9 - Controlling the population: terror and propaganda

Question 1

What were the 4 parts of the police state and the creation of terror?

Answer 1

1 - the SS
2 - the Gestapo
3 - concentration camps
4 - the legal system

Question 2

The SS

Answer 2

• had been personal bodyguard for Hitler, but changed
• Nazi party’s private police force
• during 1930s, expanded to 240,000 men and put in charge of all other police and security services, permitted to act outside of the law
• the ruthlessness of the SS made them extremely intimidating to the population

Question 3

The Gestapo

Answer 3

• non-uniformed secret police force
• 1939, 160,000 people arrested for political offences
• main weapon was fear = never more than 30,000 members for the 80 million population
• 80% of arrests made following information from an informant
• used their powers to actively remove opposition and created a climate of terror in which Germans were afraid to criticise the regime

Question 4

Concentration camps

Answer 4

• first camp opened at Dachau in 1933
• by 1939, over 150,000 people were ‘under protective arrest’ = not committed crimes but arrested for doing things the Nazis disapproved of
• used to house ‘undesirables’ e.g. prostitutes, homosexuals, Jews
• the threat of being sent to a concentration camp made people too afraid to criticise the regime

Question 5

The legal system

Answer 5

• National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law - all judges had to be members = all judges had to be Nazi supporters
• abolished trial by jury
• People’s Court set up to hear cases of offences against the state = between 1934-39, 534 people were sentenced to death for political offences
• Hitler’s control of the legal system meant he could easily remove any active opposition

Question 6

What were the 5 ways the Nazis used propaganda to control the population?

Answer 6

1 - control of the press
2 - radio
3 - rallies
4 - culture
5 - sport

Question 7

Control of the press

Answer 7

• Goebbels and Reich Press Chamber met with newspaper editors weekly to give instructions on what to publish
• newspapers that criticised or opposed the NSDAP were shut down
• 1935, 1,600 newspapers shut down
• by 1944, Propaganda Ministry owned 82% of all media being published in Germany

Question 8

Radio

Answer 8

• ‘People’s Radio’ were sold for cheap + placed in all public places (e.g. cafes, factories, and schools)
• by 1939, 70% of German homes owned a radio
• people would be indoctrinated with the Nazi message wherever they went
• radios couldn’t pick up any foreign stations

Question 9

Rallies

Answer 9

• started in 1923, Goebbels organised Nuremburg rallies = brought colour and excitement into people’s lives and gave them a sense of belonging to something great and important
• 1934, there were 700,000 people there
• convinced people that everyone supported the Nazis = ‘mass suggestion’

Question 10

Culture (long one sorry)

Answer 10

• 1933 = Chamber of Culture, aimed to eradicate all culture that opposed Nazi ideology
• 2,500 writers banned
• 1933 = ‘book burnings’, over 20,000 books burned in one night alone
• 1933 = Chamber of Visual Arts, only 42,000 artists accepted, others not allowed to produce, sell, or teach art of any kind
• 1936 = over 12,000 paintings and sculptures were removed from galleries
• all films had to be reviewed by Goebbels personally and started with a 40-minute reel about the Nazis
• Nazi produced their own films with underlying political messaged - total of 1,300 films made by the NSDAP

Question 11

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 (3 points)

Answer 11

1 - The Gestapo
2 - Concentration camps
3 - The legal system

Question 12

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 - the Gestapo

Answer 12

• set up in 1933, Hitler’s non uniformed secret police force
• mainly used fear as never more than 30,000 Gestapo in population of 80 million
• over 80% of arrests done following information from an informant

Question 13

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 - the Gestapo analysis

Answer 13

Actively removed opponents by sending them to concentration camps.
Created a climate of fear so people would not risk spreading anti-Nazi views, even to friends and family.

Question 14

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 - concentration camps

Answer 14

• by 1939, over 150,000 people in ‘protective custody’
• first camo Dachau in 1933
• often inhumane conditions
• housed political prisoners, ‘undesirables’, and minority groups of whom the Nazis disapproved

Question 15

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 - concentration camps analysis

Answer 15

Imprisoning political and ideological opposition prevented any anti-Nazi views or organisations in Germany.

Question 16

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 - the legal system

Answer 16

• National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law and made all judges be members
• People’s Court set up to hear cases of offences against the state
• between 1934-39, 534 people sentenced to death for political offences

Question 17

Explain why the Nazi police state was successful in removing opposition between 1933 and 1939 - the legal system analysis

Answer 17

By controlling courts, Nazis would be certain that all suspected opposition would be imprisoned or killed. Germans would not risk criticising Nazis as they would not receive a fair trial.