NCERT Book Class 9 Social Science (History) Chapter 3 Nazism and the Rise of Hitler

Chapter III
Nazism and the Rise
of Hitler
In the spring of 1945, a little eleven-year-old German boy called
Helmuth was lying in bed when he overheard his parents discussing
something in serious tones. His father, a prominent physician,
deliberated with his wife whether the time had come to kill the entire
family, or if he should commit suicide alone. His father spoke about
his fear of revenge, saying, ‘Now the Allies will do to us what we did to
the crippled and Jews.’ The next day, he took Helmuth to the woods,
where they spent their last happy time together, singing old children’s
songs. Later, Helmuth’s father shot himself in his office. Helmuth
remembers that he saw his father’s bloody uniform being burnt in the
family fireplace. So traumatised was he by what he had overheard and
what had happened, that he reacted by refusing to eat at home for the
following nine years! He was afraid that his mother might poison him.

Although Helmuth may not have realised all that it meant, his father

Hitler Rise of Hitler
had been a Nazi and a supporter of Adolf Hitler. Many of you will
know something about the Nazis and Hitler. You probably know
of Hitler’s determination to make Germany into a mighty power
and his ambition of conquering all of Europe. You may have heard
that he killed Jews. But Nazism was not one or two isolated acts. It
was a system, a structure of ideas about the world and politics. Let
us try and understand what Nazism was all about. Let us see why
Helmuth’s father killed himself and what the basis of his fear was.

In May 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies. Anticipating what
was coming, Hitler, his propaganda minister Goebbels and his entire
family committed suicide collectively in his Berlin bunker in April. the
At the end of the war, an International Military Tribunal at
the Rise of

Nuremberg was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for Crimes
Nazism andand

against Peace, for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
Germany’s conduct during the war, especially those actions which
Nazism

New words

Allies – The Allied Powers were initially led by the UK and France.
In 1941 they were joined by the USSR and USA. They fought
Fig.1 – Hitler (centre) and Goebbels (left)
against the Axis Powers, namely Germany, Italy and Japan. leaving after an official meeting, 1932.

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