email from mystery historian : Germany questions

Hey Sir, I was wondering whether you could mark some questions for me that were from the A3 sheet you gave us.

Hi ******* It would be a pleasure. Marks and comments in bold after each answer.

Describe the spartakist uprising (4)

The spartakist revolt was in 1919, shortly after the weimar republic came into power. The spartakists were a group of communists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibenikht. They were inspired by the Russian Revolution in 1917 and thought that they could take control of the goverenment as they saw the weimar republic as weak and opposing to their communist values. The weimar republic were unable to defend itself and Ebert knew that many soldiers werte unsupportive of the weimar republic so enlisted the help of a voluntary force called the friekorps. He sent the freikorps to put a stop to the rebellion. Both were heavily armed and many were killed, but the freikorps had won and this meant that there was no longer a threat of the spartakists on the weimar government. However this higlighted the public’s dislike for the Government.

4/4 EXCELLENT ANSWER

The reichstag fire was more important than the enabling act in allowing Hitler to consolidate power in 1933. How far do you agree? (10)

I partially agree with this statement as i think that the enabling act is how Hitler was able to gain total control, howver this may not have happened without the reichstag fire.

In 1933 a fire broke out in the reichstag, there was much specualation as to who caused it. Although he had no proof, Hitler took this opportunity to get rid of his main competition which were the communists. He accused the Communist party of starting the fire claiming that they were dangerous. He then asked for Hindenburg for special powers to deal with the communists which meant that he was able to arrest communists and scare people from supporting them. The reichstag fire was important as the reprimand that the communists received made the rest of the German population realise what would happen if they defied Hitler. It also meant that the Nazi party had more support as Hitler had found the culprit of the fire, therefore supposedly restoring the justice back into German society. He gained more support and in the next election gained the majority.

However i feel that the enabling act was more important in allowing Hitler to consolidate power. The enabling act was passed in 1933 shortly after the reichstag fire due to persuasion from the SS and the SA . It meant that Hitler could make decisions without consulting the reichstag. This meant that Hitler was a virtual dictator. Therefore he was very powerful and could make any laws he wanted without having to answer to anyone. I fell that this was more important as it meant that Hitler could essentially do whatever he wanted. But the reichstag fire was still important in making it happen.

8/10 I WOULD ALSO EXPLAIN THAT THE REICHSTAG FIRE ALLOWED HITLER TO BAN AND ARREST THE COMMUNITS PARTY. THEY WERE HIS CLOSEST RIVALS. THIS ALLOWED HIM TO CONTROL THE REICHSTAG, PASS THE ENABLING ACT AND BECOME A DICTATOR.

Explain why the work of Goebbels was important for the NAZIs (6)

Goebbels was Hitlers propaganda chief, in Germany he was known as the minister of enlightenment. He was important throughout the Nazi party’s political activity. During Hitler’s rise to power he ensured that people belived that Hitler was the right man for the job reinforcing that the Government needed to be controlled by a strong leader, he also focused on returning to traditional values. Once Hitler came into power he kept tight control of the media, nothing could be published wothout Goebbels consent. This meant that only pro Nazi messages could be seen by the public. He also made sure that everybody had a radio in order to spread the Nazi messages of world domination and the inferiority of Jews. The aim was to get more support from the public. He was feared by many as he had backing from the Gestapo and the SS so could send people to concentration camps if they went against the Nazi way of life.He also organised a number of rallies including perhaps the most important, the Nuremberg Rallies which convincede people that Nazis were well supported. Goebbels was an important figure as he ensured that evryone was supportive of the Nazi party and used coercion and threats of concentration camps if they weren’t.

GOOD 6/6. YOU COULD ALSO MENTION THAT HIS WORK (NAZI PROPAGANDA) WAS FUNDED BY BUSINESSES (WHO WERE SCARED OF COMMUNISM)

Explain why kristallnacht took place (6)

The aim of Kristallnacht was to get rid of jews from Germany. In 1938 Jewish synagogues, homes and shops were destroyed. It was a 3 day destruction which left 90 jews killed and many sent to concentration camps. The aim was to show the lack of support for the jews. Hitler w anted Germany to be a dominating race. The ideal German was that of blond hair and blue eyes, also known as Aryan. Jews did not fit that appearance and were persecuted. Many Jews had good jobs such as doctors and lawyers and despite the fact that they worked hard to get to that occupation, Hitler convinced the public that Jews were stealing jobs that were rightfully theirs. Hitler wanted Europe to be full of Aryans and for the Nazi party to live on for years to come. Hitler wanted to leave his mark as a dictator and getting rid of the Jews would do that. Kristallnacht was the start of the intense progress to try and get rid of Jews for good. It was the beginning of the final solution of the execution of the Jews. It took place in order to start Hitler’s plan into play.

6/6 EXCELLENT, I PARTICULARLY LIKE HOW CLEARLY YOU DEFINE THE KEY TERMS.