How significant was the Third Reich for Germany and the Germans from
1933-45?
In this essay I will assess the significance of the Third Reich in Germany. The
Third Reich is referred to the Nazi regime in Germany from January 1933 to
May 1945. The Nazis rose to power and marked the beginning of the Third
Reich by crushing the Weimar government and bought an end to democracy in
Germany. This group was led by Adolf Hitler. It took many years for the Nazis
to come to power, many events took place which allowed Hitler to rule over
Germany such as Reichstag fire and Enabling act. The German democracy was
very unstable and economy was crippled due to the terms of TOV was too
harsh and they were paying reparations along with an unstable government,
the people eventually would turn to extreme parties such as the NSDAP. Before
Hitler took over Germany there was a long struggle after the Munich putsch he
had realized that he couldn’t take over by violence so had to try political
methods to make it to the top. The Third Reich was really important cause it
led to the World War 2 and many lives were taken due to the hatred towards
the Jews which was the holocaust. Life was hard in Nazi Germany as there was
the gestapo keeping an eye on the people all the time. Concentration Camps
were also made for whoever opposed their ideologies. SS and SA created fear
amongst the people. Their rights were taken away and life was hard for women,
they were expected to stay at home, look after the family and produce
children in order to secure the future of the Aryan race. Hitler also believed
that women’s life should revolve around 3 K’s which were Kinder, Kuche
and Kirche( Kids, Kitchen and Church). They believed that women should
only take care of household activities and take care of babies.
Young children also were controlled by the Nazis. Their education was
controlled by the Nazis and they were heavily indoctrinated. Boys would me
a part of Hitler’s Youth and girls to be a part of League of German Maidens.
Initially Hitler’s Youth was any organization but later in 1933 it was the only
one and it was made compulsory. This was done because the Nazis
wanted a generation of German people to believe in their ideologies.
This would be significant as after the war this would be a problem as this
generation was fed heavy propaganda by the Nazis and believed in their
ideologies. After the war this was one of the aims of the allies, which was
Denazify which meant more than banning the Nazi party but it also meant
cleansing people from their ideas which they believed in.
The Jewish community also faced a lot of challenges during the Third
Reich. They were separated from the society and were treated as inferiors
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Their shops and businesses were boycotted. Jewish children were not
allowed to go to school or universities. Jews could not marry any
German citizen and they were not allowed in the army. Jews could not
practice as doctors or lawyers. But the turning point for Jews in Nazi
Germany was Kristallnacht ( The night of broken glass). The SS attacked
Jewish homes and businesses. This took place in Austria and Sudetenland
which was under German control and 91 deaths took place. This is seen as
a part of the holocaust. During the war, the Nazis wanted to eradicate the
entire Jewish community in Europe. 6 million Jews who were in
concentration camps were executed. This took place in Eastern Europe
such as Poland and Ukraine.
However one of the most important events took place during the Third Reich
was the World War 2. Germany was devastated after the war with staggering of
7,400,000 total deaths. This goes all the way back to the first world war and
when the tov was signed and the terms were too harsh. Years later who Hitler
became chancellor he started working on reversing the terms of the tov. In
1934 he increased the size of the army, began building warships and created a
