Nazi coordination and control of Germany (1934-1939) Flashcards
Who were the Gestapo?
The German secret police led by Reynhard Heydrich
What was the role of the Gestapo?
They used informers and surveillance to spy on the German people and could arrest citizens and send them to concentration camps without a trial.
They used torture to extract information and confessions.
They were the most feared method of control for German citizens.
How were the SS used to control Germany?
By 1939 it had 240,000 members who were loyal to the Nazi Party.
They had the power to arrest people without trial and could search houses without permission.
How did the Nazis use the police to control Germany?
They gave the top jobs to loyal Nazis meaning that the police would follow their orders.
They passed information onto the Gestapo and ignored any crimes committed by Nazi Party members.
How did the Nazis control the courts?
They replaced any judges who were not loyal Nazis which meant that opponents of the party rarely received a fair trial.
In 1934 the Peoples Court was set up specifically to put people on trial for crimes against the state (government)
By 1943 the number of crimes that could receive the death penalty had increased from 3 to 46.
What were the concentration camps used for?
To imprison political opponents (mainly Communists) where the SS would force them to carry out hard labour.
Later they were expanded to imprison anyone who opposed the Nazis including church leaders, trade unionists and eventually German Jews.
Lack of food, beatings and executions were common.
How did the Nazi One Party State operate?
Hitler held all of the power as Fuhrer
However he allowed senior members of the government freedom to create and carry out government policy as long as they worked towards achieving his aims.
This gave powerful Nazis like Himmler and Goering a lot of power.
Why did the Nazis want to control churches in Germany?
Nearly all Germans were Christian meaning that the Church could give out information or beliefs that opposed the Nazis.
Many religious rules went against the ideas of the Nazi Party.
Christians would be less likely to worship Hitler as an absolute leader without full church support
How did Hitler control the Catholic Church in Germany?
He signed the Concordat in 1933 with the Pope where he promised not to interfere if Catholics supported him.
Later he began to interfere with the control of Catholic schools and arrested priests and nuns across Germany.
How did Hitler control the Protestant Church?
All branches of Protestantism where invited into and combined into one Reich Church led by Bishop Muller. They used swastikas, Nazi uniforms and salutes.
Anyone like Pastor Niemoller who attempted to set up a separate church was arrested and placed in a concentration camp.
Who was in charge of propaganda in Nazi Germany?
Josef Goebbels
How did the Nazis present their propaganda?
They organsied huge rallies and marches that were filmed and broadcast to show their strength and power.
They used the Berlin Olympics to show Germany’s strength to the world.
They repeated slogans about removing the Treaty of Versailles, blaming the Jews for Germany’s problems and about how the Nazis would rebuild Germany.
What is censorship?
The government controlling what information can be broadcast.
How did the Nazis use radio to control Germany?
They controlled the radio stations meaning they chose what was broadcast to the German people.
By 1939 70% of German people owned a radio.
Loudspeakers were set up across Germany to spread Nazi propaganda.
How did the Nazis use the newspapers to control Germany?
The press was heavily censored and only printed what they were told to by the Nazis.
This allowed them to control what information was available to the German people.
How did the Nazis use cinema to control Germany?
Films were used to spread Nazi propaganda in order to indoctrinate the German people.
Foreign films were banned restricting the information that people had access to.
Newsreels were shown before films that showed how powerful Germany was under the Nazis.
How did the Nazis use books to control Germany?
They banned and then destroyed any books that went against the ideas of the Nazis.
In May 1933 20,000 books were destroyed as the Nazis organised mass book burnings.
Any new books had to be censored by the propaganda ministry in order to check that they matched Nazi ideas.
What were the gender roles set out by the Nazis?
Men were to go out to work and protect their families
Women were to look after the home and raise their children (they were forced to give up their jobs when they married)
Why did the Nazis give out marriage loans?
To encourage couples to have children as soon as they were married, many couples could not immediately afford to support a family.
If you had four children then you did not have to pay back the 1,000 mark loan.
How did the Nazis reward mothers for having multiple children?
They awarded women with a medal the ‘Mutterkreuz’
Bronze cross- Four children
Silver cross- Six children
Gold cross- Eight children
