Between the World Wars: Fascist Dictatorships

1. Between the World Wars: Fascist Dictatorships Italy and Germany

2. Governments that wanted total control over every aspect of citizens’ lives. Individual is a servant of the state Few personal freedoms Totalitarianism “Hitler is building. Help him. Buy German goods” 1933.

3. Why totalitarianism? To fight a total war, (like WWI) governments had to assume sweeping powers. Dictators arose in Italy and Germany who tried to extend their powers further. They wanted to “remodel” entire societies. "One People, One Reich, One Führer".

4. Mussolini in Italy • Following World War I, violence erupted between the Italian government and the trade unions. In 1922, Benito Mussolini, leader of the Fascist party, organized a March on Rome with 26,000 followers. This massive display of political support convinced the King of Italy to grant him power as prime minister.

5. Benito Mussolini creates Fascist party • Italian nationalists were outraged that Versailles Peace Treaty did not give Italy huge portions of territory from the Central Powers after the war. • Mussolini formed a new political party that he would lead.

6. Definition: Fascism • A political philosophy that advocates the glorification of the state, a single-party system with a strong ruler and aggressive nationalism.

7. Germany’s Weimar Republic • Treaty of Versailles limited the size of Germany’s armed forces and required Germany to form a democratic government. • At a meeting in Weimar, drafted constitution

8. Inflation Causes Discontent Among the German People • “Hyperinflation” in Germany. • To meet expenses, German government printed more and more paper money. • 4 trillion marks = 1 dollar (1923). • Inflation wiped out savings of middle-class Germans

9. National Socialist Worker Party (Nazi) • Nazi Party challenges the Weimar Republic • WWI veteran Adolf Hitler joins Nazi Party. • Hitler tries to seize power with his group, the Brownshirts.

10. Swastika • Ancient symbol used by the Navajos. • Swastika = Sanskrit for “conducive to well-being”

11. Hitler is arrested. Writes book. • In beer hall, Hitler jumps on table and announces “The revolution has begun!” • Arrested • Writes Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in Prison.

12. Hitler in Power • Hitler is released from prison. • Promises to end unemployment and restore Germany’s military power. • Becomes German chancellor in 1933 “The Reich will never be destroyed if you are united and loyal” 1933 President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler

13. Nazi’s in Power: The Leader and the Third Reich (Third Empire) • All political parties, except Nazi party are banned. • Constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, assembly, press and religion are banned. The Fuhrer makes history: 1938

14. “You will obey…” • Control Christian churches. • Silence clergy who oppose Nazi policies.

15. Germany and Italy become Allies • “The National Socialist Movement and the Fascist Revolution have built new, strong states that are pillars in the mist of a world of disorder and confusion. Germany and Italy thus have the same interests....” Adolph Hitler, May 7, 1938. • Alliance “Pact of Steel”

16. “Today Germany, Tomorrow the World”Adolph Hitler • Factories start up • Ships, automobiles are built • “This factory will come from the strength of the whole German people, and it will bring joy to the German people!" Adolph Hitler Laying the Cornerstone to the new Volkswagon factory, May 26, 1938

17. European Jewish Life before WWII • Vibrant communities • People, just like you and me Izio and Anda Littman and their son, Otto, sunbathe on the besach in the resort town of Skole, July 4, 1939, two months before the German invasion of Poland.

18. Hitler proposes a “Final Solution” to the Jewish “Problem” • Hitler had to “blame” some group for Germany’s problems.

19. Attacks on the Jews: Night of broken glass • Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their citizenship • Kristallnacht Nov. 9-10, 1938 Nazi Party attacked Jews on the streets and vandalized Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. A Jewish Synagogue Burns During Kristallnacht

20. Hitler’s Secret Police: Gestapo • In the Kristallnacht of Nov 1938, Gestapo arrests thousands of Jews. • Many shot. • Others sent to concentration camps.

21. German SS officers • In 1925 Adolf Hitler formed his own personal bodyguard called the Schutzstaffel (SS). Four years later Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of the SS. • Later Himmler oversees Germany's Concentration Camps

22. German Propaganda praises Nazi cause

23. Group Exercise • Five different stations • Five groups of five (or six) students. • Numbers=group you are in • 10 minutes per station. Then change. • Fill out one sheet per group per station • Leave laminated sheets for next group. • Turn in group sheets at end of class for 25 pts. (5 pts. per sheet). Portrait of Otto Littman, the son of Izio and Anda Littman, holding a toy rifle

28. Dachau • Germany's first concentration camp at Dachau, a village a few miles from Munich. • A replica of Dachau since almost the whole camp was burned after World War II by the Germans to get rid of the evidence and shame.

29. The Holocaust • Nazi's also murdered Poles, Gypsies and homosexuals, among others, but the European Jews were almost exterminated.

30. The Holocaust The furnaces of Krema II in Auschwitz.

31. The Holocaust

32. Hitler Envisions a Great Empire… boasts it will last 1,000 years… • Turns factories into ammunitions plants. • Brings all intellectual and artistic activity in Germany under his control. • Plans to rebuild Berlin using Classical Architecture.

33. Intellectuals flee Germany • Artists and scientists leave • Sigmund Freud • Albert Einstein • Walter Gropius • Arnold Schoenberg

34. German Propaganda praises Nazi cause

35. Next: The Soviet Union