Page 73 - Understanding NCERT Histroy 09th

still a sense of unity among the people.
The Red banners, the Nazi salute, and theritualized rounds of applause attracted the people
and Nazism became very popular. The Meetings projected Hitler as a messiah or saviour of
Germany. The German people who were shattered after the First World War believed him.
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
3. What are the peculiar features of Nazi thinking?
Ans. The peculiar features of Nazi thinking are as follows:
l Nazi ideology was the same as Hitler’s world view. According to this there was no
equality between people but only a racial hierarchy. In this view blond, blue-eyed
Nordic German Aryans were at the top called ‘desirables’ while Jews (undesirables)
were placed at the lowest rung. Hitler’s racism was influenced by thinkers like Charles
Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The Nazi argument was simple: ‘The strongest race would
survive, the weak ones would perish’.
l Hitler believed in Lebensraum or living space. New territories had to be conquered to
increase the living space.
l Nazis wanted a society of pure and healthy Nordic Aryans. It meant that even those
Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to live. Under the
Euthanasia Programme, the Nazi condemned to death many Germans, who were
mentally or physically unfit.
l As soon as Hitler came to power he tried to eliminate the undesirables and the gypsies.
The Nazis proceeded to realise their racial ideals.
l Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They were called ‘undesirables’.
Hitler’s hatred for Jews was based on pseudo scientific theories of race, which held
conversion was no solution. They should be completely eliminated.
4. Explain why Nazi propaganda was effective in creating a hatred for Jews.
Ans. Films were made to create hatred for the Jews. The film, ‘The Eternal Jew’, showed the
Jews with flowing beards and dressed in kaftans. The Jews were referred to as vermin, rats,
and pests. Nazi propaganda compared the Jews to rodents.
Orthodox Jews were stereotyped as killers of Christ and moneylenders. Stereotypes about
Jews were even popularised through maths classes. Children were taught to hate the Jews.
The Nazi propaganda against the Jews was so effective that people felt anger and hatred
surge inside them when they saw someone who looked like a Jew.

5. Explain what role women had in Nazi society. Return to Chapter 1 on the French Revolution.
Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting the role of women in the two periods.
Ans. In Nazi Germany, boys were told to be aggressive and steel-hearted, girls were told that
they had to become good mothers and rear pure-blooded Aryan children. Girls had to protect
the purity of German race. They had to look after their homes and Nazi values had to be
taught to the children. Women who produced ‘desirable children’ were awarded. They got
better treatment in hospitals, and got concessions in shops, on theatre tickets and railway
fares. Honour crosses were awarded to women. A bronze cross was awarded to women for
four children, silver cross for six children and gold for eight or more children.
Women in France were treated much better. They were not given the right to vote. On other
fronts, they were treated at par.

6. In what ways did the Nazi state seek to establish total control over its people?
Ans. President of the Weimar Republic Paul Von Hindenburg made Hitler the Chancellor of
Germany. Shortly after, a mysterious fire broke out in the Reichstag, the parliament building
of Germany. Blaming the act of arson on communists and other ‘enemy of the state,

H-64 History Class IX