Hitler's Rise to Power and Nazi Ideology

Hitler’s Rise to Power & Nazi Ideology

• Hitler's alleged Jewish ancestry is an unproven claim used in propaganda and conspiracy theories.
• The Nazi Party Program (1920) outlined policies, including anti-Semitism and expansionism.
• Mein Kampf and Hitler’s Second Book promoted Aryan supremacy and anti-Semitism.
• The Beer Hall Putsch (1923) was a failed Nazi coup attempt, leading to Hitler's imprisonment where he wrote Mein Kampf.
• Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933 enabled the Nazi consolidation of power.
• The Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler dictatorial powers, bypassing parliament.

Weimar Republic & Its Challenges

• Paul von Hindenburg was the President who appointed Hitler as Chancellor in 1933.
• The Weimar Parliamentary System, a democratic government post-WWI, was undermined by political instability.
• Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution allowed the president to rule by decree, weakening democracy.
• The Great Depression fueled the Nazi rise to power.
• The Schleicher Plan was a failed last-ditch effort to prevent Nazi dominance by forming a coalition.

Nazi Legal & Political Repression

• The Reichstag Fire Decree (1933) suspended civil liberties, justifying mass arrests of communists.
• The Night of the Long Knives (1934) was a purge of SA leaders and political rivals.
• The Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped Jews of citizenship and rights.
• The Civil Service Law (1933) removed Jews and political opponents from government jobs.
• The Marital Health Law prevented "undesirable" marriages to maintain Nazi racial purity.

Anti-Semitism & Persecution of Jews

• Nazis blended historic religious anti-Semitism with racial and economic anti-Semitism.
• Blood Libel is an ancient anti-Semitic myth falsely accusing Jews of ritual murder.
• Aryanization involved the systematic confiscation of Jewish businesses and property.
• The Denaturalization Law (1933) stripped Jews and other “undesirables” of German citizenship.
• At the Evian Conference (1938), most countries refused to accept Jewish refugees.
• Kristallnacht (1938) was a state-sponsored pogrom targeting Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.

Nazi Expansion & Plans for Eastern Europe

• Lebensraum (Living Space) was a Nazi policy advocating German territorial expansion.
• Anschluss (1938) was the Nazi annexation of Austria.
• During the Munich Crisis (1938), the British and French appeased Hitler by allowing him to take the Sudetenland.
• The German-Soviet Pact (1939) was a non-aggression pact enabling the invasion of Poland.
• Operation Barbarossa (1941) was the German invasion of the Soviet Union, marked by mass killings of Jews and political enemies.

Persecution & Occupation in Poland & the East

• Nazi plans for Poland targeted Jewish and Polish populations for extermination and enslavement.
• General Government (5 Districts) was a Nazi administrative region in occupied Poland, ruled by Hans Frank.
• Wartheland was an annexed part of Poland where mass expulsions and Germanization occurred.
• The Nazis viewed the Polish Catholic Church as a resistance force and executed many priests.
• Nazis waged two wars against Polish civilians, marked by massacres and repression aimed at Jews and Polish nationalists.
• Ghettoization Plans involved forced relocation of Jews into overcrowded ghettos.
• Jewish Councils (Judenräte) were Nazi-imposed Jewish administrations in ghettos, forced to cooperate with German authorities.

Holocaust & Mass Executions

• Einsatzgruppen were mobile SS killing squads that massacred Jews, communists, and partisans.
• The Commissar Order (1941) ordered the execution of Soviet political commissars.
• Heydrich’s Memo to Einsatzgruppen Commanders detailed Nazi extermination policies.
• Adolf Eichmann managed logistics of deportations and was a key architect of the Holocaust.
• The Ponary Massacre and Babi Yar were the sites of mass shootings of Jews in Lithuania and Ukraine.
• Lithuanian & Local Auxiliaries collaborated with Nazis in mass executions.
• The Holocaust in the Baltic Countries involved the systematic extermination of Jews in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
• The OKW Directive (May 1941) ordered brutal treatment of Soviet POWs and civilians.
• “Anti-Bandit” (Anti-Partisan) Directives were used as justification for mass executions in occupied territories.

Key Nazi Figures & Their Roles

• Joseph Goebbels was the Minister of Propaganda, responsible for Nazi media control and anti-Semitic campaigns.
• Reinhard Heydrich was the architect of the Final Solution and head of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).
• Hermann Goering developed economic policies via the 4-Year Plan to prepare Germany for war.
• Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, controlled concentration camps and oversaw the Holocaust.
• Alfred Rosenberg was the chief Nazi ideologue, heading the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
• Hans Frank was the Governor of occupied Poland, responsible for mass killings.

Nazi Atrocities & Economic Policies

• Dachau Concentration Camp was the first Nazi concentration camp, initially for political prisoners.
• The Fort VII Shootings & Fort VII Massacre were early executions of prisoners and opponents.
• Starvation in Jewish Ghettos was a Nazi policy of deliberate food deprivation.
• Nisko & Madagascar Plans were failed Nazi plans to forcibly relocate Jews instead of extermination.

Resistance & Internal Conflicts

• There was a clash between Nazi radicals and moderates, with internal struggles between extremist and conservative elements within the Nazi party.
• Freikorps were paramilitary groups that opposed communists and later influenced Nazi violence.
• The Munich Soviet Republic was a short-lived communist government in Bavaria, crushed by the Freikorps.
• The Heydrich/Wagner Agreement signified early cooperation between SS and military forces in occupied areas.