I. Ideological Roots: Antecedents & Context - Historical Antecedents & Preconditions
Historic Roots of Nazism

SG# 6 Rise of Hitler. Nazism (1918-Jan. 33). Nazi Racial Ideology

“ ... specific German development made the rise of Nazism an unprecedented event ... .”¹

Bauer, 86-100
The Nazis. http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/pages/nz.html

Instructional Objectives - Students will be able to describe and assess:

- how the economic & political conditions after German’s defeat in World War I, led to despair & hopelessness among Germans, & to different social groups to support Nazis.

- the early life of Adolf Hitler through 1923, and explain how it influenced his world-view, his antisemitism and racial nationalism

- Nazi racial ideology .

I. Define/Identify

German Workers’ Party, Adolf Hitler, SA, Nazi Party, swastika, SA, Beer Hall Putsch, Mein Kampf, a 1000 year Reich, Nazism, lebensraum, Fuhrer, propaganda, the Great Depression, the New Deal; Nazi Party platform, Hindenburg; January 30, 1933.

II. Multiple-Choice Questions

1. In Vienna, Hitler developed his prejudices about
a) Jews
b) Poles

2. In 1919, Hitler, an army investigator, joined a small Volkisch party, founded by Anton Drexler, and which later evolved into the Nazi party
a) the German Volkish Party
b) the German Worker's Party

3. His mesmerizing oratorical skills attracted hundreds of Germans eager to hear the young, forceful and hypnotic leader, a demagogue, who became the leader
a) Karl Lueger
b) Adolf Hitler

4. A person who gains power through impassioned public appeals to the emotions and prejudices of a group by speaking or writing.
a) dictator
b) demagogue


5. The name of the party was changed to the National Socialist German Worker's party -the NAtionalsoZIalisticsche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP - or
a) the Nazi party b) the Deutsche party

6. H. incorporated uniforms, salutes, emblems, & adopted as the party symbol, a red flag with an ancient symbol in the form of a twisted cross
a) the swastika b) the red cross

7. On February 24, 1920, Hitler presented at a public meeting a party program, which became the Nazi ideology, and was consisting of
a) ten points
b) twenty-five points

8. Major Ernst Rohm, typical Freikops, became leader of the brown Storm Troops (Sturmabteilung - paramilitary formation founded by Hitler to protect party gatherings) or
a) SA
b) SS

9. On Nov. 9, 1923, Hitler and his Brown Shirts proclaimed a revolution, in an attempt to take over the conservative Bavarian government
a) ‘Beer Hall’ putsch
b) the Munich Revolution

Mein Kampf. Nazi Racial Ideology - Nazism

10. While in prison, Hitler wrote the first volume of Mein Kampf
a) My Struggle
b) My dream

11. Hitler’s goal was to create a vast empire, based on racial nationalism, ruled by a master race
a) a 1000-year Reich
b) a 100-year empire

12. They were the devil, nonhumans, responsible for all evils of the world -democracy, Communism, and internationalism, as well as Germany's defeat in the War
a) the Slavs
b) the Jews

13. Germany must find ___________ - living space, for the superior German culture
a) Lebensraum
b) Mein Kampf

14. The Nazis believed that Aryans were meant by nature to rule over the rest of the earth, and
a) entitled to take others’ land
b) willing to discuss these rights with others

15. Nazism emphasized
a) a totalitarian state
b) using fear & force to control people
c) giving the Germans a voice in their government
d) a & b

16. Nazism was against democracy, against Jews, and against
a) force
b) Christianity

17. Nazis said that Jews were
a) trying to take over the world
b) to be blamed for all the evil in the world
c) non-human, the lowest ‘race’ of people on earth
d) all the above

18. Eliminate democracy; a ______ absolute leader, is needed to rebuild the German Reich
a) ‘Fuhrer’
b) ‘Kaiser’

19. H. understood that the successful leader must win the support of the masses, with mass meetings; & use _______ aimed at emotions; terror; simple slogans
a) propaganda
b) blood & iron

20. In 1925, Ebert, the 1st president of the Weimar Republic died, and his successor was the elderly Marshall
a) von Bismark
b) von Hindenburg

21. New York stock Exchange collapsed in 1929; unemployment; the extremist parties were more attractive, because of this worldwide economic crisis:
a) the Great Depression
b) the Great Inflation

22. What many Germans called the communists
a) the big menace
b) red menace

23. The Nazi Party Platform & Nazi propaganda were
a) Anti-Versailles Treaty - attacked the ‘November criminals,’ against reparations
b) Anti-Bolshevik, anti-liberal, & anti-democratic
c) for idea of nationalism & volkisch ideology, & antisemitic - the Jew as the Devil
d) all the above

24. Nazi propaganda tied the nonhuman Jews to ‘internationalism,’ & blamed them for
a) the humiliation in the war
b) inflation, unemployment, & political instability
c) a & b

25. Nazi propaganda depicted Hitler as a savior sent by destiny, & promising
a) economic recovery - putting an end to the hyperinflation of Weimar
b) to regain Germany’s ‘proper place’ - restore Germany’s strength & pride
c) a & b

26. The totalitarian Fascist ideology & policies, espoused & practiced by Hitler & his National Socialist German Worker’s Party’s from 1920-45
a) Nazism b) communism

27. Hitler & Nazism appealed to
a) lower middle class against communism, & , & youth yearning for a cause.
b) embittered veterans, romantic nationalists, unemployed, & idealistic intellectuals
c) industrialists & large landowners frightened by communism & social democracy
d) all the above

28. Nazism came to Germany in the 1920s & 1930s because
a) the Weimar republic was weak
b) communist revolution filled the air
c) severe economic problems made most people look for radical political change
d) all the above

29. Hitler's Nazi party captured 18% of the popular vote in the 1930 elections - more than 6 million votes, getting 107 seats in Reichstag, making it
a) the 2nd largest party in the country
b) the 4th largest party in the country

30. In 1932, the right-wing elites, industrial magnates, landed aristocrats, military establishment, & higher bureaucrats believed that Hitler would save Germany & their positions
a) from a Communist takeover
b) from the Poles

31. On Jan. 30, 1933, President Hindenburg agreed to allow Hitler to become
a) president
b) chancellor& create a new government

32. He became minister of the interior and head of the police of the Prussian state; & establish an auxiliary police force composed of SA members, legitimizing Nazi terror.
a) Goring
b) Goebbels

Nazi leadership

33. A typical Freikorps condottiere who became leader of the brown-clad Storm Troops (Sturmabteilung, SA)
a) Major Ernst Rohm,
b) Goebbels


Copyright, Fall 1999, January 2004 Edith Shaked

Explore: http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/maps/
Treaty of Versailles, 1919 - photographs:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10005480
Racism: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10005480
Rise to power, 1928-33: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10005480
Nazi Propaganda - photographs:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10005480
Wiesenthal

¹ Yehuda Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust, Yale University Press, 2001

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