There were many of the comparatively prosperous who also came; to better themselves economically. They had heard of how easy it was to proliferate one's riches in America, and with an archetypal German interest in making the most of circumstances, some of the families embarked to seek a greater fortune in the new world. A second notable reason for the coming of the Germans was the religious persecution of the Lutherans and Protestants. While the Midwest received many liberal-minded Germans, it also acquired many of Germany's most ebullient conservatives. In 1817 King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia decreed a unification of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia, and his action was accompanied by the rulers of several of the smaller German states.
Women and Jews, although sadly for them, were sacked from their jobs and these were given to German men. All these schemes that took place had given many Germans jobs and contributed to the reduction of unemployment. Now that Germany had more men helping to rearm through the large companies, it meant that rearmament could take place quicker and now that unemployment had decreased massively till 1939, that was one less problem that Nazi Germany had to worry about. The ‘Battle for Work’ scheme that was set up to reduce unemployment was successful in ways that it fell from 25.9% in 1933 to 7.4% in 1936. This was great for Germans however it did create some issues as Germany’s ‘secret rearmament’ scheme was bringing in too much imported raw materials into Germany whilst exporters were struggling due to taxes on imports and this left Germany with a big trade deficit.
Fighting between some of the leading Nazi’s also meant that it would have been near impossible to put together an effective economy with all missions heading towards the same aim. It is fair to say that the strengths towards this statement highly outweigh the weaknesses, as the war economy was very poorly coordinated due to the many factors that contributed to German war production decreasing. In February of 1942, Albert Speer was appointed as Minister of Armaments, which at the time was a crucial role in the Nazi’s dominant mechanism. This was became the centralising ministry amongst all
Explain why the Nazi Regime proclaimed “Total War” in February 1943. (12 Marks) One factor behind why the Nazi regime went ahead with total war was because it offered a chance to revive public morale following the defeat at Stalingrad. The public morale down at this point however going to war with allies seemed the perfect opportunity in regaining the trust of people in the regime. Josef Goebbels speech proved to be a great example in uplifting the people’s moods in regards to total war. His powerful speech was influential and enabled the German public to feel more optimistic within the war as well as regime.
The limited nature of the revolution was one of the main factors which weakened prospects for democracy, when Ebert was trying to form a government he still had a problem that the radical communists were still looking to turn Germany into a communist state similar to the Soviet Union and thus to put down this rebellion and get support of the army he made an agreement with Groener. The agreement was that the army would support the government if the army and civil service were left unchanged. This was the main reason that democracy was irreversibly weakened, because the civil service and army generals were all right-wing conservatives providing a powerbase for the radical right. This limited democracy because the radical right thought that democracy was weak and indecisive, the radical right though was weakened because the radical left was way more powerful initially in post war Germany, but the radical right would help democracy until the radical left was no longer a threat and would act as ticking time bomb of support. This could have acted as a powerbase for the Kapp Putsch and the eventual rise of the Nazis.
Another thing was there was the weakness of the Weimar government, which played its part. The Weimar government was failing miserably, what with a failed economy, no power, a great depression, unemployment, a weak president, and the rise of terrorism and extremism. The Social Democrats were losing their touch. During the Stresemann years of the 1920s the Nazis couldn’t even get into double figures when it came to seats in the Reichstag. Germany, it looked, was on the rise while Stresemann was Chancellor but the Nazis and their appealing polices were al too good for the people of Germany to refuse and so while the votes for the Social Democrats only increased ever so slightly the Nazi votes were plumiting and with every election they grew and grew.
The elite undermined Weimar as a result of their traditional values and hatred of democracy. In addition, Hitler’s radical new approach to politics utilised the weaknesses in Weimar – he was charismatic and through propaganda convinced the public that he could be their saviour. During the years 1918-28 the Nazis had little impact on the political scene – apart from the failed Beer Hall Putsch, which did earn them admiration from some nationalists. However, during these years, some sections of the public were becoming increasingly disillusioned with Weimar. This was due to events like the devastating 1923 hyperinflation, and of course the Treaty of Versailles, which had tainted Weimar’s reputation from its inception.
Assess the view that the most important element in maintaining Hitler's regime in power between 1933 and 1945 was the consent of the German people There was an original view that the German people feared the regime but there has been a view put forward that the German people actually helped the regime by participating with the Gestapo but still many people believe that the German populace lived in fear of the regime. This was because of many different reasons like the use of Propaganda to control the minds of the Germans. The use of fear to make sure that they acted in the way that the regime demanded. Another key element in the regime was the use of fear to scare the Germans into supporting them. The removal of the opposition was also a useful fact into the Nazis staying in power.
What came along the effects of The Depression was the soaring unemployment rate as well as the poor living and working conditions that much of the population had to endure, this caused the people of Germany to look to the government for support. When the republic failed to help their people, the citizens of Germany turned away from the government and instead turned to the the Nazi party, with its nationalistic ideology which seemed promising and an appealing alternative to the Weimer
The radio was a particularly effective device due to the fact that it was already a big source of entertainment. The Nazis produced cheap radios called the Volksempfänger (People’s radio) affordable to every household, and set up loudspeakers in public places making broadcasted propaganda unavoidable. Posters were another effective form of propaganda because they were visually striking, inexpensive to produce, and overall difficult to avoid. The press was also to be strictly controlled, non-Nazi newspaper and magazine companies were to be shut down, and editors were told what they were able to publish. This only gave the public the option of reading texts that praised Nazism.