Nazism and the Rise of Hitler Class 9 Important Questions

Q3: Explain the purpose of the Enabling Act passed on 3rd March 1933.**
Ans: This Act established a dictatorship in Germany, as it gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and
rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi party and its
affiliates. The state established complete control over the economy, media, army, and judiciary.
Enabling Act paved way for Nazi Dictatorship
Enabling Act paved way for Nazi Dictatorship
Q5: Which incident persuaded the USA to join the war? **
Ans: Japan was expanding its power in the east. It had occupied French Indo-China and was planning
attacks on US naval bases in the Pacific. When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US
base at Pearl Harbor, the US entered the Second World War.
Q17: Which move of Hitler is said to be a historical blunder?
Ans: Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941. In this, historic blunder. Hitler exposed the German
Western front to British aerial bombing and the Eastern front to the powerful Soviet armies.
Q29: Who was Hitler? What was the name of Hitler's autobiography,? How did Hitler reconstruct
Germany?
Ans: Adolf Hitler was the founder of the Nazi party, who became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. He
soon became the dictator of Germany.
Hitler's autobiography was named 'Mein Kampf, meaning 'My Struggle'.
To reconstruct Germany, Hitler did following things:
Assigned responsibility of economic recovery to Hjalmar Schacht.
Pulled out of the League of Nations in 1933.
Reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936.
Integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan, 'One people, one empire, and one leader'.
Q30: Examine any three inherent defects in the Weimar Constitution. Or Explain the inherent defects of
the Weimar constitution that made the republic unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship. Or State any
three factors which made the Weimar Republic politically fragile. **
Ans: The Weimar Constitution had three inherent defects
It was based on proportional representation, which made achieving a majority by one party virtually
impossible. Only coalition governments ruled.
Existence of Article 48 in the constitution, which gave the President the power to impose emergency
suspend civil rights, and rule by decree.
Due to 20 different coalition governments being formed, people lost confidence in the democratic
Parliamentary system, as it offered no solutions to their problems.
Q31: Nazis used chilling words as an art of propaganda. Justify.
Ans: The Nazi regime used chilling words as an art of propaganda.
They never used the words 'kill' or 'murder' in their official communications.
The term 'special treatment', 'final solution' (for the Jews). 'Euthanasia' (for the disabled), 'selection', and
'disinfection' were used.
Gas chambers looked like bathrooms and were labeled as 'Disinfection Area'. Nazi ideas were spread
through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans, and leaflets. Media played an important role to
popularise Nazi ideas.
Q32: What was the impact of the Great Depression on the US? **
Ans: The impact of the Great Depression on the US are:
The Wall Street Exchange of the USA crashed in 1929. As a result, the values of shares dropped drastically
and the national income of the USA fell by half.
Hundreds of American banks, factories, mining companies, and business firms went bankrupt.
There was large-scale unemployment, poverty, and starvation in the country.
The effects of this recession on the US economy were felt worldwide. It is known as the Great Depression
of 1929.
Life During the Great Depression
Life During the Great Depression
Q35: What were the main features of Nazism?
Ans: The Nazis were against democracy and socialism. They. believed that there was no equality between
people, but only a racial hierarchy. They stressed the superiority of the Nordic Aryan Race. All other races
were classified as 'undesirable'. Jews, Gypsies, and Blacks living in Nazi Germany were considered
undesirable and were largely persecuted. The Nazis glorified war and believed in the geopolitical concept
of Lebensraum or living space meaning that they could acquire new territories through war.
Q36: How was Nazi ideology taught to the youth in Germany?
Ans: Hitler believed that a strong Nazi society could be established only by teaching children Nazi ideology.
Youth organisation like 'Jung volk' tutored ten-year-old children. At the age of 14th, all boys had to join
'Hitler Youth' where they learned to worship war, glorify aggression, condemn democracy, and hate Jews,
Communists, Gypsies, and all 'undesirables'. After a period of rigorous ideological and physical training,
they joined the labour service, usually at the age of 18th.
Q38: What was the Enabling Act? Or When was the Enabling Act passed in Germany? How did this act
establish the dictatorship of Hitler in Germany? **
Ans: On 3rd March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established a dictatorship in
Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade
unions were banned in Germany, except the Nazi party and its affiliates. The new state machinery under
Hitler established complete control over the economy, media, army, and judiciary.
Q39: Explain any five measures adopted by Hitler to establish a dictatorship in Germany.
Ans: Having acquired power. Hitler set out to dismantle the structures of democratic rule.
Under his rule, the Fire Decree of 28th February 1933 was passed which indefinitely suspended civic rights
like freedom of speech, press, and assembly.
Then he turned his arch enemies the communists, most of whom were hurriedly packed off to the newly
established concentration camps.
The Socialists, Democrats, and Catholics also were arrested and killed.
On 3rd March 1933 the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established a dictatorship in Germany. It
gave Hitler all powers to control the economy, media, army, and judiciary.
All political parties and trade unions were banned. He controlled media, the army, and the judiciary.
Q40: What were the promises made by Hitler to the people of Germany? Or Explain three factors that
led to the rise of Hitler in Germany?
Ans: During the Great Depression (1929-1932) Nazism became a mass movement and the Nazi propaganda
created hopes of a better future for the German people. Hitler gave some promises
He promised to build Germany into a strong nation.
He promised to undo the injustice and humiliation caused by the Treaty of Versailles and restore the
dignity of the German people.
He promised employment for those looking for work.
He promised to secure the future of the youth.
He promised to weed out all foreign influence and resist all foreign conspiracies against Germany.
Q41: Explain any four points of Hitler's foreign policy. What did Schacht advice to Hitler? **
Ans: In foreign policy, Adolf Hitler took quick and successful steps.
He pulled Germany out of the League of Nations in 1993.
He integrated Austria and Germany in 1938 under the slogan 'one people, one empire and one leader'.
He then captured German-speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and later the entire country.
Hitler got unspoken support from England, which had considered the Versailles Treaty as too harsh.
These quick successes at home and abroad helped to reverse the destiny of the country.
Q42: Describe any five effects of the First World War on Germany.
Ans:
The First World War left a deep imprint on European society. The war had a devastating impact on the
entire continent both psychologically and financially.
Financially there was a great economic loss. The Weimar Republic was being made to pay compensation.
Formation of the League of Nations took place to prevent the Second World War.
Germany lost its overseas colonies.
The Allied powers demilitarised Germany to weaken its powers.
Many of Germany's territories were annexed and distributed amongst Allied Powers.
Q43: How did the common people react to Nazism?
Ans:
Many people saw the world through Nazi eyes.
They spoke their mind in the Nazi language.
They felt hatred and anger when they saw someone who looked like a Jew.
They marked the houses of Jews and reported about their suspicious neighbours.
Common men really believed that Nazism would bring happiness and prosperity for them.
The large majority of Germans were passive onlookers, they were scared to act on protest against Nazism.
But many German organised active resistance to Nazism, braving police repression and death.
Q45: Describe Hitler's policy towards the Jews? Or How were the Jews's worst sufferers in the Nazi
government? **
Ans: Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating a racial society of 'pure
and healthy Nordic Aryans. They were alone considered 'desirables'.
The Jews were the worst sufferer in Nazi Germany. The Nazi hatred of the Jews was rooted in the
traditional Christian hostility towards them. They had been stereotyped as killers of Christ and usurers.
In Nazi Germany, they lived in separately marked areas called ghettos. They were often persecuted
through periodic organised violence and expulsion from the land.
From 1933 to 1938, the Nazis terrorized pauperised, and segregated the Jews, compelling them to leave
Germany.
Hitler believed that 'the Jewish problem' could be solved only through total elimination. As a result, they
have largely killed gas chambers. As many as 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, what was known as
'genocidal war'?
Q46: Evaluate the use of media by the Nazis to popularise their ideology in Germany. **
Ans: The Nazi regime used language and media with care to win supports for the regime and popularise its
worldviews.
Nazi ideas were spread through visual images, films, radio, posters, catchy slogans, and leaflets.
In posters, enemies of Germany were stereotyped, mocked, and abused.
Socialists and liberals were represented as weak and degenerate. They were criticised as malicious foreign
agents.
Propaganda films were produced to create hatred for Jews.
Orthodox Jews were stereotyped and marked, they were shown with flowing beards, wearing Kaftans, and
referred to as vermin, rats, and pests.
Through media, Nazism worked on the minds of the people and turned their hatred at those marked as
'undesirable' by them.
1. “The Treaty of Versailles was humiliating on the Germans.” Give three examples in support of your
answer. or Describe the main provisions of Treaty of Versailles? **
Answer: The Treaty of Versailles was harsh and humiliating peace for the Germans.
(i) Germany lost all its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population.
(ii) 13 percent of its territories, 75 percent of its iron and 26 percent of its coal to France.
(iii) Germany was demilitarised to weaken its power.
(iv) The war guilt clause held Germany responsible for war and damages the Allied countries suffered. It
was forced to pay a compensation amounting to £6 billion.
(v) The Allied forces occupied the resource-rich Rhineland till the 1920s.
2. “The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity.” Support the statement with
three examples.
Answer: (i) From a continent of creditors, Europe turned into one of debtors.
(ii) Soldiers came to be placed above civilians.
(iii) Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive, strong and masculine.
The media glorified trench life.
(iv) Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public sphere.
(v) Popular support grew for conservative dictatorships.
(vi) Democracy was indeed a young and fragile idea, which could not survive the instabilities of interwar
Europe.
4. ‘‘USA initially resisted involvement in the Second World War but was unable to stay out of the war for
long.” Support the statement. **
Answer: The USA had entered the First World War in 1917 but had faced economic problems thereafter.
Therefore, it did not want to join the Second World War but it could not remain out of the war for long.
Japan was expanding its power in the east. It had occupied French-Indo- China and was planning attacks on
US naval bases in the Pacific. Ultimately, Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at
Pearl Harbor. Under these circumstances, the US had no other option except to enter the war against
Hitler and its allies.
6. Describe the events which happened in 1945 when Germany surrendered to Allies.
Answer: (a) In May 1945 Germany surrendered to the Allies. Hitler and his propaganda minister Goebbels
and his family committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.
(b) As the Allied armies overran the areas, occupied by Nazi Germany, they came across many
concentration camps where people were on the last stage of their life.
(c) When the war seemed lost, the Nazi leaders distributed petrol to their subordinates to destroy all
evidence available in the offices.
7. Explain features of Hitler’s policy towards the Polish people under his rule. **
Answer: Main features of Hitler’s policy towards the Polish people under his rule were as mentioned
below:
(i) Poles were considered subhuman and hence undeserving of any humanity. Captured civilians were
forced to work as slave labour.
(ii) Occupied Poland was divided up. Much of north-western Poland was annexed to Germany.
(iii) Poles were forced to leave their homes and properties behind to be occupied by ethnic Germans
brought in from occupied Europe. Poles were then herded like cattle in the other part called the General
Government, the destination of all ‘undesirables’ of the empire.
(iv) Members of the Polish intelligentsia were murdered in large numbers in order to keep the entire
people intellectually and spiritually servile.
(v) Polish children who looked like Aryans were forcibly snatched from their mothers and examined by
‘race experts’. If they passed the race tests they were raised in German families and if not they were kept
in orphanages.
8. Highlight the five events of 1933 that led to the destruction of democracy in Germany.
OR Explain any five features of political policy adopted by Hitler after coming to power in 1933. OR How
was democracy destroyed in Germany?
Answer: The events of 1933 that led to the destruction of democracy in Germany are as follows.
(a) On 30 January 1933 President Hindenburg gave the Chancellorship, the highest position in cabinet to
Hitler. Hitler now tried to dismantle the structure of democratic rule.
(b) A mysterious fire broke out in German Parliament which facilitated his move.
(c) The Fire Decree of 27 February 1933 indefinitely suspended civil rights like freedom of speech, press
and assembly that had been granted by the Weimar republic.
(d) Communists, who were the enemies of Hitler were sent to the concentration camps.
(e) On 3 March, Enabling Act was passed. It established dictatorship in Germany. Hitler could rule without
the consent of the parliament. All political parties and trade unions were banned except the Nazi Party.
The state had full control over media, army and judiciary.
9. Describe what happened to Germany after its defeat in the First World War.
Answer: 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.
10. Give four reasons for Hitler’s rise to power.**
Answer: (i) The crisis in the economy, polity and society formed the background of Hitler’s rise to power.
Born in 1889 in Austria, Hitler spent his youth in poverty. The German defeat horrified him and the
Versailles Treaty made him furious (1st reason). In 1919, he joined a small group called the German
Workers’ Party. He subsequently took over the organisation and renamed it the Nationalist Socialist
German Workers’ Party. This party came to be known as the Nazi Party. Hitler assured the Germans about
the establishment of the old prestige.
(ii) The economic crisis : Germany had to face a great economic crisis after the First World War. Many
soldiers were no longer in service, so they became unemployed. Trade and commerce was ruined.
Germany was in the grip of unemployment and starvation.
(iii) Exploiting the mentality of the Germans : The Germans had no faith in democracy. It was against their
culture and tradition. They at once gave their support to a strong man like Hitler who could transfer their
dreams into reality.
(iv) Making the best use of his personal qualities : Hitler was a powerful orator, an able organiser.
12. Explain the role of women in Hitler’s Germany. OR What responsibilities did the Nazi state impose on
women. **
Answer: 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.
13. Explain the main views of Hitler as expressed in his book ‘Mein Kampf’.
Answer: 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.
15. ‘The German economy was the worst hit by the economic crisis.’ Discuss. **
Answer: The image of a German carrying cartloads of currency notes to buy a loaf of bread was widely
publicised evoking worldwide sympathy. This crisis came to be known as a ‘‘hyperinflation’’, a situation
when prices rise phenomenally high. The German economy was the worst hit by economic crisis. Industrial
production was reduced to 40 percent of the 1929 level. Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced
wages. The number of the unemployed touched an unprecedented 6 million. On the streets of Germany
you could see men with placards around their necks saying, ‘‘willing to do any work.” The economic crisis
created deep anxieties and fears in people. The middle classes, specially the salaried employees and
pensioners saw their savings diminish when the currency lost its value. Small businessmen, the self-
employed and retailers suffered as their business got ruined. Only organised workers could manage to
keep their heads above water. The big business was in crisis, the peasantry was affected by a sharp fall in
agricultural prices.
18. Explain the social utopia of the Nazis. **
Answer: According to Hitler and Nazi ideology, there was no equality between people, but only social
hierarchy. In this view blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top, while Jews were located at
the lowest rung. They came to be regarded as an anti-race, the arch enemies of the Aryans. Once in power,
the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial community of pure
German by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘undesirable’ in the extended empire. Nazis
wanted in a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They alone were considered ‘desirable’. Under the
shadow of war, the Nazis proceeded to realise their murderous, racial ideal. Genocide and war became two
sides of the same coin. Occupied Poland was divided up. Much of north-western Poland was annexed to
Germany. Poles were forced to leave their homes and properties behind to be occupied by ethnic Germans
brought in from occupied Europe. Poles were then herded like cattle in the other part called the ‘General
Government’, the destination of all ‘undesirables’ of the empire. With some of the largest ghettos and gas
chambers, the General Government also served as the killing field for the Jews.
19. What happened in schools under Nazism?
OR How were the schools in Germany ‘cleansed’ and ‘purified’ under Nazi rule? **
Answer: 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 was
propagated through all classes. Schooling was a prolonged period of ideological training.
20. ‘In my state the mother is the most important citizen.’ Discuss. **
Answer: 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.
21. What were the steps taken by Hitler as Chancellor to deal with the economic difficulties? Which two
things symbolized the economic recovery of Germany?
Answer: (i) 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.
(ii) Hitler chose was as the way out of the approaching economic crisis. Resources were to be accumulated
through expansion of territory. The famous German highways and the people’s car, the Volkswagen
became the symbols of Germany’s economic recovery.
23. How did the ordinary Germans react to Nazism? **
Answer: Many saw the world through Nazi eyes and spoke their mind in Nazi language. They felt hatred
and anger even when some one they thought who looked like a Jew. They reported against suspected Jews
and marked their houses. They believed Nazism would make them prosperous and happy. The large
number of Germans were passive onlookers, too scared to act, to differ or protest. They preferred to keep
away. Only a few organised active resistance to Nazism.
24 Examine any three features of racial hierarchy that was promoted by Hitler in Germany under his Nazi
ideology. **
Answer: (i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(iii) The Nazi 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.
25. From whom did Hitler borrow his racist ideology? Explain. **
Answer: 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 survived on earth that 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.
36. Why did Germany suffer from ‘‘Hyperinflation” in 1923? Who bailed her out from this situation?
****
Answer: Germany had fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold. This
depleted gold reserves at a time resources were scarce. In 1923 Germany refused to pay and the French
occupied Ruhr, to claim their coal. Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency
recklessly. 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.
37. Why did USA enter into the Second World War?
Answer: When the Second World War broke out, the US announced her neutrality. In July 1941, the
Japanese had occupied Vietnam in Indo-China. In October, an even more aggressive government came to
power in Japan. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese bombers attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour
in Hawaii. The US had expected Japanese attack on the British and Dutch colonial possessions in the area
and was completely taken by surprise. In bombing, 188 aircraft and many battleships, cruisers and other
naval vessels of the US were destroyed and over 2000 sailors and soldiers killed. The US was angry at this
development. On 8 December, the US declared war on Japan. On 11 December, Germany and Italy
declared war on the US and the US declared war on Germany and Italy.
41. Describe in detail Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. OR Explain Nazi ideologies regarding the Jews. **
Answer: Once in power, the Nazis quickly began to implement their dream of creating an exclusive racial
community of pure Germans by physically eliminating all those who were seen as ‘‘undesirable’’ in the
extended empire were mentally or physically unfit Germans, Gypsies, blacks, Russians, Poles. But Jews
remained the worst sufferers in Nazi Germany. They were stereotyped as ‘killers of Christ and usurers’.
Until medieval times, Jews were barred from owning land. They survived mainly through trade and
moneylending. They lived in separately marked areas called ‘ghettos’. They were often persecuted through
periodic organised violence and expulsion from land.
All this had a precursor in the traditional Christian hostility towards Jews for being the killers of Christ.
However, Hitler’s hatred of the Jews was based on pseudo-scientific theories of race, which held that
conversion was no solution to ‘the Jewish problem’. It could be solved only through their total elimination.
From 1933 to 1938, the Nazis terrorised, pauperised and segregated the Jews, compelling them to leave
the country. The next phase of 1939-1945 aimed at concentrating them in certain areas and eventually
killing them in gas chambers in Poland. Under the shadow of war, the Nazis proceeded to realise their
murderous, racial ideal. Genocide and war became two sides of the same coin.
42. “The seeds of the Second World War were sown in the Treaty of Versailles.” Discuss.
OR What were the effects of peace treaty on Germany after the First World War? **
Answer: The defeat of Germany in World War I made Hitler angry. It horrified him. The Treaty of Versailles
made him furious. He joined the German Workers Party and renamed it National Socialist German Workers
Party. This later came to be known as the Nazi Party. Hitler promised to build a strong nation, undo the
injustice of the Versailles Treaty and restore the dignity of the German people. After First World War,
Germany was compelled to sign this treaty under the threat of war. So to undo the wrong of the Versailles
Treaty, to put Germany on its feet, to bring financial stability, to realise its dreams of creating a nation of
pure Germans who belonged to an exclusive racial community of pure, healthy, Nordic German Aryans,
and to make Germany into a mighty power, Hitler choose war.
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. This started a war with France and England. In 1940, a
Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan, strengthening Hitler’s claim to international
power. Puppet regimes, supportive of Nazi Germany, were installed in a large part of Europe. Hitler then
attacked the Soviet Union, but suffered a crushing defeat. After the Pearl Harbour incident, USA entered
the war. Thus we see a direct link from the Treaty of Versailles to World War two.
43. What was the Nazi ideology of Lebensraum? How did they proceed to actualize it? **
Answer: Lebensraum was the other aspect of Hitler’s ideology related to a geopolitical concept. It meant
living space. He believed that new territories had to be acquired for settlement. This would enhance the
area of the mother country, while enabling the settlers on new lands to retain an intimate link with the
place of their origin. It would also enhance the material resources and power of the German nation. Hitler
intended to extend German boundaries by moving eastwards to concentrate all Germans geographically in
one place. Poland became the laboratory for this experimentation. Hitler wrote (Secret Book, ed. Telford
Taylor), ‘‘A vigorous nation will always find ways of adapting its territory to its population size.’’ Thus Hitler
turned its attention in conquering Eastern Europe. He wanted to ensure food supplies and Living Space for
Germans.