Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Women and Young People - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

19 original exam-style questions - 6 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

Download PDF Jump to mark scheme (page 7)Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Women and Young People revision guide

This topic is chapter 6 of GCSE History: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 Practice Book 1.

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Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Employment, Living Standards and the Persecution of Minorities
Formation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Rise to Leadership, 1919-1921

5.6 Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Women and Young People

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 75 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Question 15 refers to Source A. Questions 17, 18 and 19 refer to Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2. Write in full sentences for Questions 16, 17, 18 and 19. You are advised to spend about 75 minutes on this pack.

Source A, and Interpretations 1 and 2

Source A was written for Revision Library. It is an original text representative of a recruitment leaflet of the kind used to encourage German boys to join the Hitler Youth during the 1930s. It is not a reproduction, translation or paraphrase of any surviving leaflet, and no genuine organisation's exact wording is reproduced. Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 were also written for Revision Library, in the style of history textbook extracts discussing how successful Nazi policies towards young people were between 1933 and 1939; they are not the work of any real, named historian.

SOURCE A: a recruitment leaflet written for Revision Library, representative of material used to encourage German boys to join the Hitler Youth during the 1930s.

Boys of Germany! The Hitler Youth offers you adventure, comradeship and a chance to prove your strength. Join weekend camps in the forest, learn to march, hike and shoot, and compete in sports against troops from other towns. Every boy who wears the uniform stands shoulder to shoulder with millions of others across the country, all serving the same Fuhrer and the same Fatherland. Leave behind the schoolroom for an afternoon and discover what real teamwork feels like. Ask your group leader, your teacher or your local party office how to sign up today.

INTERPRETATION 1: from a history textbook written for Revision Library, discussing how successful Nazi policies towards young people were between 1933 and 1939.

Nazi youth policy was highly successful, at least in its early years. Organisations such as the Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens offered genuinely popular activities, camping, sport, competitions and a strong sense of belonging, that appealed to many young Germans regardless of any political message attached to them. Membership grew rapidly through the 1930s, reaching several million by the time it was made effectively compulsory under the Hitler Youth Law of December 1936, showing that the regime had succeeded in making itself central to a whole generation's upbringing.

INTERPRETATION 2: from a history textbook written for Revision Library, discussing how successful Nazi policies towards young people were between 1933 and 1939.

High membership numbers conceal growing strain rather than confirming success. As the decade went on, the endless drilling, uniforms and ideological instruction began to feel repetitive and controlling to many teenagers, especially once membership became compulsory in 1936 and the activities lost their novelty. Groups of working-class youths, later known as the Edelweiss Pirates, began meeting outside official control specifically to escape Hitler Youth discipline, showing that beneath the impressive statistics, a real undercurrent of boredom and quiet resistance was already forming well before 1939.

Name the Nazi youth organisation for boys aged 14 to 18.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Give one reason why, by the late 1930s, the Nazi regime began to reverse some of its discouragement of women working.

(Total for Question 2 is 2 marks)

State two changes made to the school curriculum in Nazi Germany.

(Total for Question 3 is 2 marks)

Give the date, in November 1938, after which Jewish children were banned entirely from attending state schools in Germany.

(Total for Question 4 is 2 marks)

Give two ways in which teachers in Nazi Germany were expected to demonstrate loyalty to the regime.

(Total for Question 5 is 4 marks)

Give two ways in which Nazi policies towards young people prepared boys and girls for different future roles.

(Total for Question 6 is 4 marks)

Give two things you can infer from Source A about how the Hitler Youth tried to appeal to boys. Support each inference with a detail from the source.

(Total for Question 7 is 4 marks)

Explain why the Nazis introduced policies to control and organise young people between 1933 and 1939.

(Total for Question 8 is 12 marks)

What is the main difference between Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 about how successful Nazi policies towards young people were between 1933 and 1939? Explain your answer, using details from both interpretations.

(Total for Question 9 is 4 marks)

Suggest one reason why the authors of Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 might have different views about how successful Nazi youth policies were.

(Total for Question 10 is 4 marks)

Which interpretation do you find more convincing about how successful Nazi policies towards young people were between 1933 and 1939? Explain your answer, using Interpretation 1, Interpretation 2 and your own knowledge.

(Total for Question 11 is 16 marks)

Name the Nazi organisation for girls aged 14 to 18.

(Total for Question 12 is 1 mark)

Give the date, in December 1936, on which the Hitler Youth Law made membership of Nazi youth organisations effectively compulsory.

(Total for Question 13 is 2 marks)

State two activities typical of the Hitler Youth for boys.

(Total for Question 14 is 2 marks)

State the Nazi slogan summarising the traditional role expected of women, referring to children, kitchen and church.

(Total for Question 15 is 1 mark)

Give the year in which the Nazi government introduced marriage loans to encourage women to leave paid work and start families.

(Total for Question 16 is 1 mark)

State how a couple's marriage loan could be reduced under the 1933 scheme.

(Total for Question 17 is 1 mark)

Name the medal, introduced in 1938, awarded to German mothers who had large numbers of children.

(Total for Question 18 is 1 mark)

State two ways in which the Nazi regime discouraged women from higher education and certain professions.

(Total for Question 19 is 2 marks)

Mark scheme · 5.6 Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Women and Young People

Question 1

B1 the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend)
Answer: The Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend)

Question 2

B1 rearmament and the growing economy created labour shortages
B1 so more women were needed to work in industry despite earlier Nazi ideology discouraging this
Answer: Rearmament created labour shortages, so more women were needed in industry despite earlier Nazi ideology discouraging this.

Question 3

B1 physical education (PE) time was greatly increased, taking up a much larger share of the school week
B1 subjects such as History and Biology were rewritten to promote Nazi racial ideas
Answer: PE time was greatly increased, and subjects such as History and Biology were rewritten to promote Nazi racial ideas.

Question 4

B1 November
B1 1938 (linked to the aftermath of Kristallnacht)
Answer: November 1938, in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.

Question 5

B2 most teachers were expected to join the Nazi Teachers League, which promoted Nazi ideas and monitored teachers' loyalty
B2 teachers had to deliver a curriculum rewritten to fit Nazi ideology, for example teaching racial theories in Biology, and Jewish teachers were dismissed under laws such as the 1933 Civil Service law
Answer: Teachers were expected to join the Nazi Teachers League and to teach a curriculum rewritten to fit Nazi ideology; Jewish teachers were dismissed.

Question 6

B2 boys in the Hitler Youth focused on physical toughness, discipline and military-style skills, preparing them for future service as soldiers
B2 girls in the League of German Maidens focused on fitness, domestic skills and childcare, preparing them for future roles as wives and mothers
Answer: Boys were prepared for future military service through fitness and discipline; girls were prepared for domestic and motherhood roles through fitness and childcare training.

Question 7

B1 inference 1, e.g. it appealed to boys' love of adventure and physical activity
B1 supporting detail for inference 1 from the source, e.g. it promises 'adventure' and boys who 'camp in the forest', 'hike' and 'shoot', and 'compete in sports'
B1 inference 2, e.g. it appealed to a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves, alongside millions of others
B1 supporting detail for inference 2 from the source, e.g. it says every boy stands 'shoulder to shoulder with millions of others across the country, all serving the same Fuhrer'
Answer: It appealed to boys' love of adventure and physical activity, and to a sense of belonging to a much larger national movement.

Question 8

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two general reasons for controlling young people, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (4-6): Identifies and begins to explain one or two reasons, supported by some accurate detail.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains two or three reasons, each supported by accurate and relevant detail.
Level 4 (10-12): Explains three or more reasons in a well-developed, logically structured way, supported throughout by precise and accurate detail, showing how the reasons connect.
Indicative content:
- The Nazis wanted to secure the long-term future of the regime by winning the loyalty of the next generation early: organisations such as the Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens, both operating from 1933, instilled loyalty to Hitler personally rather than to family, school or Church.
- Boys needed physical preparation for future military service: the emphasis on fitness, discipline and outdoor activity in the Hitler Youth built the kind of tough, obedient young men rearmament, announced openly from 1935, would require.
- Girls were prepared for their expected role in Nazi population policy: activities in the League of German Maidens stressed domestic skills and motherhood, supporting the regime's aim of increasing the birth rate through schemes such as marriage loans (from 1933) and the Mother's Cross (from 1938).
- Control of education reinforced the youth organisations: curriculum changes, more PE, rewritten History and Biology, and compulsory membership of the Nazi Teachers League for staff, meant the message of the Hitler Youth was echoed inside the classroom as well as outside it.
- The Hitler Youth Law of December 1936 made membership effectively compulsory, showing that the regime was not content to rely on voluntary popularity alone but wanted guaranteed reach into the whole generation growing up under Nazi rule.
- These reasons connect: school, youth organisations and population policy together formed a single, deliberately overlapping system designed to shape an entire generation's beliefs, bodies and expected adult roles around the needs of the regime.

Question 9

B2 Interpretation 1 argues youth policy was highly successful, with genuinely popular activities and rapidly growing membership, reaching several million by 1936
B2 Interpretation 2 argues high membership figures hid growing resentment, with activities becoming repetitive and compulsory, leading some young people, such as the Edelweiss Pirates, to resist
Answer: Interpretation 1 sees Nazi youth policy as highly successful, based on genuine popularity and rising membership; Interpretation 2 sees it as concealing growing resentment and quiet resistance.

Question 10

B2 the authors may focus on different kinds of evidence: Interpretation 1 emphasises headline membership statistics, while Interpretation 2 emphasises the experience of individual young people and the emergence of resistance groups
B2 the authors may weigh the earlier and later 1930s differently, e.g. one focusing on the genuine early popularity of the mid-1930s and the other on the growing strain visible by the end of the decade
Answer: They may focus on different evidence (membership statistics vs individual experience/resistance), or weigh the earlier and later 1930s differently.

Question 11

Level 1 (1-4): States a simple preference for one interpretation, with little or no supporting reasoning or own knowledge.
Level 2 (5-8): Describes the content of one or both interpretations and gives a limited reason for a preference, with some own knowledge.
Level 3 (9-12): Explains reasons for a preference between the interpretations, using relevant own knowledge to support or challenge each one.
Level 4 (13-16): Evaluates both interpretations critically, using precise own knowledge to reach a sustained and well-supported judgement about which is more convincing, or how far each is convincing.
Indicative content:
- Evidence supporting Interpretation 1: Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens membership grew to several million during the 1930s, and camping, sport and competitions offered activities that were, by many accounts, genuinely enjoyed by large numbers of young Germans, especially before membership became compulsory.
- Evidence supporting Interpretation 2: the Hitler Youth Law of December 1936, which made membership effectively compulsory, suggests the regime could not rely on popularity alone to sustain participation, and the emergence of groups such as the Edelweiss Pirates shows some young people actively sought to escape official control.
- A convincing answer might note the two views can be combined chronologically: youth policy was probably genuinely popular in its earlier, more voluntary years, but became more resented as it grew more compulsory and repetitive later in the decade.
- Own knowledge of the timing, rapid voluntary growth in the earlier 1930s followed by compulsion from 1936 and the appearance of resistance groups by the end of the decade, could be used to argue that success declined over time rather than remaining constant.
- A full answer reaches a supported judgement, weighing genuine early popularity against later strain and resistance to argue for one interpretation over the other, or for a combined, time-sensitive view.

Question 12

B1 the League of German Maidens (Bund Deutscher Madel, BDM)
Answer: The League of German Maidens (Bund Deutscher Madel)

Question 13

B1 1 December
B1 1936
Answer: 1 December 1936

Question 14

B1 physical fitness, sport and military-style drill and camping
B1 ideological instruction in Nazi beliefs, including loyalty to Hitler
Answer: Physical fitness, drill and camping, alongside ideological instruction in loyalty to Hitler.

Question 15

B1 'Kinder, Kuche, Kirche' (children, kitchen, church)
Answer: Kinder, Kuche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church)

Question 16

B1 1933
Answer: 1933

Question 17

B1 the amount owed was reduced by a quarter for each child born, so a couple with four children would have the loan cancelled entirely
Answer: The loan was reduced by a quarter for each child born, so it was cancelled entirely after four children.

Question 18

B1 the Mother's Cross (Mutterkreuz)
Answer: The Mother's Cross (Mutterkreuz)

Question 19

B1 a quota limited the proportion of women admitted to universities from 1933
B1 women were increasingly excluded from senior positions such as doctors, judges and civil servants
Answer: A university admissions quota for women, and their exclusion from senior professional posts such as doctors, judges and civil servants.

Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Women and Young People - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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5.6 Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: Women and Young People

Source A, and Interpretations 1 and 2

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

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Question 7

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Question 19

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