. They were referred to as vermin, rats and pests. Their movements were compared to those of rodents.
