Nazism and the Rise of Hitler: An Introduction
* Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany from 1933 to 1945.
* During Hitler’s government Germany was called Nazi Germany.
* Nazi Germany followed a philosophy called Nazism, which promoted violent practices to restore German pride.
* In 1939 Hitler attacked Poland to conquer more land for Germany.
* This invasion of Poland sparked off world war two.
* During world war two, countries divided themselves into two groups.
* These groups were named the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers.
* In the end the Allied Powers won and the Axis Powers, especially Germany, were prosecuted by a Tribunal set up in the German city of Nuremberg.
* At the Nuremberg Trials Hitler and his Nazi government were accused of committing genocide against Jews.
* Hitler was not tried at Nuremberg because he committed suicide just before world war two ended.
Living in the Weimar Republic
* The Weimer Republic was established in 1919, replaced the imperial government and formed a parliament called the Reichtag.
* The Weimar signed the peace treaty of Versaillles which made things very difficult for them and struggled to meet the terms.
* Socialists, Catholics and Democrats who supported the republic were ridiculed and called the November criminals.
* There was infighting began between different political groups, the most popular being the Spartacist League.
* The Weimar Republic faced an economic crisis in 1923 and to combat this crisis they printed extra notes that led to hyperinflation.
* The world had entered the Great Depression in 1929 and Germany was badly hit because of its financial dependence on America.
* In 1933, the Weimar Republic finally collapsed paving the way for Hitler’s Nazi Part to take control of Germany.
Hitler Rises to Power
* Hitler was of Austrian origins and wanted to be a painter but instead ended up joining the German army, where he won medals for his bravery in World War I.
* In 1921 he joined and took over the Nazi party, which echoed his strong antiSemitic views and was also against the Weimar Republic.
* Hitler promised hope and delivered it through charismatic speeches at elaborate rallies.
* By the 1932 Reichstag elections, the Nazi party got 37 percent votes.
* In January 1933 he was appointed the Chancellor of Germany.
Destruction of Democracy and Reconstruction
* As soon as Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, he passed the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act, appointed special security forces, built concentration camps and dissolved the position of the President making him the sole leader of Germany.
* Communists that opposed him were all forcibly imprisoned in the camps and made to work for free for the government.
* Hitler and his minister of economics Hjalmar Schacht, focused on strengthening the German economy by building Autobahns and Volkswagens for the common worker.
* In a bid to extend the German empire, Hitler conquered Austria and Czechoslovakia but when he invaded Poland, he angered the French and sparked off World War Two.
* Initially, Germany was winning the war but after its attack on the Soviet Union it was defeated.
* The Government of India and Andhra Pradesh have set up several offices and laboratories in different parts of the state.
* Japan bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbour and paid heavily for that when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* Hitler’s determination to review the German economy was ultimately based on anti-democratic go-to-war ideologies.
Nazi Policies and Practices
* Hitler was voted to power based on his ideology called Nazism.
* Nazism promised to restore economic prosperity, global leadership and German pride.
* Influenced by Darwin and Spencer, Hitler believed that people existed in a racial hierarchy and that pure Nordic Aryans ere the purest race.
* He decided to eliminate all non- Aryans from Germany and create a pure German racial state, one of the biggest groups he targeted were the Jews.
* Synagogues were burnt Jewish stores were broken into, Jews were killed and arrested. Many were arrested and thrown into concentration camps where they were tortured and killed.
* This period of Nazi genocide against the Jews is referred to as the Holocaust.
Role of the UN in Preserving World Peace
* The United Nations was set up in 1945 to avert and maintain peace across the world.
* The UN agencies such as World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and
* Agricultural Organisation (FAO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and International Bank work towards the social, economic and cultural progress of the
world.
United Nations Organisation
* The United Nations Organisation officially came into existence on the 24th of October, 1945.
* The headquarters of the United Nations is located in New York, and it has a membership of 192 nations.
The five important organs of the United Nations are:
* The Secretariat
* The General Assembly
* The Security Council
* The Trusteeship Council and
* The International Court of Justice
The specialised agencies of the United Nations are:
* The Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation
* The World Health Organisation
* The International Labour Organisation
* The Food and Agriculture Organisation
* The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
* The International Monetary Fund
* The World Trade Organisation and
* United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund