Important Questions for Chapter 3 Nazism and the Rise of Hitler Class 9 History
Important Questions1
Who was propaganda minister of Hitler?
Answer
Goebbels.
VSAQ
2
Which court was set up at the end of the Second World War to prosecute Nazi war criminals?
Answer
An International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
VSAQ
3
What do you mean by Genocidal war?
Answer
Genocidal war means killing on large scale leading to destruction of large sections of people.
VSAQ
4
What do you mean by Reichstag?
Answer
Reichstag is the name of the German Parliament.
VSAQ
5
Which treaty was signed by Germany after its defeat In the First World war?
Answer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany after its defeat in the First World War.
VSAQ
6
Who were mockingly called 'November Criminals'?
Answer
Those who supported the Weimar Republic, mainly Socialists, Catholics and Democrats, were mockingly called the ‘November Criminals'.
VSAQ
7
How were the deputies of the Reichstag appointed?
Answer
The deputies of the Reichstag were elected on the basis of universal votes cast by all adults including women.
VSAQ
8
Which article of the Weimar Constitution gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree in Germany?
Answer
Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree in Germany.
VSAQ
9
What do you mean by Free Crops?
Answer
The war veterans organisation through which the Weimar Republic crushed the uprising of the Spartacist League are called Free Corps.
VSAQ
10
Why did Nazis hold massive rallies and public meeting in Germany?
Answer
Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings in Germany to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instil a sense of unity among the people.
VSAQ
11
Why did the Nuremburg Tribunal sentence only 11 Nazis to death for such a massive genocide?
Answer
Because the Allies did not want to be harsh on the defeated Germany as they had been after World War I.
VSAQ
12
By whom Hitler offered Chancellorship of Germany?
Answer
President Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship of Germany to Hitler.
VSAQ
13
What do you mean by Enabling Act?
Answer
Enabling Act established dictatorship in Germany and gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree.
VSAQ
14
What do you mean by hyperinflation?
Answer
Hyperinflation is a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.
VSAQ
15
What was the symbol of Nazi party?
Answer
Swastika was the symbol of Nazi party.
VSAQ
16
Which infamous film, which was made to create hatred for Jews?
Answer
The Eternal Jew.
VSAQ
17
By which year Nazi party had become the largest party in Germany?
Answer
1932.
VSAQ
18
Who propounded the theory of the “Survival of the Fittest’’?
Answer
Herbert Spencer.
VSAQ
19
Which organisation students between 10-14 years of Age had to join in Nazi Germany?
Answer
Hitler’s youth.
VSAQ
20
What was the name given to gas chambers by Nazis?
Answer
Disinfection Areas.
VSAQ
21
Who was assigned the responsibility of economic recovery by Hitler?
Answer
Hjalmar Schacht was assigned the responsibility of economic recovery of Germany by Hitler.
VSAQ
22
What was the slogan coined by Hitler when he followed his aggressive foreign policy?
Answer
The slogan was One People. One Empire and One Leader.
VSAQ
23
When Germany invaded Poland?
Answer
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
VSAQ
24
Who were the signatories to the 1940 Tripartite Pact?
Answer
Germany. Italy and Japan were the signatories to the 1940 Tripartite Pact.
VSAQ
25
When did Germany attack the Soviet Union?
Answer
Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941.
VSAQ
26
Which move of Hitler is considered to be historical blunder?
Answer
Hitler attacking the Soviet Union in June, 1941 is considered to be a historic blunder.
VSAQ
27
How did US enter the World War II?
Answer
When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at Pearl Harbor, the US entered the Second World War.
VSAQ
28
Who tried to explain the creation of plants and animals through the concept of evolution and natural selection?
Answer
Charles Darwin.
VSAQ
29
According to Hitler, who topped the racial hierarchy?
Answer
Nordic German Aryans.
VSAQ
30
According to Hitler, who formed the lowest rung of the hierarchy?
Answer
The Jews.
VSAQ
31
What did the term ‘Evacuation’ mean?
Answer
Deporting people to gas chambers.
VSAQ
32
Name the book written by Charlotte Beredt about dreams of Jews.
Answer
Third Reich of Dreams.
VSAQ
33
What was the Nazi argument for their Imperialist ambitions?
Answer
The Nazi argument for their imperialist ambitions was that the strongest race would survive and the weak perish.
VSAQ
34
What name was given to German Workers Party after Hitler took over it?
Answer
National Socialist German Workers’ Party
VSAQ
35
What do you mean by the term proletarianisation?
Answer
Proletarianisation is an anxiety of being reduced to the ranks of the working class, or worse still, the unemployed.
VSAQ
36
Name one place where unprecedented means of killing people in Nazi Germany was done?
Answer
Auschwitz
VSAQ
37
Who were the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany?
Answer
The Jews were the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany.
VSAQ
38
Which security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted?
Answer
The Gestapo (secret state police), the SS (the protection squads), criminal police and the Security Service (SD) were the security forces were created to control and order society in ways that the Nazis wanted.
VSAQ
39
According to the Nazis, which people were to be regarded as desirable?
Answer
Pure and healthy Nordic Aryans.
VSAQ
40
Which country became a laboratory for the experiment of the concept of 'Lebensraum’?
Answer
Poland became a laboratory for the experiment of the concept of 'Lebensraum’.
VSAQ
41
What was the name given to separately marked areas when the Jews lived?
Answer
The separately marked areas where the Jews lived were called ghettos.
VSAQ
42
Which sport did Hitler believe that could make children iron hearted, strong and masculine?
Answer
Boxing.
VSAQ
43
What is a synagogue?
Answer
A synagogue is a place of worship for people of the Jewish faith.
VSAQ
44
What do you mean by the term ‘Holocaust’?
Answer
The atrocities and sufferings Jews had endured during the Nazi killing operations was called the Holocaust.
VSAQ
45
What was ‘Jungvolk’?
Answer
Jungvolk was a Nazi youth organisation for the children between the age group of 10 to 14.
VSAQ
46
What were the ‘gas chambers’ called?
Answer
‘Gas chambers’ were called disinfection areas.
VSAQ
47
Howe were Jews referred in the propaganda films of created by Nazi?
Answer
Jews were referred to as vermin, rats and pests.
VSAQ
48
Which science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race?
Answer
Racial Science.
VSAQ
49
What was the immediate cause of the Second World War?
Answer
The invasion of Poland by Germany in September 1939 was the immediate cause of the Second World War.
VSAQ
50
How French reacted when Germany did not pay war reparations in 1922?
Answer
French occupied Germany’s leading industrial area, Ruhr.
VSAQ
51
In the context of Germany, what was ‘Volkswagen'?
Answer
People’s Car
VSAQ
52
Who wrote the book ‘Mein Kampf’?
Answer
Adolf Hitler.
VSAQ
53
When did Germany withdraw herself from the ‘League of Nations’?
Answer
In 1933.
VSAQ
54
Which two nations were integrated under the slogan of ‘One people, One empire, and One leader’?
Answer
Austria and Germany.
VSAQ
55
When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union?
Answer
In June 1941.
VSAQ
1
Describe the events that happened during Great Economic Depression in the USA?
Answer
• The Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929 and due to fear a fall in prices, people made frantic efforts to sell their shares.
• Over the next three years, between 1929 and 1932, the national income of the USA fell by half.
• Factories shut down, exports fell, farmers were badly hit and speculators withdrew their money from the market.
SAQ
2
Describe any three inherent defects in the Weimar Constitution that made it vulnerable to dictatorship.
OR Mention three reasons responsible for the failure of
the Weimar Republic.
OR
State any three factors which made the Weimer Republic politically fragile.
Answer
• The constitution provided that government must be based proportional representation which made achieving a majority by any one party a near impossible.
• The coalitions governments were not stable and keeps changing.
• The constitution had Article 48, which gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree.
SAQ
3
Describe the political impact of defeat of the Imperial Germany.
Answer
• The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to recast German polity.
• A National Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure.
• Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament or Reichstag, on the basis of equal and universal votes cast by all adults including women.
SAQ
4
Why did Weimar Republic set up in Germany after the First World War become unpopular? Give three reasons.
Answer
• The Weimar Republic was politically too fragile which created instability in the Germany.
• The Weimar Republic was held responsible for signing the Treaty of Versailles and accept its harsh terms.
• The Weimar Republic did not take any steps to improve the economic conditions of the people.
SAQ
5
How did Nazis demonstrate support for Hitler?
Answer
• Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instil 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.
• Nazi propaganda skilfully projected Hitler as a messiah, a saviour, as someone who had arrived to deliver people from their distress.
SAQ
6
What was the verdict of Nuremberg Tribunal? Why did the Allies avoid harsh punishment on Germany?
Answer
• The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced only eleven leading Nazis to death for the mass murder of selected groups of innocent civilians of Europe.
• Many others were imprisoned for life.
• The Allies did not want to be as harsh on defeated Germany as they had been after the First World War which led to the rise of Nazi Germany.
SAQ
7
Describe the formation of Nazi party.
Answer
• The German defeat horrified Hitler and the Versailles Treaty made him furious.
• In 1919, he joined a small group called the German Workers’ Party.
• He subsequently took over the organisation and renamed it the National Socialist German Workers’ Party which later came to be known as the Nazi Party.
SAQ
8
Mention any three important provisions of the Enabling Act passed during Hitler's regime.
Answer
• It established dictatorship in Germany.
• It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree.
• All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi Party and its affiliates.
• The state established complete control over economy, media, army and judiciary.
SAQ
9
Why did Nazism become popular in Germany by 1930?
Answer
• During the Great Depression, banks collapsed and businesses shut down, workers lost their jobs and the middle classes feared of becoming poor.
• In such a situation Nazi propaganda stirred hopes of a better future.
• Hitler through his powerful speeches promised to build a strong nation, restore the dignity of the German people and provide employment for those looking for work.
SAQ
10
Describe any three aspects of Hitler's ideology.
Answer
• There was no equality between people, but only a racial hierarchy.
• In this view blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at the lowest rung.
• He introduced the concept of Lebensraum or living space as per which new territories had to be acquired for settlement.
SAQ
11
Explain Hitler's ideology related to the geo- political concept of Lebensraum.
OR
Define the concept of Lebensraum. Why was it propagated by Hitler?
Answer
Lebensraum means living space. A geopolitical concept given by Hitler to annex neighbouring territories.
• Hitler believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement.
• This would enhance the area of the mother country, while enabling the settlers on new lands to retain an intimate link with the place of their origin.
• It would also enhance the material resources and power of the German nation.
SAQ
12
List the communities which were classified as undesirable in Nazi Germany?
Answer
• Jews remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany and had been stereotyped as killers of Christ and usurers.
• Gypsies and Blacks living in Nazi Germany.
• Russians and Poles were considered subhuman and hence undeserving of any humanity.
SAQ
13
What were the impact of Hitler's attack on Soviet Union in June 1941.
Answer
• By attacking Soviet Union, Hitler exposed the German western front to British aerial bombing and the eastern front to the powerful Soviet Armies.
• The Soviet Red Army inflicted a crushing and humbling defeat on Germany at Stalingrad.
• The Soviet Red Army hounded out the retreating German soldiers until they reached Berlin, establishing Soviet Soviet hegemony over the entire Eastern Europe for half a century thereafter.
SAQ
14
Explain the factors that forced the USA to enter the Second World War?
Answer
• Japan was expanding its power in the east.
• It had occupied French, Indo-China and was planning attacks on the US naval bases in the Pacific.
• When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbour, the US entered the Second World War.
SAQ
15
How did the common people in Germany react to Nazism? Explain.
Answer
• Many supported Nazism and felt hatred and anger surge inside them when they saw someone who looked
like a Jew.
• Many organised active resistance to Nazism, braving police repression and death.
• The large majority of Germans, however, were passive onlookers and apathetic witnesses. They were too scared to act, to differ, to protest.
SAQ
16
Describe the role of youth organisations in Nazi Germany.
Answer
• Youth organisations were made responsible for educating German young in the spirit of National Socialism.
• Ten years old had to enter 'Jungvolk' the Nazi youth group. At 14 all the boys had to join Nazi youth organisation called 'Hitler Youth' where they learnt to worship war, glorify aggression and violence, condemn democracy and hate Jews, communists and ‘undesirable’.
• After a period of rigorous ideological and physical training they joined the Labour Service and had to serve in the armed forces and enter one of the Nazi organisations.
SAQ
17
Describe the foreign policy adopted by Hitler.
Answer
• Hitler pulled out of the League of Nations in 1933 and reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936.
• He integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan, One people, One empire, and One leader.
• He then went on to wrest German- speaking Sudentenland from Czechoslovakia, and gobbled up the entire country.
SAQ
18
Describe the role of propaganda films in creating hatred for Jews.
Answer
• Most infamous film was the 'Eternal Jew' in which orthodox Jews were stereotyped and marked.
• They were shown with flowing beards wearing Kaftans.
• They were referred to as vermin, rats and pests and their movements were compared to those of rodents.
SAQ
19
Describe Hitler's policy of economic recovery.
Answer
• Hitler assigned the responsibility of economic recovery to the economist Hjalmar Schacht who aimed at full production and full employment through a state-funded work-creation programme.
• This project produced the famous German superhighways and the people’s car, the Volkswagen.
• Hitler chose war as the way out of the approaching economic crisis. Resources were to be accumulated through expansion of territory.
SAQ
1
Mention any five effects of the ‘Great Economic Depression’ on the economy of Germany?
Answer
• The industrial production was reduced to 40 percent of the 1929 level.
• Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages.
• Unemployed youth took to criminal activities and total despair became commonplace.
• The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings diminish when the currency lost its value.
• Small businessmen, the self-employed and retailers suffered as their businesses got ruined.
LAQ
2
Why was the 'Treaty of Versailles' treated as harsh and humiliating to people of Germany? Explain.
Answer
• 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.
• The Allied Powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power.
• The War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered.
• Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to £6 billion.
• The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.
LAQ
3
The First World War left a deep imprint on the European society and polity'. Elaborate the given statement.
Answer
• Soldiers came to be placed above civilians.
• Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for the men to be aggressive, strong and masculine.
• Media glorified trench life.
• Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage.
• Popular support grew for conservative dictatorships.
LAQ
4
How were women perceived in Nazi Germany? Explain.
Answer
• Children in Nazi Germany were told that women were radically different from men and fight for equal rights for men and women that had become part of democratic struggles everywhere was wrong and it would destroy society.
• While boys were taught to be aggressive, masculine and steel hearted, girls were told that they had to become good mothers and rear pure-blooded Aryan children.
• Girls had to maintain the purity of the race, distance themselves from Jews, look after the home, and teach their children Nazi values.
• In Nazi Germany, women who bore racially desirable children were rewarded with concession in shops, on theatre tickets and railway fares and were also given favoured treatment in hospitals.
• To encourage women to produce many children, Honour Crosses were awarded.
• Women those who produced racially undesirable children were punished and women who deviated from the prescribed code of conduct were publicly condemned and severely punished.
LAQ
5
Explain any five steps taken by Hitler to establish strong Nazi Society.
Answer
• All schools were cleaned and purified means all teachers who were Jews or seen as ‘politically unreliable’ were dismissed.
• Germans and Jews children were segregated and subsequently, ‘undesirable children’ – Jews, the physically handicapped, Gypsies were thrown out of schools and later they were taken to the gas chambers.
• School textbooks were re-written and racial science was introduced to justify Nazi ideas of race.
• Children were taught hatred against Jews.
• Stereotypes about Jews were popularised even through maths classes.
• Children were taught to be loyal and submissive, hate Jews, and worship Hitler.
LAQ
6
State any five steps taken by Hitler to establish his dictatorial rule in Germany.
Answer
• The Fire Decree of 28 February 1933 indefinitely suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press and assembly that had been guaranteed by the Weimar constitution.
• Hitler’s arch-enemies, Communists were sent to concentration camps.
• The famous Enabling Act was passed which established dictatorship in Germany and gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree.
• All political parties and trade unions except the Nazi Party banned in Germany.
• The state established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.
LAQ
7
Explain any five features of Hitler's Policy towards the Polish under his rule.
Answer
• Poles were forced to leave their homes and properties behind to be occupied by ethnic Germans brought in from occupied Europe.
• They were then herded like cattle in the other part called the General Government, the destination of all ‘undesirables’ of the empire.
• Members of the Polish intelligentsia were murdered in large numbers in order to keep the entire people intellectually and spiritually servile.
• Polish children who looked like Aryans were forcibly snatched from their mothers and examined by ‘race experts’.
• If they passed the race tests they were raised in German families and if not, they were deposited in orphanages where most perished.
LAQ
8
Why was Nazi propaganda effective in creating a hatred for the Jews? Explain any five reasons.
Answer
• The Nazi regime used language and media with care and often to great effect.
• Mass killings were termed special treatment, final solution for the Jews.
• Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, etc.
• Propaganda films were made to create hatred for Jews.
• Jews were stereotyped and shown with flowing beards and wearing kaftans.
• They were referred to as vermin, rats, pests and their movements were compared to those of rodents.
LAQ
9
Evaluate the use of Media by the Nazis to popularise their ideology in Germany.
Answer
• Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans and leaflets.
• In posters, groups identified as the ‘enemies’ of Germans were stereotyped, mocked, abused and described as evil.
• Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate. and were attacked as malicious foreign agents.
• Propaganda films were made to create hatred for Jews.
• Nazism worked on the minds of the people, tapped their emotions, and turned their hatred and anger at those marked as ‘undesirable’.
LAQ
1
"Nazism reflects ugly face of humanity" State five arguments in support of the statement.
Answer
• Nazism did not believe in equality between people but only a racial hierarchy.
• Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’.
• To retain the purity of Aryan race, become stronger and dominate the world, all those who were considered ‘undesirables’ were killed in mass scale.
• Politically, it demolished democracy and took away all the basic rights of civilians.
• They impose strict censorship and established complete control over the economy, media, army and judiciary.
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