6) Terror and Persuasion

Question 1

Which organisations did the Nazis use to instil fear into people?

Answer 1

The SS, SD (secret service) and the Gestapo

Question 2

When was the SS formed?

Answer 2

1925 as a bodyguard unit for Hitler

Question 3

Who built the SS up?

Answer 3

Himmler until it established a clear identity.

Question 4

What identity did the SS establish?

Answer 4

Members wore black and showed obedience to Hitler.

Question 5

How many members did the SS have by 1934?

Answer 5

more than 50,000 who were fair examples of the Aryan race and were expected to marry racially pure wives.

Question 6

What did the SS become responsible for after the Night of the Long Knives?

Answer 6

The removal of all opposition to the Nazis.

Question 7

What was the membership of the SS by 1939?

Answer 7

250,000

Question 8

Who set up the Gestapo?

Answer 8

Georing

Question 9

Who did the Gestapo come under the control of by 1936?

Answer 9

The SS and was supervised by Reinhard Heydrich

Question 10

What could the Gestapo do?

Answer 10

Arrest and imprison those suspected of opposing the state.

Question 11

By 1939 how many were under arrest by the gestapo form political crimes?

Answer 11

160,000

Question 12

When was the SD set up and what was it?

Answer 12

In 1931 and was the intelligence body of the Nazi party.

Question 13

Who controlled the SD?

Answer 13

Himmler controlled it.

Heydrich organised it.

Question 14

What was the main aim of the SD?

Answer 14

To discover enemies of the Nazis and to ensure they were removed.

Question 15

Who did the SD attract?

Answer 15

Many professional, highly educated people e.g. Lawyers, economists and professors of politics.

Question 16

What were concentration camps usually set up to do?

Answer 16

To detain political opponents e.g. communists, socialists and trade unionists.

Question 17

Who ran concentration camps?

Answer 17

SA and SS

Question 18

What were the earliest examples of concentration camps?

Answer 18

Dachau near Munich was the first.
Others included:
Buchenwald, Mautheusen and Sachenhausen

Question 19

What happened t prisoners in concentration camps?

Answer 19

They were divided into different categories, each one denoted by different coloured triangles which had to be worn. They were assigned work.

Question 20

What was work like in the concentration camps?

Answer 20

Initially, it was pointless e.g. breaking stones, but gradually, the prisoners were used as forced workers in places like quarries and coal mines.

Question 21

How were inmates in concentration camps treated?

Answer 21

With brutality and if someone was killed at the camp, their family would not receive a message saying that they had died.

Question 22

What were the different categories of prisoners?

Answer 22

• Political prisoners
• Foreign forced labour groups (non-German ethnic groups seen as a threat)
• Jews
• Sexual offenders
• ‘Work shy’- included anyone unwilling to work e.g. gypsies, alcoholics and homeless
• Religious students known as the Bibelforscher

Question 23

How did the Nazis aim to control the legal system?

Answer 23

Judges and lawyers had to belong to the national socialist League for the maintenance of law and order which forced them to accept Nazi policy- those who refused were sacked. October 1933 German lawyers Front was established and its 10,000 members swore an oath of loyalty to the Fuhrer.

Question 24

Which ministry was set up in March 1934?

Answer 24

the Ministry for popular enlightenment and propaganda was set up by Joseph Geobbels.

Question 25

What happened to radio station?

Answer 25

They were placed under Nazi control and people could not listen to foreign broadcasts so people heard the Nazi message very often.

Question 26

Why did more and more people have radios?

Answer 26

They were being produced more cheaply so by 1939, 70 percent of households has radios.

Question 27

Where were radios being installed?

Answer 27

In cafes, factories, schools and loud speakers on streets.

Question 28

How was the cinema altered to come under Nazi control?

Answer 28

All film plots shown to Geobbels before going into production and all love stories and thrillers were given a pro Nazi slant. Hitler order Geobbels to make anti-Semitic films.

Question 29

What was one of the most famous and popular film made under the Nazi regime?

Answer 29

Hitlerjunge Quex (1933)- about a boy who runs away from his communist family to join the Hitler youth.

Question 30

Why was cinema a popular form of propaganda?

Answer 30

It was visual and attracted a large audience.

Question 31

Where was an annual mass rally held?

Answer 31

At Nurmeberg to advertise the power of the Nazi state.

Question 32

When were special parades held?

Answer 32

On events e.g. Hitler’s birthday.

Question 33

Who were rallies lead by?

Answer 33

SA and Hitler youth, they attracted one million people.

Question 34

How were posters used for propaganda?

Answer 34

They were mainly targeted at the young and were seen everywhere and their messages were simple and direct.

Question 35

How were books used for propaganda?

Answer 35

They were carefully censored and controlled to put across Nazi message. Encouraged by Geobbels, students burnt 20,000 books written by Jews, communists and anti-Nazis in Berlin 1933. Writers were persuaded to write books praising the Nazis.

Question 36

How were newspapers censored?

Answer 36

Non-Nazi newspapers were closed down. Editors were told what they could print, which meant that the German people could only read what the Nazis wanted them to. The Nazis had closed down more than 1600 newspapers and thousands of magazines. Jewish and left wing journalists were removed.

Question 37

How was music censored?

Answer 37

Jazz was seen as racially inferior and German folk music was encouraged.

Question 38

How was theatre censored?

Answer 38

Concentrated on German history and political drama. Had a Nazi political or racial theme.

Question 39

How was architecture censored?

Answer 39

The country style was used for family homes and hostels to encourage pride in Germany’s past. Hitler liked Greek and Roman architecture because he said that the Jews had not contaminated it.

Question 40

How was art censored?

Answer 40

Hitler hated modern art (any developed under Weimar). He encouraged art which highlighted Germany’s past greatness and the strength of the Third Reich.