The consolidation and establishment of Nazi authority – terror and intimidation

1933-1939

Focus questions

• 1) How significant was the use of terror and intimidation to the Nazi Regime?2) How prevalent was it in Germany between 1933-1945?

• 3) Did the regime rely on terror to maintain support/conformity?

Existing systems: Courts

• Up to a point the Nazi government had to rely on the existing courts to sentence enemies.

• The Nazi’s did introduce a number of measures to gain greater influence on the courts:

• New laws – Dec 1934 anyone convicted of making hateful remarks about the state could be executed.

• Judges were instructed to be tougher and pressure placed on them to be tougher.To portray repression and

persecution as something which reflected the will of the

people

Why were the terms ‘People’s Court’ and ‘popular justice’ used?

Numbers

• Between 1933-1939 – around 225,000 Germans were convicted and imprisoned for political crimes.

• 162,000 were in protective custody without trial.

Machinery of terror• However, they were

heavily backed up by a machinery of terror. Examples:

• 1) SS• 2) Gestapo• 3) Concentration

camps

• Police state – by June 1936 Himmler had taken control of all the German police forces.

HimmlerChief of police

SS Municipalpolice

Security police

SDSecurity service

Criminalpolice

Gestapo

1) SS• Created in 1925. Heinrich Himmler headed the

organisation from 1929 – 280 members.• Responsible for party’s intelligence and espionage

(SD – offshoot of SS). Himmler hoped that in the SS he would create a new racial elite and from 1935 only those of pure ‘Ayran’ ancestry could join.

• By late 1930s became a vast organisation – ‘state within a state’ – powerful and most feared.

• By 1939 – 240,000 members organised into divisions. Waffen-SS (military organisation), Death’s Head Formations (administer concentration camps).

• Role – defend Hitler, elite military force, create a master race.

The SS under Himmler were directly responsible for some of the worst

atrocities of the Nazi regime, including the Holocaust. Officers

were brutalised to make them cold blooded killers

Who was Heinrich Himmler?

• How did a successful chicken farmer become arguably the worst war criminal ever known, responsible for the

deaths of 6m Jews?

• You are going to write a biography about Himmler following the instructions on the task sheet. Aim to

produce about a page of work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSFLjRUf2yk

2) Gestapo

How powerful were the Gestapo?

15mins to writebrief notes on the following:

• Aims• Means• Influence

(Layton p.121-2 orAQA p.97-9)

How powerful were the Gestapo?

AIMS: Security and surveillance, both in Germany and in the war years in the occupied territories also

MEANS: Relatively small organisation – in 1939 only 20,000 officers to cover the whole of Germany. Use of torture, Law on Malicious Gossip introduced 21st March 1933 (illegal even to tell jokes about Hitler).

Relied on informers such as Block leaders. Most informers motivated by personal grudges (Gestapo

became so overwhelmed by accusations that Himmler threatened makers of malicious

denunciations with being sent to concentration camps!)

INFLUENCE: Despite its small size, very successful – atmosphere of fear and suspicion. Image of power intimidated potential opposition. Political debate stifled and criticism driven underground. People

believed there were Gestapo agents and informers everywhere and thus adjusted their behaviour

What was the connection between the Gestapo and the SS?

• They originated as distinct bodies – the Gestapo was a state body (Prussian secret police) whilst

the SS was a party body created in 1925 as Hitler’s personal bodyguard

• The SS and Gestapo shared a police role of rooting out enemies of the state but the SS also

had a wider role for developing the new Nazi racial community

• In 1936 Himmler was made Chief of German Police, adding control of the Gestapo to that of

the SS and thus reinforcing the overlap

Fear of the Gestapo-SS was real vs. a clever myth: comparison

table

• Use p.118-22 Layton or p.95-8 AQA textbook to gather evidence for each

of these view pointsThe fear of the Gestapo-SS was very

realThe Gestapo-SS was a clever myth that played on the fears of people

debate

“Never before, in no other land and at no other time, had an organisation attained such a comprehensive penetration (of society), possessed such power and reached such a degree of ‘completeness’ in its ability to arouse terror and horror, as well as its actual effectiveness.”

The History of the Gestapo, Jacques Delarue, 1962

“Violence and intimidation rarely touched the lives of most ordinary Germans. After 1933 at least, terror was highly selective, concentrating on small and marginal groups whose persecution not only met with the approval of the vast majority of Germans, but was actually carried out with the cooperation and often voluntary participation at the local level of the broad mass of ordinary German citizens. German society under the Nazis was, in this view, a society engaged in self-surveillance.”

The Third Reich in Power, R Evans, 2005

Document work (sources)

In pairs, read the sources and plan answers to the questions. Use the essay planning sheet to help you

When studying the sources, consider the provenance but you also need to go further. Think about:

1.Tone2.Purpose3.Audience

what do you think made the police state so powerful in Nazi

Germany?

You have 3mins to use your play-doh to make a model showing your

answer to this question

Homework: Essay planning

In pairs, choose one of the essay titles below and use the essay planning sheet to come up with a credible debate with evidence and a conclusion:

1. "The maintenance of a police state was essential for the preservation of Hitler's power in Germany between 1933-39." Explain why you agree or disagree with this view (p.141 Layton can help you plan)

2. How far did the Nazis succeed in creating an atmosphere of fear in the general population by 1939?

Due: 23/01

Gestapo• As you watch the documentary, note

down any evidence, facts and figures that could be useful in your essays

• You could also add to the table that you completed last lesson (fear of the Gestapo was real vs. a clever myth)

Gestapo – Documentary (parts 3 – 15) on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtgB4qiiWBI

3) Concentration camps

Concentration camps and the final solution

• Using the key words, you need to prepare a brief overview of the concentration camps and their key features – this will test your knowledge from GCSE

• I’ll choose someone to deliver their overview in 10mins

Concentration camps• Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany established about

20,000 camps to imprison its many millions of victims. Some were very small - they weren’t all like Auschwitz

• These camps were used for a range of purposes including forced-labour camps, transit camps which served as temporary way stations, and extermination camps built primarily or exclusively for mass murder

• 1933 – for political opponents. By 1934, torture and brutality had led to majority of prisoners being unwilling to continue their resistance against the regime and they were released

• All concentration camps came under the control of the SS after 1934

• Feb 1936 – round up criminals, asocials and homosexuals – attempt to start purifying the race. This change coincides with an increase in violence and brutality in the camps – camp guards had been given immunity from prosecution by Himmler

• After Germany's annexation of Austria in March 1938, the Nazis arrested German and Austrian Jews and imprisoned them in the Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, all located in Germany

• After the violent Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938, the Nazis conducted mass arrests of adult male Jews and incarcerated them in camps for brief periods

Concentration camps were not set up during the war, they had been an important instrument of the regime throughout , with the first being set up in 1933 – what does this tell you about how the Nazis viewed their use as a tool

for terror and intimidation?

Why anti-Semitism?

Reasons for anti-semitism

General ReasonsIn 20th Century Germany

Hitler

Why anti-Semitism?

General reasons:Religious – Jesus killed by JewsEconomic – hostility to wealthy Jews (bankers, industrialists etc) or to poor

immigrantsSocial – popular need to blame someone for problems, to find a scapegoatPolitical – government diverts discontent by attacking JewsPsychological – general hostility to things that are different/alien

In 20th Century Germany:Influence of social DarwinismBlamed for defeat in WWI – the ‘stab in the back myth’

Hitler:His contact with Jews in ViennaHis doubts about his own ancestryPathological (diseased) aspects of his personality

How could the Holocaust happen?

• Read the sources and complete activities 1 and 2 in the ‘Focus Route’ box

1). Write a key word next to each source that sums up the reason that the Holocaust was tolerated

2). A more thorough answer needed – include a comment on the provenance and a quote for each

source you pick• Ext. If you finish, consider the 3 ‘Talking Points’

Finish for h/w – due next lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHcJtU9dr6I

Do you think there is a value in shocking portrayals such as this and in harrowing photographs of Jewish victims? Why/why not?