The relationship between the German People and the State- Friday 23rd November

The key issue in todays lesson was to look at the relationship between German people and the state. It is hard for us to measure or find evidence on how much oppositon there was to the Nazi regime but some (dry) jokes can be found on H&H page 330. Collaboration with the Nazis is easier to see and the reason for collaborating are as follows:

Hitler was popular; he undertook several difficult decisions to put Germany back on track
Nazis held the 'cloak of legality'
Loyalty could lead to advancement within the regime
Rebels were repressed and many feared backlash from authorities including the Gestapo force

The drawback of when a man rules through vision rather than detailed policy was illustrated on a video we saw. The example was of the T4 programme which was enforced euthanasia. Hitler received thousands of mail letters asking for help or suggesting ideas. One such letter was that of a father wanting his disabled son to be killed. An ambitious Nazi got hold of this letter and eventually this policy was implemented. This is an example of pressure from below, with Nazi-based ideas coming from non-Nazis. However eventually it was public discontent which lead to the programme becoming dropped.

Page 340 H&H- November 1938 was a radicalising turning point in anti-semitic policy. Until 1939 emigration was favoured but the outbreak of war made it harder to transport so many Jews, which is why the war had a crucial effect in the brutalisation of handling Jews.

'Descent into Hell' is a chronology of anti-semtic policies on pages 343 and 343 H&H. The mentioning of many decrees and legislation shows a very centralised approach, taking us straight to Hitler. However it wasnt only Hitler involved. Officials and policemen unofficially encouraged the Kristallnacht and public opposition of anti-semitic policy did not arrive as it did for the T4 programme. Therefore we have to aim to fathom how much involvement was plaed solely by Hitler in the Holocaust, a question posed on page 347 H&H.

The sources show clear racism from Hitler in his speeches, yet no document has ever been found with an order to kill Jews with Hitlers signature. This can be partly explained by the fact that Hitler wasnt really a bureacrat and mostly gave oral instructions. However another discussion point was the translation of words from German to English, sometimes translation is sketchy. E.g. Entfernung.

The lesson ended with us continuing to watch the video. The main topic was German advances into Eastern Europe, into Baltic Soviet states including Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania. On arrival German soldiers were told to allow locals to particpate in purges against Jews, even encourage them. When Nazis entered these countries they were seen as liberators against the Communists and they would organise for local young men to gather and publicly beat and kill so called communist jew agents. But it must be pointed out that the Nazis didnt take full advantage of the Eastern Europeans. Assuming the people were racially inferior, the Nazis didnt bother using their hatred of communist Russia to their own advantage.