Nazism and the Rise of Hitler

Q88. What are the peculiar features of Nazi thinking?

Ans. The peculiar features of Nazi thinking were:

1. According to his ideology, there was no equality between people, but only a racial hierarchy.
2. In this view blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung.
3. The strongest race would survive and the weak ones would perish.
4. New territories had to be acquired for settlement to enhance the area of the mother country.
5. New territories would also enhance the material resources and power of the German nation.

Q89. How did common people react to Nazism?
Or
What was the reaction of the common people to Nazism?

Ans. Common people reacted to Nazism in different ways.

1. Many saw the world through Nazi eyes, and spoke their mind in Nazi language. They felt hatred and anger surge inside them when they saw someone who looked like a Jew. They marked the houses of Jews and reported suspicious neighbours. They genuinely believed Nazism would bring prosperity and improve general well-being.
2. Many organised active resistance to Nazism, braving police repression and death. 
3. The large majority of Germans, however, were passive onlookers and apathetic witnesses. They were too scared to act, to differ, to protest.

Q90. Describe the events that happened in 1945 when Germany surrendered to allies.

Or
What happened when Germany surrendered in Second World War?

Ans. Events that happened in 1945 when Germany surrendered to allies were:

1. In May 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies. Anticipating what was coming, Hitler, his propaganda minister Goebbels and his entire family committed suicide collectively in his Berlin bunker in April.
2. When the war seemed lost, the Nazi leadership distributed petrol to its functionaries to destroy all incriminating evidence available in offices.
3. At the end of the 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.

Q91. Describe the reactions of masses against Nazi barbarities.

Ans. The reactions of masses against Nazi barbarities were:

1. Many organised active resistance to Nazism, braving police repression and death. 
2. The large majority of Germans, however, were passive onlookers and apathetic witnesses. They were too scared to act, to differ, to protest. They preferred to look away. 
3. Ordinary Germans observed silence in the face of brutal and organised crimes committed against people in the Nazi empire. 
4. Some secretly recorded the horror.
5. Jews themselves began believing in the Nazi stereotypes about them.

Q92. Explain the racial policy of Hitler or Nazis.

Ans. Racial Policy of Hitler

1. Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire. 
2. Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. This meant that even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to exist. 
3. Jews were not the only community classified as undesirable. Many Gypsies and blacks living in Nazi Germany were considered as racial inferiors. They were widely persecuted.

Q93. ‘The Treaty of Versailles was humiliating on the German’. Explain
Or
Why was the Treaty of Versailles harsh and humiliating for Germany?
Or
What did the Treaty of Versailles do to Germany?
Or
Why the Treaty of Versailles was unfair?
Or
How did the treaty punish Germany?
Or
Why did Germans feel humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles?

Ans. The peace treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating peace in the following ways: 

1. Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 per cent of its territories, 75 per cent of its iron and 26 per cent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania. 
2. The Allied Powers demilitarized Germany to weaken its power. 
3. The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered. 
4. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to £6 billion. 
5. The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.