NAZISM AND THE RISE OF HITLER

QUESTION- ANSWERS- PART 1

1. Which were the two power blocs that participated in the First World War? The entry of
which power changed the course of the war?

Ans. First World War saw the conflict between two groups:

• The Allies- Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Russia, etc.

• The Central Powers- Germany, Austria Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey

The entry of USA in 1917 changed the course of the war leading to the victory of the Allies
and the defeat of the Central Powers.

2. Briefly discuss the formation of the Weimar Republic in Germany.

Ans.

• The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to
parliamentary parties to recast German polity.

• National Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic Constitution with a

federal structure.

• Deputies were now elected to German Parliament or Reichstag, on the basis of equal and
universal votes cast by all adults including women.

3. Name the treaty signed by Germany after the First World War. What were the terms of
this treaty that made it a harsh and humiliating one for Germany?

Ans. After the First World War, Germany was forced to sign a harsh and humiliating peace
treaty with the Allies at Versailles in France. This treaty was known as the Treaty of
Versailles.

• The terms and conditions imposed on Germany were as follows:

❑ Germany to lose its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 per cent of its
territories.

❑ Germany also lost 75% of its iron and 26% of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and
Lithuania.

❑ The Allied powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power.

❑ The war guilt clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied
countries suffered. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion
pounds.

❑ The Allied armies also occupied the resource- rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.

4. Why was the Weimar Republic called as the November Criminals?

Ans. Many Germans held the newly elected Weimar Republic responsible for not only the
defeat in the war but the disgrace at Versailles as well. The republic carried the burden of war
guilt and national humiliation and was financially crippled by being forced to pay
compensation. Those who supported the Weimar Republic were mockingly called the
‘November Criminals’.

5. How was aggressive nationalism propounded in the post war Germany?

Ans. Aggressive nationalism became popular in the post war Germany as can be seen from
the followed:

• Soldiers came to be placed above the civilians. Politicians and publicists laid great stress
on the need for men to be aggressive, strong and masculine.

• The media glorified trench life. The lives in trenches during the First World War was
however extremely miserable and dangerous.

• Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage and popular
support grew for conservative dictatorships.

• Democracy was a fragile idea that could not survive the instabilities of interwar Europe.

6. What was the Spartacist League? Why were the Free Corps formed?

Ans.

• At the time Weimar Republic was born, there was a revolutionary uprising in Germany
by the Spartacist League on the pattern of the Russian Revolution.

• The Socialists, Democrats and Catholics who formed the Weimar Republic crushed the
rising with the help of a war veterans’ organisation called Free Corps.

• The Spartacists later formed the Communist Party of Germany.

7. What do you understand by the term ‘hyperinflation’? Examine the factors that led to
hyper-inflation in Germany after the First World War.

Ans. Hyperinflation is a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.

• Germany had fought the World War largely on loans and had to pay the war reparations
in gold. This depleted the gold reserves at a time when resources were scarce.

• In 1923, Germany refused to pay the war penalty and the French occupied its leading
industrial area, Ruhr, to claim their coal.

• Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly.

• With too much of paper currency in circulation, the value of the German mark fell.

• As the value of the mark collapsed, prices of goods soared. The image of Germans
carrying cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely publicised evoking
worldwide sympathy.

• This crisis came to be known as hyperinflation.

Eventually the Americans bailed Germany out of the crisis by introducing the Dawes Plan

8. What do you understand by the ‘Great Economic Depression’?

Ans.

➢ The US Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929.

➢ Fearing a fall in prices, people made frantic efforts to sell their shares. On a single day,
24th October, 13 million shares were sold.

➢ This was the start of the Great Economic Depression.

➢ Over the next three years, between 1929- 1932, the national income of the USA fell by
half.

9. Examine the impact of the Great Economic Depression on German economy.

Ans.

• The German economy was worst hit by the economic crisis. By 1932, industrial
production was reduced.

• Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages.

• The number of unemployed touched an unprecedented 6 million. On the streets of

Germany men could be seen with placards around their necks saying ‘Willing to do any
work’.

• As jobs disappeared, the youth took to criminal activities and total despair became
common place.
 • The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings
diminish when the currency lost its value.

• Small businessmen, the self- employed and retailers suffered as their businesses got
ruined.

• Unemployment weakened the bargaining power of the organised workers.

• Big business was in crisis.

• The large mass of peasantry was affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices and
women, unable to fill their children’s stomachs, were filled with a sense of deep despair.

10. Examine the inherent defects of the Weimar Constitution that made it vulnerable to
dictatorship.

Ans.

• The Weimar Constitution has some inherent defects, which made it vulnerable to
dictatorship.

❖ PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION- This made achieving a majority by any one

party a near impossible task, leading to a rule by coalitions.

❖ ARTICLE 48- This gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil
rights and rule by decree.

• Due to these defects, people lost their confidence in the democratic parliamentary
system, which seemed to offer no solutions.

11. Name the party joined by Hitler after the First World War.

Ans. In 1919, Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party, took over as its head and renamed it
as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NAZI party).

12. Discuss the factors that helped Hitler to get the majority votes in Reichstag in 1932.

Ans.

• Hitler was a powerful orator (speaker). His passion and words moved people. He
promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustice of Versailles treaty and restore the
dignity of the German people.

• He promised employment for those looking for work and a secure future for the youth.
• He promised to weed out all foreign influences and resist all foreign ‘conspiracies’
against Germany.

• Hitler devised a new style of politics. He understood the significance of rituals and mass
spectacles in mass mobilisation.

• The Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the support for Hitler
and instil a sense of unity among the people.

• The Red banners with the Swastika, the Nazi salute, and the ritualised rounds of applause
after the speeches were all part of this spectacle of power.

• The Nazi propaganda projected Hitler as a messiah, a saviour who would deliver people
from their distress. This image captured the imaginations of people who were living in a
time of acute economic and political crises.

13. Examine the steps taken by Hitler to demolish democracy in Germany.

Ans. On 30th January 1933, President Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship to Hitler.
Having acquired power, he set out to dismantle the structures of democratic rule.
➢ FIRE DECREE- A mysterious fire broke out in the German parliament building that led
to the implementation of the Fire Decree on 28th February 1933. This decree suspended
civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been earlier guaranteed
by the Weimar constitution. The communists who were the arch enemies of Hitler were
packed off to the newly established concentration camps.
➢ ENABLING ACT- On 3rd March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed that
established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all the powers to sideline Parliament
and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions except the Nazi party and its
affiliates were banned. The state established complete control over the economy, media,
army and judiciary.
➢ SPECIAL FORCES- Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and
order society in the ways that the Nazis wanted. Apart from the existing regular police in
green uniform and the SA or the Storm Troopers, these included the Gestapo (secret state
police), the SS (the protection squads), criminal police and the Security Services (SD).
The extra- constitutional powers of these newly organised forces that gave the Nazi state
its reputation as the most dreaded criminal state. These forces ruled with impunity.

14. The German Parliament was known as__REICHSTAG__.