Censorship under Nazi Germany (2)

Question 1

What Govt did Nazis believe in and why did they use censorship and repression?

Answer 1

A strong, centralised government with obedient people too scared to oppose the Nazis.

Question 2

The Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (Feb 1933)

Answer 2

• Could ban publications and suspend civil rights.
• Could search homes and workplaces.
• Could take people into ‘protective custody’ without taking them to trial.
• This ‘temporary’ short-term emergency measure was never lifted.

Question 3

Censorship under the Nazi Regime

Answer 3

All forms of communications were subject to Nazi control.

Question 4

Censorship of radio

Answer 4

• 25th March 1933: Goebbels told owners that radio stations served the Govt and he restricted broadcast content + display Nazi ideology.
• Purged staff of Jews, half-Jews and people married to Jews. People belonging to KPD/SPD.
• To ensure all households could afford one, he produced cheap radios called ‘People’s Receivers’, by 1939, 70% of the population owned one.

Question 5

Use of Propaganda on the radio

Answer 5

• Radios were deliberately limited in range to prevent citizens from considering other viewpoints.
• Radio wardens installed loudspeakers in factories, cafes, shops and offices.

Question 6

Censorship of press

Answer 6

• Nazis created their own form of newspaper - the People’s Observer.
• From 4th October 1933: issued a decree stating it’s an editor’s responsibility to control content and criminalised any publishing of critiques of the Third Reich, economy, culture or even people.
• Banned all Jewish journalists and forced editors to join the Nazi Party or risk dismissal.
• Non-Jewish newspapers also replaced many reputable journalists, who fled out of fear of imprisonment and death, by ill-trained and inexperienced journalists loyal to the Nazi Party.
• By 1935, the Nazis owned 65% newspapers and closed 1, 600.

Question 7

Censorship of literature

Answer 7

• Nazis developed a list of over 2500 banned authors - including famous authors like George Orwell, Albert Einstein and Karl Marx.
• Censored any materials that threatened the reputation of Hitler’s regime or criticised it.
• All books written by Jews (along Communists and Social Democrats) were collected and burnt - dubbed a ‘duty to protect the German public from the harm of undesirable books’.
• Massive book burning on 10th May 1933 - 1/3 total library holdings and 25.000 books.

Question 8

Censorship of press

Answer 8

• 4 Oct 1933: passed a decree to make it the editors’ responsibility to control newspaper content and criminalised any publishing of critiques of the Third Reich, economy, culture or even people.
• Established a Reich Association to compile a list of ‘accredited’ journalists - not consisting with many with Jewish connections or deemed ‘politically unsuitable’.
• End of 1933: Nazis had 86 newspapers with over 3M readers.
• December: Newspapers expected to pick up approved stories from the state-owned press agency.

Question 9

Repression under the Nazi Regime

Answer 9

• Banned all political parties except the Nazis (criminalised forming a political party).
• Established concentration camps to hold political prisoners - between 1933-45: 500,000 non-Jewish people were sent to these camps for political crimes.
• Imprisonment was a severe deterrent to political protest.

Question 10

Policing and the court

Answer 10

Nazis ran their own security system alongside the existing police and judicial system (despite they also underwent purging like the civil service and media).

Question 11

Forms of repression: Gestapo

Answer 11

• Secret police set up in April 1933 by Goering.
• Inaguarated its own legal system and operated independently of the existing legal system.
• Goal: find out any enemies of the states - investigate treason, espionage or sabotage.
• Didn’t wear uniform + forced people to not trust anyone, report anything suspicious and remain loyal to the State.

Question 12

Forms of repression: SS

Answer 12

• Formed in 1925 - after Hitler’s release of prison, acting as Hitler’s bodyguards who swore an oath of loyalty to him personally.
• Political police force (destroy opponents, carry out racial policies, search homes + arrest + confiscate property).
• Increased membership by 1936 to 240,000.
• In charge of the Gestapo with their own economic branch to run labour + concentration camps.

Question 13

Forms of repression: People’s Court

Answer 13

• Set up in Berlin in 1944 to try people accused of being a traitor to the Third Reich.
• Two judges + five members chosen from the Nazi Party, the SS and the armed forces.
• Trials weren’t held publicly + impossible to appeal.

Question 14

Forms of repression: SD

Answer 14

• Intelligence collection of the SS and Nazi Party.
• Formed in 1931: first Nazi intelligence organisation.
• Main force (w/ Gestapo) that led the Night of Long Knives = purged SA officers to consolidate power + fear.