Curriculum Portal

neurologyYou need to know

• What students should know
• The Home Front, propaganda and morale
• The introduction, operation and effects of rationing.
• Changes in food supplies, consumption, living standards and the availability of consumer goods.
• Nazi attempts to maintain support by avoiding the hardship experienced during the First World War.
• The aims and methods of wartime propaganda and indoctrination.
• The influence and limitations of Goebbels' propaganda, censorship and control of information.
• Changes in morale following early victories, the invasion of the Soviet Union, defeat at Stalingrad and Allied bombing.
• The declaration of "Total War" in 1943 and its effects on German society.
• The changing impact of war on elites, workers, women and young people.
• The extent to which popular support, conformity and belief in Hitler survived during the war.
• The wartime economy and labour force
• The strengths and weaknesses of the German war economy between 1939 and 1941.
• Problems caused by competing authorities, poor coordination and Hitler's interference.
• Albert Speer's appointment as Armaments Minister in 1942.
• Speer's methods: centralisation, rationalisation, standardisation and mass production.
• The extent and limitations of increases in armaments production.
• The effects of Allied bombing on housing, transport, industry, production and civilian morale.
• The mobilisation of German workers, women and young people.
• The regime's reluctance to mobilise women fully and the reasons for this.
• The use and treatment of foreign labourers, prisoners of war and concentration-camp prisoners.
• The importance of forced labour to the wartime economy.
• The relationship between economic mobilisation, exploitation and racial policy.
• Persecution and the 'Final Solution'
• The radicalisation of policies towards Jews and those labelled Untermenschen during wartime.
• Deportations and the creation of ghettos following the invasion of Poland.
• Conditions within ghettos and the use of forced labour.
• The impact of the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
• The role of the Einsatzgruppen in mass shootings.
• The persecution and murder of Roma, disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war and other targeted groups.
• The significance of the Wannsee Conference, January 1942.
• The purpose and implementation of the "Final Solution".
• The development of extermination camps and industrialised mass murder.
• The roles of the SS, state authorities, railways, businesses and collaborators.
• The scale and consequences of the Holocaust and wider Nazi racial policies.
• Opposition and resistance in wartime
• The distinction between non-conformity, criticism, opposition and active resistance.
• Student resistance, including the White Rose group.
• Religious opposition from churchmen such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Clemens von Galen.
• Civilian critics and youth opposition, including the Edelweiss Pirates.
• Opposition within the army and conservative elites.
• Assassination attempts against Hitler.
• The causes, events and consequences of the July Bomb Plot, 20 July 1944.
• The regime's repression of those involved in resistance.
• Reasons why opposition remained limited, divided and unsuccessful.
• The impact of military defeat on loyalty, resistance and the Nazi state.
• The collapse and condition of the Nazi regime by 1945.

• Explain how the war changed daily life in Germany between 1939 and 1945.
• Compare the war's impact on elites, workers, women and young people.
• Assess the effectiveness of rationing and the extent of wartime hardship.
• Analyse changes and continuities in morale at key stages of the war.
• Evaluate the aims, methods and effectiveness of propaganda and indoctrination.
• Explain how and why the German economy moved towards total war.
• Assess Speer's contribution to increased armaments production.
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of Germany's wartime economy.
• Assess the military, economic and social impact of Allied bombing.
• Explain the importance of foreign workers, prisoners of war and forced labour.
• Compare the mobilisation of German men and women.
• Explain how Nazi racial policy became more radical during the war.
• Analyse the development from persecution and forced emigration to systematic mass murder.
• Explain the significance of the invasion of the Soviet Union and the Wannsee Conference.
• Assess responsibility for implementing the "Final Solution".
• Explain the relationship between war, occupation, economic exploitation and genocide.
• Compare the aims, methods and effectiveness of different opposition groups.
• Explain why wartime opposition and assassination attempts failed.
• Assess the importance and limitations of the July Bomb Plot.
• Evaluate the roles of terror, propaganda, loyalty and military discipline in maintaining Nazi rule.
• Reach a supported judgement about the condition of the Nazi state by 1945.
• Analyse primary sources using content, provenance, tone, purpose and historical context.
• Evaluate historical interpretations and support conclusions with precise evidence.