Discuss why Nazism became popular in Germany by 1930?
Explain why Nazi propaganda was effective in creating a hatred for Jews.
In what ways did Nazi state seek to establish total control over its people?
Nazi state sought to establish total control over its people in the below mentioned ways:
(i)With the passage of famous Enabling Act dictatorship in Germany was established. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree.
(ii)All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates. The state established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.
(iii)Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted. Apart from the already existing regular police in green uniform and the SA or the Storm Troopers, these included the Gestapo (secret state police), the SS (the protection squads), criminal police and the Security Service (SD).
(iv)People could now be detained in Gestapo torture chambers, rounded up and sent to concentration camps, deported at will or arrested without any legal procedures. The police forces acquired powers to rule with impunity.
(v)Media was carefully used to win support for the regime and popularise its worldview. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets. In posters, groups identified as the ‘enemies’ of Germans were stereotyped, mocked, abused and described as evil.
Describe the problems faced by the Weimer Republic.
The problems faced by the Weimer Republic are discussed below:
(i)This republic, however, was not received well by its own people largely because of the terms it was forced to accept after Germany’s defeat at the end of the First World War.
(ii)The peace treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating peace. Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 per cent of its territories, 75 per cent of its iron and 26 per cent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania.
(iii)The Allied Powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power. The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to £6 billion.
(iv)The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.
(v)Many Germans held the new Weimar Republic responsible for not only the defeat in the war but the disgrace at Versailles.
What are the peculiar features of Nazi thinking?
The peculiar features of Nazi thinking were as follow: