1930s: Rise of Nazi Germany Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paul von Hindenburg

Paul von Hindenburg had been a military commander in World War I, and had already been president from 1925 to 1932. He was however getting old, even senile. Upon Hindenburg's death in August 1934, Hitler, already chancellor (head of government) also took the presidential responsibilities and declated himself pronounced "Führer" (leader). (There was no presidential election again in Germany till 1949).

Answer: All Jews were required to wear a yellow star in public.

The yellow star had to be worn by Polish Jews from 1939, by Jews in Germany and other occupied countries from 1941. The others were indeed enacted in 1933, although the forced sterilization actually went into force in 1934.

Answer: Austria

During this 'Juliputsch', prime minister Engelbert Dollfuss was hit by a bullet, and later died of his wounds. Italian leader Benito Mussolini had troops ready to intervene on behalf of the Austrian government, but found that the Austrians had been able to solve the crisis alone.

It is unknown to what extent Hitler knew of the plans for the coup, but he was held responsible for it, which did do no good to his name, since he had promised Mussolini only a few weeks before to respect Austrian independence.

Answer: The Saar

The plebiscite had a clear majority with 90.7% of the voters choosing to reunite with Germany, 8.9% to reamin a League of Nations mandate area, and 0.4% to unite with France.

Schleswig had had a plebiscite in 1920 already, causing the area to be split between Denmark and Germany. The Memel was ceded by Lithuania to Germany under threat of force in March 1939. Danzig chose to reunite with Germany on September 22, 1939.

Answer: Belgium

The four countries mentioned were the main western European Allies from World War I, and had signed the Locarno Treaty with Germany in 1925. It may come as a surprise that Italy was involved, but at the time Italy was opposing German attempts to unite with Austria and thus gain access to the Brenner Pass. France wanted to stop German military build-up, and of the three it was in fact the United Kingdom that was least enthusiastic.

The 'Stresa front' did not last long. Tension between Italy and the other nations rose over Italy's preparations of the war against Ethiopia, and in July the United Kingdom made a treaty with German regarding the relative size of the German and British fleets without consulting with France and Italy first, thus breaking both letter and spirit of the Stresa agreements.

Answer: The Rhineland

The Rhineland was the part of Germany west of the River Rhine. It had been demilitarized by the Treaty of Versailles and this status has been reaffirmed in the Treaty of Locarno to safeguard against a German attack on Belgium or France.

Answer: Olympia

Although often considered Nazi propaganda, the movie was also highly acclaimed for its innovative film techniques, such as the use of a high or low perspective, filming under water and the filming of a scene by only showing the shadows. "Triumph des Willens" was another famous work by Riefenstahl, and has this combination of Nazi propaganda and high cinematographic qualities even more clearly. "Fest der Völker" ("Festival of the Peoples") is the name of the first part of "Olympia", the second part being called "Fest der Schönheit" ("Festival of Beauty").

Answer: The Spanish Civil War

Officially all foreign countries, on a proposal by France, did not intervene in the Spanish Civil War, but in reality Germany and Italy supported the Nationalist forces with army materials, money and soldiers, and a little later the Soviet Union would do the same to the Republicans. One infamous action was the bombing of Guernica by German planes in April 1937. Guernica was a strategically insignificant market town, and the bombing on a market day, when the town was full of people from the surrounding country, killed many civilians. Picasso made a famous painting based on the bombardment.

Answer: Hungary and Poland

Hungary took the southern one third or so of Slovakia and also southern Ruthenia; Poland took the Zaolzie area. The Soviet Union, which did not yet border Czechoslovakia at the time, had been wanting to support Czechoslovakia, and even sought permission to have its troops cross Polish or Romanian territory to do so, but decided against it when the British and French proved unwilling to support.

Answer: Lithuania

The Memel Territory, being the area north of the Memel river in East Prussia, had come under League of Nations control in 1920, like the Saarland and Danzig. It was meant to decide on its fate in a plebiscite, but in 1923 it was annexed by Lithuania, even though the population would have preferred an independent status like Danzig. During the 1930s, Hitler repeatedly made it clear he wanted the Memel territory 'heim ins Reich', and when in 1939 he delivered an ultimatum, Lithuania, that was losing its grip on the territory anyway, acquiesced with the German demands, hoping to avoid further German demands that way.