Terror and persuasion Flashcards
SS
Formed in 1925
As a personal bodyguard for Hitler
How did the night of the long knives change the role of the SS?
Made them responsible for the removal of opposition
Grown to a large number of 250,000 by 1939
The gestapo
Secret police force
What was the role of the gestapo?
Go undercover to get information
Arrest and send people in suspicion of opposing Germany to concentration camps
SD
Intelligence body for the Nazis
Role of the SD
Obtain information of people who could potentially oppose the state and remove them
Early Concentration camps
Imprisoned political prisoners and treat them with brutality
High mortality rates
Gleichschaltung
All laws had to obey Nazi ideology and were biased towards it
What did judges have to be apart of?
Nationalist socialist league for maintenance of the law
What did lawyers do?
Have to swear an oath to Hitler
Be part of Nazi lawyers association
Defence lawyers positions weakened in criminal trials
Have to wear swastika and Nazi eagle
People’s court
Specifically judged people on trial for treason against Hitler
Minister of justice job
Ensure judges weren’t too lenient
Allowed Hitler to exercise his power and change sentences
How were criminals punished?
Chosen by local prosecutors
Who were part of Nazi lawyers association rather than standard punishment
So more likely to pose a harsher punishment
Rather than released at end to sentence sent to concentration camp
Ministry for popular entertainment and propaganda?
Set up by Goebbels
Indoctrinated German people leading them to never question the Nazi beliefs
How did the Nazis use cinema?
To make films demonising opponents and showing them as morally right
Spread antisemitism
Discredit any opponents
Aims of Nuremberg rallies
Promote how powerful they are
Intimídate possible opponents by showing how many people support them
Create sense of indoctrination as citizens feel part of such a large community and see their strength
Group though = people less likely to protest
Literature control
Books censored
Students began burning books written by Jews or communists
Non Nazi newspapers closed
Censorship of art
‘Degenerate’ modern art ie dada or Bauhaus banned
Reich press law
Banned non Nazi newspapers
How did the death penalty change?
Capital crimes increased from 3 to 46
How did the number of crime change?
Halved
How did the Nazis use concentration camps to maintain control?
All forms of possible oppositions removed and became helpless
Included groups they persecuted eg Jews and Romani who have motivation for opposition
Leaks of conditions caused fear and a deterrent to resist
Police state
What Hitler transformed Germany into
Required subservience to the state and monitored citizens lives
Control of the press
Only newspapers that were controlled by Nazis could be printed and distributed
People’s receiver
Radios sold cheaply so as many people could have access to Nazi broadcasting messages
Reich broadcasting operation
All radios were controlled by Goebbels = propaganda
How did Nazis control architecture?
‘Projecting’ the Nazi power by building stadiums for rallies
How did Nazis control music?
Banned Jewish composers
Banned jazz
Promoted Jewish composers
So how did the Nazis control citizens?
Used the police state to fear them into obedience and away from resistance
But indoctrination of schools and media and rallies to make them loyal to the state
And censorship keeps them within Nazi ideas of all having same opinions
