The machinery of terror

Question 1

What was the uniform of the SS?

Answer 1

Black with a double S that looked like lightning bolts

Question 2

What ran under the control of the SS?

Answer 2

• Spies
• Police
• Courts
• Concentration camps

Question 3

What was the SD?

Answer 3

• The main intelligence gathering organisation
• Focused on opposition to the party (mainly the Church)
• Led by Reinhard Heydrich
• Only a few hundred full-time agents

Question 4

What was the Gestapo?

Answer 4

• Focused on political opponents, Jewish people and gay people
• 15,000 active officers
• Tapped phones and opened mail
• Interrogation techniques of enemies was ruthless, torture was used

Question 5

Who were the Informants?

Answer 5

• People from the public who informed the SS of potential enemies
• It was how most intelligence was gathered
• Block leaders would deliver news to the 40-60 houses in their area and they would spy on these people

Question 6

How did the police system change?

Answer 6

• They still had the Orpo (ordinary police) and the Kripo (criminal police)
• But they provided intelligence and rounded up potential enemies, including Jewish people

Question 7

What did the judges have to do?

Answer 7

Swear and oath to Hitler

Question 8

How did the crimes punishable by death change?

Answer 8

3 in 1933 to 46 in 1943

Question 9

What was the People courts?

Answer 9

a type of court that was directly run by the Nazis and was the most harsh because it dealt with political opponents

Question 10

How were concentration camps used?

Answer 10

• They concentrated enemies of the state (not killed them)
• run by the SS
• There were strict rules, and even minor offences could lead to harsh punishments
• Prisoners were made to do hard manual labour and were kept in barracks