AQA_2024: A-level History - Component 2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945 (Merged Question Paper and Marking Scheme)

AQA_2024: A-level History - Component 2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945 (Merged Question Paper and Marking Scheme) A-level HISTORY Component 2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945 Friday 7 June 2024 Materials For this paper you must have:  an AQA 16-page answer book. Instructions Afternoon  Use black ink or black ball-point pen. Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes  Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7042/2O.  Answer three questions. In Section A answer Question 01. In Section B answer two questions. Information  The marks for questions are shown in brackets.  The maximum mark for this paper is 80.  You will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. Advice  You are advised to spend about: – 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A – 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B. IB/M/Jun24/7042/2O 3 Key areas: 1. The Weimar Republic (1918–1933):  Formation: Established after WWI, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which imposed harsh reparations and territorial losses on Germany.  Political Instability: The Weimar government faced challenges from both left-wing (Spartacist Uprising) and right-wing (Kapp Putsch, the "stab-in-the-back" myth) movements.  Hyperinflation (1923): The economic crisis worsened, leading to hyperinflation that severely impacted the middle class.  The Great Depression (1929): Global economic collapse led to high unemployment and disillusionment, providing fertile ground for extremist parties like the Nazi Party. 2. The Rise of the Nazi Party (1920s–1933):  Adolf Hitler’s Leadership: Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party in the 1920s, promoting nationalist, anti-Semitic, and anti-communist ideologies.  Nazi Electoral Success: The Nazis capitalized on the economic despair of the Great Depression and anti-Weimar sentiment, increasing their seats in the Reichstag, leading to Hitler being appointed Chancellor in January 1933.  The Reichstag Fire (1933): Hitler used the fire as a pretext to push through the Reichstag Fire Decree, suspending civil liberties and arresting political opponents.  The Enabling Act (1933): Allowed Hitler to rule by decree, essentially ending democracy and solidifying Nazi control. 3. Nazi Dictatorship (1933–1939):  Totalitarian State: The Nazis consolidated power through the suppression of political opposition, the establishment of the Gestapo, and the use of terror.  The Führer Principle: Hitler's absolute leadership and the centralization of power in his hands, eliminating democratic structures.  Propaganda and Control: The regime used Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda to control the media, culture, and education to promote Nazi ideology.  Persecution of Minorities: The Nazis began the persecution of Jews, culminating in the Nuremberg Laws (1935) and the systematic exclusion of Jews from public life. 4. The Road to War and Aggression (1933–1939):  Rearmament: Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by rearming Germany, expanding the military, and pursuing aggressive foreign policies.  The Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1938) and the Munich Agreement (1938): The appeasement policy failed, and Hitler’s territorial ambitions grew.  Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939): The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact allowed Germany to invade Poland without Soviet interference, leading to the start of World War II. 5. The Nazi State at War (1939–1945):  War Mobilization: The regime used the war effort to further entrench its control and implement total war measures, with the economy entirely geared for warfare.  The Holocaust: The systematic genocide of six million Jews along with other groups, including Romani, disabled individuals, and political dissidents, in concentration and extermination camps.  Decline and Fall: As WWII turned against Germany, the Nazis faced military defeats, the collapse of the economy, and growing resistance. Hitler’s suicide in April 1945 marked the end of Nazi Germany. Turn over ► IB/M/Jun24/7042/2O 4 IB/M/Jun24/7042/2O IB/M/Jun24/G4006/E5 7042/2O Section A Answer Question 01. Source A From lyrics to ‘Raise the Flag’, by SA officer, Horst Wessel, 1929. Horst was murdered in 1930; verse four was added in his honour. This became a popular Nazi song. Raise the flag! The ranks tightly closed! The SA marches with calm steady step. Comrades shot by the Red Front march in spirit within our ranks. Clear the streets for the brown battalions, clear the streets for the Storm Division men! Millions are looking upon the swastika, full of hope. The day of freedom and of bread dawns! For the last time, the call to arms is sounded! For the fight, we all stand prepared! Already Hitler’s banners fly over all streets. The time of oppression will only last a little while now! Receive our salute; Horst died an honourable death! Horst Wessel fell, but thousands newly arise. The anthem roars ahead of the brown army: the Storm Divisions are ready to follow his path. The flags are lowered before the immortal dead. The Storm Divisions swear, their hands clenched into fists, that the day will come for revenge, not mercy, and Sieg Heil will ring through the Fatherland. 5 10 Source B From a speech by Adolf Hitler to a conference of business owners and industrialists in Düsseldorf, a city in the northern Rhineland, 27 January 1932. Some say that the National Socialist Movement is hostile to business. I am the champion of the German economy, leading a revival through work, through industry, and through ability, so that Germany can rise again. We will not recover unless we stop blaming foreign powers for our problems. I know quite well, gentlemen, that you grumble when you see our hundreds and thousands of young folk march in the evening, saying, “Why must the Nazis always make such trouble?” What you have not realised is that these volunteers work hard every evening, protecting meetings and taking part in marches to inspire their neighbours, and then get up early to work equally hard in workshops and factories. It is these men who are changing the fatal pessimism of the German people so that we can get Germany back onto a new and secure path, ready to start producing, buying and selling, creating a great economy inside Germany and protecting German economic success in overseas trade. 5 10 3 Source C From the autobiography, ‘The Broken House: growing up under Hitler’, written by Horst Krüger, 1966. Krüger was a teenager living in a Berlin suburb when Hitler came to power. My earliest memory of Hitler starts in March 1933 with people cheering. It came from the radio, in a broadcast from Berlin city centre. It was a cold night and the radio announcer, who was actually sobbing in a loud voice more than he was reporting, must have been experiencing something tremendous. People must have poured into the city, from what I could hear, to pay their respects to the elderly Field Marshal and his young Chancellor. There was chanting and shouting and the sobbing voice on the radio talking about Germany’s awakening and how everything was going to change. My parents heard it all with surprise and a hint of fear. My father went to bed slightly perplexed. But gradually, the doubters grew quieter and people became optimistic. We had been through a storm, and now a different storm, a storm of German revival, arrived in our suburb like springtime, or a fairy tale. Who wouldn’t want to be swept along with that? 5 10 0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the appeal of Nazism in the years 1929 to 1933. [30 marks] Turn over for Section B IB/M/Jun24/7042/2O Turn over ► 6 IB/M/Jun24/7042/2O Section B Answer two questions. 0 2 ‘Germany’s territorial losses were the most damaging consequence of the Treaty of Versailles for the Weimar Republic in the years 1919 to 1923.’ Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks] 0 3 How successful were Nazi economic policies in the years 1933