Nazism QA

 

Class 9 History Chapter 3 Nazism and the Rise of Hitler

Very Short Answer Questions

1. Name the original name of the Nazi party.

Answer: The original name of the Nazi party was the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party, which was later renamed as the Nazi party. 

2. What was the work entrusted to the International War Tribunal set up in Nuremberg after the war?

Answer:  It was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for crimes against peace, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

3. Who were considered as the ‘desirables’ under Nazi rule?

Answer: Nordic German Aryans were considered as the ‘desirables’ under Nazi rule. 

4. Who were mockingly called ‘November criminals’?

Answer: Those who supported the Weimar Republic, mainly Socialists, Catholics and Democrats, became easy targets of attack in conservative nationalist circles. They were mockingly called the ‘November criminals’. 

5. What was the name given to separately marked areas where the Jews lived?

Answer: The separately marked areas where the Jews lived were called ghettos. 

6. Which sport did Hitler promote?

Answer: Hitler promoted boxing because he believed that it would make children iron-hearted, strong and masculine. 

7. What was the name given to the German Parliament?

Answer: The German Parliament was called the Reichstag. 

8. Which treaty was signed by Germany after its defeat in the First World War?

Answer: The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany on 28th June, 1919 after its defeat in the First World War. 

9. When did Germany attack the Soviet Union?

Answer: Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June, 1941, as Hitler, wanted to ensure food supplies and living space for Germans. 

10. Who was the propaganda Minister of Hitler?

Answer: Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. 

11. Which move of Hitler is said to be a historical blunder?

Answer: Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June, 1941. In this, historic blunder. Hitler exposed the German Western front to British aerial bombing and the Eastern front to the powerful Soviet armies. 

12. Who was assigned the responsibility of economic recovery by Hitler?

Answer: Hjalmar Schacht was assigned the responsibility of economic recovery of Germany by Hitler. 

13. When was Hitler offered Chancellorship of Germany and by whom?

Answer: On 30th January, 1933, President Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship, the highest position in the cabinet of ministers, to Hitler. 

14. Which country became a laboratory for the experiment of the concept of Lebensraum?

Answer: Poland became the laboratory for this experimentation of the concept of Lebensraum. 

15. What terms were used for ‘killing’ by the Nazis?

Answer: Various terms like Euthanasia programme (killing of mentally or physically unfit Germans), ‘Final Solution’ (killing of Jews), ‘Special Treatment’ (mass killings), and similar other terms were used for killing ‘undesirables’ by the Nazis. 

16. Which event was termed the ‘Holocaust’?

Answer: The Nazi killing operations against the Jews were referred to as the ‘Holocaust’ by the Jews, as they wanted the world to remember the atrocities and sufferings, they had endured during the Nazi killing operations. 

17. What was the name of Hitler’s autobiography, written before he assumed the Chancellorship of Germany?

Answer: Hitler’s autobiography was named ‘Mein Kampf, meaning ‘My Struggle’. 

18. What did the term ‘Evacuation’ mean in Hitler’s Germany?

Answer:  It meant deporting people to gas chambers for mass killings. 

19. What was the slogan coined by Hitler when he followed his aggressive foreign policy?

Answer: The slogan was ‘One people, one empire and one leader’.

20. The US army dropped the atomic bomb in 1945 on which cities?

Answer: The US army dropped the atomic bomb in 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945, followed by another one over Nagasaki on 9th August, 1945. 

21. What factors enabled the recast of Germany’s political system after the First World War?

Answer: The factors which enabled the recast of German policy after the First World War were the defeat which Imperial Germany suffered in the First World War and the abdication of the German emperor.

22. Who according to Hitler topped the racial hierarchy? Who formed the lowest rung of the hierarchy?

Answer: The Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while the Jews were located at the lowest rung of the racial hierarchy. 

23. Who were the signatories of the 1940 Tripartite Pact?

Answer: Germany, Italy and Japan were the signatories of the 1940 Tripartite Pact. 

24.The Nazi party was renamed after which organisations?

Answer: The Nazi party was renamed after the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

25. Why did Nazis hold massive rallies and public meetings in Germany ?

Answer: Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings in Germany to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instil a sense of unity among the people. 

26. When did German President Hindenburg offer the Chancellorship to Hitler?

Answer: On 30th January, 1933 President Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship to Hitler.

27. What was the significance of the Enabling Act?

Answer: The Enabling Act enabled Hitler to sideline Parliament and rule by decree.

28. What does the term ‘Genocidal War’ refer to?

Answer: The term ‘Genocidal War’ refers to the mass murder of selected groups of innocent civilians in Europe by Germany during the Second World War. 

29. When did the US enter the Second World War?

Answer: When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at Pearl Harbour on 7th December, 1941, the US entered the Second World War. 

30. Hitler’s views on racialism were based on which thinkers?

Answer: Hitler’s views on racialism were based on views of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. 

31. What was the Nazi argument for their imperialist ambitions ?

Answer: The Nazi argument for their imperialist ambitions was that the strongest race would survive and the weak perish. To retain purity of the Aryan race, they had to dominate the world. 

32.Name some countries which became victims of Hitler’s aggressive policy.

Answer:Some countries which became victims of Hitler’s aggressive policy were Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium, France, countries of North Africa and Russia. 

33. How were the deputies of Reichstag appointed?

Answer: The deputies of the Reichstag were elected on the basis of universal adult franchise including women.

34. When was the Youth League of Nazis founded?

Answer: The Youth League of the Nazis was founded in 1922. 

35. What was The Eternal Jew’?

Answer: It was the most infamous film which was made to create hatred for Jews. 

36. Who was regarded as the most important citizen according to Hitler?

Answer: The mothers were regarded as most important citizens according to Hitler. 

37. Who is the author of the book Third Reich of Dreams’?

Answer: Charlotte Beradt is the author of this book. 

38. For what was Auschwitz notorious during the Nazi period ?

Answer: Auschwitz was notorious for gas chambers used for mass human killing.

39. When did the Second World War end in Europe?

Answer: The Second World War ended in May 1945 with Hitler’s defeat. 

40. Who was Hitler’s propoganda Minister?

Answer: Goebbels. 

41. How Hitler’s end came?

Answer: Hitler/his Propoganda Minister Goebbels and his entire family committed suicide collectively in his Berlin bunker in April. 

42. What was Nazism?

Answer: It was a system introduced by Hitler, which had a structure of ideas about the world and politics.

43. Which tribunal was set up after world war II to punish the Nazis for their crime against humanity?

Answer: An International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg was set up to prosecute Nazi was criminals for Crimes Against Peace &: Crimes Against Humanity and for War Crimes. 

44. What was ‘Genocidal war’?

Answer: It was a war which resulted in the mass murder of selected groups of innocent civilians of Europe.

45. How was Germany defeated in World War I?

Answer: Germany made initial gains by occupying France and Belgium. However the allies (England, France and Russia) strengthened by US entry in 1917, won, defeating Germany in November 1918. 

46. How Germany adopted democratic Constitution?

Answer: After Germany’s defeat in World War I and the abdication of the emperor, a National Assembly met at Weimer and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure. 

47. What was Reichstag?

Answer: It was the German Parliament formed on the basis of equal and universal votes cast by all adults including women. 

48. Name the peace treaty signed after World War I.

Answer: It was called ‘Treaty of Versailles’. 

49. How was Weimer Republic made to pay for the sins of old empire?

Answer: The Weimer Republic carried the burden of war guilt (World War I) and National humiliation and was financially crippled by being forced to pay war compensation. 

50. Who were called ‘November Criminals’?

Answer: Those who supported the Weimer Republic mainly Socialists, Catholics and Democrats were mockingly called the ‘November Criminals’. 

51. Who were Free Corps?

Answer: There was an uprising in Berlin, demanding Soviet style government in Germany. Weimer Republic crushed this uprising with the help of a war veterans, organisation called Free Crops. 

52. What happened when Germany refused to pay war reparation to France?

Answer: In 1923 Germany refused to pay, the French occupied its leading industrial area, Ruhr, to claim their coal. 

53. Why the value of German currency ‘mark’ fell?

Answer: When French occupied Ruhr area, Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly. With too much printed money in circulation, the value of the German mark fell. 

54. What does ‘Hyperinflation’ mean?

Answer: It’s a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.

55. How Germany came out of this financial crisis?

Answer: The Americans bailed Germany out of the crisis by introducing ‘Dawes Plan’, which reworked the terms of reparation to ease the financial burden on Germany 

56. What was the condition of unemployed youth in Germany during economic crisis?

Answer: Unemployed youths played cards or simply sat at street corners, or desperately queued up at the local employment exchange. 

57. What does ‘Proletarianisation’ mean?

Answer: It is a fear or anxiety of being reduced to the ranks of the working class, or worse still, the unemployed. 

58. What was ‘Article 48’ of Weimer Republic?

Answer: It gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree. 

59. Who was Hitler?

Answer:  Hitler was born in 1889 in Austria, spent his youth in poverty. When the World War I broke out, he enrolled for army, acted as a messenger in the front, became a corporal and earned medals for bravery. 

60. How ‘Nazi Party’ was formed?

Answer: Hitler joined a small group called German Workers Party. He subsequently took over the organisation and renamed it National Socialist German Workers Party. This party came to be known as ‘Nazi Party’. 

61. Under which situation Nazi Propoganda was appreciated?

Answer: After 1929, banks collapsed and businesses shut down, workers lost their jobs and the middle classes were threatened with destitution. In such a situation Nazi propaganda won people’s hearts. 

62. What promise was made by Hitler as a leader of Germany to the people.

Answer: He promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles and restore the dignity of the German people. 

63. How Nazis mobilised the masses?

Answer: Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings, used the red banners with the Swastika, the Nazi Salute and the ritualised rounds of applause after the speeches.

64. How Nazis projected Hitler?

Answer: Nazi propoganda skilfully projected Hitler as a messiah, a saviour, as someone who had arrived to relieve people from their distress. 

65. When and by whom Hitler was offered highest position in the Cabinet of ministers?

Answer: On 30th January, 1933, President Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship, the highest position in the cabinet of ministers to Hitler. 

66. How Hitler started dismantling democratic rule in Germany?

Answer:  A mysterious fire that broke out in the German Parliament building in February facilitated the move of Hitler. 

67. What does ‘The fire Decree’?

Answer: Fire Decree of 28th February 1933 indefinitely suspened civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the Weimer Constitution. 

68. What was ‘Concentration Camp’?

Answer: It was a camp where people were isolated and detained without due process of law. Typically, it was surrounded by electrified barbed wire fences. 

69. What was ‘Enabling Act’?

Answer:This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates.

70. Which Security forces were created by Nazis to control order in society?

Answer:Besides Regular police in green uniform, there was Gestapo (Secret State Police) the SS (the protection squads). Criminal Police and Security Service. 

71. Which famous economist was appointed by Hitler for economic recovery of Germany?

Answer: Economist Hjalmar Schacht was appointed, who aimed at full production and full employment through a state funded work-creation programme. 

72. How did Hitler follow the slogan of ‘One people, one empire and one leader’?

Answer: Hitler pulled his country out of the League of Nations in 1933, reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936, and integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan ‘One people, one empire and one leader’.

73. What was the immediate cause of World War II?

Answer:  In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, this became the immediate cause of World War II.

74. Among which three countries ‘Tripartite Pact’ was signed?

Answer: In September 1940, a tripartite pact was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan. 

75. When did US enter the World War II?

Answer: When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at Pearl Harbor, the US entered into World War II. 

76. When did Second World War end?

Answer: The war ended in May 1945 with Hitler’s defeat and the US dropping of the atom bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. 

77. What social hierarchy was formed by Hitler?

Answer: In Hitler’s view, blond, blue eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung. 

78. Who was Darwin?

Answer: Darwin was a natural scientist who tried to explain the creation of plants and animals through the concept of evolution and natural selection. 

79. Who was Herbert Spencer?

Answer: Herbert Spencer believed in the idea of survival of the fittest. According to this idea, only those species survived on earth that could adapt themselves to changing climatic conditions. 

80. What were Nazi views about Aryan Race?

Answer: According to Nazis, the strongest race world survive and the weak world perish. The Aryan race was the finest, it had to retain its purity, become stronger and dominate the world. 

81. Who were considered ‘undesirable’ by Hitler?

Answer: Jews, Gypsies and blacks living in Nazi Germany were considered as inferior races, who threatened the biological purity of ‘Superior Aryan’ race, and were called undesirable by Hitler. 

82. Why Jews were the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany?

Answer: Nazis felt that Jews were killers of Christ and were also considered killers of US usurers (Moneylenders).

83. What was ‘Pseudoscientific theory of race’ followed by Hitler?

Answer: It held that conversion was no solution to ‘the Jewish problem’. It could be solved only through their total elimination. They were often prosecuted through periodic organised violence and expulsion from the land. 

84. How were Polish children treated by Nazis?

Answer: Polish children who looked like Aryans were forcibly snatched from their mothers and examined by race experts. If they passed the race tests they were raised in German families and if not, they were deposited in orphanage where most perished. 

85. How schools in Nazi Germany were ‘cleansed’ and ‘purified’?

Answer: Teachers who were Jews or seen as ‘politically unreliable’ were dismissed. Children were segregated as Germans and Jews could not sit together or play.

86. What was ‘Jungvolk’?

Answer: These were Nazi youth groups for children below 14 years of age.

87. How honour crosses were awarded to women for producing children?

Answer: A bronze cross was given for four children, silver for six and gold for eight or more. These crosses were awarded to the women who produced desirable children. 

88. Which terms were used by Nazis for torturing ‘undesirable’?

Answer: In their official communications, mass killings were termed Special treatment, final solution (for the Jews), euthanasia (for the disabled), selection and disinfections, etc. ‘Evacuation’ meant deporting people to gas chambers. 

89. What were the ‘gas chambers’ called?

Answer: Gas chambers were called ‘disinfection areas’ and looked like bathrooms equipped with fake showerheads. 

90. Which was the most in famous film in which orthodox Jews were stereotyped and marked?

Answer: The film was ‘The Eternal Jew’. 

91. How were ‘Jews’ referred in films?

Answer: Jews were refered as Vermin, rats and pests and their movements were compared to those of rodents. 

92. Who wrote the book ‘Third Reich of Dreams’?

Answer: It was written by Charlotte Beradt. 

93. What was ‘Holocaust’?

Answer: The Jews wanted the world to remember the atrocities and sufferings they had endured during the Nazi killing operations which were called the Holocaust.

94. How do we come to know about Holocaust today? 

Answer: Memory of Holocaust is in memoirs, fiction, documentaries, poetry, memorials and museums in many parts of the world today.  

Short Answer Type Questions

1. What was written in this book?

Answer: Charlotte Beradt secretly recorded people’s dreams in her diary and later published them in this book. She described how Jews themselves began believing in the Nazi stereotypes about them. They dreamt of their hooked noses, black hair and eyes, Jewish looks and body movements. 

2. What was the name of the Nazi Youth organisation which consisted of all German boys of 14 to 18 years of age? 

Answer:  The Youth League of the Nazis was founded in 1922. Four years later it was renamed as Hitler Youth and consisted of all German boys of 14 to 18 years of age. To unify the youth movement under Nazi control, all other youth organizations were systematically dissolved and finally banned. 

3. Who was Hitler? How did. Hitler reconstruct Germany?

Answer: Adolf Hitler was the founder of the Nazi party, who became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. He soon became the dictator of Germany. To reconstruct Germany, Hitler assigned the responsibility of economic recovery to the economist Hjalmar Schacht. In 1933, Hitler pulled out of the League of Nations, reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936 and integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan, ‘One people, one empire, and one leader’. 

4. Examine any three inherent defects in the Weimar Constitution. Or Explain the inherent defects of the Weimar constitution that made republic unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship. Or State any three factors which made the Weimar Republic politically fragile.

Answer:  The Weimar Constitution had three inherent defects (i) It was based on proportional representation, which made achieving a majority by one party virtually impossible. Only coalition governments ruled. (ii) Existence of Article 48 in the constitution, which gave the President the power to impose emergency suspend civil rights and rule by decree. (iii) Due to 20 different coalition governments being formed, people lost confidence in the democratic Parliamentary system, as it offered no solutions to their problems. 

5. Nazis used chilling words as an art of propaganda. Justify.

Answer: The Nazi regime used chilling words as an art of propaganda. They never used the words ‘kill’ or ‘murder’ in their official communications. The term ‘special treatment’, ‘final solution’ (for the Jews). ‘Euthanasia’ (for the disabled), ‘selection’ and ‘disinfection’ were used. Gas chambers looked like bathrooms and were labelled as ‘Disinfection Area’. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets. Media played an important role to popularise Nazi ideas. 

6. What was the impact of the Great Depression on the US?

Answer: The Wall Street Exchange of USA crashed in 1929. As a result, values of shares dropped drastically and the national income of the USA fell by half. Hundreds of American banks, factories, mining companies and business firms went bankrupt. There was large scale unemployment, poverty and starvation in the country. The effects of this recession in the US economy were felt worldwide. It is known as the Great Depression of 1929. 

7. What were the main features of Hitler’s geopolitical concept of Lebensraum? Give three features.

Answer: The main features of Hitler’s geopolitical concept of Lebensraum or living space were
(i) He believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement.
(ii) The settlers in new lands would be able to maintain intimate links with the place of their origin.
(iii) The new settlements would enhance the material resources and power of the German nations. By capturing Poland, Hitler put his new ideas into practice. 

8. Explain the impact of the First World War on European society and polity. Or State any three effects of the First World War over Europe. Or First World War left deep imprint on European society and polity. Support the statement with three examples.

Answer: The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity. It had a devastating impact on the entire continent.
(i) In society, soldiers were ranked higher than civilians. Trench life of the soldiers was glorified by the media.
(ii) Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive and masculine.
(iii) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public sphere.
(iv) People’s support grew for the recently established dictatorships.
(v) Democracy as a young and fragile idea could not survive the instabilities of interwar Europe. 

9. What were the main features of Nazism?

Answer: The Nazis were against democracy and socialism. They. believed that there was no equality between people, but only a racial hierarchy. They stressed on the superiority of the Nordic Aryan Race. All other races were classified as ‘undesirable’. Jews, Gypsies and Blacks living in Nazi Germany were considered as undesirable and were largely persecuted. The Nazis glorified war and believed in the geopolitical concept of Lebensraum or living space meaning that they could acquire new territories through war. 

10. How was Nazi ideology taught to the youth in Germany?

Answer: Hitler believed that a strong Nazi society could be established only by teaching children Nazi ideology. Youth organisation like ‘Jung volk’ tutored ten year old children. At the age of 14th, all boys had to join ‘Hitler Youth’ where they learnt to worship war, glorify aggression, condemn democracy and hate Jews, Communists, Gypsies and all ‘undesirables’. After a period of rigorous ideological and physical training, they joined the labour service, usually at the age of 18th. 

11. How would you have reacted to Hitler’s ideas if you were (i) A Jewish Woman (ii)A non-Jewish Woman

Answer: (i) If I were a Jewish woman, I would have condemned Hitlers ideas. I would have pleaded for a safe shelter as I felt insecure in Germany. (ii) If I were a non-Jewish woman, I would try to mobilise support secretly and would have helped the victims of Nazi persecution. I did not support Hitler’s view about Jews being ‘undesirable’, because I had a number of Jewish friends. They were just like other human beings. They should not be called ‘undesirables’. 

12. What was the Enabling Act? Or When was the Enabling Act passed in Germany? How did this act establish dictatorship of Hitler in Germany?

Answer: On 3rd March, 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned in Germany, except the Nazi party and its affiliates. The new state machinery under Hitler established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary. 

13. If you were a student sitting in one of these classes, how would you have felt towards Jews?

Answer: If I had been a student sitting in one of these classes, I would have felt very bad, as I would be missing my friends, who used to play with me earlier. I would have felt sympathetic towards them and would have hated the government for this action. 

14. Have you ever thought of the stereotypes of other communities that people around you believe in? How have they acquired them?

Answer: I have thought about the stereotypes of other communities that we believe in. They are usually acquired from their ancestors and the traditions and customs of the community to which they belong. 

15. What do you think this poster is trying to depict?

Answer: The poster is making fun of Jews, by depicting that they are only interested in making money, by whatever means at their disposal. It is trying to show that Jews are greedy. The fatness of the man depicted indicates that the poster maker felt that the greed of Jews is excessive.

16. Write a short note on the eleven-year-old Helmuth’s experiences of Germany.

Answer: Helmuth was in bed when he heard his parents discussing something seriously. His father was a doctor who was discussing with his wife that either they had to commit suicide or the Jews would kill them for revenge. Next day, the father spent some time with his son Helmuth and later, shot himself in his office. His uniform was silently burnt in the family’s fireplace. Helmuth was so traumatised by this incident that he refused to eat at home for the fear that his mother would poison him. This was the tragic end of his father, who was a Nazi supporter. 

17. What do you understand by the ‘Genocidal War’ in Germany?

Answer: It means the mass murder of selected groups of innocent civilians of Europe. Nazis killed the Jews, Gypsies and the Polish civilians. They killed people in poisoned gas chambers. Number of people killed included six million Jews, 2,00,000 Gypsies, one million Polish civilians, 70,000 Germans, who were considered mentally and physically disabled besides many political opponents.

18. What was ‘Political Radicalism’?

Answer: It was an uprising by the Spartacist League against the Weimar Republic. This league demanded a Soviet style governance based on Bolsheviks’ ideals. The Weimer Republic crushed this uprising with the help of the war veterans organisation called the ‘Free Corps’. Spartacists later formed the Communist Party of Germany. Communists and socialists both wanted political radicalism against Hitler’s rule. 

19. Describe the events leading to the economic crisis in Germany.

Answer: Germany had fought World War I largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold. This depleted the gold reserves in the country. In 1923, Germany refused to pay and the French occupied its leading industrial area, Ruhr to claim their coal. Germany retaliated and printed paper currency ruthlessly. With too much printed money in circulation, the value of German mark fell. As the value of mark collapsed, prices of goods increased. This crisis in which Germans had to carry cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread, was known as ‘hyperinflation’. 

20. How did the economic crisis begin in the USA?

Answer: In USA, it began with the crash of the Wall Street Exchange in 1929, when USA could not recover back loans. Fearing a fall in price, people made frantic efforts to sell their shares. On a single day, 13 million shares were sold. Factories shut down, banks became bankrupt, exports fell, farmers were badly hit, leading to unemployment. 

21. What were the weaknesses of the Weimer Republic?

Answer:  The Weimer Constitution had some inherent defects which made it unstable. Due to proportional representation, one single party could not come to power, rather a coalition government was formed. Another defect was the Article 48, which gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree. Within a short period of time, many governments changed and this made people lose confidence in the democratic parliamentary system which seemed to offer no solutions.

22. Describe the formation of the Nazi Party.

Answer: Economic crisis formed the background to Hitler’s rise to power. Hitler was born in Austria and spent his youth in poverty. In the First World War, he joined the army and acted as messenger in the front. The Treaty of Versailles and the defeat of Germany in World War I made him furious and horrified. In 1919, he joined a small group called the German Workers’ Party and renamed it after taking over that party as, ‘The National Socialist German Workers’ Party’. This party later on, came to be known as the ‘Nazi Party’.

23. How did Hitler capture power in Germany?

Answer: In 1923, Hitler marched to Berlin with his followers to capture power. He failed and was arrested for treason and later released. But during the Great Depression, Nazism became a mass movement. During the economic depression, the Nazi propaganda stirred hopes of a better future. By 1932, the Nazi Party had become the largest party and Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. 

24. What promises did Hitler make to the Germans when he came to power?

Answer: (i) He promised to build a strong nation and undo the justice of Treaty of Versailles and restore the dignity of the German people.
(ii) He promised employment for those looking for work.
(iii) He promised to protect Germany from all foreign influences and secure his country’s future. 

25. Give a brief account of Hitler’s entry into World War II.

Answer: In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland with the result that it started a war with France and England. In September 1940, Tripartite Pact with Italy and Japan and Germany was signed. By the end of 1940, Hitler had almost won all the wars. Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941. The Soviet Red Army gave a crushing defeat to the German soldiers. In the meantime, the US also entered the war when the Japanese bombed the US base at Pearl Harbour. The war ended in May 1945, with Hitler’s defeat and US dropping of atom bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. 

26. What was Hitler’s ideology?

Answer: Hitler’s ideology was related to the geopolitical concept of living space. He believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement. This would enhance the area of the mother country and it would also enhance the material resources and power of the German nation.

27. How did the Nazis develop a hatred for the Jews?

Answer: Nazis believed that the Jews were the killers of Christ. Until medieval times, Jews were not allowed to any land. They survived mainly through trade and money lending. They lived in separately marked areas  called the ghettos. Hitler’s hatred for the Jews was based on pseudoscientific theories of race. They were terrorised, segregated and compelled to leave the country During World War II, they were killed in gas chambers in Poland. 

28. How did common people react to Nazism?

Answer: Many people would see the world through Nazi’s eyes and hated the Jews. They marked the houses of the Jews and reported suspicious neighbours. However, many Germans were not Nazis. They preferred to look away and did not react against the Jews. 

29. How did Hitler and his minister Goebbels’ end come after World War II?

Answer: In May 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies. Anticipating what was coming, Hitler, his propaganda Minister Goebbels and his entire family committed suicide collectively in his Berlin Bunker in April. At the end of the war, an International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for crimes against peace, for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Germany’s conduct during the war especially those actions which came to be called Crimes Against Humanity, raised serious and ethical questions and invited worldwide condemnation. 

30. How was German Parliament established after First World War?

Answer: The defeat of imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to parliamentary parties to recast German polity National Assembly met at Weimer and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure. Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament or Reichstag, on the basis of equal and universal votes cast by all adults including women.

31. What do you understand by ‘Hyperinflation’?

Answer: With too much of printed money in circulation, the value of German mark fell. As the value of German mark collapsed, prices of goods soared. The image of Germans carrying cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely publicised evoking worldwide sympathy This crisis came to be known as ‘hyperinflation’, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high. 

32. What was Hitler’s propaganda to gain power?

Answer: Hitler devised a new style of politics. He understood the significance of rituals and spectacle in mass mobilisation. Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instil a sense of unity among the people. The red banners with the Swastika, the Nazi Salute and the ritualised rounds of applause after the speeches were all part of this spectacle of power. Nazi propaganda skilfully projected Hitler as a’ Messiah, a saviour, as someone who had arrived to deliver people from their distress 

33. What do you know about Enabling Act?

Answer: On 3 March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi party and its affiliates. The state established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary. 

34. How was economic recovery made in Germany?

Answer: Hitler assigned the responsibility of economic recovery to the economist Hjalmar Schacht. Who aimed at full production and full employment through a state-funded work-creation programme. This project produced the famous German superhighways and the people’s car, the Volkswagen. 

35. What was Hitler’s foreign policy? 

Answer: In foreign policy Hitler acquired quick successes. He pulled out of League of Nations in 1933, reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936, and integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan, ‘One people, one empire and one leader’. He then went on to the west German – speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia – and gulped the entire country. In all this he had the unspoken support of England, which had considered the Versailles verdict too harsh. These quick successes at home and abroad seemed to reverse the destiny of the country. 

36. How was a ‘Racial State’ established by Hitler in Germany?

Answer: Nazis wanted an exclusive racial community of pure Germans. Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy’ Nordic Aryans. This meant that even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to live. Jews were considered undesirable. Many Gypsies and Blacks were also considered as inferior Germans. Even Russians and Polish were considered subhuman and were forced to work as slave labourers. Many of them died through hard work and starvation. 

37. How was media used to propagate Nazism?

Answer: Media was used by Nazis to propagate their ideas world over. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets. Socialists and liberals were stereotyped as weak and degenerated. Propaganda films were made to create hatred for the Jews. The most infamous film was ‘The Eternal Jew’. Orthodox Jews were shown with flowing beards wearing Kaftans, whereas in reality they looked like any other German. Jews were referred to as vermin, rats and pests. 

38. What do you know about Hitler’s personality?

Answer: Hitler was a powerful speaker. His passion and his words moved and inspired people. He promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustice of Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people. He promised employment for those looking for work, and a secure future for the youth. He promised to weed out all foreign influences and resist all foreign conspiracies against Germany. 

Long Answer Type Questions

1. Explain any five measures adopted by Hitler to establish dictatorship in Germany.

Answer: Having acquired power. Hitler set out to dismantle the structures of democratic rule.
(i) Under his rule, the Fire Decree of 28th February, 1933 was passed which indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly.
(ii) Then he turned his arch enemies the communists, most of whom were hurriedly packed off to the newly established concentration camps.
(iii) The Socialists, Democrats and Catholics also were arrested and killed.
(iv) On 3rd March, 1933 the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.
(v) All political parties and trade unions were banned. He controlled media, army and judiciary. 

2. What were the promises made by Hitler to people of Germany? Or Explain three factors which led to the rise of Hitler in Germany? Or State any three promises made by Adolf Hitler to the German society. Or How did Hitler effectively mobilise popular support in Germany? Explain in five points.

Answer: During the Great Depression (1929-1932) Nazism became a mass movement and the Nazi propaganda created hopes of a better future for the German people. Hitler gave some promises
(i) He promised to build Germany into a strong nation.
(ii) He promised to undo the injustice and humiliation caused by the Treaty of Versailles and restore the dignity of the German people.
(iii) He promised employment for those looking for work.
(iv) He promised to secure future of the youth.
(v) He promised to weed out all foreign influence and resist all foreign conspiracies against Germany. 

3. Explain any four points of Hitler’s foreign policy. What did Schacht advice to Hitler? Or Describe any three important points of Hitler’s foreign policy. Or Describe Hitler’s foreign policy before the Second World War.

Answer: In foreign policy Adolf Hitler took quick and successful steps.
(i) He pulled Germany out of the League of Nations in 1993.
(ii) He integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan ‘one people, one empire and one leader’.
(iii) He then captured German-speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and later the entire country.
(iv) Hitler got unspoken support of England, which had considered the Versailles Treaty as too harsh.
(v) These quick success at home and abroad helped to reverse the destiny of the country.

4. Describe any five effects of the First World War on Germany. Or Explain any three effects of the First World War on Germany.

Answer: (i) The First World War left a deep imprint on European society. The war had a devastating impact on the entire continent both psychologically and financially.
(ii) Financially there was a great economic loss. The Weimar Republic was being made to pay compensation.
(iii) Formation of League of Nations took place to prevent the Second World War.
(iv) Germany lost its overseas colonies.
(v) The Allied powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its powers.
(vi) Many of Germany’s territories were annexed and distributed amongst Allied Powers. 

5. How did the common people react to Nazism?

Answer: (i) Many people saw the world through Nazi eyes.
(ii) They spoke their mind in Nazi language.
(iii) They felt hatred and anger when they saw someone looked like a Jew.
iv) They marked the houses of Jews and reported about their suspicious neighbours.
(v) Common men really believed that Nazism would bring hap piness and prosperity for them.
(vi) The large majority of Germans were passive onlookers, they were scared to act on protest against Nazism.
(vii) But many German organised active resistance to Nazism, braving police repression and death. 

6. Explain any three points to prove that Nazi rule was barbarous.

Answer: (i) In Nazi Germany only Nordic German Aryans were considered ‘desirable’. Jews, Gypsies, Blacks, Russians, Polish people were brutally killed in gas chambers.
(ii) The Jews and Communists were tortured in concentration camps. Even ‘undesirable children’ were segregated and taken to the gas chambers.
(iii) Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and carried atrocities against the selected group of innocent people. The extra constitutional powers given to them, which made Nazi state its reputation as the most dreaded criminal state. 

7. Describe the Hitler’s policy towards the Jews? Or How were the Jews worst sufferers in the Nazi government?

Answer: Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating a racial society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans. They were alone considered ‘desirables’. (i) The Jews were the worst sufferer in Nazi Germany. The Nazi hatred of the Jews was rooted in the traditional Christian hostility towards them. They had been stereotyped as killers of Christ and usurers.
(ii) In Nazi Germany, they lived in separately marked areas called ghettos. They were often persecuted through  periodic  organised  violence  and expulsion from the land.
(iii) From 1933 to 1938, the Nazis terrorized pauperised and segregated the Jews, compelling them to leave Germany.
(iv) Hitler believed that ‘the Jewish problem’ could be solved only through total elimination. As a result they were largely killed gas chambers. As many as 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, what was known as ‘genocidal war’? 

8. Evaluate the use of media by the Nazis to popularise their ideology in Germany 

Answer: The Nazi regime used language and media with care to win supports for the regime and popularise its worldviews.
(i) Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets.
(ii) In posters, enemies of Germany were stereotyped, mocked and abused.
(iii) Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate. They were criticised as malicious foreign agents.
(iv) Propaganda films were produced to create hatred for Jews.
(v) Orthodox Jews were stereotyped and marked, they were shown with flowing beards, wearing Kaftans and referred to as vermin, rats and pests.
(vi) Through media, Nazism worked on the minds of the people and turned their hatred at those marked as ‘undesirable’ by them.

9. Describe the effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany. Or Discuss any three major clauses of the ‘Treaty of Versailles’? Or The Treaty of Versailles sowed the seeds of the Second World War. Justify.

Answer: This treaty had a far reaching impact and paved the way for the rise of Nazism in Germany and the Second World War. (i) After signing this treaty, Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 per cent of its territories, 75 per cent of its iron and 26 per cent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania.
(ii) The war guilt clause held Germany responsible for the war and Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion.
(iii) The treaty made provisions for demilitarization of Germany to further weaken it. Thus, the Treaty of Versailles was harsh, humiliating and devastating for the economy and national honour of the Germans. Its clauses became the causes for the rise of Nazism. 

10. What is Nazism? Why did Nazism become popular in Germany by 1930? Or What were the reasons for the rise of Nazism in Germany? Or Why did Nazism become popular in Germany by 1930? Explain.

Answer: Nazism was a political system introduced by Hitler in Germany to establish dictatorship which propagated extreme hatred against the Jews is called Nazism. Some of the main causes of the rise and popularity of Nazism in Germany are
(i) The humiliating Versailles Treaty created a need to avenge of the defeat the First World War and restore the old prestige of Germany.
(ii) Germany witnessed a grave economic crisis and Hitler promised the people prosperity and peace.
(iii) Due to the Weimar Republic being weakened. Hitler took the opportunity and inspired the people.
(iv) Hitler had a strong personality and mass appeal which contributed a lot to the popularity of Nazism in Germany. 

11. Describe the problems faced by the Weimar Republic. Or Describe any three problems faced by Weimar Republic in Germany. Or Explain any five problems faced by the Weimar Republic in Germany

Answer: (i) The Weimar Republic had to sign the humiliating Treaty of Versailles.
(ii) This Republic carried the burden of war guilt and was financially crippled by being forced to pay compensation.
(iii) Hyperinflation made the German Mark valueless and caused immense hardship for the common man. This economic crisis led to widespread inflation, misery and despair. (iv) In the Weimar Republic, both the communists and socialists became irreconcilable enemies and could not make common cause against Hitler.
(v) Both revolutionaries and militant nationalists craved for radical solutions, which was not easy. Within its short life, the Weimar Republic saw twenty different cabinets and the liberal use of Article 48. All these created a political crisis in Germany.
(vi) It became very unpopular among the German, because it lost the pride of the nation in the hands of Allies powers. 

12. What are the peculiar features of Nazi thinking?

Answer: The peculiar features of Nazi thinking were
(i) They believed that the strong should rule the world and the rest should accept their leadership.
(ii) They believed in racial hierarchy, where the Nordic German Aryans were at the top and the Jews at the lowest rung.
(iii) The Nazis believed that the Jews were their greatest enemies. So the Jews were tortured and killed.
(iv) From a very young age, children were indoctrinated both inside and outside school with the Nazi ideology of nationalism and war.
(v) The Nazis believed in the geopolitical concept of Lebensraum or living space, i.e., new territories had to be acquired for the German nation.
(vi) Women were seen as mere bearers of the Aryan culture and race.

13. Explain why Nazi propaganda was effective in creating a hatred for Jews?

Answer: Nazi propaganda was effective in creating hatred for the Jews because Nazis successfully exploited the low position of the Jews in medieval times as there was a traditional Christian hatred against the Jews.
(ii) The Jews were affluent being mainly traders and moneylenders. The economically shattered, unemployed German people easily developed hatred against them.
(iii) The Jews lived separately in marked areas called ghettos; they therefore became easy targets.
(iv) The Nazis introduced the hatred theory against the Jews from the very beginning of the child’s school life so that they grew up with this hatred.
(v) Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, posters, slogans, leaflets, films, etc. This propaganda worked on the minds and emotions of the German people. 

14. In what ways did the Nazi state seek to establish total control over its people?

Answer: After becoming the Chancellor of Germany (1933), Hitler captured all powers.
(i) All political parties and trade unions were banned except the Nazi Party and its affiliates.
(ii) The state established total control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.
(iii) Germany became almost a police state. Special surveillance, security forces, secret state police (Gestapo) were created to control the society.
(iv) The Nazi rule glorified war and chose the path of war as a way out of the economic crisis.
(v) The Nazi rule targeted the Jews as the cause of all miseries and undertook genocidal war against the Jews.
(vi) Hitler introduced a massive programme of militarisation to enhance the military power of Germany and to restore her international honour and glory.

15. State any five measures taken by the Nazis to create a pure German racial state. Or Explain any three steps taken by Hitler to establish racial state. Or Explain the Nazi idea of a racial state.

Answer: (i) Nazi ideology stated that the Nordic German Aryans were at the top and the Jews were located at the lowest rung of society.
(ii) The Jews, gypsies and blacks were regarded as racially impure and ‘undesirable’, and they were widely persecuted.
(iii) Under the Euthanasia programme, many Germans who were considered mentally or  physically unfit were condemned to death.
(iv) Russians and Poles were considered as subhuman and captured civilians from Russia and Poland were forced to work as slave labour.
(v) From 1933 to 1938, the Nazis terrorised, pauperised and segregated the Jews, compelling them to leave Germany. From 1939 to 1945, a large number of them were killed in gas chambers in Poland.

16. How were the ideas of Darwin and Herbert Spencer adopted by Hitler or Nazis? Explain.

Answer:  Hitler’s racism borrowed from thinkers like Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Darwin was a natural scientist who tried to explain the creation of plants and animals through the concepts of evolution and natural selection. In 1859, Darwin published ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ in which he proposed a theory of evolution by the process of natural selection. But he never advocated human intervention in what he thought was a purely natural process of selection. His ideas were used by racist politicians to justify imperial rule over conquered peoples.

Herbert Spencer was deeply influenced by Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ and gave the idea of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ in his book, ‘Principles of Biology’. He developed an all embracing conception of evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organism, the human mind and human culture and societies. According to his ideas, only those species survival on Earth that could adopt themselves to changing climatic conditions. Adopting his idea, the Nazi government suggested that the strongest race, i.e., Nordic German Aryans would survive and the weak ones would perish. 

17. What were the effects of great economics depression of 1929-1932 on Germany?

Answer: The German economy was the worst hit by the economic crisis caused by the Great Economic Depression (1929-1932) in the USA. German investments and industrial was largely dependent on loan from the USA. The Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929, the USA withdrew the support from Germany.

(i) By 1932, industrial production was reduced to 40 per cent of the 1929 level.
(ii) The number of unemployed was 6 million. People with ‘willing to do any work’ placard could be seen on the street. Unemployment rate reached nearly 30 per cent in 1932.
(iii) Unemployed youths sometimes involved in criminal activities. They were seen playing cards, sitting at street corners or desperately queuing up at local employment exchange. (iv) The Germany currency (mark) collapsed, prices rose phenomenally high due to hyper inflation.
(v) The economic crisis created deep anxieties and fear in people. As business got ruined, small businessmen, self-employed and retailers were filled with the fear of proletarianisation, an anxiety of being reduced to the ranks of workers or unemployed.
(vi) Big businessmen were also in crisis.
(vii) The large mass of peasantry was affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices.
(viii) Women, unable to feed their children properly, were filled with a sense of despair. 

18. Describe the impact of economic depression of Germany? Or Describe the impact of great economic depression (1929-1932) on various sections of society in Germany?

Answer:  Hitler was a powerful orator. His speech could mesmerise the masses
(i) He promised to build strong nation, undo the injustice of the Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people.
(ii) He assured employment for unemployed people and a secured future for the youths. (iii) He promised to control all foreign influence and resist all foreign conspiracies against Germany.
(iv) He introduced a new style of politics. Nazi party held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the supports for Hitler and these massive mobilization created a sense of unity among German people.
(v) Nazi propaganda skillfully projected Hitler as a messiah, a saviour as someone who had arrived to save people from their distress.
(vi) Hitler came during such a period when the dignity and pride of German people were totally shattered due to the defeat in First World War and humiliating Treaty of Versailles. The crisis in the economy, polity and society formed the background of Hitler’s rise to power. 

19. What does citizenship mean to you? Look at Chapters 1 and 3 and write 200 words on how the French Revolution and Nazism defined citizenship.

Answer:  To me, citizenship means the right to live freely in the country of my birth or the country where I desire to live. The French Revolution defined citizenship in a way which was different from the way that the Nazism defined it. The French people thought that all men have equal rights as they are born equal. The rights of a citizen include liberty, security, owning of property and resisting oppression. Also they believed in the freedom of expression, whether verbal or in writing, art, etc. They believed in the rule of law and that no one can be above it. However, the Nazi definition of citizenship was quite different. It was defined with the perspective of racial discrimination against all except the ‘pure Aryan’ Nordic race. So they said that Jews and other ‘undesirable’ population would not be considered as citizens of Germany. These people were given very harsh treatment like death in the gas chamber or banishment to concentration camps. Many of them were forced to flee to other countries because of this. 

20. What did the Nuremberg Laws mean to the ‘undesirables’ in Nazi Germany? What other legal measures were taken against them to make them feel unwanted?

Answer: Basically, the Nuremberg Laws meant that the ‘undesirables’ had no rights to live along with the other citizens. These included Jews, Gypsies, ‘Blacks’ and other nationalities like Polish and Russian people. These laws, promulgated in 1935, stated
(i) Only persons of German or related blood would be German citizens, enjoying the protection of the German Empire.
(ii) Marriages between Germans and the ‘undesirables’ were forbidden. Extramarital relations between them also became a crime.
Other legal measures included (i) Boycott of Jewish businesses. (ii) Expulsion of Jews from government services. (iii) Confiscation and forcible selling of the properties of Jews. 

21. What was the impact of World War I on Germany’s politics and society?

Answer: Effect on political life 
(i) Unfortunately, the infant Weimer Republic was made to pay for the sins of the old empire.
(ii) The republic was financially crippled and was forced to pay war compensation. 

Effect on society 
(i) Soldiers came to be placed above civilians.
(ii) The media glorified trench warfare, where soldiers lived miserable lives.
(iii) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour held an important place in the lives of people. 

22. What were the effects of the economic crisis on Germany?

Answer: (i) The Germany’s economy was worst hit by economic crisis.
(ii) Industrial production was reduced to 40 per cent.
(iii) Workers lost their jobs and the number of unemployed reached six million.
(iv) On the streets of Germany, men could be found with placards saying, “Willing to do any work”.
(v) As jobs disappeared, the youth took to criminal activities.
(vi) There was a sharp fall in agricultural prices and women were unable to feed their children.
(vii) Salariedemployeessawtheirsavingsdiminishandcurrencyalsolostitsvalue. 

23. What efforts were made by Hitler to establish dictatorship?

Answer: Destruction of Democracy: Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany on 30th January 1933. He indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly. Then he turned his attention to concentration camps set up for communists. Enabling Act This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to establish his rule. He banned all other political parties and trade unions. Security Forces Special security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted. People could now be detained in Gestapo torture chambers, sent to concentration camps or arrested without any legal procedures. Foreign Policy Hitler first of all pulled his country out of the League of Nations. He reoccupied Rhineland area and integrated his country. Then he occupied Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and later gobbled up the whole country. 

24. How did Hitler treat the Polish?

Answer:(i) Poles were forced to leave their homes and properties for ethnic Germans brought in from occupied Europe.
(ii) Poles were then herded like cattle in other parts of Poland, called the destination for all undesirables of the empire.
(iii) Members of Polish intelligentsia were murdered in large numbers.
(iv) Polish children who looked like Aryans were forcibly snatched from their mothers and examined by race experts and if they passed the race tests, they were raised in German families, and if not they were deposited in orphanages.
(v) With some of the largest ghettos and gas chambers, this part of Poland also served as the killing fields for the Jews. 

25. What kind of education was given in Nazi schools?

Answer: (i) Jew teachers were dismissed from the schools.
(ii) Children were segregated. Germans and Jews neither could sit together nor play together.
(iii) Subsequently, undesirable children?Jews, the physically handicapped and Gypsies were thrown out of schools.
(iv) School textbooks were rewritten.
(v) Racial Science was introduced to justify Nazi’s ideas of race.
(vi) Children were taught to be loyal and submissive, to hate the Jews and worship Hitler. (vii) Boxing was introduced as Hitler believed that it could make children iron hearted, strong and masculine. 

26. Explain the status of women in the German society.

Answer: Children in Nazi Germany were told that women were radically different from men. While boys were taught to be aggressive, masculine and steel hearted, girls were told to be good mothers and rear pure-blooded Aryan children. Girls were supposed to look after, have and teach their children Nazi values. Women bearing  undesirable children were punished and those bearing desirable were awarded. They were given favoured treatment in hospitals and were given concessions in theatre tickets, railways fares and shops. To encourage women to produce more children, a bronze cross was given for four children, silver for six and gold for eight and more. Those who maintained contacts with the Jews, Poles or Russians were paraded through the town with shaved heads, blackened faces and placards hanging from their necks saying, “I have sullied the honour of the nation”. 

27. How was the Holocaust practised in Germany?

Answer: Information of the Nazi’s atrocities on the Jews had opened up to the world after the defeat of Germany in World War II. The Jews wanted the world to remember the atrocities and sufferings they had endured during the Nazi killing operations called the Holocaust. A ghetto inhabitant had wanted to tell the world about what had happened in Nazi Germany. Many Jews had written diaries, kept notebooks and created archives that bore witness. On the other hand, when the war was lost, the Nazi leaders tried to burn all the evidences available in the offices. Yet, the history and the memory of the Holocaust lived on the memoirs, fiction, documentaries, poetry and museums in many parts of the world today. 

28. Trace the ‘destruction of democracy’ in Germany.

Answer: This came about in January 1933, when President Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship to Hitler. He suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that were guaranteed by the Weimar Constitution in 1933. Then he turned to his arch-enemies, the Communists, who were hurriedly packed off to the newly established concentration camps. On 3 March, 1933 dictatorship was established in Germany. It gave all powers for Hitler to sideline parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except the Nazi Party and its affiliates. The state established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary. 

29. What was the Nazis’ ‘Art of Propaganda’?

Answer: The Nazi regime used language and media with care. For example, the terms they coined to describe various practices were not only deceptive but chilling. Nazis never used the word ‘kill’ or ‘murder’ in their official communications. Mass killings were termed as special treatment, final solution for the Jews, euthanasia (for the disabled) and selection and disinfections. Evacuation meant deporting people to the gas chambers. Gas chambers were called disinfection areas. Nazi ideas spread through visual images, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets. Propaganda films were made to create hatred for the Jews. Orthodox Jews were stereotyped and portrayed with flowing beads and kaftans. The Nazi’s were trying to appeal to the population and win their support by suggesting that they could alone solve all their problems.

30. How do you agree with the statement, “Treaty of Versailles laid the germs of another war and was a harsh treaty”?

Answer: The peace treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating one. Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 per cent of its territories, 75 per cent of its iron and 26 per cent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania. The Allied powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its powers. The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to about 6 billion pounds. The Allied army also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s. Many Germans held the new Weimar Republic responsible for not only the defeat in the war but the disgrace at Versailles. 

31. What was the impact of World War I on European society?

Answer: The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity
(i) Soldiers came to be placed above civilians.
(ii) Politicians and publicists laid great success on the need for men to be aggressive, strong and masculine.
(iii) The media glorified trench life but actually soldiers lived miserable lives in these trenches, trapped with rats feeding on corpses.
(iv) They faced poisonous gas and enemy shelling, and witnessed their ranks reduce rapidly.
(v) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public sphere, while popular support grew for conservative dictatorships that had recently come into being. 

32. Which special surveillance and security forces were created by Nazis?

Answer: Apart from the already existing regular police in green uniform and the Storm Troopers (SA), these included the Gestapo (Secret State Police) the SS (the protection squads) criminal police and security service. It was the extra constitutional powers of these newly organised forces that gave the Nazi state its reputation as the most dreaded criminal state. People could now be detained in Gestapo torture chambers, rounded up and sent to concentration camps, deported at will or arrested without any legal procedures. The police forces acquired powers to rule with impunity. So, in this way special surveillance and security forces were created to control or order society in ways that Nazis wanted. 

33. When and how did Hitler invade Soviet Union?

Answer: By the end of 1940, Hitler was at the pinnacle of his power and now he moved towards Eastern Europe, after defeating France in the west. He attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941. In this historic blunder. Hitler exposed the German western front to British aerial bombing and the eastern front to the powerful Soviet armies. The Soviet Red Army inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on Germany at Stalingrad. After this, the Soviet Red Army hounded out the retreating German soldiers until they reached the heart of Berlin, establishing Soviet power over the entire Europe for half a century thereafter.

34. How did USA enter into World War II?

Answer: USA had resisted involvement in the war, it was unwilling to face another economic crisis after the war. But it could not stay out of the war for long. Japan was expanding its power in the east. It had occupied French Indo-China and was planning attacks on US naval bases in the Pacific. When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at Pearl Harbour, the US entered the Second World War. The war ended in May 1945 with Hitler’s defeat and the US dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. 

35. How were Darwin and Herbert Spencer’s ideas adopted by Hitler or Nazis?

Answer: Hitler borrowed racism from thinkers like Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. Darwin was a natural scientist who tried to explain the creation of plants and animals through the concept of evolution and natural selection. Herbert Spencer later added the idea of survival of the fittest. According to this idea, only those species survived on earth that could adapt themselves to changing climatic conditions. Darwin never advocated human intervention in what he thought was a purely natural process of selection. However, his ideas were used by racist thinkers and politicians to justify imperial rule over conquered people. The Nazi argument was simple: the strongest race would survive and the weak ones would perish. The Aryan race was the finest. It had to retain its purity, become stronger and dominate the world. 

36. How did hatred develop for undesirable communities?

Answer: Jews were not the only community classified as ‘undesirable’. There were others too. Many ‘Gypsies’ and ‘Blacks’ living in Nazi Germany were considered as racial inferiors who threatened the biological purity of the superior Aryan race. They were widely persecuted. Even Russians and Poles were considered subhuman and hence undeserving of any humanity. When Germany occupied Poland and parts of Russia, captured civilians were forced to work as slave labour. Many of them died simply through hard work and starvation. 

37. What was Nazi’s school syllabus?

Answer: Good German children were subjected to a process of Nazi schooling, a prolonged period of ideological training. School textbooks were rewritten. Racial science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race. Stereotypes about Jews were popularised even through maths classes. Children were taught to be loyal and submissive, hate Jews and worship Hitler. Even the function of sports was to nurture a spirit of violence and aggression among children. Hilter believed that boxing could make children iron hearted, strong and masculine. 

38. How were women discriminated on child’s birth in Hitler’s society?

Answer: In 1933, Hitler said, “In my state the mother is the most important citizen. But in Nazi Germany all mothers were not treated equally.” Women who bore racially undesirable children were punished and those who produced racially desirable children were awarded. They were given favourable treatment in hospitals and were also entitled to concessions in shops and on theatre tickets and railways fares. To encourage women to produce many children. Honour Crosses were awarded. A bronze cross was given for four children, silver for six and gold for eight or more. All Aryan women who deviated from the prescribed code of conduct were publicly condemned and severely punished. 

39. Describe the problems faced by the Weimar Republic. 

Answer: The problems faced by Weimar Republic are the following:
(i) The infant Weimar Republic was forced to pay for the sins of the old empire. The republic carried the burden of war guilt and national humiliation and was financially crippled by being forced to pay compensation.
(ii) The Socialists, Catholics and Democrats who supported the Weimer Republic became easy target of attack in the conservative nationalist circles. They were mockingly called ‘November criminals’.
(iii) There was revolutionary uprising of the Spartacist League on the pattern of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
(iv) Soviets of workers and sailors were established in many cities. There was demand for Soviet-style governance. The Weimar Republic crushed the uprising with the help of a war veterans’ organisation called, ‘Free Corps’.
(v) The Spartacists later founded the Communist Party of Germany. Communists and Scientists henceforth became irreconcilable enemies and could not make common cause against Hitler.
(vi) There was economic crisis of 1923. Prices of goods soared. The crisis came to be known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.
(vii) Politically too, the Weimar Republic was fragile. System of proportionate representation and Article 48 which gave President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree. The Weimer Republic saw twenty different cabinets lasting on an average 239 days, and a liberal use of Article 48.   

40. How Germany came into the trap of ‘Hyper-Inflation’ situation after World War II? How were they saved?

Answer: (i) Germany had fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparation in gold.
(ii) This depleted gold reserves at a time when resources were scarce.
(iii) In 1932, Germany refused to pay, and the French occupied its leading industrial area ‘Ruhr’, to claim their coal.              
(iv) Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency wrecklessly.    
(v) With too much printed money in circulation, the value of the  German mark fell.    
(vi) As the value of the mark collapsed, prices of goods soared.      
(vii) The image of the Germany carrying cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely publicised.                      
(viii) This crisis came to be known as hyper-inflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.                                
(ix) Eventually, the Americans intervened and bailed Germany out of  the crisis by introducing ‘The Dawes Plan’ which reworked the terms of separation to ease the financial burden on Germany. 

41. How worldwide economic crisis can affect the society also? Analyse this situation in Germany.

Answer:  (i) The economic crisis created deep anxieties and fears in people.
(ii) The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings diminish when the currency lost its value.
(iii) Small businessmen, the self-employed and retailers suffered as their businesses got ruined.
(iv) These sections ofsociety were filled with the fear of’Proletarianisation’, an anxiety of being reduced to the ranks of the working class, or worse still, the unemployed.
(v) Only organised workers could manage to keep their heads above water, but unemployment weakened their bargaining power.
(vi) Big business was in crisis.
(vii) The large mass of peasantry was affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices and women, unable to fill their children’s stomachs, were filled with a sense of deep despair. 

42. What kind of racial segregation was practised by Hitler?

Answer:  (i) Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream creating an exclusive racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire.
(ii) Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’.
(iii) They alone were considered ‘desirable’.
(iv) Only they were seen as worthy of prospering and multiplying against all others who were classed as ‘undesirable’.
(v) This meant that even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to exist.
(vi) Under the Euthansia Programme, Helworth’s father along with other Nazi officials had condemned to death many Germans who were considered mentally or physically unfit. 

43. Had media played any role in the propaganda of Nazi regime? .

Answer:  (i) Media was carefully used to win support for the regime and popularise it worldwide.
(ii) Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets.
(iii) In posters, groups identified as the ‘enemies’ of Germans were stereotyped, mocked, abused and described as evil.
(iv) Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate.
(v) They were attacked as malicious foreign agents.
(vi) Propaganda films were made to create hatred for Jews.
(vii) The most infamous film was ‘The Eternal Jews’. Orthodox Jews were stereotyped and mocked.
(viii) They were shown with flowing beards wearing kaftans, whereas in reality it was difficult to distinguish German Jews by their outward appearance because they were a highly assimilated community.
(ix) They were referred to as vermin, rats and pests. Their movements were compared to those of rodents.
(x) Nazism worked on the minds of the people, tapped their emotions and turned their hatred and anger at those marked as ‘undesirable’.