What were the key institutions of the Nazi police state?

Learning objective – to be able to explain how the Nazis were able to suppress opposition between 1934 and 1945. I can describe some of the ways how the Nazis were able to keep control of the German people. Grade D I can explain how the Nazis kept control of the German people using features of the Nazi state. Grade B I can explain and assess the impact of how the Nazis were able to keep control of the German people. Grade A

Starter – This is a photograph of Toht from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Write five words to describe what impressions he gives.

How would the Nazis run Germany? Dictatorship One-party state Economic success Police state Propaganda state Expansionist

How did the Nazis keep control of the people? Hitler SS Gestapo Concentration Camps Police and the courts Informers

What was Hitler’s role in running Germany? Hitler was the dictator of Germany and he was central to the vision of the Nazi Party. He set the vision but did not run the country on a day to day basis. He gave his ministers what he wanted and allowed them to work towards those objectives using whatever methods they wished. He became increasingly lazy and did very little paperwork and took even fewer decisions.

How did the SS enforce the will of the Nazis? SS – the Schutz Staffel – meant ‘protection squad’. They wore a black uniform and had extremely high physical standards, making them an elite force in the Nazi state. Led by Heinrich Himmler, they had unlimited power in terrorising the people in obedience. They used their powers of arrests without warrants, searching and confiscating property to intimidate and strike without warning. They also ran the concentration and death camps.

What were the core beliefs of the SS? Himmler imposed high standards because he wanted to distance himself – and the SS – from the poor behaviour shown by the SA. As part of this he employed an education leader to teach SS members on the core fundamentals of the Nazi Party - A superiority of the German race. A hatred of the sub-humans, particularly the Jews. This education instilled a extreme loyalty to Hitler. Such was the popularity of the SS, its number continually grew from 52,000 in 1933 to 250,000 in 1939.

How did the Gestapo enforce the will of the Nazis? The state secret police after 1936, the Gestapo were known to strike whenever they wanted and had unlimited power of arresting and detaining people suspected of being against the Nazis. This power made them feared the most by Nazi opposition although as a body, they were quite small in number.

How did the role of the SS develop in the Nazi State? From 1934, the SS became more powerful with Himmler as Hitler’s right hand man. Such was the extension of SS responsibilities, they were indispensable to the Nazi regime by 1939. The SS gained control of the police force and the Gestapo in 1934. These institutions enabled the SS to suppress internal opposition to Nazi rule and were given almost unlimited powers of search, arrests, interrogation and intimidation to seek out suspected opponents. This was augmented by the Sicherheitisdienst [SD], which was the intelligence branch of the SS. With the Gestapo, the SD gathered information through a sophisticated spy network.

How did the role of the spy network develop a sense of terror in the Nazi State? The SD and Gestapo built up a network of spies and informants, which they encouraged to inform the authorities if they suspected people of any anti-Nazi activities. This information gathering was used alongside the powers of listening in to phone calls and the ability to read private mail as well as searching houses and property without a warrant, arrests without charge and confiscate property. All this created a sense of fear as people distrusted neighbours, friends, colleagues and family.

How were concentration camps used the Nazis? Originally, concentration camps were temporary prisons used to incarcerate opponents to the Nazi state. Later on, they became a permanent feature of the Nazi state used a way of pooling opposition to be used for hard labour. This pool of hard labour was used by over 150 German companies who wanted cheap slave labour to make all kinds of goods, including weapons.

How did the Nazis justify concentration camps? Concentration camps were presented to the public as a vital way of keeping them safe from dangerous elements of society. They were also presented as centres of re-education. However, the truth was far more different, brutality and harsh conditions were the norm with untold numbers of prisoners dying under such conditions. The effects of the concentration camps up to 1939 were – 225,000 Germans were imprisoned for political crimes. Additional 162,000 Germans imprisoned for protective custody. This led to the concentration camps being a symbol of Nazi repression.

Task Explain how the following contributed to the administration of the Nazi state. Adolf Hitler The SS The SD Gestapo Concentration Camps Heinrich Himmler

Homework This visual hexagon activity helps you make links between the different institutions of the Nazi state. Stick a copy of the visual hexagon activity in your exercise book and write your links between each hexagon and write two sentences for each link explaining them fully.

Source task Cut out the source below and stick it into your exercise book. Rainbow mark the view from the interpretation in one colour and the evidence to support the view in another colour. Then annotate the interpretation with your own knowledge. Interpretation A Hitler needed an organisation which would not feel restrained by the law. It would act with utter ruthlessness and would be dedicated to expressing his will and the ideas of the Nazi movement. He found what he needed in the SS. An extract from, Documents on Nazism 1919-45 by J. Noakes and G. Pridham written in 1976