How Did The Nazi Party Control The German People?

Question 1

What did the Nazi not allow?

Answer 1

Opposition
—> they killed or imprisoned all opponents

Question 2

What is a totalitarian state?

Answer 2

No other political parties
No political debate
Ordinary people should put all their energy into serving the state and carrying out the orders of the leader

Question 3

Who was Heinrich Himmler?

Answer 3

Became head of SS in 1929
Totally loyal to Hitler

Question 4

What did the SS oversee?

Answer 4

The concentration camps and death camps
Actions of the Einsatzgruppen
Ordinary German police

Question 5

Who was Reinhard Heydrich?

Answer 5

In charge of all security and secret police in Germany

Question 6

Who were the SS?

Answer 6

Hitler’s loyal force
Ran camps and carried out the Holocaust

Question 7

When was the SS set up?

Answer 7

1925

Question 8

What 3 sections were the SS divided up into?

Answer 8

The SD
The Waffen SS
The Death’s Head units

Question 9

Who were the SD?

Answer 9

Looked after security

Question 10

Who were the Waffen SS?

Answer 10

Elite unit in the army

Question 11

Who were the Death’s Head Units?

Answer 11

Ran the concentration camps and later on death camps

Question 12

Who were the Gestapo?

Answer 12

The secret police

Question 13

What did the Gestapo do?

Answer 13

Spied on people they thought might be a threat
Power to arrest, imprison without trial and torture anyone
Set up a huge network of ‘informers’ who would report anyone who even moaned about the Nazis

Question 14

What were concentration camps?

Answer 14

Large prisons where any ‘enemies of the state’ could be held at for any length of time
Corrected people who weren’t doing what the Nazis wanted and anyone the Nazi’s didn’t like
—> e.g. Jews, political opponents and anyone who criticised Hitler

Question 15

What happened to the inmates in concentration camps?

Answer 15

Forced to work hard
Some tortured
Worked to death

Question 16

What did the Police and Law Courts do?

Answer 16

Continued regular work but ignored crimes committed by Nazis
Under Nazi control

Question 17

Which laws meant people faced prison or even death penalty?

Answer 17

Smuggling banned books into Germany
Telling an anti-Hitler joke
Listening to a foreign radio station

Question 18

What 2 methods of control did the Nazis use to have as many people as possible continue to support them?

Answer 18

Propaganda and censorship

Question 19

What is censorship?

Answer 19

The limiting of access to information, ideas or books in order to prevent knowledge or the freedom of thought

Question 20

Why was propaganda so important to the Nazis?

Answer 20

Helped them spread their ideas
Control what people thought
Justify their actions

Question 21

Who was Joseph Goebbels?

Answer 21

Joined Nazi Party in 1924
Totally loyal to Hitler
In charge of all propaganda and censorship

Question 22

How did the Nazis use newspapers as propaganda?

Answer 22

Only stories that showed the Nazis in a good light could be published
Anti-Nazi newspapers were banned

Question 23

How did the Nazis use films as propaganda?

Answer 23

Goebbels read and supervised all film plots before they were made
Cinema trips involved sitting through newsreels and short documentary films which carried a Nazi message before you could watch the film itself

Question 24

How did the Nazis use radio as propaganda?

Answer 24

Reich Radio Company was formed in order to control all local radio stations
6000 loudspeakers were put up in public areas where Nazi propaganda programmes could be heard

Question 25

How did the Nazis use rallies as propaganda and censorship?

Answer 25

Parades were used to demonstrate Nazi power, organisation and discipline

Question 26

Where was the most famous rally held at?

Answer 26

Nuremberg

Question 27

How did the Nazis use culture as propaganda?

Answer 27

Writers and theatre directors had to write material that praised the Nazis and demonised their enemies Books written by communists and Jews were banned Jazz music was banned as it was seen as ‘black’ music and degenerate

Question 28

What was the effect of art being limited to only show heroic German figures?

Answer 28

It influenced regular peoples views on the Nazis and made them more accepting of those beliefs

Question 29

What did the Nazis use the Olympic Games to show?

Answer 29

Their power and promote their beliefs about Aryan superiority —> tried to hide the unfair treatment of Jewish athletes

Question 30

Why did most Germans support the Nazis?

Answer 30

Enjoyed the adventures in the Hitler Youth Business men and factory owners were happy to mass-produce weapons for war Employed people were motivated by strength through joy movement and work conditions improved by German Labour Front

Question 31

Why did some Germans dislike the Nazis?

Answer 31

Not allowed to vote for someone else in an election Uncomfortable with concentration camps Shocked by the treatment of Jews Hated restrictions/limits put on their lives

Question 32

Why did German citizens find it difficult to protest against the regime?

Answer 32

You could be arrested or punished if you publicly spoke out

Question 33

What 2 ways might people show low level resistance to the regime?

Answer 33

Moaning and grumbling Passive resistance

Question 34

What was moaning and grumbling (low level resistance)?

Answer 34

Saying an anti-Hitler joke Complain about the way their Jewish friends were being treated

Question 35

What was passive resistance (low level resistance)?

Answer 35

Refusing to do exactly what they were told —> like refusing to give the “Heil Hitler’ salute or give money to the Hitler Youth

Question 36

What were the 4 open oppositions?

Answer 36

The Swing Movement Edelweiss Pirates Religious opposition White Rose Movement

Question 37

Who were the Swing Movement?

Answer 37

Disliked Nazi ideas/policies Listened to Jazz music Had Jewish friends

Question 38

Who were the Edelweiss Pirates?

Answer 38

Beat up Nazi officials Helped army deserters Sabotaged railway lines Acted as spies, passing on military secrets to other countries

Question 39

Who were the religious opposition?

Answer 39

Some Catholic Priests opposed Hitler Pope issued a message called “with burning concern” —> described Hitler as a ‘mad prophet with repulsive arrogance’ They were imprisoned Some German Priests were sent to the concentration camps Shocked

Question 40

Who were the White Rose Movement?

Answer 40

Urged Germans to get rid of Hitler Handed out anti-Nazi leaflets Put up posters Wrote graffiti on walls

Question 41

Who were the 2 main groups that tried to kill Hitler?

Answer 41

Kreisau Circle Beck-Geordeler Group

Question 42

Who were the Kreisau Circle?

Answer 42

Group of army officers, university professors and aristocrats —> shocked by Hitler’s brutality and his plans for the war Planned to assassinate Hitler but didn’t actually do anything

Question 43

Who were the Beck-Goedeler Group?

Answer 43

Group of army officers Made attempts to kill Hitler in March 1943 and November 1943 Were responsible for the July Bomb Plot in July 1944

Question 44

Who led the Beck-Geordeler group Group?

Answer 44

Former army general Ludwig Beck Nazi official Karl Geordeler

Question 45

What was the July Bomb Plot 1944?

Answer 45

Leader, Claus von Stauffenberg, planned to detonate a bomb under a table during a meeting between Hitler and other Nazi leaders Someone moved the briefcase at the last minute by accident —> bomb went off on the other side of the table Killed 4 people and injured Hitler —> plotters were caught and executed

Question 46

When was the July Bomb Plot?

Answer 46

July 1944