key topic 3•nazi control & dictatorship, 1933-39 Flashcards
Führer
German title meaning leader
Night of the Long Knives
30 June 1934, when Hitler purged Röhm and the SA
Oath of allegiance
A promise made by the German armed forces to be loyal to Hitler
Reichstag
Germans state parliament
SS
Schultzstaffel or ‘protection squad’. Originally Hitler’s bodyguards, they became the most powerful troops in the Third Reich, and wore distinctive black uniforms
Trade unions
Organisations set up to protect and improve the rights of workers
Concentration camps
Prisons for political prisoners and enemies if the state
Concordat
An agreement between the Pope and a government concerning the legal status of the Catholic Church
Gestapo
Geheimestaatspolizei: the secret police of the Nazi regime
Reich Church
Official Protestant Church of the Nazi regime
SD
Sicherheitsdienst: the intelligence agency of the Nazis
Aryan
Nazi term for someone of supposedly ‘pure’ German stock
Censorship
Controlling what is produced and suppressing anything considered against the state
Third Reich
Nazi name for Germany. Means ‘Third Empire’
Confessional Church
Protestant Church set up by Pastor Niemöller in the opposition to the Reich Church
Edelweiss Pirates
A loosely organised youth group who rebelled against Nazi ideas
Hitler Youth
Organisation set up for the young to convert them to Nazi ideals
Martyr
A person who is persecuted and/or killed because of their religious or other beliefs
Swing Youth
Young people who loved swing music and challenged Nazi views about the young
Martin Niemöller
Served in the German navy as a U-boat commander during the First World War. In 1929 became a pastor in the Protestant Church and a supporter of Hitler. Began to criticise Hitler when, from 1937, members of the Protestant Church were arrested. Survived seven years in a concentration camp before being released in 1945
