Class 9 History Chapter 3 Question Answers - Nazism and the Rise of Hitler

Q1: Describe the events that happened during the Great Economic Depression in the USA.

Ans: 

• The Wall Street Exchange crashed in 1929 and due to fear of 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.

Q2: 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 that made the Weimer Republic politically fragile.

Ans:

• The constitution provided that government must be based on proportional representation, which made achieving a majority by any one party impossible.
• The coalition governments were not stable and kept changing.
• The constitution had Article 48, which gave the president the power to impose emergency, suspend civil rights, and rule by decree.

Q3: ‘In my state, the mother is the most important citizen.’ Discuss this statement made by Hitler.

Ans: Though Hitler said that in my state the mother is the most important citizen, it was not true. In Nazi Germany, all mothers were not treated equally. Women who bore racially desirable children were awarded, while those who bore racially undesirable children were punished. Women who bore ‘desirable’ children were entitled to privileges and rewards. They were given special treatment in hospitals and concessions in shops and on theatre tickets and railway fares.

Q4: What promises did Hitler make to the Germans when he came to power?

Ans:

• He promised to build a strong nation and undo the justice of the Treaty of Versailles and restore the dignity of the German people.
• He promised employment for those looking for work.
• He promised to remove all foreign influences and resist all foreign conspiracies against Germany.

Q5: Explain any three effects of the Treaty of Versailles over Germany.

Ans:

• Germany lost its overseas colonies.
• It was demilitarized.
• The allied armies occupied resource-rich Rhineland.
• It lost 75 percent of its iron and 26 percent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark & Lithuania.

Q6: Describe the main provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. (CBSE 2010)

Ans: The Treaty of Versailles was a harsh and humiliating peace for the Germans.

• Germany lost all its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population.
• 13 percent of its territories, 75 percent of its iron, and 26 percent of its coal to France.
• Germany was demilitarised to weaken its power.
• The war guilt clause held Germany responsible for war and damages the Allied countries suffered. It was forced to pay compensation amounting to £6 billion.
• The Allied forces occupied the resource-rich Rhineland till the 1920s.

Q7: How did the ordinary Germans react to Nazism? (CBSE 2010)

Ans: 

• Many saw the world through Nazi eyes and spoke their mind in the Nazi language. 
• They felt hatred and anger even when someone they thought looked like a Jew. 
• They reported against suspected Jews and marked their houses. 
• They believed Nazism would make them prosperous and happy. 
• A large number of Germans were passive onlookers, too scared to act, to differ, or to protest. 
• They preferred to keep away. Only a few organized active resistance to Nazism.

Q8: Describe the political impact of the defeat of Imperial Germany.

Ans:

• 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.

Q9: What was the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal? Why did the Allies avoid harsh punishment on Germany?

Ans:

• The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced only eleven leading Nazis to death for the mass murder of selected groups of innocent civilians in 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.

Q10: Describe what happened to Germany after its defeat in the First World War. (CBSE 2010)

Ans: 

• World War I, ended with the Allies defeating Germany and the Central powers in November 1918. 
• The Peace Treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating treaty. 
• Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 percent of its territories, 75 percent of its iron, and 26 percent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark, and Lithuania. 
• The Allied Powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its power. 
• Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to 6 billion. 
• The Allied armies also occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s.

Q11:  From whom did Hitler borrow his racist ideology? Explain. [2010 (T-1)]

Ans: 

• Hitler borrowed his racist ideology from thinkers like Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. 
• Darwin was a natural scientist who tried to explain the creation of plants and animals through the concept of evolution and natural selection. 
• Herbert Spencer, later on, added the idea of survival of the fittest. 
• According to this idea, only those species that survived on earth could adapt themselves to changing climatic conditions. 
• Darwin never advocated human intervention in what he thought was a purely natural process of selection. 
• However, his ideas were used by racist thinkers and politicians to justify imperial rule over conquered peoples.

Q12:  Why did Germany suffer from ‘‘Hyperinflation" in 1923? Who bailed her out from this situation? [2010 (T-1)]

Ans: 

• Germany had fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold. 
• This depleted gold reserves at a time when resources were scarce. 
• In 1923, Germany refused to pay and the French occupied Ruhr to claim their coal. 
• Germany retaliated with passive resistance and recklessly printed paper currency. 
• With too much-printed money in circulation, the value of the German mark fell. 
• In April, the US dollar was equal to 24,000 marks, in July 353,000 marks, and at 98,860,000 marks by December, the figure had run into trillions. 
• As the value of the marks collapsed, prices of goods soared. This crisis came to be known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.

Q13:  Explain the role of women in Hitler’s Germany.

What responsibilities did the Nazi state impose on women? (CBSE 2010)

Ans: 

• According to Hitler’s ideology, women were radically different from men. 
• The democratic idea of equal rights for men and women was wrong and 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. 
• They had to be the bearers of the Aryan culture and race. 
• Hitler said, ‘‘In my state, the mother is the most important citizen.’’ But in Nazi Germany, all mothers were not treated equally.

Q14: Explain the main views of Hitler as expressed in his book 'Mein Kampf'.

Ans: 

• Adolf Hitler wrote a book entitled ‘Mein Kampf’. Its literal meaning is ‘My Struggle’. 
• This book expresses some of the most monstrous ideas of the Nazi movement. 
• He glorified the use of force and brutalities and the rule by a great leader and ridiculed internationalism, peace, and democracy. 
• These principles were accepted by all followers of Hitler. 
• Throughout Germany, an atmosphere of terror was created. 
• Hitler glorified violent nationalism and extolled war. 
• He wrote this book at the age of 35, it is an autobiographical book; in this book, Hitler has poured out his hatred for democracy, Marxism and the Jews. 
• He also revealed his bitterness over German surrender in World War I.

Q15:  Why is Nazism considered a calamity not only for Germany but for entire Europe?

How did Hitler destroy democracy in Germany? Explain. [2010 (T-1)]

Ans: 

• Nazi ideology specified that there was a racial hierarchy and no equality between people. 
• The blond, blue-eyed Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while the Jews were located somewhere on the lowest rung of the ladder. 
• The number of people killed by Nazi Germany was 6 million Jews, 200,000 Gypsies, 1 million Polish civilians, 70,000 Germans. 
• Nazism glorified the use of force and brutality. 
• It ridiculed internationalism, peace, and democracy. 
• Nazi Germany became the most dreaded criminal state. 
• Hitler chose war as the way out of approaching the economic crisis. 
• Germany invaded Poland. 
• This started a war with France and England in September 1940.

Q16:  What happened in schools under Nazism?

How were the schools in Germany 'cleansed' and 'purified' under Nazi rule? [2010 (T-1)]

Ans: 

• All schools were cleansed and purified. 
• This meant that teachers who were Jews or seen as politically unreliable were dismissed. 
• Children were segregated — Germans and Jews could not sit together or play together. 
• Later on the undesirable children — the Jews, the physically handicapped, gypsies — were thrown out of schools. 
• In the 1940s, they were taken to gas chambers. 
• Children in school were taught to be loyal and submissive, hate Jews, and worship Hitler. 
• Sports was given great importance. 
• The function of sports was to nurture a spirit of violence and aggression among children. 
• Stereotypes of Jews were propagated through all classes. 
• Schooling was a prolonged period of ideological training.

Q17:  What were the steps taken by Hitler as Chancellor to deal with the economic difficulties? Which two things symbolized the economic recovery of Germany? (CBSE 2010)

Ans:

• First, 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.
• Hitler chose was as the way out of the approaching economic crisis. Resources were to be accumulated through the expansion of territory. The famous German highways and the people's car, the Volkswagen became the symbols of Germany's economic recovery.

Q18:  Examine any three features of racial hierarchy that were promoted by Hitler in Germany under his Nazi ideology. [2010 (T-1)]

Ans:

• According to Nazi ideology, 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.
• Hitler's racism borrowed from thinkers like Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. Darwin believed in the theory of natural selection. Herbert Spencer added the idea of survival of the fittest.
• The Nazis believed that the strongest race would survive and the weak would perish. The Aryan race was the finest. It had to retain its purity, become stronger and dominate the world.