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
Gleichschaltung
. Eliminated institutions for opposition
. Only Church + army retained sufficient independence to challenge the regime
. Mild protest liable to harsh punishment + lots of police informers
Low Level Opposition
. Reading banned lit, listening to banned music, tuning into foreign news broadcasts
. Protecting Jews + other ‘enemies of the state’
. Refusing to join Nazi organisations or contribute to campaigns
. Supporting non-Nazi churches + organisation
Organised Public Opposition
. Anti-Nazi leaflets or writing slogans in public places
. Underground SPD groups: Berlin Red Patrol, the Hanover Socialist Front
. Underground KPD cells (Berlin, Mannheim, Hamburg)
- The Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) gathered info to send to USSR - broken up in 1942
. Some communist assassination attempts of Hitler
. Some judges refused to administer ‘Nazi’ justice
- 1.3mil sent to camps + 300,000 left Germany 1933-9: shows extent of opposition
Protestant Opposition
. Martin Niemoller’s breakaway ‘Confessional Church’
- Closely surveilled + Niemoller put in a camp 1937-45
. Around 800 other pastors incarcerated March 1937
Catholic Opposition
. Nazis closed schools, youth groups + newspapers
. Pope’s encyclical ‘With burning anxiety’ March 1937 . Harsh press campaign against priests, monks + nuns
. 100s of catholic clerics sent to camps
. Individual clergyman > institution as a whole
. Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer campaigned against Nuremburg Laws 1935 + joined underground resistance to gather info on Nazi crimes
Army Opposition
. Disapproved of rearmament rate, growth of SS, + Hitler’s plans for rapid expansion in East
. Army Commander in Chief Werner von Fritsch + General von Blomberg (War Minister), criticised Hitler’s war plans 1937
. 1938: B accused of marrying former prostitute + dismissed, F accused of being gay + dismissed
. Resignation or dismissal of 16 generals followed
. 44 more transferred
Hitler and Army
. 1938: Hitler combined Supreme Commander with political role of War Minister
. Changed name of War Ministry into the ‘High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW)
Effect of war on Government
. Armaments Ministry set up, structures overlapped
. Meetings became places for Hitler to rant > formal decision making
. Hitler pre-occupied w foreign affairs
. Didn’t attend Wannsee Conference in 1942 which led to Holocaust - Heydrich attended
. Ambiguous discussion abt ‘final solution’
Hitler and final years of war
. 1943-Nov 1944: Hitler withdrew to his military HQ ‘Wolf’s Lair’ at Rastenburg in East Prussia
. Jan-May 1945: isolated in Furhrerbunker in Berlin
. Bormann given free rein to make decisions himself during this period
