Control and Opposition: the Creation of the Police State Flashcards
Police state
Where a government oppresses it’s people using rigid control
How was the police state enforced in Nazi Germany?
the SS
- the Kripo
- the Gestapo
- the SD
the legal system
concentration camps
the SD
- intelligence arm of the SS
- responsible for the security of Hitler
- led by Reinhard Heydrich
the Gestapo
- secret police force
- block leaders in every town to report suspicious behaviour and collect donations
- could arrest anyone they suspected, force them to go on trial and sentence them to concentration camps or execute on little to no evidence - to eliminate all opposition
- most ordinary Germans feared that the Gestapo were always listening and watching
- listened to telephone conversations and intercepted letters
- Gestapo law, 1936- put them above the law
the Kripo
carried out general policing duties
How did the Nazis use the judiciary system to enforce the police state?
- judges had swear oath of loyalty to Hitler and act in the interests of the Nazi state
- Nazis were determined that the legal system wouldn’t protect those the state wanted to punish
- legal system wasn’t fair - loss of civil rights
- high ranking jobs given to loyal and well connected Nazis
- crimes committed by Nazis were ignored
- “people’s court”
- “protective custody”
- “Nazi Lawyers Association”
What was the ‘Nazi Lawyers Association’?
All Nazi lawyers had to join the ‘Nazi Lawyer’s Association’
This meant they could be controlled
“Protective custody”
- introduced for those who might commit a crime
- arrested and interned
Internment
Arrested and detained without a trial
“People’s court”
- No juries
- People were unable to defend themselves
How did the Nazis use concentration camps to enforce the police state?
- first camp - Dachan- March 1933
- ran by the Death Head Unit
- Nazis decided to make large prison camps where they could concentrate prisoners
- prisons were very soon overrun in Germany
- by 1939 6 000 000 in concentration camps
- political prisoners
- many sent to concentration camps died of malnutrition or overwork
Who did the Nazis send to concentration camps?
- any critics
- Jews
- gay people
- trade unionists
- communists
- socialists
- journalists
What was the impact of the police state on the German people?
- Nazis sought to control every part of people’s lives
- people were taught that their primary duty was loyalty to the Fuhrer
- most joined the Nazi Party - little opposition
- “speak through a flower” only say good things
- justice disappeared
- society became more suspicious and tense
- children encouraged to report on parents and teachers
- many innocent detained as “enemies of the state”
- number of crimes halved but number in prison increased
What was “clan responsibility”?
If one member of a family commits a crime or bike the law all the family was guilty and could be punished
What did Germans think of the police state?
Most Germans approved of the elimination of the “enemies of the state” it made them feel safer
