Tools of control:Terror Flashcards
What did the Nazis use to enforce terror?
Courts
The SS
The Gestapo
Concentration camps
Why were courts significant?
They enabled the regime to remove its opponents while giving the appearance of legality to Nazi actions
How did the Nazis control courts so they created terror?
Judges instructed to issue harsher sentences (hoped this would discourage others)
New laws regarding political offences were brought in
Judges who didn’t carry out Nazi wishes were removed
Senior court officials were replaced by Nazis
Meant it was increasingly difficult for opponents of the regime to receive fair trial
Who was Heinrich Himmler?
Head of the SS
Put in charge of concentration camps after Night of Long Knives
1936 in charge of Gestapo
Why was the SS crucial in upholding the regime?
It was a key part of the police state
It played a leading role in terror by its role in running concentration camps and its power of arrest and detention of people in ‘protective custody’ even if they had served official sentences
What did the SS include?
The Waffen-SS
The SS-Totenkopfverbände
What was the SS-Totenkopfverbände?
Death’s Head Units
Ran the concentration camps
Young peasants recruited to treat inmates cruelly
What was the Waffen-SS ?
An armed military unit that played an increasing role in WW2
What were the roles of the SS?
Included policing, intelligence gathering, security, ideology, race, economy and some military issues
What were the SS responsible for?
The creation of the ‘New Order’
Resettling ethnic Germans from conquered territories
The elimination of groups eg Jews and Gypsies
What happened to all police and security organisations by 1939?
All police + security organisations had been combined under the Reich Security Office (RSHA)
What was included in the RSHA?
Kripo: the criminal police who were responsible for maintaining law + order
Gestapo
SD = the Party Security Agency
SIPO = State security
What was the reason that the power of the SS expanded and developed?
The war and conquer of land in 1939 and the creation of the New Order that the Nazis imposed on occupied Europe
What were the main aims and functions of policing in Germany up to 1939?
Intelligence gathering
Policing
Discipline
Military
How did the policing achieve their aim/function of intelligence gathering?
Created the SD (led by Heydrich) in 1931 as a special security service to act as the party’s own internal security police
It gathered information on people the Nazis considered as a threat
How did the policing achieve their aim/function of policing?
the Kripo dealt with general law + order
Volksgemeinschaft excluded those who were ‘socially unfit’
The Gestapo was the key policing organisation-detained people without trial, used public denunciations to gather info on opponents
How did the policing achieve their aim/function of discipline?
SS were responsible for punishing those who opposed the Nazis through repression + torture
How did the policing achieve their aim/function of military?
Created the Waffen-SS as the armed wing of the SS
Took the best soldiers + prepared them for war
Who were the Gestapo?
The State Secret Police
Small organisation with 20,000 to 40,000 agents
Many were little more than office workers, relied on informers and block wardens for info
What was the role of the Gestapo?
To find opponents of the Nazis and arrest them
People arrested could be sent to concentration camps without trial
What point could you argue for the gestapo not being effective/ terror?
Only a small organisation
Given this numerical weakness it appears unlikely that they were able to impose a regime of terror, even if fear of them acted as a powerful deterrent
CV-Gestapo was effective?
However, a study of the Rhineland has suggested that it focused on specific enemies, such as socialists and the Jews, with the majority of the population accepting this persecution in return for being left alone
What were concentration camps used for?
To question, torture, re-educate and inflict hard labour on so-called enemies of the state
How many were housed in concentration camps when Himmler took over them?
In 1934, they held only 3000 inmates
From 1936 until the outbreak of war, who did concentration camps house?
Those who didn’t fit into the Nazi ideal
eg asocials, beggars, gypsies and long-term unemployed people
What was life like in the Concentration camps?
Brutal
woken at 4 in the morning + hard manual labour
Had to stand to attention in bitter cold for hours on end at end of the day
beaten with canes/dog whipped, sent to solitary confinement
How many inmates were there by 1939?
21,000
What happened to concentration camps during the war?
Expanded greatly, by 1945 there were 714,211 inmates
More foreigners sent to camps
In Poland from 1942 onwards they were used to exterminate Jews on a large scale
Reasons that terror was effective in keeping the Nazis in power?
Major factor in consolidating power as it dealt with political opposition, could then move onto dealing with enemies of the National Community
Despite there only being a few Gestapo agents and only 6 camps, they cast a threat and shadow over the population + acted as a warning to people because of their reputation
Reasons that terror was ineffective in keeping the Nazis in power?
Still faced opposition/resistance eg White rose group
Not completely successful, some groups could block out Nazi policies eg Christians
Not just terror, other factors kept the Nazis in power eg full employment, foreign policy success, national unity led to popularity
