Indoctrination and Terror Flashcards
How were the courts used to silence enemies?
The courts were under Nazi control and therefore easily influenced to do the regime’s bidding, with the People’s Court trying enemies of the state. Gave Nazi actions the semblance of legality.
Judges were instructed to issue harsher sentences for crimes as it was hoped that this would discourage others from criminal activity. Judges who did not carry out Nazi wishes were removed and, from 1939, judges had to study Nazi beliefs and senior court officials were replaced by Nazis.
It became increasingly difficult for opponents of the regime to receive a fair trial
What was the role of the SS in the Nazi police state?
Ran concentration camps
Used its power of arrest and detention to hold people in ‘protective custody’
Gathered intelligence
Controlled security
Imposed ideology
What were some of the the branches of the SS?
Waffen-SS, an armed military unit which played an increasing role in the Second World War
SS-Totenkopfverbande (Death’s Head Units) which ran the concentration camps
Who was head of the SS?
Heinrich Himmler
SS timeline
1929: Heinrich Himmler became head of the SS
1931: SD created (secret intelligence wing of the SS)
1934: Himmler took control of the police, including the Gestapo in Prussia
1935: SS became an elite force that only Aryans could join
1936: All police and Gestapo powers were placed under Himmler’s control
1939: All party and state police organisations were amalgamated into the RSHA - Reich Security Office
What was the Gestapo?
The secret state police with a reputation for being all-seeing and all-knowing
What were the weaknesses of the Gestapo?
They were only a small organisation with between 20,000 and 40,000 agents, many of which were no more than office workers who relied on informers or block wardens (Nazi officials who provided information on people in his or her neighbourhood) for information.
Much information discovered by the Gestapo was little more than gossip and brought few rewards for the regime.
The personnel didn’t effectively enact central directives - maior areas such as Frankfurt, Bremen, and Hanover had under 50 officers
Gestapo officials were increasingly bogged down with paperwork in a highly bureaucratic system
The Gestapo was a reactive institution dependent on the cooperation of Germans
To what extent was the Gestapo an effective agent of terror?
The image of power conveyed, even if unjustified, intimidated potential opposition
Its meagre resources were greatly enhanced by cooperation from the public - over half, and in some cases over 8010, or local investigations stemmed from voluntary denunciations
Faced with a flood of denunciations, the Gestapo was forced to radicalise their actions, resorting to arbitrary arrest, preventative custody, and torture
How did Himmler try to reduce denunciations for personal motives?
Threatened those who made such denunciations with being sent to concentration camps
What was the role of concentration camps?
10 question, torture, re-educate, and inflict hard labour on enemies of the state
What were concentration camps initially used for?
Used in campaigns against political opponents, especially communists, trade unionists, and socialists
Why were some concentration camps closed down early in Hitter’s rule?
They were offensive to many Germans, in particular nationalists, who Hitler needed to convince that the Nazi revolution had finished
By the time Himmler took over responsibility for all concentration camps in 1934, they held only 3,000 inmates
What were concentration camps used for between 1936 and the outbreak of war?
Housed those who did not fit into the Nazi ideal, ie. asocials: beggars, Romani people, and the long-term unemployed (workshy)
What were concentration camps used for after 1942?
Prisoners and foreign workers were transferred to the camps as a source of forced labour, and, subsequently, some other camps became extermination camps for Jewish people
How did numbers in concentration camps increase during the war?
September 1939: 25,000
December 1942: 88,000
January 1945: 714,211
