Hitler's Dictatorship Flashcards
Who were Gauleiters?
They conducted most work at a local level. These were usually free to interpret Nazi policy as they saw fit.
Who were the SS?
They took over from the SA and by 1937 were an elite force of 50,000 tall, blond, blue-eyed Aryan supermen.
What was the main purpose of the SS?
To terrorise and intimidate Germans into obedience.
What powers did the SS have?
They had unlimited powers of search, arrest and interrogation and ran the concentration camps.
What were concentration camps originally set up to do?
Temporary prisons set up as prison overflow camps; some for particular prisoners.
By 1939 what were concentration camps?
They had become big businesses of slave labour.
Who were the Gestapo?
The secret state police run by Himmler.
What did informers do?
Spied on people and reported back to the Gestapo, keeping the German population scared and obedient.
Who were the police controlled by?
SS.
How was the informer system set up?
Every town was divided into blocks with a warden. These wardens reported on the political reliability of those under their watch.
Why was there no such thing as an independent trial in Germany?
Judges took an oath of loyalty to Hitler.
How was the totalitarian state upheld?
Terror and control of all forms of expression and communication.
