Nazi control of Germany 1933-45 Flashcards
what was the nazi police state and what did it consist of
The Nazis had a powerful range of organizations and weapons that they used to control Germany and terrorise Germans into submission. These included -the gestapo -the police and the courts -the SS -concentration camps
what was the gestapo
- possibly the most feared
- could arrest citizens on suspicion and send them to concentration camps without trial or even explanation
- germans overestimated them
what were the police and the courts
- helped prop up the Nazi dictatorship
- top jobs in local police were given to high ranking nazis reporting to Himmler
- police added political ‘snooping’ to new law and order
- nazis controlled magistrates, judges and courts so opponents of Nazism rarely received a fair trial
what were the SS
- two units
- deaths head unit responsible for concentration camps and slaughter of minorities
- Waffen SS fought alongside the regular army
what were concentration camps
- prisoners forced to do hard labor
- food was limited and prisoners suffered harsh discipline, beatings and random executions
- deaths became increasingly common by the late 1930s and very little people survived
what were the Nuremberg rallies
- organised by goebbels
- huge rallies, marches, torchlit processions and meetings
- showed german people the power of the state and made them feel involved in the movement
how did nazis/goebbels control media anc culture
- no books published without permission from goebbels
- only nazi approved artists could show their work
- newspapers, cinema controlled
- jazz music banned because it was “black”
- radio broadcasting made cheap and available for spreading the nazi message
how did hitler treat the catholic church
Hitler signed a Concordat with the Catholic Church in 1933
This meant that Hitler agreed to leave the Catholic Church alone and allowed it to keep control of its schools
In return, the Church agreed to stay out of politics
how did hitler treat the protestant church
Hiter tried to get all of the Protestant Churches to come together in one official Reich Church
The Reich Church was headed by the Protestant Bishop Ludwig Muller
However, many Germans still felt that their true loyalties lay with their original Churches in their local areas rather than with this state-approved Church
what kind of church did hitler set up and what was it like
Hitler encouraged an alternative religion to the Churches, the pagan German Faith Movement
The movement sought to move Germany away from Christianity towards a religion based on Germanic paganism and Nazi ideas.
The development of the German Faith Movement revolved around four main themes:
the propagation of the ‘blood and soil’ ideology
the replacement of Christian ceremonies by pagan equivalents; the most favoured pagan deity being the sun, as can be seen from the flag of the faith movement
the rejection of Christian ethics
the cult of Hitler’s personality
who was in charge of dealing with religion in Nazi Germany
The Reich Church was headed by the Protestant Bishop Ludwig Muller
Bishop Ludwig Muller was a close ally of Hitler
Hitler forced the Church to accept him as its leader in 1933
who were some religious people who spoke out against Hitler and why
The Catholic Bishop Galen criticised the Nazis throughout the 1930s
In 1941 he led a popular protest against the Nazi policies of killing mentally ill and physically disabled people, forcing the Nazis temporarily to stop
He had such a strong support amongst his followers that the Nazis decided it was too risky to try to silence him because they did not want trouble while Germany was at war
Protestant Pastor Martin Niemoller was one of the most high-profile critics of the regime in the 1930s
Along with DIetrich Bonhoeffer, he formed an alternative Protestant Church to the official Reich Church
Niemoller spent the years 1938-45 in a concentration camp for resisting the nazis
Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached against the Nazis until the Gestapo stopped him in 1937
what happened to Jehovah’s witnesses in Nazi germany
Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered religious persecution in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 after refusing to perform military service, join Nazi organizations or give allegiance to the Hitler regime
An estimated 10,000 Witnesses—half of the number of members in Germany during that period—were imprisoned, including 2000 who were sent to Nazi concentration camps
An estimated 1200 died in custody, including 250 who were executed
They were the first Christian denomination banned by the Nazi government and the most extensively and intensively persecuted
Unlike Jews and Romani, who were persecuted on the basis of their ethnicity, Jehovah’s Witnesses could escape persecution and personal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs by signing a document indicating renunciation of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military.
who were the persecuted minority groups
- members of other races
- roma and sinti people
- homosexual people
- disabled people
- asocials (beggars, criminals, homeless and prostitutes)
- jewish people
- jehovahs witnesses
when were the Nuremberg laws
1935
