14. The 'Terror State' (S4) Flashcards
Name 3 of the key individual state authorities of the German police system under Hitler’s rule.
- The SS
- The SD
- The SA
- The Gestapo
The People’s Court
What was the main function of the SS? What other roles did they have?
Created in 19256 as Hitler’s personal bodyguards. After TNOFTL they became the main Nazi branch of police (although there was also a police force).
Ideological- Seen as role models in Volksgemeinschaft
Military- received paramilitary training
Economic-SS owned several companis and employed slave labour in concentration camps
Who was the appointed chief of the German police and leader of the SS?
Henrich Himmler
Name 2 of the requirements needed to be part of the SS.
- Strictly disciplined
- Racially pure
- Unquestionably obedient
- No disabilities
What was the role of the SD?
They were the internal security service of the Nazi Party
Who were the SD staffed by?
Amateurs who were committed Nazis.
What was the role of the Gestapo?
They were the secret state police.
How many Gestapo officers were there in 1939?
Just 20,000 for the whole country.
Name 2 disadvantages the Gestapo actually had?
- Small in numbers
- Agents were mostly office based
- They relied on information supplied by informers
- Most informers were motivated by personal grudges
Who presided over the Nazi People’s Court?
Three Nazi judges and no juries.
What nickname were People’s Courts secretly given?
Kangaroo courts- since the trail was over so quickly before the next trial began.
What was the name of the Protestant resistance group?
Pastors Emergency Group (1933) which developed into the Confessional Church (1934).
Why did some protestant churches refused to follow the requests of the Nazi church? Give 2 reasons.
- They were trying to protect the independence of the Protestant Church from the Nazi regime
- They were resisting the attempt to impose the Aryan paragraph on the church (preventing Jewish conversions)
- They were trying to defend Lutheran theology, which was based purely on the Bible
Name two factor which allowed the Nazis to control the newspapers?
Many newspapers were closed after the Reichstag Fire Emergency Decree
The Nazi brought out 27 daily newspapers
News agencies that supplied the press with information were all merged into one controlled by the state
Name 3 methods the Nazis used as propaganda.
Newspapers
Radios
Films
Parades
Art
Book burnings
Posters
What was the Hitler myth?
The way in which propaganda was created in order to present Hitler in a flattering light and as the savour of Germany.
Name 3 characteristics that the Hitler myth presented to the public?
- Hard working
- Uncompromising in fighting the nations enemies
- A political and military genius
- Dynamic and forceful
- Lived a simple traditional life
- Almost god-like
In reality, name 3 negative facts about Hitler’s leadership.
- Hitler liked people to compete for his attention
- He was usually never involved in decision making
- He was very lazy and slept in- often through meetings
- He disliked reading official documents
- His official often had difficulty in getting him to make decisions
Name 2 strengths of the Gestapo
- Monitor and root out opponents
- Prevents opposition and deals with it
- Known for being ‘all knowing’
- Quick to eliminate others
Give 3 pieces of information about the SS
- Created in 1926
- They took up other roles
Name 3 facts of concentration camps
-Prisoners forced to work
The first was set up in Dachau near Munich in 1926
-Six more opened before September 1939
-In the early years the majority of prisoners were communists, socialists & trade unionists.
-They became under SS control in 1936
-After 1936, ‘undesirables’, non-Aryans and asocial made up the prison population.
-Increase in violence and brutality in Dachau with there being 69 deaths out of 2,200 inmates in 1937.
-A lot of the inmates were freed
What were the Special Courts?
They were created in every part of Germany and no jury or defendants had the right to appeal
How many people had been tried at the Nazi people’s court between 1934-1939.
Around 3,400 people were tried, most were members of the KPD or SPD. Many were given the death penalty which was given by axe up until 1936 when the it was replaced by the guillotine
How did the Nazis change the justice system in order to strengthen their control of the German people? Name 3 points
- Merged Judges and lawyers together with the Leagye of National Socialist Lawyers, creating the front in German law in April 1933
- Judges and Lawyers career prospects depended heavily on their doing on the regime’s bidding
- Introducing new courts: Peoples Court (1933) and the Special Court (April 1934)
- The justice system had no power to interfere with Nazis’ use of terror
