How effectively did the Nazis deal with their political opponents?

Question 1

What methods did the Nazis use to control the lives of Germans?

Answer 1

• Police state run by the SS
• the Gestapo kept tabs on ordinary Germans
• Informers used everywhere
• Controlled the courts and legal system
• Political opponents + “undesirables” set to concentration camps

Question 2

Who was Himmler?

Answer 2

• Joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925
• Became head of the SS in 1929
• Helped Hitler to remove Rohm
• By 1936, was chief of all German police and security forces
• His SS ran concentration camps and carried out the Final Solution in the extermination campus

Question 3

How was the SS used to control the lives of Germans?

Answer 3

• SS led by Himmler and deputy Heydrich, grew to a force of over 1 million by 1944
• Used to crush opponents and had its own courts by 1936
• Violent, could arrest and detain opponents without charge or trial
• The Death’s Head units ran concentration camps for political enemies and undesirables, and later extermination camps
• the SD (Security Services) investigated disloyalty within the Nazi Party and armed forces
• the Waffen-SS made up of fighting troops that fought alongside regular army

Question 4

How was the Gestapo used to control the lives of Germans?

Answer 4

• Gestapo (secret state police) set up by Goering in Prussia in 1933 was feared by the German population
• By 1934, under Heydrich, the Gestapo used networks of informers to spy on the German population and tap phone lines to hunt enemies of the Nazis
• Had unlimited powers of arrest and could send people to concentration camps without trial

Question 5

How were informers used to control the lives of Germans?

Answer 5

• Not enough Gestapo agents to spy on every German
• Local Nazi officials used loyal residents to inform the Gestapo of suspicious behaviour or treasonous activities
• Some informers settled scores and fabricated stories, children reported parents sometimes

Question 6

How were Nazi-controlled courts and legal system used to control the lives of Germans?

Answer 6

• All magistrates and judges had to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler
• Hitler used them to ensure opponents were punished harshly
• By 1934, total of 43 capital (death penalty) offences, including telling anti-Nazi jokes
• Top jobs in local police forces were given to high-ranking Nazis

Question 7

How were concentration camps used to control the lives of Germans?

Answer 7

• First concentration camp was opened near Dachau in 1933, after the Enabling Act, many political opposition was sent there (social democrats, communists…etc.)
• Run by SS, conditions were harsh, many perished from disease, bearings or executions
• Many prisoners were used as slave labour, especially during the war
• Used to imprison “undesirables” including beggars, prostitutes, alcoholics, gay people, Jewish people, Roma people
• Over 1.3 million Germans spent some time in a concentration camp between 1933 and 1939