Key Issue
To what extent did Germans benefit from Nazi rule in the 1930s?
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Economic policy: increased employment through public works programmes, rearmament and conscription; self-sufficiency
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Social policy: standards of living; promises to the German people; effects of Nazi policy on the lives of women; effects on culture
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Racial persecution: the Jews and the other alien groups, e.g. gypsies.
Economic Policy
Germany’s economy was in a mess when Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933. Hitler and Nazi propaganda had played on the population’s fear of no hope. Unemployment peaked at 6 million during the final days of the Weimar Republic – near enough 50% of the nation’s working population. Now Hitler decreed that all should work in Nazi Germany and he constantly played on the economic miracle Nazi Germany achieved. Read more...
Social Policy
Foreign Policy
Home Policy
Racial Persecution
Although Jews were the main target of Nazi hatred, they were not the only group persecuted. Other individuals and groups were considered "undesirable" and "enemies of the state." Once the voices of political opponents were silenced, the Nazis stepped up their terror against other "outsiders." Read more...
Although Hitler was very popular amongst the German population in the 1930s, people soon started to fear his ruthless stance against political opposition. In this film, which is shown in the exhibition of the UK Holocaust Centre, eye witnesses report how they experienced this time of state terror. At the same time, the film raises the question whether the German people could have done more to oppose the Nazi regime.
Nazi Policy on the lives of women
Women in the Nazi Germany
Nazi Culture
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How did Nazi rule affect Germans?Understand how the Nazi state affected different people in different ways.