HW 28

A.1. Rudolf Hoss could be considered evil because of his role in the holocaust. He was in charge of creating places in which Jews and enemies of the state could be killed as efficiently as possible. He then had other Nazis remove anything valuable from the bodies.
A.2. Rudolf Hoss may not have been evil because he was doing what he was told to do by the Nazis, and because his perception was twisted by propaganda.

I agree with the intentionalist view of the holocaust. Hitler had said throughout his rise to power that he intended to exterminate the Jews. If the holocaust was, in fact, forced on Hitler, he still did everything he could to justify it, implying that it was the right thing to do.

HW 27

A. According to source B, German colonists had high expectations of what life would be like in the "great German Reich," believing that they would be living under ideal conditions in beautiful, spacious areas.

B.1. Foreign workers were made to work for as long as their employers demanded, and they had to accept punishment from their employers.
B.2. Foreign workers were prohibited from complaining, visiting churches or theaters, having sexual intercourse, being educated, getting health care, and having any more food than necessary.
B.3. The Germans probably treated foreigners so badly because of their Nazi ideology, which promoted the idea of a pure German race. Nazis were also setting strict policies against immigration, which may have been another reason for this treatment.

C.1. Hitler wanted to completely destroy Leningrad and leave its population to die.
C.2. Hitler probably gave this order because of his strong position against communism, and because he did not want to include Russians in his Reich, hoping for racial purity.

10/21 Class Notes

Possible Causes of World War II:

• Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler himself?
• Germany as a whole?
  
• World economic crisis 1929-30's
• Appeasement/mistakes of others?
• Rise of dictators?
• Fear of worldwide communist revolution

Many western nations were more afraid of communism than they were of the Nazis. They may have hoped that Germany would help protect them from the Soviet Union.

Activity:

1. Britain did not intervene for various reasons. Some British people believed that Hitler was justified in taking back the territory Germany lost in WWI. Others hoped that Germany would fight Russia, keeping the West safe from communism. Neville Chamberlain seemed to believe that what was happening in Czechoslovakia was none of Britain's business, and that Hitler would not invade any other countries.
2. Source 20.34 shows how Britain realized that it may have appeased Hitler for too long, and that it would have to resist further expansion of Germany, which was clearly an aggressive threat.
3. Sources 20.35-38 suggest that Italy supported Hitler in his annexing of Austria. However, the first of these sources shows Italy as being more important than Hitler, while the last suggests that Hitler was becoming more powerful than Mussolini.
4. A. Sources 20.39-41 show Russia's views of Germany's actions. Russia viewed Germany as a threat, but they suggest that capitalist western nations were protecting and guiding Germany. B. Source 20.42 shows that the Soviet Union has decided to work with Nazi Germany, despite having previously been afraid of being invaded.
   

HW 26

A.
B1. Germany and Russia agreed not to fight with each other over Poland. Germany would take the western part of the country, while Russia would get the eastern part.
B2. This may have been surprising because Hitler had claimed that he would not invade any other countries after Czechoslovakia.

1. Appeasement refers to Britain and France trying to avoid violent conflict with Italy, Germany and Japan by not resisting their actions and demands.
2. This may have been justified for a number of reasons. Firstly, they thought that war would only become more devastating after World War I. It was also thought that Germany could work with the rest of Europe both economically and against communism, which was threatening to spread from Russia. In addition to this, some people thought that Germany's grievances with the Treaty of Versailles were understandable.
3. Appeasement does not seem to have caused World War II, but it almost encouraged it when Britain and France may have been able to easily stop Germany from becoming a threat by taking a firm stance on the issues facing Europe. For example, Hitler admitted at one point that if there was any resistance from France when he remilitarized the Rhineland he would have been forced to give up. However, there was little resistance to Hitler's actions, allowing him to become a powerful figure in Europe and setting up World War II.
4. Hitler used propaganda in order to make it seem as if Germany was justified in invading Czechoslovakia. The propaganda campaign was based around the idea that Germans in Czechoslovakia were being discriminated against by the government. While it may have been true that Germans were living under difficult conditions, Nazi propaganda exaggerated this fact dramatically.
   

HW 25

A. Rearmament refers to when Hitler expanded Germany's military, ignoring the Treaty of Versailles. Remilitarization was when Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland to take it back from the French. Anschluss refers to the union Germany formed with Austria in order to unite German-speaking people.

B. In 1934, Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles by increasing the size of his army to 300,000 men and building 2 battleships and 6 submarines. In 1935, Hitler announced that there would be compulsory military service, which would further expand the army. In 1936 the German army moved into the Rhineland, an action that was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany also formed a union (anschluss) with Austria in 1938, once again going against the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler seemed to be making a large amount of progress towards achieving his foreign policy goals by 1938. He had broken the Treaty of Versailles multiple times without any opposition, and had built up an intimidating military in doing so. He had also started to reclaim territory, such as the Rhineland, and he had some success in uniting the world's German-speaking countries, as seen in the anschluss with Austria.

10/19 Class Notes

3 policies against opponents

• Jews couldn't be citizens
• German citizens couldn't marry Jews
• Made it illegal to join other parties
  

2 economic policies

• Gave out government contracts to businesses
  
• Used quotas
  

1 policy to gain support of common people

• Leisure programs

"3 legs of the stool" (Nazi support)

• Afraid
• Ignorant
• Willing Collaboration

How did Hitler get support from the following groups?

• Big Business - government contracts, outlawed labor unions
  
• Army - Germany became an increasingly militaristic society
  
• Common Workers - Leisure cruises, made more jobs available by eliminating enemies of the state
  

Last Word

D - Dissolution of other parties
O - Outlaw Judaism
M - Military power
E - Eliminate "enemies of the state"
S - SS and SA used to keep Hitler in power
T - Treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain abolished
I - Indoctrination of the German people
C - Create a totalitarian state
P - Pure German race
O - Organize leisure activities
L - Long-lasting world power
I - Immigration stopped
C - Censorship of the media
Y - Youths raised with Nazi ideals