Hitler & the Third Reich: III Trivia Quiz

Answer: Re-armament.

After World War I the Treaty of Versailles was put in place as a safeguard to ensure that Germany could no longer be a threat to Europe. Military restrictions prevented Germany from having an airforce and possessing tanks. The army and navy were limited in size. The Rhineland was designated a demilitarised zone, no German troops or weapons were permitted in the area. Germany also lost land and France, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Denmark all gained land as a result of the treaty conditions. In addition, Germany was prevented from uniting with Austria.

After becoming chancellor Hitler put the wheels in motion to increase the size of his armed forces. At that stage, this was secret so that it did not look as if Germany was breaching the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles.

Answer: General Ludendorff.

General Ludendorff was a participant in the Beer Hall Putsch and was a comrade of Hitler until they fell out. The telegram was sent to President Hindenburg. The full message was:

"By appointing Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I solemnly prophesy to you that this damnable man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will bring inconceivable misery down upon our nation. Coming generations will curse you in your grave because of this action".

Answer: He set fire to the Reichstag building.

On the 27 February 1933 the Reichstag building (parliament building) was burnt down. The event itself is surrounded in controversy as many believe that the fire was started by the Nazis themselves. Marinus van der Lubbe was a Dutch Communist and was found inside the building at the time. The Communists were blamed for the fire. The very next day an emergency decree, entitled "For The Protection of People and State", was promulgated. It suspended many of the civil liberties of the Germans. In particular, it allowed for the detention without trial of people thought to be subversives. Hitler used the new decree to eliminate his political enemies and ordered their arrests.

Marinus van der Lubbe was tried, sentenced and executed - with his death the truth of who started the Reichstag fire also died. The other accused - all Communists, including Dimitroff - were acquitted.

Answer: The Enabling Act.

In the 1933 elections the Nazi Party was still unable to to get the majority of the votes. They only managed to get 288 seats in the Reichstag (44%) and were still dependent on their coalition with the German Nationalists (the DNVP). Hitler asked the Reichstag to change the German Constitution by passing the Enabling Act, apparently completely lawfully. The Enabling Act basically gave Hitler the permission to rule by decree without the need to obtain parliamentary or presidential approval.

Voting for the new act went in Hitler's favour, partly because of the fact that the 81 Communist members of the Reichstag had been removed following the Reichstag fire. Fear, intimidation and the panic created in the wake of the fire persuaded most of the other parties to vote in Hitler's favour, and he obtained the necessary two-thirds majority. Hitler had become the dictator of Germany without the need for a putsch.

Answer: The German Labour Front.

The German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF) was created by Hitler to replace the trade unions. In 1933 Hitler declared the 1st of May an official public holiday for the German workers and held a massive rally. The very next day all free trade unions were made illegal and replaced by the DAF. Raids were carried out on the trade union offices and the leaders were arrested.

The Nazis were slowly taking control of everything.

Answer: Ernst Röhm.

The SA was formed in 1921 by Hitler. They were known as "storm troopers". This was a misnomer. Essentially they were the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing. Their uniform consisted of a brown shirt, hence their nickname, and the swastika armbands.

Ernst Röhm fought during World War I and sustained injuries to his face that left noticeable scars. He met Hitler and they became close friends and allies. Röhm took part in the Beer Hall Putsch and also spent time in prison.

The SA was banned for a while and Röhm moved overseas. When the SA was reformed, Hitler sent a personal request to Röhm to take over the leadership once again. Röhm accepted and the SA membership swelled in numbers.

Answer: The SA (Sturmabteilung).

By 1934 the SA had grown into a massive organisation, numbering over 3 million men. The leaders of the German Army were beginning to get nervous because the SA outnumbered their own troops. To make matters worse, Ernst Röhm started to insist that Hitler incorporate the army into the ranks the SA. The industrialists, who had provided funding for Hitler's rise to power, also took a dim view of Röhm's point of view regarding a further revolution. (The SA included an influential populist wing).

Hitler knew that he had to get the German Army, the middle classes and the major industries firmly on his side. With the SA becoming unstable Hitler had to make a decision, and that decision would end in a night of terror and bloodshed that marked the end of the SA as an effective force.

Answer: Knives

The Night of the Long Knives was orchestrated by Hitler, Himmler and Goering to deal with the problem of the SA. A list was prepared of those to be executed by the SS. On the night hundreds of SA leaders were arrested, accused of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Government (the SA were the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, also known as the "Brown Shirts"). Hitler personally arrested Ernst Röhm in Bavaria.

Hitler used the Night of the Long Knives to settle some old scores and do away with others that were not even associated with the SA. Individuals that had angered Hitler in the past were executed along with the arrested members of the SA. Witnesses to the executions claim that some of the arrested SA members were so confused over their imminent death that their last words were "Heil Hitler". Even as the shots rang out, they apparently remained loyal to the Führer. The army was more than happy with the end result and pledged their support to Hitler.

Answer: He was executed.

After being arrested personally by Hitler, Röhm was taken back to Munich. A member of the SS, Theodor Eicke, left Röhm in a room by himself with a loaded pistol on the table and told Röhm that he had ten minutes to kill himself. Röhm apparently said, "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself". Ten minutes passed by and Röhm still hadn't done the deed. Eicke entered the room and executed Röhm by shooting him in the throat. Eicke was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer (the equivalent of a Major-General) for his efforts.

Answer: False

Hitler became the supreme ruler of Germany because President Hindenburg died (he was 87 years old). Prior to the death of Hindenburg, a law had been passed to combine the roles of President and Chancellor, a role that was handed to Hitler. In addition, Hitler also became the supreme commander of the armed forces.

The latter swore an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler which, bizarrely, contained no reference to any successor.