Nazism and the Rise of Hitler

Q106. How was Nazi Germany's art of propaganda responsible for establishing total control over its people?

Ans. Nazi Germany's art of propaganda responsible for establishing total control over its people in the following ways:

1. Nazi propaganda skillfully projected Hitler as a messiah, a saviour, as someone who had arrived to deliver people from their distress. 
2. Media was carefully used to win support for the regime and popularise its worldview. Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets.
3. Nazism worked on the minds of the people, tapped their emotions, and turned their hatred and anger at those marked as undesirable.
4. The Nazis made equal efforts to appeal to all the different sections of the population. They sought to win their support by suggesting that Nazis alone could solve all their problems.
5. The education system was crafted in a way that highlighted the supremacy of Nazi ideology.

Q107. Discuss why Nazism became popular in Germany by 1930.

Ans. Nazism became popular in Germany by 1930 because of the following reasons:

1. It was during the Great Depression that Nazism became a mass movement. After 1929, banks collapsed and businesses shut down, workers lost their jobs and the middle classes were threatened with destitution. In such a situation Nazi propaganda stirred hopes of a better future. 
2. Hitler was a powerful speaker. His passion and his words moved people. He promised to build a strong nation, undo the injustice of the Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people.
3. Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instill a sense of unity among the people. The Red banners with the Swastika, the Nazi salute, and the ritualised rounds of applause after the speeches were all part of this spectacle of power.

Q108. How did the world come to know about the ‘Nazi Holocaust’? Explain

Ans. Knowledge about the Holocaust

1. Information about Nazi practices had trickled out of Germany during the last years of the regime. But it was only after the war ended and Germany was defeated that the world came to realise the horrors of what had happened.
2. While the Germans were preoccupied with their own plight as a defeated nation emerging out of the rubble, the Jews wanted the world to remember the atrocities and sufferings they had endured during the Nazi killing operations also called the Holocaust.
3. The indomitable spirit to bear witness and to preserve the documents can be seen in many ghetto and camp inhabitants who wrote diaries, kept notebooks, and created archives.
4. The history and the memory of the Holocaust live on in memoirs, fiction, documentaries, poetry, memorials and museums in many parts of the world today. These are a tribute to those who resisted it.