Germany 1925-1955: the People and the State | OCR GCSE History A (J410)

Germany 1925-1955: the People and the State

102 questions
9 subtopics
Paper 1
Paper 1

Germany 1925–1955: The People and the State is examined in Paper 1, Period study with non-British depth study.

It covers the Weimar Republic 1925–1928 and the impact of the Depression, rising support for the Nazis 1929–1933, the Nazi consolidation of power 1933–1934, the Nazi terror state, propaganda and the people’s community, Nazi economic and social policy and the lack of effective opposition, reaction to war and the home front 1939–1945, racial persecution, the Holocaust and opposition during the war, defeat, occupation and the two Germanys 1945–1955, and the state and the German people, 1925–1955.

Sample questions from Germany 1925-1955: the People and the State

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The Weimar Republic 1925–1928 and the impact of the Depression

Why did the voting system make stable government so difficult in the later 1920s?

Show the answer
Proportional representation gave seats to many small parties, so no party held a majority and every cabinet was a fragile coalition.
Rising support for Nazis 1929–1933

Which crisis turned the Nazis from a fringe party into a mass movement?

Show the answer
The Depression that followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which brought mass unemployment and despair.
The Nazi consolidation of power 1933–1934

What power did the Enabling Act of 23 March 1933 hand to Hitler?

Show the answer
The right to make laws for four years without the Reichstag or the President.
The Nazi terror state, propaganda and the people's community

What was the SD?

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The intelligence and security branch of the SS, run by Reinhard Heydrich to gather information on enemies of the regime.
Nazi economic and social policy, and the lack of effective opposition

In what ways were ordinary workers worse off despite having jobs?

Show the answer
They lost free unions and the right to strike, worked longer hours, and saw wages rise more slowly than prices.
Reaction to war, changing fortunes and the home front 1939–1945

What did the Nazis intend to do with the conquered lands in the east?

Show the answer
Drive out or enslave the Slav population and settle German colonists on the farmland taken from them.
Racial persecution, the Holocaust and opposition during the war

What did the sterilisation law of 1933 permit doctors to do?

Show the answer
To sterilise people against their will if they had conditions believed to be inherited, such as blindness, deafness or mental illness.
Defeat, occupation and the two Germanys 1945–1955

What was the Berlin Blockade of 1948–49?

Show the answer
The Soviet closure of road, rail and canal routes into the western half of the city, defeated by an airlift of supplies lasting almost a year.

The 9 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The Weimar Republic 1925–1928 and the impact of the Depression	The Locarno Pact and League membership, proportional representation and unstable coalitions, the Nazi programme and the party's twelve seats in 1928, and the Depression's impact through recalled American loans, struggling farmers and six million unemployed.	8
Rising support for Nazis 1929–1933	The fall of Müller's coalition, Article 48 and Brüning the Hunger Chancellor, the Depression as the Nazis' opportunity, the elections of 1930 and 1932, Goebbels's campaigning, funding from industrialists and landowners, and Hitler's appointment as Chancellor.	10
The Nazi consolidation of power 1933–1934	The Reichstag Fire and the emergency decree, the March 1933 election, the Enabling Act and how it was passed, the destruction of the trade unions and the other parties, Röhm and the Night of the Long Knives, and the army's oath to Hitler.	10
The Nazi terror state, propaganda and the people's community	The SA, Himmler's SS, the Gestapo and the SD, the courts and the People's Court, Goebbels's propaganda ministry and cheap radios, Hitler's personal popularity, the Volksgemeinschaft and Strength Through Joy.	10
Nazi economic and social policy, and the lack of effective opposition	How unemployment fell, the Four Year Plan, economic winners and losers, the regime's view of women and the Mother's Cross, the Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens, why resistance was hard to build, and Niemöller's Confessing Church.	10
Reaction to war, changing fortunes and the home front 1939–1945	The mood of September 1939, the early conquests, the invasion of the Soviet Union and plans for the east, Stalingrad, Allied bombing, rationing, Goebbels's call for total war, why Germans fought on, and the Volkssturm.	10
Racial persecution, the Holocaust and opposition during the war	The Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, the persecution of other outsiders and the sterilisation law, the White Rose, the Edelweiss Pirates and the July Bomb Plot, the Einsatzgruppen, the Wannsee Conference and the death camps.	10
Defeat, occupation and the two Germanys 1945–1955	Germany's defeat in 1945, the four occupation zones, the Nuremberg Trials and faltering de-Nazification, the Berlin Blockade, the two states of 1949, Adenauer and the economic miracle, the eastern economy and the Stasi, the rising of 1953 and living standards by 1955.	14
The state and the German people, 1925–1955	The aims of Nazi domestic policy, Gleichschaltung, competing party and state bodies, Stresemann, the occupiers' aims, the Mittelstand, women, youth, the churches, the Jews, who voted Nazi, inner emigration, wartime mood, opposition and the sources.	20

Germany 1925-1955: the People and the State is 102 of the 1,449 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.