Nazi terror Flashcards
Who ran the SS by 1929?
Heinrich Himmler
What colour uniform did the SS wear and why?
Black
To distinguish it from the SA ‘brownshirts’
What role did SS officers play during the Night of the Long Knives?
Murdered SA leaders
How many men were in the SS during the 1930s?
240,000
What role were the SS expected to play in the future of Germany?
Creating ‘racially pure’ Germans for the future by marrying ‘racially pure’ wives
What happened to 60,000 members of the SS between 1933 and 1935 and why?
Expelled
Suspected of being gay or alcoholics
What was the purpose of the SD?
To act as a security force for the Nazi Party, monitoring its opponents
Who was made leader of the SD?
Reinhard Heydrich
What was kept in the SD’s card index?
Details of everyone it suspected of opposing the Nazi Party or the German government, at home or abroad
Where was the SD’s card index kept?
At the Nazi Party’s headquarters in Munich
Why could ordinary Germans not tell the Gestapo apart from other members of the public?
They did not wear a uniform
Who became leader of the Gestapo in 1936, replacing Himmler?
Reinhard Heydrich
The Gestapo set up networks of ordinary people to identify suspects. What name was given to these people?
Informants
How many people did the Gestapo arrest for political offences in 1939 alone?
160,000
What did a new law in 1936 say about the Gestapo?
They could operate outside the control of the courts
Give THREE things that the Gestapo could do to offenders
Any three from:
- Spy on them
- Arrest them early in the morning
- Imprison them without trial
- Send them to concentration camps
How was the Gestapo’s power over prisoners ‘limited’ in 1937?
They were only allowed to beat/whip prisoners 25 times, and a doctor had to be present
How many people were in the Gestapo at their maximum?
30,000
What did it mean to be locked up ‘under protective arrest’ in Nazi Germany?
You had been locked up for being an opponent of the Nazis, not for committing a criminal act
How many people were ‘under protective arrest’ in Germany by 1939?
150,000
When and where was the first Nazi concentration camp opened?
1933, Dachau
Where was the first concentration camp for women opened in 1933?
Moringen
Why were concentration camps located in isolated areas?
To keep prisoners away from the public
Give THREE examples of people who could be put in a concentration camp
1) Members of ‘undesirable’ groups (including gay people)
2) Minority ethnic groups (e.g. Jewish people)
3) Political prisoners (especially communists)
What organisation did Hitler set up for judges?
National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law
What would happen to any judge who refused to join the National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law?
They could not be a judge
Which was more important for judges’ decision-making: the law, or the interests of the Nazi Party?
The interests of the Nazi Party
What was abolished in the law courts by Hitler?
Trial by jury
What court was set up to hear all cases of treason (offences against the state)?
The People’s Court
How many death sentences were there for political offences in:
1930-32
1934-39
1930-32: 8
1934-39: 534
