The Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party

1. The Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party

2. WWI • 1918 WWI ended with an armistice (cease fire) • Germany thought they were just stopping the fighting to negotiate later, the war was lost while the army was still in France • The people felt betrayed by the government • Jews were blamed for this • Weimar Republic (German government at the end of WWI to Hitler’s takeover)

3. Adolf Hitler • Born 1889 as a citizen of Austria-Hungary • A Jewish doctor treated his mother when she was dying of breast cancer • He was middle class, not achieving great status in Austria

4. Hitler • He was orphaned by the age 17; he took his inheritance to try to make it as a painter, but wasn’t good enough • Hitler is a soldier of WWI; the war changes him; has discipline and a sense of purpose for the first time • Joins the German workers party-which becomes National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party)

5. 1923 French occupy part of Germany called the Ruhr Germans encouraged not to work for French To have money, German prints money; causes inflation; people are very poor Ruhr Crisis

6. 1923 Beer Hall Putsch • Hitler sees the hyperinflation and Germany’s bitter state as an opportunity to stage a coup • His attempt to take over the government failed • Hitler was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to prison. • Hitler was sentenced to 5 years, but only serves about a year

7. Mein Kampf • While in jail, Hitler writes Mein Kampf (My Struggle) • The book is a political statement that sets forth his blueprint for the reconstruction of Germany

8. The Great Depression • July 1924, the Nazi party only received 3% of the votes cast with 14 representatives • 1929, the Great Depression is looming; social and political unrest intensify in Germany • In the first election just after the crisis began the Nazi party had over 18% of the vote with 107 representatives • 1932; Nazi party is the largest single political party in Germany

9. Hitler is appointed chancellor (prime minister) • Paul Von Hindenburg is president of Germany at the time

10. Reichstag • Reichstag is the German parliament • February 28, 1933, there is a fire at the Reichstag building • Hitler urged Von Hindenburg to issue decrees to counter the "ruthless confrontation of the Communist Party of Germany"

11. Reichstag • Nazis used the fire as an opportunity to come down on political opponents • Nazis suspended civil liberties as an emergency response; (writ of habeas corpus was also suspended-which means you could be arrested with no real evidence) • Communist were the original target; 1000s were arrested; including all the communist delegates in Parliament; • this allowed Nazi delegates to take their spots-which made them the majority and later led to Hitler being able to consolidate his power

12. Concentration Camps • The overflow of prisoners went to concentration camps • Dachau in Munich, Buchenwald in Weimar, and Sachsenhausen near Berlin were all originally used for political prisoners • Camps were well known, they wanted people to be scared

13. Enabling Act • Enabling Act: 3/23/33, constitutional amendment to the German constitution that the chancellor and the cabinet could pass a law without Parliament • Dictatorship emerges

14. Jewish population • In 1933 about 523,000 Jews lived in Germany; that number represents lass that 1% of the population at that time • Between 1905-1936, 14 of 38 Nobel prizes went to Jews • Jews held prominent positions: doctors, lawyers, etc. • Larger percentage of Jews are WWI vets than are non-Jews

15. Nazi Antisemitism • German Jews get a warning sooner than those living in other parts of Europe • 4/1/33, Nazi launch a public campaign against Jews; they boycotted Jewish stores and businesses • For 3 days armed SA and SS officers stood at the doors of German businesses with signs that said “Germans! Do not buy at the Jew’s! Jews get out!” • This was to intimidate foreign Jews that demanded a worldwide boycott of Nazi Germany and to cut ties between the German population and their Jewish neighbors

16. Law for Restoration of the Professional Civil Service • April 7, 1933: Jews and Nazi political opponents are removed from civil service • The law stated that “Civil Servants of non-Aryan descent must resign” • to be able to do this they had to define what it meant to be a Jew: if 3 of the 4 grandparents were Jewish then so were you • President von Hindenburg was upset about treatment of Jewish war vets so one exception was made: Jews that served on the front line in WWI

17. More Restrictions • 4/21/33 Ritual slaughter banned (how Jews make their meat kosher); it was claimed to have been done because of cruelty to animals • 4/25/33 Restrictive enrollment for Jews in higher education • 5/10/33 Book burnings of “un-German” authors; suggests a complete lack of tolerance for a different point of view • 7/14/33 Citizenship revoked for immigrants entering after 1918

18. Ha’avara Agreement • 8/25/33 Agreement set up with Palestine to allow Jews to emigrate from Germany to Palestine • Jews had to leave their goods and fortunes in Germany; Germany would then sell those goods to Palestine • Both countries prosper from the agreement, but Arab population becomes angry with the influx of foreign population

19. Reich Chamber of Culture • 9/25/33 All cultural professions had to belong to the Reich Chamber of Culture (painters, authors, poets, etc.) • Jews were not allowed to be a member of this group; therefore, they lost their job if it was their profession

20. Joseph Goebbels • Minister for Propaganda and Enlightenment of the People • controlled all forms of German media -- print, radio, film and theater • 10/4/33 Jews were excluded from the press

21. Death of President von Hindenburg • August 2, 1934 President Paul von Hindenburg died • Hitler declared himself Fuhrer, or leader, of the German people • Hitler changed the pledge to the nation and the fatherland to an oath of unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler

22. Nuremburg Laws • September and November 1935 The government was primarily Nazi • They had a party rally in Nuremburg and restricted the rights of Jews • Outlawed marriage between a Jew and non-Jew and sex forbidden between a Jew and non-Jew • No non-Jew women under age 45 could work for a Jewish man • Defined Jews: mischling is a person with 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents

24. Rearmament • 1935 • Hitler unveiled the Wehrmacht, or the German Armed Forces • Germans felt a measure of pride in the reappearance of the German military and defiance of the hates Treaty of Versailles

25. Anschluss • March 1938 • Political union of Austria and Germany • Added more than 200,000 Jews

26. Anschluss The Loos Haus, Vienna, 1938. The banner reads, “Those of the same blood belong in the same Reich!” (April 1938)

27. The Evian Conference • July 1938, The Evian Conference • At the request of FDR, 33 Countries gathered to decide what to do about the “refugee problem” (Jews fleeing from Nazi dominated areas)

28. The Evian Conference • No country allowed extra numbers for Jewish immigrants; except the Dominican Republic-they agreed to grant large numbers of Jews sanctuary • Responding to Evian, the German government was able to state with great pleasure how "astounding" it was that foreign countries criticized Germany for their treatment of the Jews, but none of them wanted to open the doors to them when "the opportunity offer[ed]."

29. Adolph Eichmann • Chief of the Jewish Office of the Gestapo • Sometimes referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust" • Set up Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna just after Anschluss

30. Adolph Eichmann • Eichmann was charged with forcibly deporting and expelling Jews from Austria and later other countries as well • Eichmann’s office was the headquarters for the implementation of the Final Solution after the Wannsee Conference

31. Herschel Grynszpan • Living in France but his parents are living in Germany • Poland passes a law that doesn’t allow refugees back in to Poland • Non-citizens couldn’t stay in Germany and couldn’t go to Poland, so they were dumped on the border

32. Herschel Grynszpan • The Jews were left at the border with little food from Jewish welfare organizations and Polish Red Cross • His parents sent Herschel a postcard telling him what happened and asking him for help • Upon receiving the postcard he wrote to his family and went to the German Embassy in France and requested to see a German Ambassador • He walked into the office of Ernst vom Rath and shot him five times in the abdomen; he told police that he was acting in the name of 12,000 persecuted Jews, vom Rath later died

33. Kristallnacht • Grynszpan’s violence against the German ambassador gives Nazis justification for violence against Jews • November 9-10, 1938, Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels suggested using Storm Troopers to raid Jewish businesses, homes, and property to avenge vom Rath’s murder

34. Kristallnacht • Jewish synagogues are all destroyed and set on fire • Business owners and known Jews were beaten (sometimes to death) • Firemen were called out, but to prevent the fires from burning Aryan properties • Kristallnacht is the first time since Nazis taking power that a large number of Jews are killed simultaneously

35. Kristallnacht

36. Kristallnacht • Geobbel’s rivals want to do better to impress Hitler • Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich had been preparing a list of Jewish men; police were sent out to arrest these men; 30,000 Jews put in prison

37. Kristallnacht • Hermann Göring wanted to get in on Kristallnacht • His office began the program of Aryanization-getting Jews to sell the homes, businesses, or properties cheap • 115,000 Jews emigrate with in 10 months after Kristallnacht