Gov + opposition to 1945 Flashcards
Nazi Ideology - two key ideas
- Supremacy of the state . total loyalty to state - Superiority of Aryan race . hierarchy of races: Jews at the bottom . those actually living on the land - 'Blut und Boden' (blood and soil) - were the purest Aryans
Ideological Principles of Nazism
. Volksgemeinschaft: racially superior Aryans making up a loyal, national community
. Anti-Semitism
. Anti-feminism: women limited to child bearing
. Social Darwinism
. Lebensraum: entitled to ‘living space’ for nation
. Anti-Communism and anti-Democracy
. Fuhrerprinzip: strong leader necessary for greatness
Propaganda
. Believed regular exposure to Nazi ideas in public would help masses identify w its aims
. Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda set up under control of Goebbels
. Job was to spread Nazi ideology through media etc
Propaganda from 1934
. Furhrerprinzip reinforced: celebrations on Hitler’s birthday and ‘Heil Hitler’ salute, official greeting
. Policies discouraged women from working
. Only policy of ‘Lebensraum’ had to wait, but from start militarism was applauded + rearmament began
Contradictory ideology
. ‘Blut und Boden’ to emphasise racial qualities of rural workers but they received v little state aid
. Taught women that their place was in the home, but war drove them back to work in factories
Totalitarian Regime
. Hitler’s power unfettered by president or Reichstag
. His authority within party + as leader unchallenged
. Cabinet of loyal ministers to help execute policy
. In Lander, Nazi-appointed Reich governors ruled to Hitler’s command
Polycratic System
. Hitler superimposed his party structure on top of existing state structure, creating confusion between overlapping + competing officials + agencies
. Sometimes he let ministers compete w each other
. May have been a product of circumstance or deliberately done to suit H’s ideology: struggle
. He preferred only to intervene when it suited him
Hitler’s Personality
. Lazy + uninterested in routine gov business
. Preferred to give speeches rather than listen
. Accessing him was an issue: he preferred to spend time in his mountain retreat in Bavaria
. Sometimes signed gov papers without reading them
. Subordinates ‘worked towards the Fuhrer’, carrying out policies they believed he’d like
Hitler and Meetings
. After 1934 he played little part in ministerial meetings
. 1933: 72 cabinet meetings
. 1937: 6 and 1938: 1, ceased altogether after that
. So Hitler rarely involved in formulation of policy
. Ministers drew up proposals and either sought H directly or Head of Chancellery Hans Heinrich Lammers
SS
. Replaced SA as main terror agency
. Auxiliary police force to deal w political enemies + create ‘racial community’
. Himmler headed it and Gestapo in 1934
The Gestapo
. The most important security agency in the state
. Rooted out political enemies
. From 1936, given power to interpret law as it saw fit
Himmler
. Also controlled SD (security police), headed by Reinhard Heydrich - collected intelligence
. Chief of Police in 1936: establishing strong central control over whole security apparatus of state + linking party and state agencies
The Law
. Reich Main Security Department: set up in 1939 to oversee all security agencies
. No independent judiciary
. Under 1933 Civil Service Law: judges who disagreed w Nazism dismissed
. Lawyers had to be members of Nazi Lawyers Association + law interpreted to the ‘will of the Fuhrer’
Forms of Repression
. Mild censorship . Intimidation . Loss of job/status . Arbitrary arrest + imprisonment . Confinement in concentration camp . Execution
Concentration Camp
. The first ones weren’t extermination camps but brutal places of re-education
. Prisoners forced to work for hrs on meagre rations
. 1933-39: around 225,000 Germans convicted of political crimes + a further 162,000 placed in ‘protective custody’ in police without trial