KS4 History Knowledge Booklet

Weimar and Nazi Germany

Terms 6 (year 10), 1 and 2 (year 11)

Name:

Class:

Big questions that will help you answer this enquiry question:

What problems did Germany face at the end of the First World War?

How was the Weimar Republic set up?

What was the Weimar Constitution and what were the key strengths and weaknesses of it?

Why was the Treaty of Versailles hated in Germany?

What political challenges did the Weimar Republic face?

Why was 1923 a crisis year for the Weimar Republic?

How do I apply my knowledge to interpretation questions?

How did the Weimar Republic recover economically after 1923?

How did the Weimar Republic recover in international affairs between 1924-1929?

To what extent did the Weimar Republic experience a golden age between 1924-1929?

What was the Nazi Party like in the early 1920s?

To what extent was the Munich Putsch a failure for the Nazi Party?

What were the key developments of the lean years 1924-1928?

How significant was the Wall Street Crash for the growth of the Nazi Party between 1929-1933?

What other factors led to the rise of the Nazi Party between 1929-33?

Why did Hitler become Chancellor in January 1933?

How did Hitler consolidate his power between 1933-1934?

How did the Nazis develop a police state?

How did the Nazis change the legal system and religion?

How did the Nazis control and influence attitudes?

How much opposition did the Nazis face?

How successful were Nazi policies towards women?

How successful were Nazi policies towards the youth?

How did the Nazis manage to successfully reduce unemployment?

Did living standards improve for people between 1933-39?

How were minorities treated under the Nazis?

At the end of the First World War, the German state was crumbling, with demonstrations, strikes and

revolts across the whole country. As a result, a new German state—the Weimar Republic—was formed.

However, it was crippled from the start as it was resented by a large part of the German people and was

governed under a flawed constitution. Due to these conditions, the Nazi Party rose in popularity, and in

1933, following the turbulent Wall Street Crash in 1929, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. At

the time, Hitler was the leader of a democratic state, whose people elected its leaders and whose powers

were limited by the Weimar Constitution. Hitler changed all of this—he destroyed democracy within

Germany, and by the end of 1934, Germany was a dictator with Hitler having almost complete personal

power over the country.

Enquiry Question:

To what extent was the Treaty of Versailles to blame for Hitler coming to power?

Sample assessment material (52 marks)

1) Give two things

you can infer from

Source A about

family life in Nazi

Germany [4

marks]

Sample assessment material (52 marks)

Key knowledge you need to know - Weimar Germany

1. Nov 1918 German Revolution

2. 9th Nov 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated

3. 11th Nov 1918 Armistice signed

4. Jan 1919 First elections to the Reichstag

5. Jan 1919 Spartacist Uprising

6. June 1919 Treaty of Versailles signed

7. March 1920 Kapp Putsch

8. 1922 Failure to pay reparations

9. Jan 1923 French occupy the Ruhr

10. 1923 Hyperinflation

11. Aug 1923 Stresemann becomes foreign secretary of Germany

12. Nov 1923 Munich Putsch

13. Nov 1923 Stresemann introduces the Rentenmark

14. April 1924 Dawes Plan

15. 1925 Hindenburg becomes President of Germany

16. Dec 1925 Locarno Pact

17. Sept 1926 Germany joints the League of Nations

18. Aug 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact

19. Aug 1929 The Young Plan

20. Communist Extreme form of government, representatives of the workers set up a government and take over

ownership of all land, property and resources

21. Constitution The rules which set out how a country is run

22. Trade unions Group of workers formed to protect the rights and interests of workers in various occupations

23. Electorate People who are allowed to vote in an election

24. Diktat Enforced peace

25. Reparations Compensation that Germany paid to the victorious nations following WW1

26. Dolchstoss Stab in the back theory; idea that the German people felt they could have continued fighting during

WW1

27. Inflation Prices rising

Key knowledge you need to know - Hitler’s rise to power

1. Feb 1919 Anton Drexler forms the German Worker’s Party (DAP)

2. Feb 1920 Hitler and Drexler write the Twenty-Five Point Programme and change the name of the DAP to

NSDAP

3. July 1921 Hitler becomes leader of the NSDAP (Nazi for short)

4. Aug 1921 SA formed

5. Nov 1923 Hitler and the Nazis attempt the Munich Putsch

6. Dec 1924 Hitler released from prison following the Munich Putsch

7. Feb 1925 Ban on Nazi Party lifted

8. 1925 Mein Kampf published

9. 1926 Bamberg Conference

10. May 1928 Nazis win 12 seats in the Reichstag elections

11. Oct 1929 Wall Street Crash

12. Sept 1930 Nazis win 107 seats in the Reichstag

13. May 1932 Von Papen becomes chancellor

14. July 1932 Nazis win 230 seats in the Reichstag

15. Dec 1932 Schleicher becomes chancellor

16. Jan 1933 Hitler becomes chancellor

17. Propaganda A way of controlling public attitudes. Uses things like newspapers, posters, radio and film

18. Paramilitary force A private group run like a military force

19. Putsch A violent uprising intended to overthrow existing leaders

Key knowledge you need to know - Nazi control and dictatorship

1933-1939

1. 27th Feb 1933 Reichstag Fire

2. 28th Feb 1933 State of emergency declared. Decree for the Protection of People and the State passed

3. 5th March 1933 Elections to the Reichstag. Nazi win 288 seats, Communists banned from taking 88 seats

4. 24th March 1933 Enabling Act passed—444 votes to 94

5. May 1933 Trade unions banned. Social Democrat Party and Communist Party had newspapers destroyed and

funds confiscated

6. July 1933 Concordat signed. Also, all parties made illegal, except the Nazis

7. Jan 1934 Lander parliaments abolished

8. 30th June 1934 Night of the Long Knives

9. 2nd Aug 1934 Hindenburg dies. Hitler declares himself Fuhrer

10. 19th Aug 1934 Public vote to confirm Hitler as Fuhrer—90% support

11. 1935 6000 newspapers closed

12. 1936 Reich Church established. Berlin Olympics

13. 1939 Eldeweiss Pirates have 2000 members

14. Propaganda A way of controlling public attitudes. Uses things like newspapers, posters, radio and film

15. Censorship Banning information or ideas. Controls attitudes by forbidding certain information or opinions

16. Enabling Act Changed the Weimar Constitution—gave Hitler the power to make laws for four years without the

say of the Reichstag. Effectively marked the end of democratic rule in Germany

17. DAF German Labour Front—set up to replace trade unions

18. Gestapo Secret police force in Germany

19. Concordat Pope agreeing to stay out of political matters if the Nazis did not interfere with Catholic affairs

20. Confessional Church Followed traditional German Protestantism and refused to allow the Nazficiation of religion. Led by

Pastor Martin Niemoller

21. Purge Get rid of opposition

Key knowledge you need to know - Life in Nazi Germany

1. 1933 RAD Labour Service set up to help reduce unemployment

2. 1933 Women banned from professional jobs like being teachers, doctors and civil servants

3. 1933 Law for the Encouragement of Marriage

4. 1933 Hitler banned all youth groups except Nazi led groups

5. Sept 1933 Hitler personally starts the construction of autobahns (motorways)

6. 1934 Gertrud Scholtz-Klink appointed as Reich Women’s Leader

7. 1935 Lebensborn (Fountain of Life) programme

8. 1936 No woman could serve as a judge, lawyer or on jury service

9. 1937 Grammar schools for girls banned

10. 1938 38 billion marks now spent on setting up public works

11. 1935 6000 newspapers closed

12. 1936 Reich Church established. Berlin Olympics

13. 1939 Eldeweiss Pirates have 2000 members

14. Kinder, Kuche,

Kirche

Children, kitchen, church. Nazi ideal of womanhood

15. Lebensborn Unmarried women impregnated by SS men

16. Reich Labour Service A scheme to provide young men with manual labour jobs

17. Invisible unemploy-

ment

Nazi unemployment figures did not include women, Jews, opponents or unmarried men under 25

18. Autobahn Motorway system Hitler set up to employ more men

19. Volsgmeinshaft Nazi community

20. Strength through Joy Attempt to improve leisure time of German workers

21. Beauty of Labour Tried to improve working conditions of German workers

22. Herrenvolk Master race of the Aryans

Wider reading

Books:

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L Shirer

Hitler: A Study in Tyranny by Alan Bullock

Hitler (2 vols) by Ian Kershaw

The Past is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg

Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer

Letters to Freya by Helmuth James von Moltke

The Face of the Third Reich by Joachim C Fest

The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert

Hitler's War Aims by Norman Rich

The German Dictatorship by Karl Dietrich Bracher

The Weimar Republic: The History of Germany After World War I Before the Rise of the Nazi Party by

Charles River Editors

Weimar Germany: The Republic of the Reasonable (New Frontiers in History) Paperback– 1 Feb 1997 by

Paul Bookbinder

The Coming of the Third Reich: How the Nazis Destroyed Democracy and Seized Power in Germany by

Richard J.Evans

The Weimar Republic (Seminar Studies In History) by John Hiden

Hodder GCSE History for Edexcel: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 by John White and Steve Waugh

Access to History: Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany 1918-1933 by Geoff Layton

Other sources of information:

https://learndojo.org/gcse/edexcel-history/weimar-republic-1918-29/

https://learndojo.org/gcse/edexcel-history/hitlers-rise-to-power-1919-33/

https://learndojo.org/gcse/edexcel-history/nazi-control-dictatorship-1933-39/

https://learndojo.org/gcse/edexcel-history/life-in-nazi-germany-1933-39/

Flashcards:

https://quizlet.com/gb/254757726/edexcel-gcse-history-weimar-flash-cards/