Germany Before World War II

Germany Before World War II

• Germany lost World War I.• Germany owed 30 billion dollars

to France in reparations.• There was no money. • There was no work.• People lived in extreme poverty.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler• Adolf Hitler was a struggling art student.• He served as a corporal in World War I; awarded

Iron Cross for bravery.• He was jailed because his radical political

beliefs.• He wrote his theories in a book called Mein

Kampf.• He promoted extreme nationalism (aggressive

patriotism).• He was an exceptional speaker.• He made Germans believe that he could make

things better from them.

The Aryan “race”• pure German people, the Aryans, were the master

race.

• one of the reasons that Germany lost WWI was because the German race had been weakened through Aryans marrying non-Aryans.

Therefore, if Germany was to become strong again, the Nazis had to ensure the purity of the Aryan race. This view of Germans as the master race was encouraged by the use of healthy, ‘pure’ Aryans in Nazi propaganda posters.

“The Aryan race is tall, long legged, slim. The race is narrow-faced, with a narrow forehead, a narrow high built nose and a lower jaw and prominent chin, the skin is rosy bright and the blood shines through .... the hair is smooth, straight or wavy -possibly curly in childhood. The colour is blond.” Description of a ‘pure’ Aryan. From a leaflet ‘The Nazi Race’, 1929.

A boy and a girl used in a Nazi poster.

Jewish People as Scapegoats

• Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems.

• The hatred of Jews is called anti-Semitism.

• The Jews became a scapegoat for Germany.

• A scapegoat bears the blame for others and is the object of irrational hostility.

Nazi Party

• The German Worker’s Party• Nationalsozialistiche Deutsch

Arbeiterpartei• Based on irrational, anti-Semitic and

nationalistic policies• Membership grew in 1930s because

or propaganda and rallies

The Difference Between a Nazi and a German

• A Nazi is a member of a political group that no longer exists.

• A German is a person who lives in German or was born in Germany.

• During World War II, not all Germans were Nazis and not all Nazis were German.

GenocideThe deliberate and systematic destruction of a

racial, political, cultural or religious group.

The HolocaustThe systematic, planned extermination of 6 million

Jews by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.

Steps to Genocide1. Segregation (Nuremberg Laws)1. Isolation (Ghetto/Concentration Camp)2. Persecution (Extermination Camp)

Jews were forced to wear the Star of

David as part of the Nuremberg Laws.

They were forced to buy the stars and

wear them on their coats/outer

clothing. This was a form of

segregation.

• Jews were forced to move out of their homes and into ghettos.

• A ghetto is a poor densely populated city district occupied by a minority ethnic group linked together by economic hardship and social restrictions.

Concentration Camp

Prisons that held political prisoners at

first. No mass killings. Prisoners worked very

hard and were starved. Concentrated large groups of people.

November 9, 1938First extreme acts of persecution.Beginning of Hitler’s Final Solution (the attempted murder

of every Jewish person in Europe.200 synagogues were destroyed.8,000 shops were destroyed.Thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps.Jews were forced to pay for all damage done.

Major list of VictimsJewsSlavsPolesGypsiesHandicapped

Their purpose was death.

Most had gas chamber and crematorium.

BIASopinions created by

mental misconceptions instead of justice or

reason

DISCRIMINATEto treat unfairly

NAZIA member of the German Worker’s

political party. This group lasted

from 1929 until 1945.

GESTAPONazi secret police

HOLOCAUSTMeans BURNT OFFERING.

Name given to the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis

from 1933-1945

IRRATIONALnot using the

power or reason

PROPAGANDAused to get public support

of an opinion(newspapers,

movies, magazines)

SCAPEGOATany person/groups

on which the bad luck of another person/group

is placed

STEREOTYPESqualities that label a particular group

JUDEMeans Jew in German