Tag: causes and impact of nazism

Hitler believed in extreme nationalism. According to him, the State is above all. It should have held all political, economic and social programmes. He wanted to root out liberalism and communism.

At the end of II World War, an International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for Crimes against Peace, for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.

Hitler wanted to drive out the Jewish from Germany because he believed that the Jewish had some conspiracy to control Germany and that they would stab Germans in the back whenever it would suit them. Also, the majority of financial institutions, banks, and large companies were controlled by Jewish people and he believed that Germany lost 1st world war because of Jewish capitalism.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was held responsible for the war and required to pay reparations, which were set at 6 billion pounds.

In Germany students between 10-14 years of Age had to join an organization called Jungvolk. These were made responsible for educating German youth in the ‘the spirit of National Socialism’. 

In October 1933, some nine months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the German government announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations. The reason was the refusal of the Western powers to accept Germany’s demands to increase its military.

Hitler wrote his autobiography Mein Kampf in the year 1925. This book outlines the Hitler's political ideologies and plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926.

Charlotte Beradt, was a Berlin-based journalist. She secretly recorded people’s dreams in her diary and later published them in a book called the Third Reich of Dreams. She describes how Jews themselves began believing in the Nazi stereotypes. They dream of their hooked noses, black hair and eyes, Jewish looks and body movements.

Hitler rejected the treaty of Versailles because terms of the Treaty were very damaging to Germany. Germany's armed forces were greatly reduced under this treaty and territory was taken from Germany which deprived it of its valuable industrial and agricultural income.

Both statements are historically accurate regarding the Weimar Republic during the Great Depression. However, the President's power to impose emergency (Article 48) was a constitutional mechanism and not the direct economic cause of the Great Depression itself.