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| Question | Answer |
| Who was the Head of State in Nazi Germany? | Hitler - He was the Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor (combined after Hindenburg's death in 1934) |
| Which 2 positions came below the Head of State? | Office of the Deputy Fuhrer Secretary to the Fuhrer and Chief of the Party Chancellery |
| What were the 4 sections of the regime under the Deputy Fuhrer and Secretary/Chief of the Party Chancellery? | 1) Government departments 2) The armed forces 3) Supreme Reich Authorities 4) Main Nazi Party Organisations |
| Give some examples of the government departments. Which new ones were created in 1933 and 1934? | Agriculture Defence Economics Transport Foreign Office Justice Interior Labour Created in 1933: Aviation, Church Affairs, Education and Propaganda & National Enlgihtenment Created in 1934: Forestry |
| What was the Armed Forces made up of? | Wehrmacht (army) Luftwaffe Kriegsmarine (navy) |
| What were the Supreme Reich Authorities? | General Inspectorate of th German Road System - 1933 Reich Labour Service - 1934 Office of the Four-Year Plan - 1936 |
| What were the main Nazi Party organisations? | SS SA Hitler Youth NSDAP - local structure Gauleiter (region) Kriesleiter (district) Ortsgruppenleiter (town) Zellenleiter ('Cell', 200-500 households) Blockleiter (street blocks, 40-60 houses) |
| What happened to the 1919 Constitution? | Suspended through the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act It was not replaced with a new Constitution |
| What happened to the Weimar political institutions? | Cabinet and Reichstag survived, but meetings were increasingly rare and had no real purpose |
| How was the early years of Nazi government technically a coalition? | Some government posts were retained by non-Nazi conservatives who had come into office as Papen's 'cabinet of barons' They stayed until the later 1930s |
| Give an example of how there was no clear division between the state institutions and the Nazi institutions | Himmler's SS was a party organisation, but by the mid-1930s, the SS empire included state institions, like the Gestapo |
| What is 'administrative pluralism'? Give some examples of this in Nazi Germany | Multiple office-holding at national and local levels E.g.. Goebbels' - Minister for Propaganda and Gauleiter of Berlin Rust - Education Minister and Gauleiter of South Hanover-Braunschweig |
| Which multiple office-holder outdid all the others? | Goering, by 1936 he was the: Director of the 4-Year Plan Chief of the Prussian Gestapo Commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe Reich Forestry Minister Reich Hunting Minister President of the Reichstag |
| Why was multiple office-holding a source of inefficiency in the Nazi state? | Because it led to individuals being over-stretched with jobs Power-hunting individuals Turf battles Overlapping jobs |
| How did Hitler respond from 1937 onwards to those non-Nazi conservatives who were concerned about the pace of rearmament? | Nazified the government further 1937 - Economics Minister Schacht resigned, leaving Goering as Germany's economic supremo Wehrmacht brought to a heel: Blomberg and Fritsch pressured into resigning (sexual allegations); 16 generals retired and 44 depromoted; Defence Ministry abolished - Hitler completely in control Foreign Minister Neurath dismissed and replaced by Nazi, von Ribbentrop, in 1938 |
| What are the two views of Hitler's role in the Nazi state? | Intentionalists - monocratic, Hitler-centred state Structuralists - polycratic state |
| What two quotes sum up the rival interpretations? | Intentionalists - Norman Rich "Hitler was master in the Third Reich" Structuralists - Hans Mommsen "Hitler was in some respects a weak dictator" |
| What policy do intentionalist historians argue that Hitler pursued? | Policy of 'divide and rule' |
| What word is used to describe what the party was structured around from the mid-1920s? | "Fuhrerprinzip" - a 'leadership party' Subordinates expected to obey the commands of Hitler without question |
| Why were there no serious rivals to the Nazi regime? | Left-wing banned and suppressed Rohm and Gregor Strasser may have been serious rivals, but were eliminated in the Night of the Long Knives Chief Lieutenants posed no threat - Goebbels, Himmler and Goering viewed Hitler with adulation |
| Who said in the 1936, "Our constitution is the will of the Fuhrer" | A leading Nazi lawyer, Hans Frank |
| How did defendants at the post-war Nuremberg trials support the internationalist argument? | They said that Hitler was a dominant figure whose decisions could not be questioned |
| Who was able to have the all-important close contact with Hitler? Who did not? | Goebbels, Himmler and Speer went out of their way to ensure they have regular face-to-face contact with the Fuhrer Agriculture Minister, Darré was unable to break into Hitler's inner circle |
| Which historian said, "Alone Hitler planned, alone he decided, alone he ruled"? | Eberhand Jackel (1969) |
| Historians who question the idea of a Hitler-centred state point to Hitler's 'bohemian lifestyle'. Explain | Hitler did not work hard - got up late, had some afternoon appointments then watched films (mainly Disney cartoons) Rarely stayed in one place for long Did not like paperwork; virtually wrote nothing himself Left details to his subordinates Increasingly detached from domestic politics |
| What was Hitler's view on in-fighting and empire-building? | Tolerated, and even welcomed it Believed he should remain above politics and not be involved in political squabbles Believed struggle was natural |
| What did one of his Gauleiter's say about his view on in-fighting and empire-building? | "He lets things take their course until the stronger man has won the day" (Hitler strongly believed in the Social Darwinist theory) |
| Hitler's 'hands-off' approach in domestic politics led to what? | Powerful and competing bureaucratic empires The rise of polycracy |
| What concept does Ian Kershaw say is the key to understanding Hitler's role in the Nazi state? | Concept of 'working towards the Fuhrer' |
| How does Kershaw summarise this concept? | -Hitler the only link between the component parts of the Nazi system -Hitler operated by inviting subordinates to anticipate his wishes and initiate things without explicit prior approval -If subordinates correctly guessed wishes, allowed the carry on; if did not guess correctly, Hitler intervened -Therefore, Hitler was a dicatator who did not have to dictate |
| What were the main reasons for inefficiency in the Nazi state? | Empire-building Turf battles Lack of coordination |
| Who was the most successful empire-builder in Nazi Germany? | Himmler 1936 - controlled all policing in Germany Later 1930s - Formation of the Waffen-SS 1941 - responsible for the 'Final Solution' Later stages of war - control over sprawling empire that controlled much of Nazi-occupied Europe |
| What were 'turf battles'? | Struggles for control over particular areas of policy between Hitler's subordinates |
| What 3 factors made turf battles inevitable? | 1 - Scale of ambitions of Nazi bosses, e.g, Himmler, Goebbels and Goering 2 - Hitler's detachment from everyday politics 3 - Lack of clearly defined and understood division of responsibility between the various government and Nazi agencies |
| Explain the turf battle over policing, 1933-1936 | Between Frick (Interior Minister), Himmler (head of SS) and Goering (Hitler's deputy) 1933 - Frick had overall control of policing Power-hungry Himmler - given control of police in Bavaria in 1933 Goering involved in policing as Prussia's Interior Minister; formed Gestapo in 1933 Within 3 years, Himmler saw off his rivals and had control of policing all over Germany |
| Explain the turf battle over economic policy. | 1936, Goering made head of the Office of the Four-Year Plan - make Germany economically self-sufficient Collision course with Schacht, Minister of Economics, and also the Ministers of Agriculture, Transport and Labour Goering won - Schacht resigned |
| Who said "Hitler was on the whole a non-interventionist dictator as far as government administration was concerned" | Ian Kershaw, 2008 |
| Why was there a lack of coordination between the different parts of the government? | No machinery was established to ensure coordination, and Hitler showed no inclination to coordinate policy himself |
| Who was left as the only coordinating link between Hitler and the government agencies after the Cabinet withered away? | Hans Lammers - Head of Reich Chancellery |
| What was Hans Lammers' main task? | Supervise the making of new laws by circulating proposals prepared by one department to other departments for their approval |
| Hitler put off making decisions, but when he did, he intervened swiftly and ruthlessly. Give some examples. | Night of the Long Knives of 1934 Blomberg-Fritsch affair of 1938 |
| Assess the Nazi state | -Not a well-oiled, smoothly functioning machine but not hopelessly inefficient due to polycracy and chaos -People mattered as well as organisational structures -Supreme Reich Authorities were generally effective, e.g. Todd's Roads Inspectorate -Nazis ran elaborate propaganda and internal security operations, and built up a formidable military machine, so in some respects, the Nazi regime was efficient |
| How did Carlton Hayes describe Germany? | As a totalitarian dictatorship in which the will of the Fuhrer was imposed on society through a highly disciplined Nazi Party (Top-down interpretation of the Third Reich - Intentionalists) |
| How do historians from the 1960s and 1970s look at Nazi Germany? | From the bottom-up/grassroots Explored the structures of government and society Structuralists |
| Who is Martin Broszat? | Structuralist historian |
| Give some quotes of Martin Broszat's work. | "Hitler practised no direct and systematic leadership" "...ignored them [departmental heads] or left them to carry on without a decision" "growing system of rival power centres" |
| What do the critics of structuralist interpretations say? | The depictions of a semi-detached Fuhrer mistakenly displaces Hitler from the centre of the Third Reich |
| Who said, "None dared carry out a policy that did not accord with Hitler's will"? | Lucy S. Dawidowicz |
| Why does Dawidowicz criticise Broszat's interpretation? | She said he fails to take account of ideas and intentions... "for history begins in the minds of men and women, in the ideas they hold and the decisions they take" |
| On what points do intentionalists and structuralists agree? | 1) Both accept that the Nazi state contained political empires, such as those headed by Himmler, Goebbels and Goering 2) Both recognise Hitler often failed to communicate his intentions clearly 3) Both accept that the Nazi state was chaotic, disorderly and inefficient in many respects |
| Differences 1/3: What is the difference in the interpretations of Hitler's ideas and intentions? | Structuralists - Hitler's ideas and intentions were vague Intentionalists - Hitler had definite plans and intentions in domestic and foreign policy |
| Differences 2/3: What is the difference in the interpretations of how they explain the events of the Third Reich? | Structuralists - events cannot be explained solely in the terms of Hitler's intentions. Competition between the subordinates was a major factor in the Nazis' adoption of more radical policies Intentionalists - Events are best explained in terms of Hitler's personality, ideology and intentions. Ultimately, the state was responsive to Hitler's will |
| Differences 3/3: What is the difference in the interpretations on the main agents of change in history? | Structuralists - social and economic factors are the main agents of change in history Intentionalists - the role of human agency as a factor bringing about historical change is not to be underestimated |
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