Censorship, repression and propaganda Flashcards
What did Goebbels inform to controllers of German radio?
That radio stations served the government and therefore had to follow Nazi guidelines and express Nazi ideology.
What was the company for radios called?
The Reich Radio Company - controlled the content of radio
What was the result of the introduction of the People’s Receiver (a cheap radio set)?
By 1939, 70% of homes had a radio, in contrast to just 25% in 1932.
What did the radio become in Nazi Germany?
A medium of mass communication controlled by the regime.
What were installed in public places?
Loud speakers - venues for collective listening
What myth glorified Hitler as the saviour of the German nation?
The Führer / Hitler Myth
When did all film companies become state own?
1942
What are 2 examples of the news being censored during the war?
- News of the German defeat at Stalingrad was suppressed as 1,500 papers were shut down.
- Papers never mentioned the Final Solution.
When was listening to foreign radio stations criminalised?
September 1939
What were Goebbels’ censorship policies unable to stop?
Rumours of defeat
What were the aims of propaganda and censorship?
- To glorify the regime
- Spread Nazi ideology and values
- Win over the people and unite the nation under Volksgemeinschaft
What decree allowed the Nazis to ban publications?
The Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (1933)
What did the Editor’s Law (1933) do?
It made it a crime for the Editor of a newspaper to publish anything which might weaken the Third Reich.
What was the Reich Association established to do?
To compile a list of “accredited” journalists.
How many Nazi newspapers and readers were there in 1932 in comparison with 1933?
1932 = 59 Nazi newspapers and 780,000 readers
1933 = 86 Nazi newspapers and over 3 million readers.
What was the Nazi Publishing House called?
Eher Verlag
What proportion of the German press did Eher Verlag control by 1939?
2/3
Who were the SS?
The political police.
Who controlled the SS?
Heinrich Himmler
How many members of the SS were there in 1933 in comparison with 1939?
1933 = 52,000
1939 = 250,000
What purge did the SS carry out?
The purge of the SA during the Night of the Long Knives (1934)
What did the SS run?
The concentration camp system
What were the 3 main functions of the SS?
- Intelligence gathering
- Policing (carried out by Gestapo)
- Military action
What were the SS responsible for creating in newly occupied territories?
“New Order” - resettling ethnic Germans in these areas and eliminating non-Aryans.
When were the People’s Courts established?
1934
Who did the People’s Courts try?
Anyone accused of being traitors to the Third Reich.
How were the trials in the People’s Courts different to that of a normal court?
The trials were not public and appeals against verdicts were banned.
What did judges have to study?
Nazi beliefs
Who were the Gestapo?
The secret state police
Who set up the Gestapo?
Hermann Goering
What was the role of the Gestapo?
To find opponents of the Nazis and arrest them - using surveillance and repression.
Who did the Gestapo rely on for information?
Informers and Blockwarts (those who ran individual apartment blocks).
How many agents did the Gestapo have?
20 to 40,000 - relatively small organisation.
What was the reputation of the Gestapo?
They had a reputation for brutality - they could arrest and detain without trial.
What were concentration camps?
Prisons were opponents of the regime were questioned and subjected to torture, hard labour and re-education in Nazi ideals. Prisoners could be held indefinitely without trial.
How many camps were established between 1933-35?
20,000
How many Jewish people were sent to camps for political crimes during the Nazi regime?
500,000
How many people were help in camps in 1939, 1942 and 1945?
1939 = 25,000
1942 = 88,000
1945 = 714,000
How many supporters of left wing parties were detained during the first 2 years of the Nazi regime?
Between 150-200,000
What is an example of the extensive use of terror during the early years of the Nazi regime?
The Knight of the Long Knives (1934)
When and where was the first concentration camp for political prisoners set up?
1933 in Dachau
What did Germans see Hitler as reversing?
The losses of the Treaty of Versailles.
What are examples of militarisation which took place in 1935?
- The existence of the Luftwaffe was announced and a peacetime army of 550,000 was introduced
- Germany signed a naval agreement with Britain allowing Germany to have a navy 35% the strength of the British fleet.
What are examples of militarisation in 1936 and again in 1938?
March 1936: Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland (which overturned the ToV and Locarno Pact)
1938: Anschluss with Austria, which was incorporated into German territory.
Why did wealthy industrialists support the Nazis?
They benefitted from the banning of the KPD and trade unions (except DAF), as well as through the expansion of the war economy (arms production and chemical industries).
How did the value of the German stock exchange change between 1932 and 1940?
It increased by 250%
What were the lower-middle class called?
The mittelstand
How did the government please the mittelstand?
- They used the money available from the confiscation of Jewish businesses to offer low-interest rate loans. This made them more susceptible to anti-Semitic messages.
- The Law for the Protection of Retail Trade (1933) banned the opening of new department stores and taxed existing ones, which increased the market for smaller businesses.
Who did the Nazi regime idealise?
Peasants and farmers as the embodiment of traditional German values and racial purity.
How did the Nazis assist the agricultural sector?
Increased tariffs on foreign imports which increased the demand for German food products.
What did the Reich Food Estate (1933) do?
Regulated food production and distribution as well as food prices and wages.
