Life Under Adolf Hitler: The First Years Of Nazi Germany

In January 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany with promises of peace and economic recovery. However, his true agenda soon emerged, targeting Jews and anyone else he perceived as an enemy. This documentary explores how Hitler and the Nazis manipulated the German populace, transforming the nation into a totalitarian regime. Discover the propaganda, economic strategies, and brutal policies that shaped the early years of Nazi Germany.

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January 1933 Adolf Hitler has taken power in Germany he has got there by promising to be a man of Peace he has barely even mentioned the Jews but now he can pursue his real agenda and rid Germany of his long-standing [Applause] enemies the Jew was the Enemy Within and the great Hitler the great leader was now pointing that out but not all Germans are behind him many were upset by the ill treatment of Jews so he must find a way of capturing their minds to turn them to his way of thinking this is the story of how Hitler and the Nazis Bend an entire people to his will and groom them into participating in the most evil regime in history [Music] [Music] a month after coming to power a nervous Adolf Hitler takes to the airwaves it is his first ever radio address to the German [Music] people Germany is in the grip of the Great Depression faltering at first he describes just how serious the situation is the misery of our people is horrible to behold millions are unemployed and starving Hitler explains that the task ahead is massive Germany is suffering from the most severe crisis in the standard of living um it is experienced in the entire history of the country there are hundreds of thousands of people homeless some third of the work force is unemployed and the knock-on effects of that in terms of poor food family conditions work conditions all suffer there is clearly a need to come up with some kind of big bang solution to unemployment Hitler had won Power by promising to make the economy his priority the nais slogan was BR and ibite bread and work basic things that the Germans had grown accustomed not to having they promised to restore the task with which we are faced is the hardest which has fallen to German Statesmen within the memory of man he signs off by asking the people to give him four years to achieve his goals he said look we will do what we’ve promised but we need time to do so so please give us Gul give us give be patient but what many German people don’t realize is that economics is not what really concerns Hitler he has long-standing Ambitions which he fails to mention in his speech ideological obsessions dating back to his experiences in World War I and the 1920s expressed through his writings in mine camp first and foremost he wants to rid Germany of the Jews he built the party on rid anti-Semitism he sees them as a global malevolent force with no sense of nationhood who are to blame for Germany’s crisis this great Jewish plot to take over the world when we Germans are suffering from that it’s an international movement but we in Germany because of our Grim conditions postwar we are the the victims so our way forward is to get rid of the Jew within weeks of taking power rather than tackle unemployment Hitler targets the Jews a nationwide boycott of Jewish owned shops and businesses sees Brown Shirts man the blockade but it doesn’t go well the reaction of the majority of Germans is not as expected they keep going to Jewish owned shops the German people simply aren’t interested in Hitler’s brand of anti-Semitism a report from an American Diplomat in Leipzig summarizes the effect of the boycott describing it as unpopular with the working classes and the educated Circles of the middle classes the blockade is called off after Just One [Music] Day the clear lesson for Hitler is that if he is to win over the Germans to his way of thinking then he must first gain their confidence and do something about the economy as a result he won’t mention the Jews again for four more years this isn’t because he’s gone soft on the Jewish question but because he knows that politically there’s more to be gained by a softer approach than by a harder line he remains resolutely anti-semitic but publicly he’s careful not to make that a major plank in his program it’s for public consumption essentially the Apparently softer line along with his propaganda Mastermind Joseph gerles Hitler devises a new plan to win the hearts and minds of his population they unveil a nationwide battle for work financed by a 1 billion Reich Mark economic Revival program he draws up plans for road building for construction works for training young men who are unemployed training them in ways which are socially desirable a massive high-profile construction Drive begins Geral makes sure the propaganda cameras capture the fura leading from the front Hitler himself makes a great show of appearing on building sites uh moving Earth the centerpiece are the auto bands which form the backbone of their propaganda [Music] campaign the idea is to link Germany with 6,000 new kilometers of gleaming roadway the autoban is the symbol of growth it’s a symbol of bigger thinking it’s a symbol of of outwardness we’re going somewhere and we’re doing it physically through our road system the pr this is that ordinary Germans can travel freely and explore their Nation Germans got very excited as you might say they still out to day about the idea of driving on motorways of exploring their own Fatherland it looked like a vision of the future It Felt Like A Brave New World critically these projects require large numbers of workers a lot of these constructions involved unimaginable numbers of manual labor so there were really large scale work creation schemes so let’s ask the young men who were unemployed and listless and rootless let them be the Pioneers who build the motorways build the autoban so they will be contributing something very positive and valuable to the growth of Germany as well as earning good money for themselves next Hitler reforms the inefficient German labor market with another policy his answer is the new German labor front the deutches arbites front on the surface the labor front is the new form of trade unionism they would work together wage rates income profits would be discussed communally and compromise his reach that would benefit everybody ostensibly it looks like labor reform but it is actually a smoke screen that allows Hitler to take on a new Target the trade unions prior to coming to power he has always seen them as Communists an enemy almost as hated as the Jews he also thinks they are a threat to the status quo of the nation placing too much power in the hands of the workers so he shuts the trades unions down their leaders are arrested and their funds stolen all other unions are outlawed employment or trade becomes impossible without a membership card it was the control of the workforce from above it was a Nazi determination not to allow workers to be a disruptive element in German Society a year in Hitler’s regime is going to plan he is seen as a man of action selflessly dedicated to getting the nation working again he is offering a modern exciting vision of the future and is successfully steering Germany out of a crisis unemployment is in sharp decline down to 4 million from 6 million but the the economic program is just the first phase the next step is to take the message of Nazism into every aspect of people’s lives Hitler realizes that if he is to push through his own agenda he must first capture their hearts and Minds Hitler’s belief in accomplishing this is unwavering Hitler had such a strength of will he said to one friend you will see we will do the impossible we will work wonders we will accomplish Miracles his faith in what his Nazi party can achieve is equally unshakable only the Nazi party has sufficient Drive purpose understanding and belief in itself to make this a reality so he sets about a bold new keynote policy its name is the f Min shaft The People’s Community a social engineering project of Epic Proportions its goal is simple to tie everybody into believing in Nazism and accepting its values FK mind shaft is the notion of a special people in a special nation very powerful notion that Germany was special and the folk defined that special quality the folk therefore was the term you to describe that German people at their best discover the past with exclusive military history documentaries and adree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all on History hit watch them on your smart TV or on the-go with your mobile device download the app now to watch everything from the gripping story of the Band of Brothers to operation Barbarosa and D-Day immerse yourself in the dramatic stories of this remarkable era by signing up via the link in the description Hitler’s line is that only when the German people come together and move forward as one would the community achieve great things and find its way out of the crisis the national Community finding its divinely ordained Destiny was one of Hitler’s favorite phrases it’s there in all of his speeches it’s repeated endlessly by other key orators such as gobbles that emotional sense of coming together of sharing a communal Spirit of being united by the exciting zeit Guist of a new era but also sharing the sacrifices standing together in solidarity and hard times is part of this community spirit that the Nazis are so effective at mobilizing and celebrating at the head of the community is the fura tirelessly dedicating himself to the needs of the German people the folks M shaft is designed to be modern exciting and fun a celebration of Germany’s greatness new national days like the day of solidarity and the fur’s birthday create the sense of an uplifting National Community they bring people together in celebration critical to the vka m shaft idea is that it takes the message of naism into all areas of ger life even to the dinner tables of Germany for example there was the one put stew Sunday the idea was that people would not eat meat on Sundays traditionally on Sunday you would have a roast but instead they would donate the money that was saved to a public scheme a welfare scheme to help the poor and then there would be get togethers where people would eat together a one put stew without meat the Sunday meal is no longer a family affair but a part of a wider communal effort for the German cause the idea that families weren’t simply units individually they were part of a greater community and the individuals took their worth not from their individuality but from their Collective membership or their members of the collective to help Foster the folka Min shaft the Nazi party permeates all levels of Society national socialism infiltrates all kinds of areas of daily life whether it’s involuntary organizations or in professional life people came into contact with representatives of national socialism Nazism now becomes present at every stage of a German’s life youngsters in particular are targeted to make them subscribe to the vision what Nazism tried to do was try to become the political wing of the German people as a whole and if you’re going to do that you’re not necessarily going to convince the older generation but what you can do is start absorbing the younger generation into your movement so if everything you do is through or for the party then you will become a good little Nazi so what’s the best way of doing that is don’t have a Boy Scout movement have a Hitler youth movement abolishing while he did it similar rival youth organizations like the Boy Scouts and various Catholic and Protestant religious clubs and groups they all were put together into a Hitler Youth for boys and young men and a bu deut Medan a league of German girls for young women Central to the sense of communal identity are uniforms uniforms are a fantastic vehicle for bringing people together as a group for giving them that sense of belonging to a special Community these new Nazi organizations are fun for the first time youngsters can explore their Fatherland and taste Adventure weddings were nified too Newly Weds receive a copy of mine camp on their marriage day the party’s reach even extends to the workplace a massive workers movement strength through Joy is launched to offer benefits to workers like trips and holidays strength through Joy was one of the most successful Nazi organizations in propagandistic terms providing Leisure programs for workers helping them to relax to enjoy life and simultaneously to indoctrinate them into the spirit of fascism the allowed to go on holidays at 50% below the market rate cruise liners are created as well also state-of-the-art cantens are built in every Factory even little orchestras go on tours around these factories as well the propaganda message is clear the Nazi party will look after you and offer you a world of Promise the Germans buy into this dream of exciting New Opportunities but what they may not realize is that all this is part of Hitler’s secret agenda because there is a flip side to the folka Min shaft Hitler’s Vision differentiates clearly between those who are inside the community and therefore of pure German blood and those who are outside it like the Jews it was also powerful because it had a very clear barrier between those who belong to the National community and those who didn’t so it made you feel valued and it had easy scapegoats that you could blame problems on when they were not part of the national community that is why the Jews could not be part of vulk it was exclusive because it was Aryan it was principled and it related to The Glorious past and offered the Glorious future the folka Min shaft is the first stage in a slow process of capturing Germans minds and making them view the Jews as an underclass in time Hitler and his inner circle will use this to make the Germans complicit in appalling crimes but for now they must remain [Music] patient after a year in office things are looking good for Adolf Hitler he is turning around the economy creating an exciting new social model for Germany and opening up the country via the autoband above all he is getting Germans working again an unemployment Falls by 33% so this is something that he can trumpet towards his suppos and say look I fulfilled one aspect of my program unemployment is going down the official line is that unemployment is down due to Flagship schemes like the autoband in fact another force is at [Music] work many of the new jobs are down to something else Hitler is secretly preparing for war starting in 1933 the Nazi regime spends huge amounts of cash on weapons 35 billion reiches marks it dwarfs all other forms of public spending including all the work creation schemes it fits into another part of Hitler’s real agenda in his mind war with Russia is not only unavoidable it is necessary ever since the days of mine Camp it is Hitler’s profound conviction that communism is a threat to the world he regards it as part of an international Jewish plot and he thinks an armed Showdown with Russia is inevitable Hitler’s ambition or his expectation if not ambition is that at some point there will be a war the Soviet Union will have to be faced down military at some point a first duty is to rearm to make the nation strong through military means rearmament will also allow him to realize another of his aspirations conceived years [Music] earlier the idea of laban’s Realm or living space which he believes is essential for the German Nation to grow laban’s Ram is the idea of living space that Germany really has too higher density of population there are too many people occupying too smaller space and therefore that’s restricting Germany’s Economic Development especially in industry but mostly in agriculture for Hitler territorial space will solve the ‘s economic problems and help feed his people and he believes the land he needs can be seized from those he views as inferior from Poland on Europe was slav and the East is slav therefore we have entitlement to take it over so laban’s realm living space which we Germans need will be found most prominently in the east as a superior people they could take land occupied by inferior [Music] people the problem that Hitler faces is that any talk of going to war to win land is appalling to most Germans he has been elected as a man of Peace who promised not to go to war memories of the horrors of World War I are still fresh in people’s minds 2.4 million of their countrymen were killed hundreds of thousands were wounded so this presents Hitler with a problem how to sell rearmament to the Germans he comes up with a justification it’s not about preparing for war it’s about the restoration of German Pride so this is a great program it’s not suffering fellow Germans it is an advance towards our providential destiny the greatness the restoration of the greatness of Germany rearmament Hitler says is an antidote to the humiliation of the Treaty of Versa signed by the Allies in 1919 the Versa treaty is when the Allies made Germany pay for World War I it also restricts the size of the German Armed Forces Germany was required under versailes settlement to limit its armaments production and to limit its Army to 100,000 only but he calculated correctly as it turned out that if he pushed hard enough there wouldn’t be a response in March 1935 Hitler introduces conscription it is in total Defiance of the Versa treaty the Army swells from the permitted 100,000 to half a million men he’s allowed to get away with it and that gives him more more confidence so rearmament is a great way of Hitler pushing the boundaries forward publicly he continues to reassure the people that he doesn’t want war he is rearming for the preservation of Peace in a speech on the 16th of March 1935 he makes this promise crystal clear the government renews its resolve before the German folk and before the entire world that it will never stop beyond the bounds of preserving German honor and the freedom of the re and in particular shall never make of the German national arms an instrument of War warlike aggression but an instrument confined exclusively to defense and thereby to the preservation of [Music] Peace however rearmament does have unexpected results it costs a fortune and diverts resources from the German population towards the military wages are low and Germans are made to work longer and harder than ever before all this takes the Shine off the carefully constructed dream of a national community that fulfills everyone’s aspirations hardship in a sense can be enriching or ennobling is a Nazi line don’t see hardship as the enemy but of course Beyond a certain point if you’re asking people to go without there has to be some reward for it eventually Hitler charges propaganda Minister Joseph Geral with keeping in touch with popular opinion he does this by sending out secret agents to EO on conversations and to prepare reports it’s the only effective polling data available in a totalitarian state what he learns is alarming the privations they were undergoing were beginning to bite these are unpopular they cause a lot of muttering in cues in shops and gives rise to considerable anxiety on the part of the Nazi regime despite this huge effort to win hearts and Minds it is clear that popular support is fragile Geral and Hitler must find another way to bring the people behind the Nazis so they come up up with a plan to harness descent and unite Germans against a common enemy they will blame the economic hardship on the Jews the scapegoat notion the identifiable Enemy Within does distract from the internal economic problems the unemployment problems which still persist and if they are to blame for the crisis in the first place this is simply Justice this is not retribution this is Justice the Jews have been given what they genuin deserve nurmberg 1935 the annual Nazi party rally a massive propaganda spectacle held every year urberg is important it was the site from the 20s onwards of the annual Nazi party rallies but as the pageant unfolds behind the scenes there’s a last minute rewrite of the Rally’s keynote speech Hitler is desperate to show the party that he’s got something big to deliver and originally it’s going to be on foreign policy but that gets pulled and a new policy is drawn up instead this new policy is a raft of anti-Semitic laws if the newb laws are drawn drawn up as the first major attempt to turn Germany into a racial state which was Hitler’s ambition and it obviously attacked the Jew within the law for the protection of German blood and honor Outlaws marriage between Germans and Jews Germans were forbidden from marrying Jews from having any sexual relations with Jews if Germans were already married to Jews they were encouraged and allowed to divorce Jews without any problem at all so they were Nazi racial theories made horrendous flesh the Reich citizenship law strips Jews of their citizenship and makes them mere subjects unlike the rest of the population they become legal Outsiders however this leads to unexpected complications the Germans couldn’t really Define who was a Jew and who wasn’t a Jew even though they’d spent years and years and years discussing this question so new legislation is drawn up to sort out the confusion and Define who exactly is a German and who is a Jew in the eyes of the law it laid down that anybody with three grandparents who were Jewish was by definition a Jew and therefore not entitled to full citizenship not entitled to employment rights not entitled to legal rights not entitled to education to be a full Jew has Grave consequences but even Germans with only one or two Jewish grandparents known as misher or mongrels also full foul of the law it’s the first clear defining Mark of the impossibility of being Jewish and being German [Music] faced with this sudden loss of Rights some minger defend themselves while other Germans show their support various organizations came into being after the nurburg race laws were brought in largely to defend those Jews who were only just Jews if one could put it that way the miching an association of non-aryan Christians is formed at one point it has 80,000 members so there’s an attempt made to provide protection for Jews it’s a first attempt really in Nazi Germany for a non-jewish organization to present itself as in some way protective at this stage the Nazis tolerate this opposition eventually they will phase it out because Hitler’s laws are accepted by the majority of Germans they are starting starting to believe that the Jews are to blame and the purity of the German folk comes before the rights of the Jews 7 months after the nurenberg race laws Hitler is making progress but he still hasn’t completely captured the hearts and minds of the German population behind the scenes Hitler plots a new propaganda coup to distract from the economic hardships at home he plans to appeal once again to German national pride Hitler decides to send troops back into the Rin land an area of Eastern Germany that was demilitarized after World War I the Rin land had been a burning issue for Germans since 1918 it was German land which the French occupied and then having occupied it declared that it had to be demilitarized is at first his generals don’t agree some of his generals warned him it’s too dangerous mind fura the French will react and the British might join them in the reaction he grew very angry at this and he said I expect National Socialist troops to be on the offensive not the defensive he overrules them and takes a massive Gamble [Music] in March 1936 he sends German troops into the reinand breaching the terms of the Versa treaty once again and it worked the Ryan is occupied happens in a couple of days the French protest but they make no move to resist the risk comes off it’s a great coup it makes him a hero in the eyes of his people [Applause] then Hitler finally reveals his true agenda the preparation for war he States the German economy must be fit for war in 4 years it begins with a very public program of grand schemes including permanent defensive fortifications and showpiece Military buildings a program of domestic manufacturer of essential War materials also begins these include rubber oil and textiles the idea is that Germany will no longer need to import these vital supplies Germany still relies on vast amounts of imports the best example of that is oil Germany imported 65% of all its oil so really he wanted to find ways of creating synthetic oil of creating synthetic rubber so that he could actually Finance his rearm without the need of purchasing vast quantities of overseas oil Hitler’s most prominent Deputy Herman guring is brought in to run what becomes known as the 4-year plan ging is brought in to produce this so-called four-year plan one of the few programs Hitler actually initiated himself as part of the plan the Nazis not only Champion synthetic raw materials for war but also for the German people they create lowgrade consumer products and food stuffs for Germans but inside German homes the crude substitutes for imported goods lead to yet more reports of moaning and [Music] discontent however on the surface the propaganda image is one of accessible consumer [Music] goods not least the motorc car and Hitler gives his people a shiny new goal to Aspire to he Champions the Volkswagen or people’s car the strength through Joy car produced by a Nazi organization uh the prospectuses for it were everywhere and people had these lovely little savings tins that were very brightly colored with pictures of happy families driving around a pretty picturesque German Countryside in these new cars very inspiring very uplifting the notion that you could have a motorc car and you could choose to go out under your own steam your own choice we take that so for granted but for Germans in the 30s what a an ambition to have to have your own car Hitler even sketches the concept for the Volkswagen himself and commissions Automotive designer Ferdinand Porsche to make it a reality Hitler has now been in power for 3 years Germany looks like a country that is going places it’s showcasing itself on the international stage it’s emboldened and rearmed the Nazis are offering people new consumer good goods and an attractive new lifestyle but behind the scenes the country is on the verge of an economic crisis recovery and rearmament have required huge quantities of imports the nation has always been short of foreign currency to pay for these imported goods the problem of paying for imports with scarce foreign exchange never leaves uh the third right it’s a recurring nightmare at one stage the foreign currency reserves are down to crisis levels with just enough for a week’s worth of imports the reality of the economic situation starts to hit people hard food becomes expensive and there are shortages of clothing and household goods few can ever hope to afford the much vaunted people’s car or the other sweeteners trumpeted by the Nazi propaganda machine there was a real fear by 1937 that German Workers were becoming disgruntled through the relative decline in their wages they weren’t getting what they’ve been expected to receive and they weren’t getting what they’ve been promised [Music] however one thing saves Hitler and his party world events come to their aid in 1937 International Trade starts to pick up the global economy recovers over the next 12 months it’s a worldwide phenomenon the economy in Europe picks up and Germany along with other countries begins to feel the benefits in employment terms of the pickup that’s the luck that Hitler the Nazis have for Hitler’s Inner Circle it’s a huge relief they have turned the corner from the brink of collapse it begins to look like the plan is working Germany’s coffers start to refill the Third Reich can once again afford to feed its population crucially unemployment goes down to virtually nothing it allows Hitler to seem like an economic [Applause] genius economic recovery is tied to political strength or the the notion of the leader it’s the furer who’s done it without the furer there wouldn’t be this recovery he’s now this elevated leader this figurehead that one can take pride in the man who’s LED Germany out of the crisis with his credibility restored Hitler now believes he can ratchet up racial policy to a new level of persecution against his old foe the Jews in 1937 Hitler mentions the Jews for the first time in four years he tries out the line he will later use to justify the Holocaust that the Jews are the cause of their own Misfortune he openly attacked jury as the cause of German difficulties and he implies very strongly the Jews have a recompense facing them given that they are trying to destroy the attempts of the new German movement the new Nazi movement to better Germany to improve Germany to elevate Germany but jewry is plotting to destroy that the Jew was the Enemy Within and the great Hitler the great leader was now pointing that out in 1938 two key organs of the state become involved in racial legislation now the secret police and gestapo are Unleashed on the Jews Jews are abused verbally they let it be known that they’re anti-jewish that they’re out to get the Jews so there’s that intimidation in the air they let it be known they are marked people that’s the gestapu technique for frightening so so the ASD essentially do the intelligence work the gapu do the Fright putting on The Frighteners in the face of such pressure over 250,000 German Jews leave the country often their possessions and wealth is seized and used to fund the Nazi party’s own budget but half of Germany’s Jews remain to apply more pressure persecution goes a step further Jewish businesses are aryanized the decree for the registration of Jewish property further excludes Jews from economic life they are banned from owning businesses they have to sell them to Aryan Germans at knockdown prices then Geral plots a new course of action that will take all this a stage further his idea is to have a national day of outpouring of violence against the Jews it will become known as reich’s Crystal knock he even has a perfect justification the shooting of a German Diplomat Ernst vom rat this provided a welcome excuse for the Nazi state to unleash a torrent of anti-Semitic violence on German cities it had been pre-planned all they wanted was a pretext and the assassination was the pretext there is a torrent of [Music] violence the Nazis attack Jewish properties and businesses homes are ransacks synagogues are smashed the term Crystal KN Crystal KN come to sound the image of the breaking [Applause] glass crowds urged on by the SS wrecked German shops and smashed the plate glass and store windows and attacked and brutalized and beat up [Music] Jews the night of the broken loss was the natural culmination of a political party and a regime that preached violent anti-Semitism 1,000 synagogues are burnt 7,000 businesses destroyed 91 Jews killed 30,000 sent to concentration camps to cap it all gal’s propaganda pedals the line that the Jews brought it all upon themselves chal Act is blamed on the Jews and it said that people rose up in their anger against the Jews and attack them and that’s the way Geral put it in his propaganda it was a popular movement movement of the people we know of course it would work the other way by the end of 1938 from a Nazi perspective their policies are a [Music] success Hitler has won the people’s hearts and minds and he has groomed them to his way of thinking for the first time the Germans can see what Hitler’s anti-Semitism really means and they are starting to embrace it perhaps the most interesting and most worrying feature about that one night in November was the Willing participation of many ordinary civilian bystanders in the violence it was an open demonstration of the bestiality and the hatred that the Nazis held for their Jewish population and and and an awful warning of words to come at last Hitler has the German people where he wants them so there’s a sense that this is a new dawn a new age that provides exciting new opportunities for a lot of people who very happy to go along with the violence that accompanies all of [Applause] this Germany has been rearmed Hitler’s enemies like the Jews can be persecuted with minimal resistance now he is ready for war [Music] [Music]