Nazi Control Flashcards
Joseph Goebbels role
Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Role in Gleichschaltung through media, with the Editors Law mandating membership of the Reich Press Association for journalists = published detailed guidelines
Joseph Goebbels Events
Book burnings of 1933 consumed 90,000 books contrary to Nazi Ideology (eg. Marx or Jewish Authors)
Night of Broken Glass on the 9th November 1938 as he made anti-semetic speech in Munich Beer Hall.
Laws that enabled Nazi to exercise control
April 1933: Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
= Legitimised removal of those deemed unreliable including officials or the judiciary AND prevented Jews from working in the civil service
e.g. Prussia- 643 Jewish judges were dismissed.
How many people were convicted of high treason by …
1937, 5255 individuals were convicted of high treason
People’s Court was established in April 1934 to deal with cases of treason
Control of the State: Racial Laws
- Laws for sterilising those who are ill
- Stats on sterilisation
- Laws forbid marriage between hereditarily health and racially unfit
- Law for protecting German blood
July 1933- Law for the Prevention of Offspring with
Hereditary Disease
300 000 individuals had been sterilised by 1939
The Marriage Health Law October 1935
Sept 1935 - Nuremberg Laws
Control of the State: Propaganda
- Quote of poster
- Purpose of propaganda
1936: “All of Germany hears the Führer with the People’s Receiver.”
- Celebrate the achievements, promote policy and enlighten citizens
- Restrict types of information - Censorship
Control of State: Cinema
- Law of Cinema
- Stats on state financing German feature films
- Examples of German films
Feb 1934 - Reich Cinema Law. System where politically valuable films were exempt from tax
1936 - the state was financing more than 73%
Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (1935)
- Celebrations of Hitler, the party and physicality in state-sponsored art productions
Eternal Jew + Jude Suss (1940) compares Jews to rats that carry contagion, flood the continent, and devour precious resources.
Control of State: Cinema
Quote on success of Nazi cinema
Stats on people viewing Jude Suss
“one of the most successful pieces of antisemitic film propaganda produced in Nazi Germany.”
- Seen by 20 million people.
Nuremberg rally
- When
- Purpose
- Statistics
Rally lasted a whole week and was held in 4 specially built arenas outside the town in August
1937 rally, 100, 000 soldiers marched past Hitler carrying 32, 000 flags and banners.
At night, 150 vertical searchlights created a dome of light
Radio systems + their purpose
- Company
1 April 1934 The Reich Radio Company formed to unify the broadcasting system
- “People’s receiver” was produced - over 70% of German households
- DKE (German Mini Receiver) cost only about 35 marks, about a week’s wages.
To ensure that people heard the radio, Goebbels had loudspeaker pillars built in streets, and all cafes radio turned on for important programmes.
Nazi control of the Press
- Censorship law
- Nazi owned print media
April 1933 - German Press Association, regulated entry
Censorship
- Editors Law of October 1933; banned non-Aryans from being journalists.
By 1939 - Nazis owned 2/3 of print media.
Night of the Broken Glass
Nov 1938
10000 Jewish men imprisoned
Vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes.
Number of prisoners at concentration camps in Germany
October 1934: 2400
November 1938: 50 000
About the SA
Formed in 1921 to act as the Nazi Party’s private army
Organisation’s principal purpose was to intimidate political opponents and to enforce Party policy.
About the SS
- Leader
- Statistics on member
After the Night of the Long Knives, the SA was superseded by the SS
Heinrich Himmler took control of the SS in 1929 and quickly expanded its size and scope; in 1933 the SS numbered 52000 but by 1939 it was over 250000
