by Renee Duke
The conditions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles (so named because it was signed in the Palace of Versailles in France) made life in Germany very difficult. The heavy compensation demanded was beyond war-torn, depression-struck, Germany’s ability to pay and this, coupled with the still deeply felt blow to national pride, caused such despair and resentment that most Germans were ready to endorse any leader who offered them a way out.
The charismatic Adolf Hitler was just such a leader. Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) promised to improve the economy and boost morale, and when they first came to power, they did exactly that. People were impressed, and effective propaganda techniques kept the general populace convinced that the Nazi party was making Germany great again and the Third Reich (regime) would last for a thousand years. It was not until later that people realized the new government had other, more sinister, aims, and were prepared to crush all who opposed them. Determined to create a Master Race and rule the world, the Nazis persecuted people they considered subhuman or viewed as threats or liabilities. These people were systematically exterminated in what is now known as the Holocaust.
The Holocaust did not, as is sometimes thought, only involve Jewish people. Estimates for the number of people who died in it range from eleven to fifteen million, and while around six million of these were Jews, the rest were not. The Nazis also targeted Gypsies like Nicko and his family and anyone who, like Hani, had some sort of mental or physical disability. At least a million Gypsies (now more commonly known as the Roma or Sinti) and over a quarter of a million ‘defectives’ were killed during the Holocaust, along with several million non-Jewish Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Russians, and Yugoslavians, and thousands of people whose religious or political views brought them into conflict with Nazi ideology.
Others, however, embraced Nazi ideology. This was especially true of the young because, as soon as the Nazis came to power in 1933, they changed the school system in ways designed to produce a whole generation dedicated to Nazi principles. History lessons emphasised Germany’s glorious past and blamed its current problems on Jews and Communists. Geography lessons told pupils how much territory had been unfairly taken from Germany, and how important it was to have more lebensraum (living space). Science lessons leaned toward technology with military applications, and biology lessons focussed on racial purity and the inferiority of all non-Nordic races. Teachers who refused to teach Nazi dogma, or did not teach it with sufficient zeal, were dismissed.
Children came under Nazi influence outside of school as well. The Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth) movement started up in 1926 for boys and 1930 for girls, attracting them with smart uniforms, enjoyable activities, and feelings of camaraderie. At first, membership was voluntary, but by 1936, all other youth organizations had been banned and every child of pure German heritage had to be a Hitler Youth. The Jungvolk was for boys aged ten to fourteen and the Hitler-Jugend (HJ) for boys fourteen to seventeen. Girls aged ten to fourteen were in the Jungmädel, and those fourteen to seventeen in the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), the League of German Girls. Though not all young people embraced Nazi ideology with as much fervour as Marta, a great many did. Their faith in their country’s leader was unshakable and they sought to serve their Führer in any way they could. Even when it became apparent to almost everyone that Germany was losing World War Two, these young Germans still believed the Third Reich would, somehow, come to reign supreme. When it did not, they were devastated.
As were most adult Germans, especially when all the atrocities the Nazis had committed came to light, many of which average Germans were unaware of or chose to ignore in order to keep from running afoul of the authorities themselves. A totalitarian regime deals harshly with dissenters and few Germans were willing or able to oppose this one.
Even so, some did. Resistance groups were formed in every country the Germans occupied. In Germany itself, resistance efforts came from student groups like the White Rose, which distributed anti-Nazi leaflets; Catholic and Protestant priests, who hid Jews and other vulnerable people; and from now-famous individuals such as Oskar Schindler who, like Irena Sendler in Poland, Nicholas Winton in Czechoslovakia, and Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary, personally saved large numbers of Jews. Later on, German resistance even came from disenchanted Nazis such as Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and Field Marshall Erwin Rommel (the ‘Desert Fox’), who were involved in an unsuccessful plot to assassinate Hitler. Less well known, but equally heroic, Germans harboured Jews, assisted escaping Allied prisoners, and committed acts of sabotage. Wary of all non-Gypsies, the Roma and Sinti did not join the resistance in high numbers, but those who did were very useful because their nomadic life style and knowledge of the countryside made them good spies and messengers.
Though Hitler’s Nazis were ultimately defeated, racial intolerance was not. People who had looked down on Gypsies before the war years still did afterwards. Unlike other Holocaust survivors, they were not asked to testify at the Nuremburg Trials and received no monetary compensation or psychological help. Germany did not even officially acknowledge them as Holocaust victims until 1982. In January, 1995, Gypsies were excluded from commemoration ceremonies for the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and it was 2012 before a Gypsy Holocaust memorial was finally erected in Berlin. Though they are no longer under Nazi rule, most European Gypsies live in abject poverty and are still subject to discrimination and racially motivated attacks.
For the mentally and physically challenged, however, life has vastly improved since the time of the Nazis. Medical advances and greater understanding and support allow most to reach their full potential and become productive members of society.
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About The Author
Renee Duke grew up in Ontario/B.C., Canada and Berkshire, England. Due to a treacherous re-drawing of county lines while she was out of the country, her little English market town is now in Oxfordshire, but she’s still a Berkshire girl at heart.
After qualifying as an Early Childhood Educator, she went on to work with children of all ages in a number of capacities, including a stint in Belize, Central America with World Peace and Development. These days she still does occasional interactive history units with 6-to-12-year-olds, but is otherwise retired and now concentrates on her writing.
Mother of one son and servant to two cats, she resides in Kelowna B.C..
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