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Nazi Germany refers to Germany from the start of Adolf Hitler\'s government in 1933 until the beginning of denazification in 1945. In this period the country was governed by the National Socialist German Workers Party, or "Nazi Party" (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), and by Adolf Hitler as chancellor in 1933, and from 1934 onward as Führer ("Leader"). Nazi Germany is perceived as a depreciative expression to denominate this period, which is officially the "German Reich" (Deutsches Reich) and later the "Great German Reich" (Großdeutsches Reich). Another popular term is "Third Reich" (Drittes Reich).
The policies pursued during this period were based on the concepts of Großdeutschland (Great Germany), Lebensraum, Aryan racial purity, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, territorial revision and revenge for Germany\'s territorial losses at the Treaty of Versailles (all of these topics were among the leading causes of the Second World War). The Nazi regime is infamous for the incarceration in concentration camps and mass murder of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), political opponents, homosexuals and others in the Holocaust or Shoah.
After the annexation of Austria in 1938, Nazi Germany became the first united German state since the Holy Roman Empire to include Austria within its boundaries. This combination ended in 1945 with the Nazi regime\'s defeat, together with the complete dissolution of Prussia as a regional component of Germany.
By the end of the war, Germany\'s major infrastructure was destroyed — and many of its major cities were in ruin as the result of Allied bombings.
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The official name of Germany did not change after the Nazis came to power in 1933. It remained Deutsches Reich (literally translated as "German Empire"), the same as it had been since 1871. It was only in 1943 that the Nazi government officially modified the name of Germany, calling it Großdeutsches Reich (literally translated as "Great German Empire"), which remained in use until the defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945.
Early in, the terms Drittes Reich ("Third Empire") and Tausendjähriges Reich ("Thousand-Year Empire") were used to describe the greater German ethnic empire which the Nazis wished to forge. The first term was taken by the Nazis from the 1923 book Das Dritte Reich ("The Third Reich") by the cultural historian and writer Arthur Moeller van den Bruck — who was an anti-Versailles German nationalist, but far from enthusiastic about Hitler, whom he met in 1922.[citation needed] The term Tausendjähriges Reich was used only briefly and dropped from propaganda in 1939.See "Summary of Christian eschatological differences." If Hitler happened not to be aware of the connotations when he used the phrase "thousand years" in Mein Kampf, his editor certainly was, the editor having been Bernhard Stempfle, a Roman Catholic priest who perished in the Night of the Long Knives, possibly for knowing too much about Hitler.
The term "Third Reich" referred to the Nazi recognition of former incarnations of German empires, while alluding to envisioned future prosperity and the new nation\'s alleged destiny. But it was dropped from propaganda on July 10 1939 at Hitler\'s request. The Holy Roman Empire (Heiliges Römisches Reich, later with the appendage "Deutscher Nation"), deemed the "First Reich", had lasted almost a thousand years, from 843 to 1806, hence the reference to the 1000-year Reich.
The "Second Reich" was the Prussian-ruled monarchy called the German Empire, and the first firmly unified German state, which existed from 1871 until its replacement by the Weimar Republic following the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918 and the abolition of the Empire in the wake of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
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Nazism had much of the ideological basis of fascism which originally developed in Italy under Benito Mussolini. Both ideologies involved the political use of militarism, nationalism, anti-communism and paramilitary forces, and both intended to create a dictatorial state.[citation needed] The Nazis, however, were far more racially-oriented than fascists in Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The Nazis were also intent on creating a completely totalitarian state, unlike Italian fascists who allowed a larger degree of private liberties for their citizens. These differences allowed the Italian monarchy to continue to exist and have some official powers.
The totalitarian nature of the Nazi party was one of its principal tenets. The Nazis contended that all the great achievements in the past of the German nation and its people were associated with the ideals of National Socialism, even before the ideology officially existed. Propaganda accredited the consolidation of Nazi ideals and successes of the regime to the regime\'s Führer ("Leader"), Adolf Hitler, who was portrayed as the genius behind the Nazi party\'s success and Germany\'s saviour.
To secure their ability to create a totalitarian state, the Nazi party\'s paramilitary force, the Sturmabteilung (SA) or "Storm Unit" used acts of violence against leftists, democrats, Jews, and other opposition or minority groups. The SA\'s violence created a climate of fear in cities, with people anxious over punishment, or even death, if they displayed opposition to the Nazis. The SA also helped attract large numbers of alienated and unemployed youth to the party.
The "German problem", as it is often referred to in English scholarship, focuses on the issue of administration of Germanic regions in Northern and Central Europe, an important theme throughout German history.Bischof, Günter, “The Historical Roots of a Special Relationship: Austro-German Relations Between Hegemony and Equality”. In Unequal Partners, ed. Harald von Riekhoff and Hanspeter Neuhold. San Francisco: Westview Press, 1993 The "logic" of keeping Germany small worked in the favor of its principal economic rivals, and had been a driving force in the recreation of a Polish state.[citation needed] The goal was to create numerous counterweights in order to "balance out Germany\'s power".
The Nazis endorsed the concept of Großdeutschland, or Greater Germany, and believed that the incorporation of the Germanic people into one nation was a vital step towards their national success.[citation needed] But it was the Nazis\' passionate support of the Volk concept that led to Germany\'s expansion, that gave legitimacy and the support needed for the Third Reich to proceed to conquer long-lost territories with overwhelmingly non-German population like former Prussian gains in Poland that it lost to Russia in the 1800s, or to acquire territories with German population like parts of Austria, or "needed" as the Nazi regime claimed for Lebensraum (living space) for a growing population.
Two important issues were administration of the Polish corridor and Danzig\'s incorporation into the Reich. As a further extension of racial policy, the Lebensraum program pertained to similar interests; the Nazis determined that Eastern Europe would be settled with ethnic Germans, and the Slavic population who met the Nazi racial standard would be absorbed into the Reich. Those not fitting the racial standard were to be used as cheap labour force or deported eastward.Hitler\'s Plan, Dac.neu.edu
Racialism and racism were important aspects of society within the Third Reich. The Nazis combined anti-Semitism with anti-Communist ideology, regarding the leftist-internationalist movement — as well as international market capitalism — as the work of "Conspiratorial Jewry". They referred to this so-called movement with terminology such as the "Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of subhumans." ess.uwe.ac.uk This platform manifested itself in the displacement, internment, and systematic extermination of an estimated 11 million to 12 million people in the midst of World War II, roughly half of them being Jews targeted in what is historically remembered as the Holocaust (Shoah), and another 100,000-1,000,000 being Roma, who were murdered in the Porajmos. Other victims of Nazi persecution included communists, various political opponents, social outcasts, homosexuals, religious dissidents such as Jehovah\'s Witnesses, Christadelphians, the Confessing Church and Freemasons.[citation needed]
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| Kingdom of Germany |
.svg/58px-Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor (after 1400).svg) Holy Roman Empire
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 East Colonisation
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| Sectionalism
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| Building a nation |
 Confederation of the Rhine
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 German Confederation
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| Unification of Germany
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 World War I
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.svg/58px-Flag of Germany (2-3).svg) Weimar Republic
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 Nazi Germany
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 World War II
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| Post-war Germany since 1945 |
.svg/58px-Flag of Germany (1946-1949).svg) Occupation +  Ostgebiete
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| German reunification
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 Military history of Germany
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| Timeline of German history |
| History of the German language |
In the wake of the loss of land, the heavy reparations and perceived national embarrassment imposed through the Treaty of Versailles, civil unrest, the worldwide economic depression of the 1930s spurred by the stock market crash in the U.S., the counter-traditionalism of the Weimar period, and the threat of communism in Germany,[citation needed] many voters began turning their support towards the Nazi Party, which promised strong government, cessation of civil unrest, radical changes to economic policy, cultural renewal based on traditionalism, military rearmament in opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, and restored national pride that the Nazis claimed was lost in the Treaty of Versailles and in the liberal democracy of the Weimar Republic.[5]. The Nazis also endorsed the Dolchstoßlegende ("Stab in the back legend") which figured prominently in their propaganda as it did in propaganda of most other nationalist-leaning parties in Germany.
From 1925 to the 1930s, the German government devolved from a democracy to a de facto conservative-nationalist authoritarian state under President and war hero Paul von Hindenburg, who opposed the liberal democratic nature of the Weimar Republic and wanted to find a way to make Germany into an authoritarian state.[citation needed] The natural ally of the foundation of an authoritarian state had been the German National People\'s Party (DNVP or "the Nationalists"), but increasingly, after 1929, more fanatic and younger-generation nationalists were attracted to the revolutionary nature of the Nazi party, to challenge the rising support for communism as the German economy floundered. By 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag. Hindenburg was reluctant to give any substantial power to Hitler, but worked out an alliance between the Nazis and the DNVP which would allow him to develop an authoritarian state. But Hitler consistently demanded to be appointed chancellor in order for Hindenburg to receive any Nazi Party support of his administration.
On January 30 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by Hindenburg after attempts by General Kurt von Schleicher to form a viable government failed (the Machtergreifung). Hindenburg was put under pressure by Hitler through his son Oskar von Hindenburg, as well as intrigue from former Chancellor Franz von Papen, leader of the Catholic Centre Party following his collection of participating financial interests and his own ambitions to combat communism.[citation needed] Even though the Nazis had gained the largest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, they had no majority of their own, and just a slim majority in parliament with their Papen-proposed Nationalist DNVP-NSDAP coalition. This coalition ruled through accepted continuance of the Presidential decree, issued under Article 48 of the 1919 Weimar constitution.
The Nazi treatment of the Jews in the early months of 1933 marked the first step in a longer-term process of removing them from German society.Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 441. This plan was at the core of Adolf Hitler\'s "cultural revolution".Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 441.
The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of the Nazi regime.
The new government installed a totalitarian dictatorship in a series of measures in quick succession (see Gleichschaltung for details).
On the night of February 27 1933 the Reichstag building was set on fire and Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found inside the building. He was arrested and charged with starting the blaze. The event had an immediate effect on thousands of anarchists, socialists and communists throughout the Reich, many of whom were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. The unnerved public worried that the fire had been a signal meant to initiate the communist revolution, and the Nazis found the event to be of immeasurable value in getting rid of potential insurgents. The event was quickly followed by the Reichstag Fire Decree, rescinding habeas corpus and other civil liberties.
The Enabling Act was passed in March 1933, with 444 votes, to the 94 of the remaining Social Democrats. The act gave the government (and thus effectively the Nazi Party) legislative powers and also authorized it to deviate from the provisions of the constitution for four years. With these powers, Hitler removed the remaining opposition and turned the Weimar Republic into the "Third Reich".
For Hitler to create the Nazi dictatorship, Germany had to become a one party state.[citation needed] This was achieved by the Nazis, as by June 1933 the Social Democrats had been banned, the Communists had been banned and the German Nationalists (DNVP), German People\'s Party (DVP) and German Democratic Party (DDP) had all been forced to disband. The remaining Catholic Centre Party, at Papen\'s urging, disbanded itself on July 5 1933 after guarantees over Catholic education and youth groups. On July 14 1933 Germany officially declared a one-party state with the passing of the Law against the formation of parties.
March at Reichsparteitag 1935
Symbols of the Weimar Republic, including the black-red-gold flag (now the present-day flag of Germany), were abolished by the new regime which adopted both new and old imperial symbolism to represent the dual nature of the imperialist-Nazi regime of 1933. The old imperial black-white-red tricolour, almost completely abandoned during the Weimar Republic, was restored as one of Germany\'s two officially legal national flags. The other official national flag was the swastika flag of the Nazi party. It became the sole national flag in 1935. The national anthem continued to be "Deutschland über Alles" (also known as the "Deutschlandlied") except that the Nazis customarily used just the first verse and appended to it the "Horst Wessel Lied" accompanied by the so-called Hitler salute.
Further consolidation of power was achieved on January 30 1934 with the Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reichs (Act to rebuild the Reich). The act changed the highly decentralized federal Germany of the Weimar era into a centralized state. It disbanded state parliaments, transferring sovereign rights of the states to the Reich central government and put the state administrations under the control of the Reich administration.
In the spring of 1934 only the army remained independent from Nazi control. The German army had traditionally been separated from the government and somewhat of an entity of its own. The Nazi paramilitary SA expected top positions in the new power structure and wanted the regime to follow through its promise of enacting socialist legislation for Aryan Germans. Wanting to preserve good relations with the army and the major industries who were weary of more political violence erupting from the SA, on the night of June 30 1934, Hitler initiated the violent "Night of the Long Knives", a purge of the leadership ranks of Röhm\'s SA as well as hard-left Nazis (Strasserists), and other political enemies, carried out by another, more elitist, Nazi organization, the SS.
At the death of president Hindenburg on August 2 1934 the Nazi-controlled Reichstag merged the offices of Reichspräsident and Reichskanzler and reinstalled Hitler with the new title Führer und Reichskanzler. Until the death of Hindenburg, the army did not follow Hitler, partly because the paramilitary SA was much larger than the German Army (limited to 100,000 by the Treaty of Versailles) and because the leaders of the SA sought to merge the Army into itself and to launch the socialist "second revolution" to complement the nationalist revolution which had occurred with the ascendance of Hitler. The murder of Ernst Roehm, leader of the SA, in the Night of the Long Knives, the death of Hindenburg, the merger of the SA into the Army and the promise of other expansions of the German military wrought friendlier relations between Hitler and the Army, resulting in a unanimous oath of allegiance by all soldiers to obey Hitler.[citation needed] The Nazis proceeded to scrap their official alliance with the conservative nationalists and began to introduce Nazi ideology and Nazi symbolism into all major aspects of life in Germany. Schoolbooks were either rewritten or replaced, and schoolteachers who did not support Nazification of the curriculum were fired.
The inception of the Gestapo, police acting outside of any civil authority, highlighted the Nazis\' intention to use powerful, coercive means to directly control German society. An army, estimated to be of about 100,000, spies and informants operated throughout Germany, reporting to Nazi officials the activities of any critics or dissenters.[citation needed] Most ordinary Germans, happy with the improving economy and better standard of living, remained obedient and quiet, but many political opponents, especially[citation needed] communists and Marxist or international socialists, were reported by omnipresent eavesdropping spies and put in prison camps where many were tortured and killed. It is estimated that tens of thousands of political victims died or disappeared in the first few years of Nazi rule.[attribution needed]
Romani arrivals in the Belzec extermination camp await instructions
The Nazi Party pursued its racial and social policies through persecution and killing of those considered social undesirables or "enemies of the Reich." Especially targeted were minority groups such as Jews, Romani (also known as Gypsies), Blacks and other people of color,[citation needed] Slavs,[citation needed] Jehovah\'s Witnesses, United States Holocaust Memorial Museumushmm.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. people with mental or physical disabilities and homosexuals.
In the 1930s, plans to isolate and eventually eliminate Jews completely in Germany began with the construction of ghettos, concentration camps, and labour camps which began with the 1933 construction of the Dachau concentration camp, which Heinrich Himmler officially described as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners."http://www.mazal.org/archive/DACHPHO/Dach02.htm Translation: "The Munich Chief of Police, Himmler, has issued the following press announcement: On Wednesday the first concentration camp is to be opened in Dachau with an accommodation for 5000 persons. All Communists and—where necessary—Reichsbanner and Social Democratic functionaries who endanger state security are to be concentrated here, as in the long run it is not possible to keep individual functionaries in the state prisons without overburdening these prisons, and on the other hand these people cannot be released because attempts have shown that they persist in their efforts to agitate and organize as soon as they are released."
In the years following the Nazi rise to power, many Jews were encouraged to leave the country and did so. By the time the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935, Jews were stripped of their German citizenship and denied government employment. Most Jews employed by Germans lost their jobs at this time, which were being taken by unemployed Germans. Notably, the Nazi government attempted to send 17,000 German Jews of Polish descent back to Poland, a decision which led to the assassination of Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German Jew living in France. This provided the pretext for a pogrom the Nazi Party incited against the Jews on November 9 1938, which specifically targeted Jewish businesses. The event was called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass, literally "Crystal Night"); the euphemism was used because the numerous broken windows made the streets look as if covered with crystals. By September 1939 more than 200,000 Jews had left Germany, with the Nazi government seizing any property they left behind.
The Nazis also undertook programs targeting "weak" or "unfit" people, such as the T-4 Euthanasia Program, killing tens of thousands of disabled and sick Germans in an effort to "maintain the purity of the German Master race" (German: Herrenvolk) as described by Nazi propagandists. The techniques of mass killing developed in these efforts would later be used in the Holocaust. Under a law passed in 1933, the Nazi regime carried out the compulsory sterilization of over 400,000 individuals labeled as having hereditary defects, ranging from mental illness to alcoholism.
Another component of the Nazi programme of creating racial purity was the Lebensborn, or "Fountain of Life" programme founded in 1936. The programme was aimed at encouraging German soldiers — mainly SS — to reproduce. This included offering SS families support services (including the adoption of racially pure children into suitable SS families) and accommodating racially-valuable women, pregnant with mainly SS men\'s children, in care homes in Germany and throughout Occupied Europe. Lebensborn also expanded to encompass the placing of racially pure children forcibly seized from occupied countries — such as Poland — with German families.[citation needed]
A member of the U.S. Congressional Nazi crimes committee visiting Buchenwald concentration camp shortly after its liberation
At the outset of World War II, the German authority in the General Government in occupied Poland ordered that all Jews face compulsory labour and that those who were physically incapable such as women and children were to be confined to ghettos. Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 111.
To the Nazis a number of ideas appeared on how to answer the "Jewish Question". One method was a mass forced deportation of Jews. Adolf Eichmann suggested that Jews be forced to emigrate to Palestine. Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. P. 111. Franz Rademacher made the proposal that Jews be deported to Madagascar; this proposal was supported by Himmler and was discussed by Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini but was later dismissed as impractical in 1942. Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. P. 111. The idea of continuing deportations to occupied Poland was rejected by the governor, Hans Frank, of the General Government of occupied Poland as Frank refused to accept any more deportations of Jews to the territory which already had large numbers of Jews. Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. P. 111. In 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, Nazi officials decided to eliminate the Jews altogether, as discussed the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". Concentration camps like Auschwitz were converted and used gas chambers to kill as many Jews as possible. By 1945, a number of concentration camps had been liberated by Allied forces and they found the survivors to be severely malnourished. The Allies also found evidence that the Nazis were profiteering from the mass murder of Jews not only by confiscating their property and personal valuables but also by extracting gold fillings from the bodies of some Jews held in concentration camps.
The effects of Nazi social policy in Germany was divided between those considered to be "Aryan" and those considered "non-Aryan", Jewish, or part of other minority groups. For "Aryan" Germans, a number of social policies put through by the regime to benefit them were advanced for the time, including state opposition to the use of tobacco, an end to official stigmatization toward Aryan children who were born from parents outside of marriage, as well as giving financial assistance to Aryan German families who bore children.Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the U.S. Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001) 611-647
Olympic Stadium (photo by Josef Jindřich Šechtl)
The regime sought to restore traditional values in German culture. The art and culture that came to define the Weimar Republic years was repressed. The visual arts were strictly monitored and traditional, focusing on exemplifying Germanic themes, racial purity, militarism, heroism, power, strength, and obedience. Modern abstract art and avant-garde art was removed from museums and put on special display as "degenerate art", where it was to be ridiculed. In one notable example, on March 31 1937, huge crowds stood in line to view a special display of "degenerate art" in Munich. Art forms considered to be degenerate included Dada, Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Impressionism, New Objectivity, and Surrealism. Literature written by Jewish, other non-Aryans, or authors opposed to the Nazis was destroyed by the regime. The most infamous destruction of literature was the book burnings of 1933.
In 1933, Nazis burned works considered "un-German" in Berlin, including those by Jewish authors
Two major displays of Nazi German art and culture were at the 1936 Summer Olympics and at the German pavilion at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. The 1936 Olympics was meant to display to the world the Aryan superiority of Germany to other nations. German athletes were carefully chosen not only for strength but for Aryan appearance. However, one common belief of Hitler snubbing African-American athlete Jesse Owens has recently been discovered to be technically incorrect — it was African-American athlete Cornelius Cooper Johnson who was believed to have been snubbed by Hitler, who left the medal ceremonies after awarding a German and a Finn medals. Hitler claimed it was not a snub, but that he had official business to attend to which caused him to depart. Hitler was criticized for this and the Olympic committee officials insisted that he greet each and every medalist. Hitler did not attend any of the medal presentations which followed, including the one after Jesse Owens won his four medals.Hyde Flippo, The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Hitler and Jesse Owens German Myth 10 from German.about.comRick Shenkman, Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens and the Olympics Myth of 1936 February 13, 2002 from History News Network (article excerpted from Rick Shenkman\'s Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History. Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st ed edition (November 1988) ISBN 0688065805). Ironically, it was U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who declined to invite Owens to the White House or to congratulate him in any way. See "Getting to Know the Racial Views of Our Past Presidents: What about FDR?" Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 38 (2002-2003, Winter), 44-46.
Despite the official attempt to forge a pure Germanic culture, one major area of the arts, architecture, under Hitler\'s personal guidance, was neoclassical, a style based on architecture of ancient Rome.Scobie, Alexander. Hitler\'s State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-271-00691-9. Pp. 92. This style stood out in stark contrast and opposition to newer, more liberal, and more popular architecture styles of the time such as Art Deco. Various Roman buildings were examined by state architect Albert Speer for architectural designs for state buildings. Speer constructed huge and imposing structures such as in the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg and the new Reich Chancellery building in Berlin. One design that was pursued, but never built, was a gigantic version of the Pantheon in Rome, called the Volkshalle to be the semi-religious centre of Nazism in a renamed Berlin called Germania, which was to be the "world capital" (Welthauptstadt). Also to be constructed was a Triumphal arch several times larger than that found in Paris, which was also based upon a classical styling. Many of the designs for Germania were impractical to construct because of their size and the marshy soil underneath Berlin; materials that were to be used for construction were diverted to the war effort.
Recent research by academics such as Götz Aly has emphasized the role of the extensive Nazi social welfare programs that supposedly helped maintain public support for the regime that lasted long into the war.[citation needed] Heavily focused on was the idea of a national German community. To aid the fostering of a feeling of community, the German people\'s labor and entertainment experiences — from festivals, to vacation trips and traveling cinemas — were all made a part of the "Strength through Joy" (Kraft durch Freude) program. Also crucial to the building of loyalty and comradeship was the implementation of the National Labor Service and the Hitler Youth Organization, with compulsory membership. In addition to this, a number of architectural projects were undertaken. The construction of the Autobahn made it the first freeway system in the world. Between 1933 and 1936 Germany outpaced the United States in construction, automobile production and employment.
According to the research of Robert N. Proctor for his book "The Nazi War on cancer"Nazi Medicine and Public Health Policy Robert N. Proctor, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies.Review of "The Nazi War on Cancer" Canadian Journal of History, Aug 2001 by Ian Dowbiggin, Nazi Germany had arguably the most powerful anti-tobacco movement in the world. Anti-tobacco research received a strong backing from the government, and German scientists proved that cigarette smoke could cause cancer. German pioneering research on experimental epidemiology lead to the 1939 paper by Franz H. Müller, and the 1943 paper by Eberhard Schairer and Erich Schöniger which convincingly demonstrated that tobacco smoking was a main culprit in lung cancer. The government urged German doctors to counsel patients against tobacco use.
German research on the dangers of tobacco was silenced after the war, and the dangers of tobacco had to be rediscovered by American and English scientists in the early 1950s, with a medical consensus arising in the early 1960s.
German scientists also proved that asbestos was a health hazard, and in 1943 — as the first nation in the world to offer such a benefit — Germany recognized the diseases caused by asbestos, e.g., lung cancer, as occupational illnesses eligible for compensation. The German asbestos-cancer research was later used by American lawyers doing battle against the Johns-Manville Corporation.
As part of the general public-health campaign in Nazi Germany, water supplies were cleaned up, lead and mercury were removed from consumer products, and women were urged to undergo regular screenings for breast cancer.Nazi Medicine and Public Health Policy Robert N. Proctor, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies.Review of "The Nazi War on Cancer" Canadian Journal of History, Aug 2001 by Ian Dowbiggin
The Nazis opposed women\'s emancipation and opposed the feminist movement, claiming that it was Jewish-led and was bad for both women and men. The Nazi regime advocated a patriarchial society in which German women would recognize the "world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home." spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Hitler claimed that women taking vital jobs away from men during the Great Depression was economically bad for families in that women were paid only 66 percent of what men earned. Simultaneously with calling for women to leave work outside the home, the regime called for women to be actively supportive of the state regarding women\'s affairs. In 1933, Hitler appointed Gertrud Scholtz-Klink as the Reich Women\'s Leader, who instructed women that their primary role in society was to bear children and that women should be subservient to men, once saying "the mission of woman is to minister in the home and in her profession to the needs of life from the first to last moment of man\'s existence." . The expectation even applied to Aryan women married to Jewish men—a necessary ingredient in the 1943 Rosenstrasse protest in which 1800 German women (joined by 4200 relatives) obliged the Nazi state to release their Jewish husbands.
Organizations were made for the indoctrination of Nazi values to German women. Such organizations included the Jungmädel (Young Girls) section of the Hitler Youth for girls from the age 10 to 14, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM, German Girl\'s League) for young women from 14 to 18. Nonetheless, one reason for Allied success in the war was that Germany never fully mobilized with regard to women while the nations arrayed against Germany not only recruited women into the military servicesA stunning example of women\'s contribution to the Allies\' fully mobilized war effort was the Soviet Union\'s use of women snipers. Observing the steady grip and focus characteristic of many women, the Soviet Red Army was particularly successful in appointing women as snipers. Women Soviet volunteers to serve as snipers far outran the 1000 available slots, meaning that only the sharpest female shooters were chosen. Many Soviet women snipers killed scores or even hundreds of Wehrmacht troops. Sniping is dangerous duty, and only about one-fourth of the women Soviet snipers survived the war. See the English Wikipedia article on Snipers of the Soviet Union. but also unhesitatingly accepted women into the civilian workforce, particularly militarily critical jobs (such as heavy truck/lorry driver, shipfitter) previously held by men. Only late in the war, after many German municipalities were already bombed into rubble, did Germany begin training women and girls in how to operate anti-aircraft cannon located in their own neighborhoods.
On the issue of sexual affairs regarding women, the Nazis differed greatly from the restrictive stances on women\'s role in society. The Nazi regime promoted a liberal code of conduct as regards sexual matters, and were sympathetic to women bearing children out of wedlock.Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the U.S. Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001) 611-647 The collapse of 19th century morals in Germany accelerated during the Third Reich, partly due to the Nazis, and partly due to the effects of the war.Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the U.S. Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001) 611-647 Promiscuity increased greatly as the war progressed, with unmarried soldiers often involved intimately with several women simultaneously.Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the U.S. Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001) 611-647 Married women were often involved in multiple affairs simultaneously, with soldiers, civilians or slave laborers, provided that they were not Jewish.Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the U.S. Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001) 611-647 "Some farm wives in Württemberg had already begun using sex as a commodity, employing carnal favours as a means of getting a full day\'s work from foreign labourers." Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the U.S. Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001) 611-647 In so doing, they were following the example of many of the leaders, such as Goebbels, a prolific adulterer. Some concentration camps included brothels. In Der Stürmer, editor Julius Streicher regularly published photos displaying his concept of ideal "Aryan" women in the nude.
Despite the somewhat official restrictions, some women forged highly visible, as well as officially praised, achievements. Examples are aviatrix Hanna Reitsch and film director Leni Riefenstahl.
An example of the almost cynical Nazi difference between doctrine and practice is that, whilst fornication among campers was explicitly forbidden, boys\' and girls\' camps of the Hitlerjugend associations were needlessly placed close together as if to make it happen. Pregnancy (including disruptive repercussions on established marriages) often resulted when fetching members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel were assigned to duties which juxtaposed them with easily tempted men.For a more elaborate discussion, see William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Touchstone Edition) (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), ISBN 0-671-72868-7, section titled "Education in the Third Reich" (pp. 248-256), esp. pp. 254-256. The following quotation from p. 254 typifies the Shirer narrative:I listened to women leaders of the B.D.M.—they were invariably of the plainer type and usually unmarried—lecture their young charges on the moral and patriotic duty of bearing children for Hitler\'s Reich—within wedlock if possible, but without it if necessary.Prior to the Night of the Long Knives and the lethal purge of Ernst Roehm and other homosexuals among the SA leadership for political reasons, the Nazis had paid little or no attention to homosexuality, considering it a matter of individual privacy or even an expression of the ultimate Aryan libido. In any event a characteristic running throughout Nazism is the hesitancy of the leaders to apply to themselves the rules they had for others.
In 1933 the regime enacted a stringent animal-protection law.Hartmut M. Hanauske-Abel, Not a slippery slope or sudden subversion: German medicine and National Socialism in 1933, BMJ 1996; p. 1453-1463 (7 December)kaltio.fi. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. A particular emphasis of the law was its prohibition on kosher slaughter, a Nazi concern which also emerged in the final scenes of the 1940 propaganda film Der ewige Jude (the eternal Jew).[citation needed]
In 1935 the regime enacted the "Reich Nature Protection Act". While not a purely Nazi piece of legislation since parts of its influences pre-dated the Nazi rise to power, it nevertheless reflected Nazi ideology. The concept of the Dauerwald (best translated as the "perpetual forest") which included concepts such as forest management and protection was promoted and efforts were also made to curb air-pollution.JONATHAN OLSEN "How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich (review)" Technology and Culture - Volume 48, Number 1, January 2007, pp. 207-208Review of Franz-Josef Brueggemeier, Marc Cioc, and Thomas Zeller, eds, "How Green Were the Nazis?: Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich" Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, H-Environment, H-Net Reviews, October, 2006.
In practice, the enacted laws and policies met resistance from various ministries that sought to undermine them, and from the priority that the war-effort took to environmental protection. Environmentalism was in the end often sacrificed for the sake of other goals of the state.[citation needed]
When the Nazis came to power the most pressing issue was an unemployment rate of close to 30%http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html">http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.. The economic policies of the Third Reich were in the beginning the brainchildren of Hjalmar Schacht, who assumed office as president of the central bank under Hitler in 1933, and became finance minister in the following yearhttp://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html">http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.. Schacht was one of the few finance ministers to take advantage of the freedom provided by the end of the gold standard to keep interest rates low and government budget deficits high, with massive public works funded by large budget deficitshttp://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html">http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.. The consequence was an extremely rapid decline in unemployment--the most rapid decline in unemployment in any country during the Great Depressionhttp://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html">http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.. Eventually this Keynesian economic policy was supplemented by the boost to demand provided by rearmament and swelling military spending.
Hjalmar Schacht was replaced in September 1936 by Hitler\'s lieutenant Hermann Goering, with a mandate to make Germany self-sufficient to fight a war within four years.http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html">http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Under Goering imports were slashed. Wages and prices were controlled--under penalty of being sent to the concentration camp. Dividends were restricted to six percent on book capital. And strategic goals to be reached at all costs (much like Soviet planning) were declared: the construction of synthetic rubber plants, more steel plants, automatic textile factories.http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html">http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
While the strict state intervention into the economy, and the massive rearmament policy, led to full employment during the 1930s, real wages in Germany dropped by roughly 25% between 1933 and 1938. econ161.berkeley.edu. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Trade unions were abolished, as well as collective bargaining and the right to strike. [1] The right to quit also disappeared: Labour books were introduced in 1935, and required the consent of the previous employer in order to be hired for another job. [2]
Another part of the new German economy was massive rearmament, with the goal being to expand the 100,000-strong German Army into a force of millions. The Four-Year Plan was discussed in the controversial Hossbach Memorandum, which provides the "minutes" from one of Hitler\'s briefings.
Nevertheless, the war came and although the Four-Year Plan technically expired in 1940, Hermann Göring had built up a power base in the "Office of the Four-Year Plan" that effectively controlled all German economic and production matters by this point in time. In 1942 the growing burdens of the war and the death of Todt saw the economy move to a full war economy under Albert Speer.
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay war reparations and frustrated the German economy. It al
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