Ch- Nazism and the Rise of Hitler

                            Ch- Nazism and the Rise of Hitler____________

Q-1Name the members of Axis powers.

Ans- Germany ,Italy and Japan.

Q-2 Name the members of Allies.

Ans- England,France,Russia.

Q-3.When did Germany surrender to the Allies ? 

Ans: In May 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies. 

2. How did Hitler and his progpaganda minister and his entire family die ? 

Ans: Anticipating what was coming, Hitler, his propaganda minister Goebbels and his entire 

family committed suicide collectively. 

Q-4. Where did Hitler die ? 

Ans: In his Berlin bunker in April 1945. 

. Who waged the genocidal war ? 

 Ans: Under the shadow of the Second World War, Germany had waged a genocidal war. 

Q-5. What do you mean by Auschwitz ? 

 Nazis devised an unprecedented means of killing people, that is, by gassing them in various killing centres like Auschwitz. The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced only eleven leading Nazis to death. Many others were imprisoned for life. The retribution did come, yet the punishment of the Nazis was far short of the brutality and extent of their crimes. 

Q-6What was genocidal war?

Ans- It was a war started by Germany during the Second World war which resulted in the mass murder of selected groups of innocent civilians of Europe.

Q-7What was Versallies Treaty?

Ans- It was a treaty which was signed  after the first world war between Allies and Germany .

Q-8What was Free Crops?

 Ans-It was a war veterans organisation which  helped the Weimar epublic to crush the uprising of the workers or socialists.

Q-9Which year is known for the beginning of the Great Depression ?

Ans- 1929

Q-10 When did Germany withdraw herself from the League of Nations ?

Ans- 1933

Q-11In which Year did Hitler invade Poland ?

Ans- 1939

Q-12Who were November Criminals ?

Ans- The group of people who mainly supported the Weimar Republic of Germany Youth in the ‘the sipirt of National Socialists,Catholics and Democrats . They were called so because they accepted the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles .

Q-13  What was Dawes Plan?

Ans- It was a plan introduced by America to bail Germany out of the Financial crisis which it suffered after the First World War.

Q-14 What is Hyperinflation ?Mention the factor responsible for this.

Ans- It is situation when there is very high price rise . It occurred in Germany after the First World War due to too much printing of currency .

Q-15Who was the Writer of the Book Third Reinch of Dreams? What was the Theme of the book?

Ans- The book was written by Charlotte Beradt .

Theme -she describes  how Jews themselves began believing in the Nazi stereotypes about them.

Q-16 Mention the one impact of the Great Economic Depression of 1929 on the USA.

Ans- The national income of USA fell by half .

Q-17Mention any two impacts of Great Depression of 1929 on the Germany.

Ans- (i) Industrail production was reduced to 40% .

(ii) The number of unemployed touched an unprecedent 6 million .

Q-18 Name the act through which dictatorship was established in Germany.

Ans- The Enabling Act.

Q-19 What was the National Socialist German Workers Party?

Ans- In 1919 Hitler joined a small  group of workers known as the German Worker Party . He renamed it and Gave  it the name the National Socialist German Workers Party which was also Known as the Nazi Party.

Q- 20“The  Weimar constitution had some inherent  defects ,which made it unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship”.Explain.

Ans- (i) The system of proportional represention made achieving a majority by one party a near impossible task ,leading to the rule by coalitions.

(ii) Article 48 gave the President the power to impose emergency . so the article was being misused by the ruler.

Q-21What were concentration camps ? Who were kept in these camps?

Ans- The camps which were created by  the hitler to detain communists.

Q-22 Who was Hjalmar Schact?What was his theory regarding the economic recovery?

Ans- He was great economist who was given the responsibility by Hitler for economic recovery .He use the full production and full employment theory through state funded work creation programme.

Q-23Why were the jews classified as undesirable by the Nazi?

Ans (i) They had been stereotyped as the killers of Christ and usurers .

(ii)Hitler’s hatred of Jews was based on pseudoscientific theories of race ,which held that conversion was no solution to the Jewish problem .It could be solved only through their total elimination.

Q-24 What were the ‘ghettos’?

Ans- The Jews were considered as onferior and ‘undesirable race’ in Germany They live in separately marked areas called the ‘ghettos’

Q-25 Name any four races or people  who were considered  undesirable or inferior in Germany.

Ans- (i) Jews              (ii) Blacks

(iii) Gypsies               (iv) Russians

Q-26 Define Holocaust .

Ans- These were Nazi Killing operations which were carried out to kill the Jews.

Q-27When was the Tripartite pact signed? What was its importance?

Ans- It was signed  in 1940 between germany ,Italy and Japan .It strengthened Hitler’sclaim to international power.

Q28. Describe what happened to Germany after its defeat in the First World War.

Ans.1- World War I, ended with the Allies defeating Germany and the Central powers inNovember 1918.

2-The Peace Treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating treaty. 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.

 3-The Allied Powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion.

Q.29.Give reasons for Hitler’s rise to power.

Ans (i) The economic crisis: Germany had to face a great economic crisis after the First WorldWar. Many soldiers were no longer in service, so they became unemployed. Trade and commerce was ruined. Germany was in the grip of unemployment and starvation.

(ii) Exploiting the mentality of the Germans: The Germans had no faith in democracy. It was against their culture and tradition. They at once gave their support to a strong man like Hitler who could transfer their dreams into reality.

(iii) Making the best use of his personal qualities: Hitler was a powerful orator, an able Organiser.

Q30. Explain the following terms:

 (a) A Racial State (b) Propaganda (c) Jungvolk

Ans (a) Racial State: Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire.Nazis only wanted a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They alone were considered ‘desirable’.

(b) Propaganda: The Nazi regime used language and media with care and often to great effect. They used films, pictures, radio, posters, etc. to spread hatred for the Jews.

Propaganda is a specific type of message directly aimed at influencing the opinion of people through the use of posters, films, speeches etc.

(c) Jungvolk: These were Nazi youth groups for children below 14 years of age. Youth organisations were made responsible for educating German youth in ‘the spirit of National Socialism’. Ten-year-olds had to enter Jungvolk. At 14, all boys had to join the Nazi youth organisation.

Q.31. Explain the role of women in Hitler’s Germany.

Ans.  1. According to Hitler’s ideology, women were radically different from men.

2. The democratic idea of equal rights for men and women was wrong and would destroy society.

3. While boys were taught to be aggressive, masculine and steel-hearted, girls were told that they had to become good mothers and rear pure blooded Aryan children.

Q.32. Explain the main views of Hitler as expressed in his book 'Mein Kampf'.

Ans. Adolf Hitler wrote a book entitled ‘Mein Kampf’. Its literal meaning is ‘My Struggle’. This book expresses some of the most monstrous ideas of the Nazi movement.

1.       He glorified the use of force and brutalities and the rule by a great leader and ridiculed internationalism, peace and democracy.

2.       These principles were accepted by all followers of Hitler.

3.       Throughout Germany an atmosphere of terror was created. Hitler glorified violent nationalism and extolled war.

4.       He wrote this book at the age of 35, it is an autobiographical book; in this book Hitler has poured out his hatred for democracy,

5.       He also revealed his bitterness over German surrender in World War I.

Q.33. Why is Nazism considered a calamity not only for Germany but for the entire Europe?

Ans. Nazi ideology specified that there was racial hierarchy and no equality between people.

1.       The blond, blue-eyed Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while the Jews were located somewhere on the lowest rung of the ladder.

2.       The number of people killed by Nazi Germany was 6 million Jews, 200,000 Gypsies, 1 million Polish civilians, 70,000 Germans.

3.       Nazism glorified the use of force and brutality. It ridiculed internationalism, peace and democracy.

4.       Nazi Germany became the most dreaded criminal state. Hitler chose war as the way out of approaching the economic crisis.

5.       Germany invaded Poland. This started a war with France and England in September 1940.

Q.34.What happened in schools under Nazism?

Ans. 1. All schools were cleansed and purified.

2. This meant that teachers who were Jews or seen as politically unreliable were dismissed.

 3. Children were segregated — Germans and Jews could not sit together or play together.

4. Later on the undesirable children — the Jews, the physically handicapped, gypsies — were thrown out of schools

Q.35. ‘In my state the mother is the most important citizen.’ Discuss this statement made byHitler.

Ans. 1. Though Hitler said that in my state the mother is the most important citizen, it was not true.

2.  All mothers were not treated equally. Women who bore racially desirable children were awarded, while those who bore racially undesirable children were punished.

3. Women who bore ‘desirable’ children were entitled to privileges and rewards. They were given special treatment in hospitals and concessions in shops and on theatre tickets and railway fares.

.

Q.36. Why was Nazism considered to be a negation of both democracy and socialism?

Ans. 1. After assuming power on 30th January 1933, Hitler set out to dismantle the structure of democratic rule.

2. The Fire decree of 28th February 1933 indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the Weimar constitution.

3. The repression of the Jews and Communists was severe. On 3rd March 1933, the famousEnabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany.

1.       This Act gave Adolf Hitler all political and administrative power to side line the German parliament.

2.       All political parties of Germany 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.

3.       Special surveillance and security forces besides the existing regular police force, the Gestapo, the SD plus the extra-constitutional powers of these newly constructed forces gave the Nazi state its reputation of being the most dreaded criminal state.

Q.37. Describe Hitler’s rise to power with reference to his

(a) Policy towards the youth (b) His personal qualities    (c) Development of the art of propaganda

Ans. (a) Policy towards youth: Hitler was fanatically interested in the youth of the country. He felt that a strong Nazi society could be established only by teaching children the Nazi ideology. This required a control over the child, both inside and outside school.Good German children were subjected to a process of Nazi schooling, a prolonged period of ideological training. Youth organisations were made responsible for educating the German youth in ‘the spirit of National Socialism’. Ten-year-olds had to enter Jungvolk. At 14, all boys had to join the Nazi youth organisation

(b)His personal qualities: Hitler was a tireless worker and an able organiser. He had a charming personality. He was an effective orator. Bitterly anti-Communist, he promised to save the country from the onslaught of communism. He won over the nationalists by promising to vindicate national honour by repudiating the Treaty of Versailles

(c)Development of the art of propaganda:

The Nazi regime used language and media with care, and often to great effect. The terms they coined to describe their various practices were not only deceptive, they were chilling. Nazis never used words ‘‘kill’’ or ‘‘murder’’ in their official communications.

Q.38. Describe in detail Hitler’s treatment of the Jews Explain Nazi ideologies regarding the Jews.

 Ans. 1. Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as‘‘undesirable’’ in the extended empire were mentally or physically unfit Germans, Gypsies, blacks, Russians, Poles.

2. But Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They were stereotyped as ‘killers ofChrist and usurers'. Until medieval times, Jews were barred from owning land.

3. They survived mainly through trade and moneylending. They lived in separately marked areas called ‘ghettos’.

4. They were often persecuted through periodic organised violence and expulsion from land.

5.  All this had a precursor in the traditional Christian hostility towards Jews for being the killers of Christ.However, Hitler’s hatred of the Jews was based on pseudo-scientific theories of race, which held that conversion was no solution to ‘the Jewish problem’. It could be solved only through their total elimination.

Q.39.What were the effects of peace treaty on Germany after the First World War

Ans. 1. The defeat of Germany in World War I made Hitler angry. It horrified him. The Treaty of Versailles made him furious.

3. He joined the German Workers Party and renamed it National Socialist German Workers Party. This later came to be known as the Nazi Party.

4. Hitler promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustice of the Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people. After First World War, Germany was compelled to sign this treaty under the threat of war.

5. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. In1940, a Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan, strengthening Hitler’s claim to international power. Puppet regimes, supportive of Nazi Germany, were installed in a large part of Europe. Hitler then attacked the Soviet Union.

Q.40. Describe the main provisions of Treaty of Versailles.

Ans. The Treaty of Versailles was harsh and humiliating peace for the Germans.

(i) Germany lost all its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population.

(ii) 13 per cent of its territories, 75 per cent of its iron and 26 per cent of its coal to France.

(iii) Germany was demilitarised to weaken its power.

(iv)The war guilt clause held Germany responsible for war and damages the Allied countries suffered. It was forced to pay a compensation amounting to £6 billion.

(v) The Allied forces occupied the resource-rich Rhineland till the 1920s.

Q.41. How did the ordinary Germans react to Nazism

Ans.1- Many saw the world through Nazi eyes and spoke their mind in Nazi language.

2-They felt hatred and anger even when someone they thought who looked like a Jew.

3-They reported against Suspected Jews and marked their houses.

4-They believed Nazism would make them prosperous and happy. The large numbers of Germans were passive onlookers, too scared to act, to differ or protest.

Q.42. From whom did Hitler borrow his racist ideology? Explain.

Ans. 1-Hitler borrowed his racist ideology from thinkers like Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer.

2-Darwin was a natural scientist who tried to explain the creation of plants and animals through the concept of evolution and natural selection.

3-Herbert Spencer later on added the idea of survival of the fittest. According to this idea, only those species survived on earth that could adapt themselves to changing climatic conditions.

4-Darwin never advocated human intervention in what he thought was a purely natural process of selection.

5- However, his ideas were used by racist thinkers and politicians to justify imperial rule over conquered people.

Q- 43.Analyse the Weimar Republic born in Germany? Explain

Ans- (i) Germany was once a powerful empire that fought the First World war .The war ended with defeat . The imperial dynasty also came to an end .

(ii) The abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to parliamentary parties to recast the German polity and establish a democratic rule there .

(iii) A national Assembly  met at Weimar and prepared  a democratic constitutation that established a federal structure in Germany.

(iv) Members of Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament Called ‘Reichstag’

(v) The Weimar Republic ,however was not received well its own people because it was forced to receive the unjust terms of Peace Treaty made at Versailles.

Q- 44“ The Weimar republic has some  inherent defects, which made it unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship.”Explain.

Ans- The System of proportional made achieving a majority by any one party a near impossible task ,leading to the rule by coalitions.

(ii) Article 48 ,which gave the President the powers to impose emergency ,suspend civil rights and rule by decree.

(iii) Within its short lie the Weimar Republic saw twenty different cabinets lasting on an average 239 days ,and a liberal use of Article 48 . Yet the crisis could not be managed .People lost confidence in the democratic parliamentary system ,which seemed to offer no solutions.

Q-45.What were the terms given by the Nazis when they wanted to convey the words ’kill’ or ‘murder in their official communications ?

Ans.The Nazis used the words ‘special treatment or final Solution’ to convey mass killing of the Jews. The words , ‘selection or disinfection’ was used for the elimination of the disabled and to deport people to the Gas Chambers the Nazis used the word ‘evacuation’.

Gas Chambers were called ‘disinfection areas’. These chambers looked like a bath rooms with fake showerheads.

Q-46What was expected of the youth in Nazi Germany?

Ans.All the young men above the age of 18 years were expected to serve in the armed forces and enter one of the Nazi organisations.

At the tender age of 10 they had to join ‘Jungvolk’ – Nazi youth groups for children below 14 years of age. At 14 years of age they enrolled in the Nazi Youth Organisation called ‘Hitler Youth’.

The German youth were educated in the spirit of National Socialism by these youth organisations. They were taught to worship war, glorify aggression and violence , condemn democracy , hate Jews, communists, gypsies and all those who were called ‘undesirable’.

Q-47.Why did the German Mark collapse?

ANS-Germany had to pay war reparation after its defeat in the First World War. But Germany refused to pay the reparation and France occupied Ruhr to claim Germany’s coal. In retaliation Germany printed paper currency recklessly. As a result, the value of German mark collapsed and prices of goods soared.

In December 1923, 1 US dollar was equal to 98,860,000 marks. People had to carry a cart load of currency to buy a loaf of bread. This crisis is known as hyperinflation.

Q-48What was the reaction of the common people to Nazism?

Solution:

The common people reacted positively to Nazism. They saw the world through Nazi eyes and spoke their mind in the Nazi language. The common man felt anger and hatred when he saw the Jews. They marked the houses of the Jews and reported about suspicious neighbours.

They believed that Nazism would bring prosperity and general well-being.

A large majority of Germans were passive onlookers and were scared to differ or protest.