GCSE History - Germany

7c Study Source A. Why was this painting published in Nazi Germany? 7 marks

            The painting shown in source A was published in Nazi Germany as it put forward Nazi ideas about family structure. It introduces the model of the ideal Nazi family and is a method of propaganda as paintings like such would appear in books for school children.

            From the source, the family members are easily distinguishable as 'Aryan' by their looks. Blonde hair with blue eyes -- Nazi views considered people with these traits to be 'pure' and have more authority over families who were not considered part of Hitler's race. The woman in the painting is following tradition by being a mother figure for the children, and the father is stereotypically supporting the family by going out to work, or educating fellow members of the public. With five children, this was the expected amount for a Nazi family. Each child is wearing traditional peasant styled clothing and sit in front of a serene background, which could be a reflection of what life is like for people considered to be 'Aryan'.

            This painting shows the different between rights that men and women had during the period. Women were domesticated and worked mainly in the home, whilst men were considered to have a more important role of making a living by going out to work. Women however, could be rewarded with medals for producing children which was seen as an incentive for people to have larger families to expand the 'Aryan' race. In addition to this, benefits were given to families with four of more children in order to encourage more and more German people to fit Nazi expectations in order to 'better' the country as a whole.

            It was paintings like this that were subtle reminders for the German public about what was expected of them. An innocent painting at a first glance, it is somewhat clear to see how the Nazi's used propaganda effectively in order to make people conform to what they wanted.

7b Study source B. How is this source useful as evidence about Nazi Germany? 6 marks

            The written source indicates that Kristallnacht (1938) was not spontaneous and was ordered by the Nazi police. It speaks of attacks on Jewish people and their property and shows a major increase in negative attitude towards Jews. Anti-semitism was a real issue in Germany in this time, and this source draws a line between how Jewish Germans were treated compared to non-Jewish Germans. The escalation in prejudice would only go on to grow even more, with the introduction of concentration camps which saw the death of millions of innocent people.

            The source can only be useful to an extent. The source only tells the reader about the treatment of Jewish people, not other aspects of control in Germany at the time. It does hint a little towards it, there is very little evidence to suggest that other groups of people were discriminated against and punished because of their religion, sexuality, mental health etc. On from this, the source does not explore prejudice shown towards Jewish Germans before the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, so cannot give us a clear indication into how these people were treated. It shows a very radical side to the anti-Semitism which was growing in the late 30s, however it had not always been this way.

            On the other hand, the source is useful as it brings light to Kristallnacht and suggests that it was a pre-mediated attack on followers of the Jewish faith. Rather than being a random night of combined violence, the letter in the source implies that the Nazi party organised said violence and planned it thoroughly.

7c Study source C. 'There was little opposition inside Germany to the Nazi Regime'. How far do you agree? Use source and own knowledge.

            The source given does not agree with the statement given in the question. It speaks off the 'swing youth' movement which involved youths forming street gangs which openly expressed their anti-Nazi views. Writing 'down with Nazi brutality', it implies that attitudes towards the Nazi party were mainly negative however this cannot be confirmed as it speaks of specific actions rather than the political views. Groups forming such as the swing youth showed the Nazi party that people were starting to stand up against them during the war, publicly showing opposition because they knew defeat was inevitable.

            This could be interpreted differently, as the fact the Nazi party had intelligence of the street gangs which suggests support for the Nazi regime. If the Nazi party saw the swing youth movement groups as a real threat, efforts would have been made to stop them before their actions became too radical. The fact that there were so few groups compared to the majority of people that agreed with Nazi views suggests there was little opposition, thus agreeing with the statement.

            The Nazi party faced greater opposition than youth gangs, however. The July Bomb Plot of 1944 was a plot which was seemingly set up to assassinate Hitler and stop him in his tracks. If Hitler could be killed, Berlin could be taken by force using the army. However, the explosion was unsuccessful at killing Hitler and he suffered minor injuries. Four people were killed. The brutal nature of this plot suggests that Hitler had growing opposition inside his own territory, which disagrees with the statement put forth.

            Despite this large scale assassination attempt on Hitler, he was never overthrown. All plots against Hitler were never executed correctly which resulted in their failure.  Hitler did not need to worry about unorganised and scatterbrain murder plots, and the fact these plots were that shows that he faced little opposition from the people of Germany.

8c 'The Weimar Republic never recovered from the events of its early years' How far do you agree with the statement? 10 marks

            The statement suggests that the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 put into place serious measures, and with the problems caused by the Weimar Republic (1918), the Republic had obstacles before it which lead to it never recovering.

            This can be shown in the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty restricted the pride of the country, forcing cuts to be made to the army. Once in excess of a million soldiers, Germany found itself with only 100,000 troops to defend it. As well as this causing problems in terms of unemployment, it also lead to the loss of the Ruhr in 1923. The country did not have the mass of men to defend it from the French, and so lost this area which was crucial to industry.

            In addition to these cuts, Germany was made to pay reparations for the war. With an already failing economy prewar, it caused an excess amount of money to be printed. Hyperinflation became a serious issue facing the Weimar government as it affected so many people. Retired people lost their life savings and people were struggling to meet basic needs, causing a surge in unhappiness and unemployment, as employers could not afford to pay workers sufficiently.

The Treaty also forced Germany to take the blame for the war and the devastation it caused.        This was called the 'War Guilt Clause', and led to uproar as many German people believed it to be unfair. Political views swung towards the right which saw the birth of the Nazi party and their radical beliefs.

            A surge in extremist parties occured during this period due to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Added to suspicions about democracy, many German people deemed life as unfair, causing them to turn against the government in place. Some joined radical parties such as the Nazi party, whilst other organisations created revolts against the government with the hope of seeing change. This can be seen in the Spartacists Revolt of 1919 and the Kapp Putsch of 1920.

            Facing these problems concerning the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was in a bad way from the start. Harsh restrictions and forced actions saw the start of a long fall from grace, and this was only furthered when flaws in the Weimar Republic were brought to light.

The introduction of the proportional representation electoral system was exploited by smaller parties wanting a voice. Many less established parties were allowed to be elected, and many parties were not strong enough to receive a majority. This caused disorder as no government could be formed, meaning no laws could be passed in the Reichstag. This organisation and electoral failure was a major weakness of the Weimar Republic, despite the concept of proportional representation sounding fair.

            Article 48 gave the President emergency powers which means he could issue decrees without the agreement of the Reichstag. Passing decrees that had not been approved by the majority parliament allowed for Hitler's rise to power to be legal, meaning there was no way the state or political opponents could stop him.

            Germany was caught in the eye of a storm of problems during this period, many of which would take years to solve. Although many remained unsolved by Hitler's rise to power, the Weimar Republic did manage to recover to an extent by 1930.

Gustav Stresemann's Weimar was a time of great change. He was determined to make    Germany the power house it had once been, and succeeded in many of the efforts he made to do this. With the introduction of a new currency, hyperinflation was stopped which helped to heal the broken economy, and the Ruhr crisis of 1923 was seemingly solved. A strengthening economy put the country one step in the right direction, however it was not going to be as strong as it was prewar.

            Global disasters had a long lasting effect on Germany. Impacts of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression in the U.S.A (1930) was devastating. It brought about a new scheme titled the Dawes Plan, which allowed for loans to be borrowed at ease. The economy faced yet another obstacle in the path of success, as unemployment rose from 1.6 million in October 1929 to 6.12 million in February 1932. 33% percent of the workforce became jobless. Economic chaos was in full effect which created an environment which allowed for radicalist parties to prosper.

            The public were beginning to lose hope and faith in the government, and turned away from democratic parties and towards the Nazi party or communists. This enabled Hitler to reinvent his party into a serious political threat -- people were listening to his solutions to problems which made people believe he could change the country for the better. In the March election of 1933, the Nazi party had a majority and Hitler had successfully risen to power.

       The points put forward agree with the statement to an extent. It is undeniable that the Weimar Republic suffered terribly in the early years of it's introduction, but in the later years, many of these issues were able to be solved which allowed for a more order to be restored to Germany. Stresemann's solutions were very influential, but only managed to repair the Weimar to a certain point. The rise and fall of the Weimar Republic comes down to the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles and the everchanging global economic world which caused the country to take a drastic turn for the worse.