Transcript 10. Nazi Germany - Nazi Ideas about Race and Religion

Nazi Ideas about Race and
Religion
Nazi Germany
This icon indicates the slide contains activities created in Flash. These activities are not editable.
For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.
1 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
What we will learn today
As well as their ideas about politics and society, the
Nazis also had some strong beliefs about race and
religion.
In this presentation you will investigate:
1.
Race: Hitler’s ideas about the ‘master race’, and
how these ideas affected his treatment of Jews,
tramps, homosexuals and the handicapped.
2.
Religion: Hitler’s feelings about the Christian faith,
and how these ideas affected his treatment of
Catholics and Protestants.
2 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Nazi Ideas about Race
3 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Social Darwinism: the European context
4 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Social Darwinism: the world context
5 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Social Darwinism: the Nazi context
The Nazis took Social Darwinism even further by arguing
that conflict between races of people was inevitable.
Hitler believed in an Aryan 'master race' of ‘blue-eyed,
white-skinned, fair-haired people’.
He felt this race was undermined by toleration of:
(a) ‘undesirable’ other races, such as Jews and Gypsies
(b) ‘undesirable’ Aryan specimens, such as the mentally ill
and people with disabilities.
In order to create a strong 'Volk', Hitler believed it was
necessary to rid Germany of both groups of ‘undesirables’
(“Victory goes to the strong; the weak must be eliminated”).
This presentation will deal with how
Hitler treated these ‘undesirables’.
6 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Why did Hitler hate the Jews?
Hitler hated the Jews. He considered them communists and
war profiteers who had ‘stabbed Germany in the back’ at
the end of World War I. Where did these ideas come from?
Jews were
historically
blamed for
killing
Christ, so
they were:
Politically – denied
basic rights in many
Christian countries.
or
As a result,
they either:
Economically –
excluded from
professions.
7 of 25
Became very poor and
so attracted to
communism, which
scared the wealthy
Became very rich by
setting themselves up
as moneylenders (a
profession closed to
Christians) so they
were hated by the poor.
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
What did Hitler have to say about the Jews?
“The Jews inhabited Hitler’s mind. He
believed that they were the source of all evil,
misfortune and tragedy. They were devils
whom he had been given a divine mission to
destroy…” Lucy Dawidowicz, 1975.
8 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
What did Hitler have to say about the Jews?
9 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Nazi Anti-Jewish policies 1933–39
As soon as he came to power, Hitler began a systematic
state-led attack on the German Jews.
In 1933 he organized a boycott of Jewish businesses.
SA members barred entry to Jewish shops.
Jews were made to use separate seats on buses and
trains, and were banned from public places like parks
and cafes.
Jews were excluded from many professions. Jewish civil
servants and teachers were sacked and Jews were not
allowed to edit newspapers or study law.
Jews could not join the Chamber of Culture or the
German Labour Front, further removing them from
public life.
10 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Nazi Anti-Jewish policies 1933–39
Photograph
courtesy of
the Imperial
War Museum,
London.
This cartoon is from a German school
book from the inter-war period.
What message do you think this cartoon is
trying to give to German school children?
11 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
The Nuremberg Laws – 1935
12 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass
In November 1938, a high-ranking Nazi was shot by a Jewish
man in Paris. Hitler used this as an excuse to organize a
week of violence against the German Jews.
On 10 November, Himmler and the SS led attacks on
Jewish businesses. 10,000 shops were looted and 200
synagogues burnt down.
91 Jews were killed during the seven-day campaign of
terror, and 20,000 were arrested and sent to concentration
camps.
To add insult to injury, Hitler then fined the Jewish community
a billion marks to pay for the damage caused.
13 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
The Jewish Exodus
Many Jews left Germany during this
period. When do you think most Jews
would have left, and why?
Many Jews nevertheless chose to
stay. Why do you think that this was?
14 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Other ‘Undesirable’
Groups
15 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
(a) Tramps
Nazi motives:
Anyone who demonstrates
through behaviour towards the
community … that they will not
adapt themselves to the natural
discipline of a Nazi state [should
not be allowed to have children].
Himmler, 1935
Nazi actions:
By 1945, 350,000 men who were considered
vagrants had been forcibly sterilized. 100 of these
had died as a result of the “Hitler cut”.
16 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
(b) Homosexuals
Nazi motives:
There are homosexuals who take
the view: what I do is my business.
However, all things which take place
in the sexual sphere … signify the
life and death of the nation ... A
people of good race which has too
few children has a one-way ticket to
the grave. Himmler, 1937
Nazi actions:
During the Nazi period, between 10 and 15 thousand
homosexuals were imprisoned. They were then either
castrated or subjected to medical experiments to ‘correct’
their sexuality.
17 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
(c) The Disabled
Nazi motives:
[Doctors can] decide whether
those who have – as far as can
be humanly determined –
incurable illnesses should, after
the most careful evaluation, be
granted a mercy death. Hitler, 1939
Nazi actions:
By 1945 the ‘mercy killing’ of people who were ill or
disabled had resulted in nearly 280,000 deaths. The
euthanasia programme set a dangerous precedent that
paved the way for the Holocaust.
18 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Discussion points
19 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Nazi Ideas about
Religion
20 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Hitler’s attitude
Hitler was in two minds about what his policy towards the
Christian churches should be.
On the one hand, the churches could be a powerful ally.
The Catholic Church had supported the Nazis because it
saw them as a bastion against Communism.
On the other hand, the Church represented a rival authority
to the Führer. Catholics were required to give their
allegiance to the Pope, and the Protestant churchman
Martin Niemoller, had openly spoken out against the Nazis.
21 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
(a) Catholic Church
22 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
(b) Protestant Church
Hitler united the Protestant churches into one organization
led by the pro-Nazi Bishop Muller.
Its members were called 'German Christians' and their
slogan was “The swastika on our breasts and the cross
in our hearts”.
Over the course of the next few years the churches came
increasingly under attack. By 1939, RE lessons had been
abolished and all church schools closed.
What do you think the slogan of
the German Christian Movement
was getting at?
23 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
(c) The German Faith Movement
In 1934 the German Faith Movement was set up. This
became the state religion and was based around the
Hitler Myth. It aimed to promote the Aryan people and
Nazi ideology.
"The National Reich Church
demands an immediate stop to
the printing and sale of the Bible
in Germany ... On the altars must
be nothing but Mein Kampf, and
to the left of this a sword."
From the rules of the National
Reich Church.
24 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005
Plenary
25 of 25
© Boardworks Ltd 2005