Class 9 History Chapter 3 Important Questions Nazism and the Rise of Hitler
Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 3 Nazism and the Rise of Hitler important questions and answers cover the major concepts of the chapter. Solving answers of these important questions help students to revise the Chapter most competently. We prepared these questions with PDF as per the latest NCERT book and CBSE syllabus. Practising these questions before the exam will ensure excellent marks in the exam.
Nazism and the Rise of Hitler Class 9 Important Questions
1. “The Treaty of Versailles was humiliating on the Germans.” Give three examples in support of your answer.
Answer: The Treaty of Versailles was humiliating on the Germans as mentioned below:
(1) 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 Allied powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power.
(iii) The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered.
(iv) Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to six billion.
(v) The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.
2. “The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity.” Support the statement with three examples.
Answer: (i) From a continent of creditors, Europe turned into one of debtors.
(ii) Soldiers came to be placed above civilians.
(iii) Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive, strong and masculine. The media glorified trench life.
(iv) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public sphere.
(v) Popular support grew for conservative dictatorships.
(vi) Democracy was indeed a young and fragile idea, which could not survive the instabilities of interwar Europe.
3. List the communities which were classified as undesirable in Nazi Germany.
Answer: The communities which were classified as undesirable in Nazi Germany were as given below:
(i) Jews.
(ii) Gipsies and blacks living in Germany were considered as racial inferiors who threatened the biological purity of the ‘Superior’ Aryan race.
(iii) 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.
4. ‘‘USA initially resisted involvement in the Second World War but was unable to stay out of the war for long.” Support the statement.
Answer: The USA had entered the First World War in 1917 but had faced economic problems thereafter. Therefore, it did not want to join the Second World War but it could not remain 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. Ultimately, Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at Pearl Harbor. Under these circumstances, the US had no other option except to enter the war against Hitler and its allies.
5. Mention the communities termed as ‘desirables’ and ‘undesirables’ by the Nazis.
Answer: The ‘desirables’ included blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans. He wanted a society of pure and healthy Nordic Aryans.
The ‘undesirables’ included many gipsies, blacks, Jews remained the worst sufferers. Even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to live. Under the Euthanasia Programme, they were condemned to death. Even Germans who were mentally and physically unfit were put to death.
6. Describe the events which happened in 1945 when Germany surrendered to Allies.
Answer: (a) In May 1945 Germany surrendered to the Allies. Hitler and his propaganda minister Goebbels and his family committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.
(b) As the Allied armies overran the areas, occupied by Nazi Germany, they came across many concentration camps where people were on the last stage of their life.
(c) When the war seemed lost, the Nazi leaders distributed petrol to their subordinates to destroy all evidence available in the offices.
7. Explain features of Hitler’s policy towards the Polish people under his rule. [CBSE 2017]
Answer: Main features of Hitler’s policy towards the Polish people under his rule were as mentioned below:
(i) Poles were considered subhuman and hence undeserving of any humanity. Captured civilians were forced to work as slave labour.
(ii) Occupied Poland was divided up. Much of north-western Poland was annexed to Germany.
(iii) Poles were forced to leave their homes and properties behind to be occupied by ethnic Germans brought in from occupied Europe. Poles were then herded like cattle in the other part called the General Government, the destination of all ‘undesirables’ of the empire.
(iv) Members of the Polish intelligentsia were murdered in large numbers in order to keep the entire people intellectually and spiritually servile.
(v) 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 kept in orphanages.
8. Highlight the five events of 1933 that led to the destruction of democracy in Germany.
OR
Explain any five features of political policy adopted by Hitler after coming to power in 1933.
OR
How was democracy destroyed in Germany?
Answer: The events of 1933 that led to the destruction of democracy in Germany are as follows.
(a) On 30 January 1933 President Hindenburg gave the Chancellorship, the highest position in cabinet to Hitler. Hitler now tried to dismantle the structure of democratic rule.
(b) A mysterious fire broke out in German Parliament which facilitated his move.
(c) The Fire Decree of 27 February 1933 indefinitely suspended civil rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been granted by the Weimar republic.
(d) Communists, who were the enemies of Hitler were sent to the concentration camps.
(e) On 3 March, Enabling Act was passed. It established dictatorship in Germany. Hitler could rule without the consent of the parliament. All political parties and trade unions were banned except the Nazi Party. The state had full control over media, army and judiciary.
9. Describe what happened to Germany after its defeat in the First World War. (CBSE 2010)
Answer: World War I, ended with the Allies defeating Germany and the Central powers in November 1918. The Peace Treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating treaty. Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 percent of its territories, 75 percent of its iron and 26 percent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania. The Allied Powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion. The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.
10. Give four reasons for Hitler’s rise to power.
OR
Discuss the factors contributing to the meteoric rise of Hitler. [2010 (T-1)]
Answer: (i) The crisis in the economy, polity and society formed the background of Hitler’s rise to power. Born in 1889 in Austria, Hitler spent his youth in poverty. The German defeat horrified him and the Versailles Treaty made him furious (1st reason). In 1919, he joined a small group called the German Workers’ Party. He subsequently took over the organisation and renamed it the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party. This party came to be known as the Nazi Party. Hitler assured the Germans about the establishment of the old prestige.
(ii) The economic crisis : Germany had to face a great economic crisis after the First World War. Many soldiers were no longer in service, so they became unemployed. Trade and commerce was ruined. Germany was in the grip of unemployment and starvation.
(iii) Exploiting the mentality of the Germans : The Germans had no faith in democracy. It was against their culture and tradition. They at once gave their support to a strong man like Hitler who could transfer their dreams into reality.
(iv) Making the best use of his personal qualities : Hitler was a powerful orator, an able organiser.
11. Explain any three of the following terms :
(a) Lebensraum
(b) A Racial State
(c) Propaganda
(d) Ghettoisation and concentration camps
(e) Jungvolk
Answer: (a) Lebensraum : It was an aspect of Hitler’s Ideology which is 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 while enabling the settlers on new lands to retain an intimate link with the place of their origin.
(b) Racial State : Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire. Nazis only wanted a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They alone were considered ‘desirable’.
(c) Propaganda : The Nazi regime used language and media with care and often to great effect. They used films, pictures, radio, posters, etc. to spread hatred for the Jews. Propaganda is a specific type of message directly aimed at influencing the opinion of people through the use of posters, films, speeches etc.
(d) Ghettoisation and Concentration Camps : From September 1941, all Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David on their breasts. This identity mark was stamped on their passport, all legal documents and houses. They were kept in Jewish houses in Germany and in ghettos like Lodz and Warsaw in the east. These became sites of extreme misery and poverty. The largest Nazi concentration camp is identified with Auschwitz (Poland). Built in 1940, the camp served as a major element in perpetration of the holocaust, killing around 16 million people of whom 90 % were Jews. The camp was surrounded with barbed wire. The camp held 100,000 prisoners at one time. The camp’s main purpose was not internment but extermination. For this purpose, the camp was equipped with four gas chambers, and each chamber could hold 2,500 people at one time.
(e) Jungvolk : These were Nazi youth groups for children below 14 years of age. Youth organisations were made responsible for educating German youth in ‘the spirit of National Socialism’. Ten-year-olds had to enter Jungvolk. At 14, all boys had to join the Nazi youth organisation.
12. Explain the role of women in Hitler’s Germany.
OR
What responsibilities did the Nazi state impose on women. (CBSE 2010)
Answer: According to Hitler’s ideology, women were radically different from men. The democratic idea of equal rights for men and women was wrong and would destroy society. While boys were taught to be aggressive, masculine and steel-hearted, girls were told that they had to become good mothers and rear pure blooded Aryan children. Girls had to maintain the purity of the race, distance themselves from Jews, look after the home and teach their children Nazi values. They had to be the bearers of the Aryan culture and race. Hitler said, ‘‘In my state the mother is the most important citizen.’’ But in Nazi Germany all mothers were not treated equally.
13. Explain the main views of Hitler as expressed in his book ‘Mein Kampf’.
Answer: Adolf Hitler wrote a book entitled ‘Mein Kampf’. Its literal meaning is ‘My Struggle’. This book expresses some of the most monstrous ideas of the Nazi movement. He glorified the use of force and brutalities and the rule by a great leader and ridiculed internationalism, peace and democracy. These principles were accepted by all followers of Hitler. Throughout Germany an atmosphere of terror was created. Hitler glorified violent nationalism and extolled war. He wrote this book at the age of 35, it is an autobiographical book; in this book Hitler has poured out his hatred for democracy, Marxism and the Jews. He also revealed his bitterness over German surrender in World War I.
14. Why is Nazism considered a calamity not only for Germany but for the entire Europe?
OR
How did Hitler destroy democracy in Germany? Explain. [2010 (T-1)]
Answer: Nazi ideology specified that there was racial hierarchy and no equality between people. The blond, blue-eyed Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while the Jews were located somewhere on the lowest rung of the ladder. The number of people killed by Nazi Germany were 6 million Jews, 200,000 Gypsies, 1 million Polish civilians, 70,000 Germans. Nazism glorified the use of force and brutality. It ridiculed internationalism, peace and democracy. Nazi Germany became the most dreaded criminal state. Hitler chose war as the way out of approaching the economic crisis. Germany invaded Poland. This started a war with France and England in September 1940.
15. ‘The German economy was the worst hit by the economic crisis.’ Discuss.
Answer: The image of a German carrying cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely publicised evoking worldwide sympathy. This crisis came to be known as a ‘‘hyperinflation’’, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high. The German economy was the worst hit by economic crisis. Industrial production was reduced to 40 percent of the 1929 level. Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages. The number of the unemployed touched an unprecedented 6 million. On the streets of Germany you could see men with placards around their necks saying, ‘‘willing to do any work.” The economic crisis created deep anxieties and fears in people. The middle classes, specially the salaried employees and pensioners saw their savings diminish when the currency lost its value. Small businessmen, the self-employed and retailers suffered as their business got ruined. Only organised workers could manage to keep their heads above water. The big business was in crisis, the peasantry was affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices.
16. Explain how the fragility of Weimar Republic led to the rise of Hitler.
Answer: The Peace Treaty at Versailles with the Allies was the biggest problem faced by the Weimar Republic. Due to this treaty, Weimar Republic was not received well by its own people, i.e. the Germans, largely because of the harsh terms it was forced to accept after Germany’s defeat in the First World War. At this time started the Nazi movement. It believed in glorification of state. It also believed in war, colonialism, militarism and expansionism. It was opposed to democracy, liberalism, socialism, world peace and internationalism. The unpopularity of Weimar Republic paved the way for the rise of Nazism and Hitler. Hitler was a tireless worker and an able organiser. He was an effective orator, he promised to save the country. He won the nationalists by promising to vindicate national honour by repudiating the Treaty of Versailles. The middle class was assured economic relief and the disbanded soldiers’ employment. This led to the rise and popularity of Hitler and Nazism in Germany.
17. ‘Nazi ideology was synonymous with Hitler’s world view.’ Explain. (CBSE 2010)
Answer: ‘Nazi’ ideology was synonymous with Hitler’s world view. It said and meant that there was no equality between people but only a racial hierarchy. According to it, blond, blue-eyed Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung of the ladder. They came to be regarded as an anti race. 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 the ‘survival of the fittest.’ Their ideas were borrowed by the Nazis – whose argument was, the “strongest race would survive and the weak ones would perish. The Aryan race was the finest. It had to retain its purity, became stronger and dominate the world.” The other aspect of Hitler’s ideology was the concept of ‘lebensraum’ or living space meaning new territories should be acquired, as it would enhance the area of the mother country.
18. Explain the social utopia of the Nazis.
Answer: According to Hitler and Nazi ideology, there was no equality between people, but only social hierarchy. In this view blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung. They came to be regarded as an anti-race, the arch enemies of the Aryans. Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure German by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire. Nazis wanted in a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They alone were considered ‘desirable’. Under the shadow of war, the Nazis proceeded to realise their murderous, racial ideal. Genocide and war became two sides of the same coin. Occupied Poland was divided up. Much of north-western Poland was annexed to Germany. Poles were forced to leave their homes and properties behind to be occupied by ethnic Germans brought in from occupied Europe. Poles were then herded like cattle in the other part called the ‘General Government’, the destination of all ‘undesirables’ of the empire. With some of the largest ghettos and gas chambers, the General Government also served as the killing field for the Jews.
19. What happened in schools under Nazism?
OR
How were the schools in Germany ‘cleansed’ and ‘purified’ under Nazi rule?
Answer: All schools were cleansed and purified. This meant that teachers who were Jews or seen as politically unreliable were dismissed. Children were segregated — Germans and Jews could not sit together or play together. Later on the undesirable children — the Jews, the physically handicapped, gypsies — were thrown out of schools. In the 1940s, they were taken to gas chambers. Children in school were taught to be loyal and submissive, hate Jews and worship Hitler. Sports was given great importance. The function of sports was to nurture a spirit of violence and aggression among children. Stereotypes of Jews was propagated through all classes. Schooling was a prolonged period of ideological training.
20. ‘In my state the mother is the most important citizen.’ Discuss this statement made by Hitler.
Answer: Though Hitler said that in my state the mother is the most important citizen, it was not true. In Nazi Germany, all mothers were not treated equally. Women who bore racially desirable children were awarded, while those who bore racially undesirable children were punished. Women who bore ‘desirable’ children were entitled to privileges and rewards. They were given special treatment in hospitals and concessions in shops and on theatre tickets and railway fares.
21. What were the steps taken by Hitler as Chancellor to deal with the economic difficulties? Which two things symbolized the economic recovery of Germany?
Answer: (i) First, 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.
(ii) Hitler chose was as the way out of the approaching economic crisis. Resources were to be accumulated through expansion of territory. The famous German highways and the people’s car, the Volkswagen became the symbols of Germany’s economic recovery.
22. Describe the main provisions of Treaty of Versailles? (CBSE 2010)
Answer: The Treaty of Versailles was harsh and humiliating peace for the Germans.
(i) Germany lost all its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population.
(ii) 13 percent of its territories, 75 percent of its iron and 26 percent of its coal to France.
(iii) Germany was demilitarised to weaken its power.
(iv) The war guilt clause held Germany responsible for war and damages the Allied countries suffered. It was forced to pay a compensation amounting to £6 billion.
(v) The Allied forces occupied the resource-rich Rhineland till the 1920s.
23. How did the ordinary Germans react to Nazism? (CBSE 2010)
Answer: Many saw the world through Nazi eyes and spoke their mind in Nazi language. They felt hatred and anger even when some one they thought who looked like a Jew. They reported against suspected Jews and marked their houses. They believed Nazism would make them prosperous and happy. The large number of Germans were passive onlookers, too scared to act, to differ or protest. They preferred to keep away. Only a few organised active resistance to Nazism.
24 Examine any three features of racial hierarchy that was promoted by Hitler in Germany under his Nazi ideology.
Answer: (i) According to Nazi ideology, there was no equality between people, but only a racial hierarchy. In this view blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung.
(ii) Hitler’s racism borrowed from thinkers like Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. Darwin believed in the theory of natural selection. Herbert Spencer added the idea of survival of the fittest.
(iii) The Nazi believed that the strongest race would survive and the weak would perish. The Aryan race was the finest. It had to retain its purity, become stronger and dominate the world.
25. From whom did Hitler borrow his racist ideology? Explain. [2010 (T-1)]
Answer: Hitler borrowed his racist ideology 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 on 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 peoples.
36. Why did Germany suffer from ‘‘Hyperinflation” in 1923? Who bailed her out from this situation?
Answer: Germany had fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold. This depleted gold reserves at a time resources were scarce. In 1923 Germany refused to pay and the French occupied Ruhr, to claim their coal. Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly. With too much printed money in circulation the value of the German mark fell. In April the US dollar was equal to 24,000 marks, in July 353,000 marks and at 98,860,000 marks by December, the figure had run into trillions. As the value of the marks collapsed, prices of goods soared. This crisis came to be known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.
37. Why did USA enter into the Second World War?
Answer: When the Second World War broke out, the US announced her neutrality. In July 1941, the Japanese had occupied Vietnam in Indo-China. In October, an even more aggressive government came to power in Japan. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese bombers attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. The US had expected Japanese attack on the British and Dutch colonial possessions in the area and was completely taken by surprise. In bombing, 188 aircraft and many battleships, cruisers and other naval vessels of the US were destroyed and over 2000 sailors and soldiers killed. The US was angry at this development. On 8 December, the US declared war on Japan. On 11 December, Germany and Italy declared war on the US and the US declared war on Germany and Italy.
38. What were the promises made by Hitler to people of Germany?
Answer: He promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustice of the 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.
39. Give reasons why the Weimar Republic failed to solve the problems of Germany.
Answer: The birth of the Weimar Republic coincided with the uprising of the Spartacus League on the pattern of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The Democrats, Socialists and Catholics opposed it. They met in Weimar to give shape to a democratic republic. The republic was not received well by its own people largely because of the terms it was forced to accept after Germany’s defeat at the end of the First World War.
Many Germans held the new Weimar Republic responsible for not only the defeat in the war but the disgrace at Versailles. This republic was finally crippled by being forced to pay compensation. Soon after the economic crisis hit Germany in 1923, the value of German mark fell considerably. The Weimar Republic had to face hyperinflation. Then came the Wall Street exchange crash in 1929. Politically too the Weimar Republic was fragile. The Weimar Constitution had some inherent defects, which made it unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship. One was proportional representation. This made achieving a majority by any one party a near impossible task, leading to a rule by coalitions. Another defect was Article 48, which gave the president the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree. Within its short life, the Weimar Republic saw twenty different cabinets lasting on a average 239 days, and a liberal use of Article 48. Yet the crisis could not be managed. People lost confidence in the democratic parliamentary system, which seemed to offer no solutions.
40. Why was Nazism considered to be a negation of both democracy and socialism?
Answer: After assuming power on 30th January 1933, Hitler set out to dismantle the structure of democratic rule. The Fire decree of 28th February 1933 indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the Weimar constitution. The repression of the Jews and Communists was severe. On 3rd March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established dictatorship in Germany. It gave Adolf Hitler all political and administrative power to sideline the German parliament. All political parties of Germany 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. Special surveillance and security forces besides the existing regular police force, the Gestapo, the SD plus the extra-constitutional powers of these newly constructed forces gave the Nazi state its reputation of being the most dreaded criminal state.
41. Describe in detail Hitler’s treatment of the Jews.
OR
Explain Nazi ideologies regarding the Jews.
Answer: Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘‘undesirable’’ in the extended empire were mentally or physically unfit Germans, Gypsies, blacks, Russians, Poles. But Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They were stereotyped as ‘killers of Christ and usurers’. Until medieval times, Jews were barred from owning land. They survived mainly through trade and moneylending. They lived in separately marked areas called ‘ghettos’. They were often persecuted through periodic organised violence and expulsion from land.
All this had a precursor in the traditional Christian hostility towards Jews for being the killers of Christ. However, Hitler’s hatred of the Jews was based on pseudo-scientific theories of race, which held that conversion was no solution to ‘the Jewish problem’. It could be solved only through their total elimination. From 1933 to 1938, the Nazis terrorised, pauperised and segregated the Jews, compelling them to leave the country. The next phase of 1939-1945 aimed at concentrating them in certain areas and eventually killing them in gas chambers in Poland. Under the shadow of war, the Nazis proceeded to realise their murderous, racial ideal. Genocide and war became two sides of the same coin.
42. “The seeds of the Second World War were sown in the Treaty of Versailles.” Discuss.
OR
What were the effects of peace treaty on Germany after the First World War?
Answer: The defeat of Germany in World War I made Hitler angry. It horrified him. The Treaty of Versailles made him furious. He joined the German Workers Party and renamed it National Socialist German Workers Party. This later came to be known as the Nazi Party. Hitler promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustice of the Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people. After First World War, Germany was compelled to sign this treaty under the threat of war. So to undo the wrong of the Versailles Treaty, to put Germany on its feet, to bring financial stability, to realise its dreams of creating a nation of pure Germans who belonged to an exclusive racial community of pure, healthy, Nordic German Aryans, and to make Germany into a mighty power, Hitler choose war.
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. This started a war with France and England. In 1940, a Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan, strengthening Hitler’s claim to international power. Puppet regimes, supportive of Nazi Germany, were installed in a large part of Europe. Hitler then attacked the Soviet Union. But suffered a crushing defeat. After the Pearl Harbour incident, USA entered the war. Thus we see a direct link from the Treaty of Versailles to World War two.
43. What was the Nazi ideology of Lebensraum? How did they proceed to actualise it?
Answer: Lebensraum was the other aspect of Hitler’s ideology related to a geopolitical concept. It meant living space. He believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement. This would enhance the area of the mother country, while enabling the settlers on new lands to retain an intimate link with the place of their origin. It would also enhance the material resources and power of the German nation. Hitler intended to extend German boundaries by moving eastwards to concentrate all Germans geographically in one place. Poland became the laboratory for this experimentation. Hitler wrote (Secret Book, ed. Telford Taylor), ‘‘A vigorous nation will always find ways of adapting its territory to its population size.’’ Thus Hitler turned its attention in conquering Eastern Europe. He wanted to ensure food supplies and Living Space for Germans.
44. ‘The Nazi regime used language and media with care and often to great effect.” Explain.
Answer: “The Nazi regime used language and media with care and often to great effect. They never used such commonplace revealing terms as ‘‘kill, murder’’ in their official communications. Mass killings were termed special treatment, final solution (for the Jews), euthanasia (for the disabled) selection and disinfections. ‘Evacuation’ meant deporting people to gas chambers. Gas chambers were called ‘disinfection areas’. They looked like bathrooms equipped with fake showerheads. Media was carefully used to win support for the regime and popularise its world view. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets for the Jews. The most infamous film was ‘The Eternal Jew’. They were shown with flowing beards, wearing Kaftans, whereas in reality it was difficult to distinguish German Jews by their appearance because they were a highly assimilated community.
45. Describe the early life of Hitler prior to his assuming power as the dictator of Nazi Germany.
Answer: Hitler was born in 1889 in Austria. He spent his youth in poverty. When the first World War broke out, he enrolled for the army, acted as a messenger in the front, became a corporal, and earned medals for bravery. The German defeat horrified him and the Versailles Treaty made him furious. In 1919, he joined a small group called the German Workers’ Party. He subsequently took over the organisation and renamed it the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. This party was popularly known as the Nazi party.