e) The rise of Adolf Hitler

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1920:– French occupation of the Ruhr (river), industrial valley

rich in coal and other minerals

– Hitler enters in the Nazi party (NSDAP)

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1921:– Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi party– It creates the Sturmabteilung, a section of assault,

known as the «stormtroopers»

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1923:– Enormous Inflation = huge increase in cost of living and

that much faster than the increase in wages– Germany had printed more money and trying to pay his

debts in this way– Effect = the German mark loses its value– For $ 1 U.S. currency, you can buy:

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1923:– Attempted coup d'état (putsch) by Hitler at

Munich– He was arrested and imprisoned– Sentenced to 10 years in prison, but after

six months out– He wrote his famous book Mein Kampf (My

struggle) where he exposes his ideas of the superiority of the Aryan race which must dominate the other races like the Jews and the Russians

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1924-1929:– Recovery of the German economy– Creation of Hitler Youth• Youth movement that aims to teach the values and ideology of

the Nazi Party

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1928:– Creation of the S.S. (Schutzstaffeln):• Elite team whose members are selected

based on pseudo-racial purity criteria

• Are trained in obedience and in defiance of all moral rules

• The SS became the police, secret service, military and economic power

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1929:– Crisis of Wall Street in New York– This causes a second economic crisis

in Germany– Depression and unemployment

worse than in Canada

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1933:– Many elections, several political parties– Socialist, communist, democrat, populist, nationalist

German Nazi Party– Hitler wins the election and becomes Chancellor (Prime

Minister)– Parliament voted in favor of giving him full powers

(legislative, executive and judicial)– Right to sign treaties– Right to cancel the constitution

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1933:– Opening of detention camps:• Used to isolate and rehabilitate Germans who were hostile

(those who were against) to the regime• We find homosexuals, clergymen, artists, intellectuals ...

– Jews are removed their right to occupy a position in government

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1933:– The Reichstag fire:• Committed by the Nazis on the night of February

27, 1933

• Hitler suspends individual rights and freedoms

• He puts the blame on the Communists, arrest 4,000 of their members and prohibits the party

• This gives a near-absolute power to the Nazis

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1933:– Creation of Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) by Hermann

Goering– Secret police of the state under the administration of the SS– Seek / imprison / kill opponents of the regime in Germany and

its occupied countries

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1934:– Night of the long knives:• June 29-30, 1934• Under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler

(head of SS), Hitler killed about 200 members of his own party• Some tried to make the revolution go

further, while others sought to slow it

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1935:– Compulsory military service at age 16– Nuremberg Laws:• First Anti-Semitic laws• Prohibition of marriage between Jews and Germans• Prohibition of sexual relations between Jews and Germans

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1936:– Reoccupation of the Rhineland• Prohibited under the Treaty of Versailles

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1938:– Anschluss:• March 1938• Hitler wants to reunite all of the German speaking population

living in other nations• Assassination of Austrian chancellor Dolfus• Implementation of Schuschnigg; a puppet of Hitler• Admission Nazis into the Austrian Cabinet• Military invasion and annexation of Austria by Germany• Austria to unite with Germany with a rigged referendum

– unification of the country voted to 99.7%

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1938:– Sudetenland:

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1938:– Sudentenland matters:• September 1938• Willingness to annex this area of Czechoslovakia with about 3

million German• Nazi causes unrest in the region• International conference was called due to pressure from the

President of Czechoslovakia

• France, Britain, Italy and Germany meet at the Munich Conference

• The purpose of the conference is to avoid war at all costs

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1938:– Sudentenland matters (continued):• Hitler managed to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for a

promise not to demand anything else (appeasement)

• These agreements were called the Munich Agreement

• This event was crucial in people's minds because they sincerely believed to have preserved peace for the time

• But in March 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia for "the good of its people"

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1938:– Kristallnacht = persecution of the Jews• November 10-11• Vandalism of synagogues and Jewish shops

– Arrests of 20,000 Jews– Obligation to wear a headband with the Star of

David or a "J" on the arm to identify Jews

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1939:– Invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia– Non-aggression pact with Russia– They promise not to go to war against each other– Separates Poland between the two countries– Opening of the first concentration camps and ghettos– Invasion of Poland, beginning the war

e) The rise of Hitler

• Immediate cause of WWII:– On September 1st 1939, the Germans attacked Poland

– England and France, allies of Poland had no choice but to declare war on Germany on September 3, 1939

e) The rise of Hitler

• 1941:– Implementation of the "Final Solution“• It must annihilate the Jews

• 1942:– "Night and Fog Decree“– The Gestapo could arrest anyone in the occupied

countries without clear justification:• Keep the authority (political)• Cheap Labor (economic)