Chapter 3
Nazism and the Rise of Hitler – Notes
Birth of the Weimar Republic
Germany fought the First World War (1914–1918) as part of the Central Powers alongside Austria against the Allies.
The war ended in 1918 with Germany’s defeat. Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated, and a democratic constitution was formed.
The Weimar Republic gave equal voting rights to all adults, including women, and created a federal parliamentary system.
The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a harsh peace treaty forced on Germany by the Allies.
Germany lost 13% of its territory, overseas colonies, 10% population, 75% iron and 26% coal resources.
The War Guilt Clause held Germany solely responsible for the war and forced it to pay £6 billion as reparation.
The Rhineland was occupied and demilitarised. Germans called the treaty humiliating and blamed the republic for accepting it.
The Effects of the War
The First World War left deep psychological and financial impacts across Europe, turning it into a debtor continent.
Soldiers were glorified and civilians were devalued. National honour and aggressive masculinity became ideals.
Propaganda glorified trench life, but soldiers suffered hunger, gas attacks, and lived among corpses.
Democracy was fragile in interwar Europe. Support for dictatorships increased due to war hardships and instability.
Political Radicalism and Economic Crises
After the war, the Spartacist League demanded a Soviet-style government. Their uprising was crushed using Free Corps.
Communists and Socialists became bitter enemies and couldn’t unite against rising Nazism.
The 1923 economic crisis led to hyperinflation. The value of the German mark fell drastically.
Germany printed money recklessly. Prices rose so much that people needed wheelbarrows of notes to buy bread.
France occupied the Ruhr region when Germany failed to pay reparations. Germans responded with passive resistance.
The USA introduced the Dawes Plan in 1924 to ease reparations and stabilise Germany’s economy.
The Years of Depression
The Great Depression began with the 1929 Wall Street crash, severely affecting German economy.
US investors withdrew loans. German factories shut down. Unemployment reached 6 million by 1932.
The middle class lost savings, and people feared proletarianisation—fall into working-class poverty or unemployment.
Workers’ bargaining power weakened. Peasants suffered due to falling agricultural prices.
The Weimar Republic became unstable. Article 48 allowed emergency rule by decree, bypassing Parliament.
Between 1930–1933, 20 cabinets were formed. Public faith in democracy declined.
Hitler’s Rise to Power
Nazism and the Rise of Hitler
Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. He served as a messenger in World War I and earned bravery medals.
He believed Germany had been betrayed in WWI and was angered by the Versailles Treaty.
He joined the German Workers’ Party in 1919 and transformed it into the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party).
He developed the Nazi ideology: one strong leader, racial purity, anti-Communism, and reversing the Versailles Treaty.
In 1923, he led a failed coup in Munich and was jailed. In prison, he wrote his autobiography “Mein Kampf”.
He blamed Jews and Marxists for Germany’s problems and promised a strong Germany with employment and pride.
The Great Depression helped the Nazis gain support as the Weimar government failed to manage the crisis.
Nazi propaganda used modern technology, mass rallies, and emotional speeches to attract people.
By 1932, the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag with 37% votes.
The Destruction of Democracy
President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933, hoping to control him.
The Reichstag Fire occurred on 27 February 1933. Hitler blamed Communists and passed the Fire Decree.
The Fire Decree suspended civil rights: freedom of speech, press, and assembly.
Communists and other political opponents were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
The Enabling Act (March 1933) gave Hitler full powers to rule by decree without parliamentary consent.
Democracy ended. All political parties and trade unions were banned. The Nazi Party was the only legal party.
The Gestapo (secret state police), SS (protection squad), and SD (security service) created a police state.
Nazi regime used fear, surveillance, and violence to suppress opposition.
Reconstruction
Hitler appointed Hjalmar Schacht to manage economic recovery through public works and state spending.
Large-scale projects like the construction of autobahns (highways) and Volkswagen (people’s car) created employment.
Hitler focused on rearmament, violating the Treaty of Versailles, and boosting the arms industry.
In foreign policy, Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations and began expanding German territory.
He reoccupied the Rhineland (1936), annexed Austria (Anschluss, 1938), and captured Sudetenland (1938).
Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and later Poland (1939), leading to the outbreak of World War II.
The Tripartite Pact (1940) formed an alliance with Italy and Japan, strengthening Axis power.
Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 but was defeated at Stalingrad, turning the war.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the USA joined the war. Germany surrendered in May 1945.
The Nazi Worldview
The Nazis believed in racial hierarchy. Nordic Aryans were seen as racially superior, and Jews were seen as lowest.
Hitler believed Jews polluted German society and must be removed to preserve Aryan purity.
Nazis used Darwin’s ideas (misinterpreted) to support the idea of survival of the fittest.
They believed in Lebensraum—expansion towards the east to gain living space for Germans.
Establishment of the Racial State
Nazis aimed to purify German society by eliminating ‘undesirables’ such as Jews, Gypsies, and the disabled.
Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals were also targeted.
Under the Euthanasia Programme, mentally and physically disabled Germans were secretly killed.
Anti-Semitism existed before Nazis, but Hitler made it state policy using racial science.
Jews were excluded from civil services, professions, and education. Many were forced to emigrate.
The Nuremberg Laws (1935) banned marriages between Jews and Germans, and removed citizenship from Jews.
The Racial Utopia
Germany invaded Poland and USSR to establish racial utopia through genocide and resettlement.
Ethnic Germans were resettled in occupied areas. Polish and Russian civilians were used as forced labour.
Jews were pushed into overcrowded ghettos like Warsaw and Lodz, facing starvation and disease.
Polish children with Aryan features were kidnapped and Germanised.
Jews were deported to concentration and extermination camps like Auschwitz and Treblinka.
Gas chambers were used for mass murder. Over 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
Youth in Nazi Germany
Schools were cleansed of Jewish teachers and students. Textbooks were rewritten to reflect Nazi ideology.
Children were taught racial science, loyalty to Hitler, and hate for Jews and Communists.
Boys joined Jungvolk at 10 and Hitler Youth at 14 to prepare for military service.
Girls joined the League of German Girls to learn housekeeping, child care, and racial purity.
The Nazi Cult of Motherhood
Nazis rejected gender equality. Women were expected to raise pure-blooded Aryan children.
Medals (Honour Crosses) were given to women for having 4, 6, or 8+ children.
Women who violated Nazi racial norms (e.g., had Jewish partners) were punished or humiliated publicly.
The Art of Propaganda
Nazi propaganda used posters, films, slogans, and speeches to spread fear and gain support.
Jews were portrayed as evil, greedy, and dangerous through false imagery and antisemitic messages.
Euphemisms like “special treatment” and “final solution” hid the reality of mass killings.
Propaganda targeted all sections—youth, women, workers—to ensure support and loyalty.
Ordinary People and the Crimes Against Humanity
Many Germans supported Hitler for stability, jobs, and restored national pride.
Some Germans resisted, but most remained silent due to fear, belief, or propaganda.
Pastor Martin Niemöller’s poem warned about the danger of staying silent during injustice.
Some Jews began to believe Nazi propaganda and developed self-hate, as seen in Charlotte Beradt’s dream collection.
Knowledge about the Holocaust
The full extent of Nazi crimes became clear only after Germany’s defeat in 1945.
Some Jews secretly documented life in ghettos and camps (e.g., Warsaw Ghetto Archives).
Nazis tried to destroy evidence of crimes before surrendering, but survivors and hidden records remained.
The Holocaust is remembered globally through museums, books, testimonies, and memorials to prevent future genocides.