The 'Terror State'

Question 1

Who led the SS ?

Answer 1

Himmler

Question 2

What were 2 offshoots of the SS :

Answer 2

• SD
• Gestapo

Question 3

Between 1933-1936 who argued over having control over the police ?

Answer 3

• Himmler
• Goering
• Rohm

Question 4

What happened to Himmler in 1936?

Answer 4

SS, SD and Gestapo were placed under his command

Question 5

What did the Reich Security department headquaters do ?

Answer 5

placed all party and state police organisations under one organisation supervised by the SS

Question 6

What were the vast majority of prisoners in the first months of the regime ?

Answer 6

communists, socialists and trade unionists

Question 7

What made prisoners be released ?

Answer 7

brutality made majority unwilling to continue opposition

Question 8

When did concentration camps begin to deal with ‘undesirables’ ?

Answer 8

1934 - correlated with increased violence

Question 9

When was the SD established ?

Answer 9

1931

Question 10

What was the SD ?

Answer 10

an internal security service of the Nazi party

Question 11

Who was the SD led by ?

Answer 11

Heydrich

Question 12

Who staffed the SD ?

Answer 12

not professionals but committed Nazi’s

Question 13

What was the SD’s role ?

Answer 13

• monitor public opinion
• intelligence gathering

Question 14

How many officers did the SD have by 1939 ?

Answer 14

50,000

Question 15

How many Gestapo officers were there in 1939 ?

Answer 15

20,000 most being office based

relatively small

Question 16

Who made up the Gestapo ?

Answer 16

professional police officers who were generally not Nazi party members

Question 17

What did the Gestapo depend on ?

Answer 17

information given by informers

Question 18

Why did the Gestapo have to resort to arbitrary arrests and preventive custody ?

Answer 18

because of the volume of info received they couldnt go through it all

Question 19

What was the Gestapo successful in doing ?

Answer 19

instiling an atmosphere of fear and suspicion

Question 20

Why were lawyers and judges a problem for the Nazi’s ?

Answer 20

acts committed by SA and SS were clearly illegal

Question 21

How did the Nazi’s coordinate the justice systems ?

Answer 21

• Front of German Law April 1933 made it clear judges and lawyers careers depended on them doing the regimes bidding
• special courts set up in 1933 and peoples court in 1934 to deal with political crimes ( no juries or defendants and no right to appeal against their sentence )

Question 22

Between 1934 and 1939 how many were tried by the peoples court ?

Answer 22

around 3400 many given death penalty

Question 23

SPD resistance during early years of Nazi control ?

Answer 23

• Schumancher organised small secret cells of supporters in factories e.g Berlin Red Patrol.
• propaganda pamphlets smuggled from Czech

Question 24

What was the SPD priority when it came to resistance to the regime ?

Answer 24

to survive and prepare for a collapse of the regime not to create a serious opposition

Question 25

How did the Gestapo suppress SPD activities ?

Answer 25

SPD was in fear of exposure so limited scope of illegal activities

Question 26

What % of KPD members were killed by Nazi's in 1933 ?

Answer 26

10%

Question 27

How did the KPD go against the regime ?

Answer 27

- underground network through some of Germany's industrial centres - revolutionary unions set up in Berlin and Hamburg - Factory cells established

Question 28

Priority of KPD cells ?

Answer 28

survival not opposition

Question 29

How did the Gestapo suppress the KPD ?

Answer 29

they broke up their networks

Question 30

What were trade unions absorbed into ?

Answer 30

DAF (German Labour Front)

Question 31

Forms of resistance by Workers ?

Answer 31

- strikes - absenteeism - deliberate damage of machinery

Question 32

How many workers strikes were there in 1937 ?

Answer 32

250 due to poor working conditions or low wages

Question 33

How did the Nazi regime react to the 1935 worker strikes ?

Answer 33

of the 25,000 who participated, 4000 spent short periods in prison

Question 34

How did the regime react to absenteeism ?

Answer 34

introduced severe penalties for 'slackers'. In 1938 the Gestapo arrested 114 workers for this at a munitions plant in Gleiwitz

Question 35

How did the regime react to employees who deliberately damaged machinery ?

Answer 35

it made 'sabotage' a criminal offence

Question 36

When was the confessional church established ?

Answer 36

1934

Question 37

Why did the confessional church refuse to be a part of the Reich Church ?

Answer 37

- protect independence of protestant church from the regime - resisting attempt to impose aryan paragraph - trying to defend Lutherian theology which was based purely on the bible

Question 38

How did the regime respond to Protestant dissent ?

Answer 38

increased repression, dissenting pastors had salaries stopped and they were banned from teaching many also arrested.

Question 39

By the end of 1937 how many protestant pastors had been imprisoned ?

Answer 39

700

Question 40

Evaluation of confessional church ?

Answer 40

regime failed to silence but they didn't form a full opposition - no official condemnation of atrocities

Question 41

What did the pope's issue 'With Burning Grief' in 1937 do ?

Answer 41

condemned Nazi hatred upon the Church it was smuggled in and distributed

Question 42

What was the regimes response to the pope's 'With Burning Grief' being distributed ?

Answer 42

increased repression - charges against priests for 'abuse of the pulpit' increased

Question 43

What did an official report in 1937 show about clergy and priest behaviour ?

Answer 43

beginning to show 'cautious restraint'

Question 44

Why was Catholic opposition ineffective ?

Answer 44

they didn't go beyond a defence of its independence to a wider opposition

Question 45

When was HY membership made compulsory ?

Answer 45

1936

Question 46

Why did many HY members wish to opt out ?

Answer 46

it made great demands on their time

Question 47

How did the youth show their independence ?

Answer 47

forms gangs some criminal and some overtly political ( Meuten gangs)

Question 48

What did the elite regard Hitler as ?

Answer 48

a threat to the old Germany

Question 49

What did the elites agree with and disagree with when it came to Hitlers war policy ?

Answer 49

agreed with Hitlers long term aims of rebuilding Germany's military strength but they felt as if he was leading them unprepared into a war

Question 50

Who was purged from the army when they expressed doubts about Hitler's plan ?

Answer 50

Blomberg and Fritsch

Question 51

What did Hitler outline to Goering in 1937 ?

Answer 51

that he envisioned a union with Austria and an invasion of Czech within a year

Question 52

What prompted people to attempt to remove Hitler from power ?

Answer 52

his plan to invade Czech in 1938 as it would have started the war

Question 53

Who made a plot to overthrow Hitler and what did it entail ?

Answer 53

General Beck and other senior army officers plans were made for a march on Berlin if war was declared - depended on Britain and France standing by Czech

Question 54

Why did the plot to overthrow Hitler not go through ?

Answer 54

British and French gov's didnt want to risk war so agreed to a peaceful takeover of the Sudetenland area of Czech.

Question 55

The aim for propaganda ?

Answer 55

the 'spiritual mobilisation' of the German people

Question 56

Newspapers as a method of propaganda :

Answer 56

- Nazis by end of 1933 circulated 2.4 million newspapers a day - News agencies merged into a state controlled organisation

Question 57

Radio as a method of propaganda :

Answer 57

Hitler and Goebbles used effectively in 1932 and 33 in 1933 he made 50 broadcasts loudspeakers set up in town squares and factories sirens would signal to draw attention to it Goebbles promoted mass production of cheap radio sets and by 1939 70% of German households possessed one Goebbles dismissed 13% of radio staff on racial or political grounds In April 1934 all radio stations were brought under the Reich radio company

Question 58

Film as a method of propaganda :

Answer 58

- all films to some degree had a political theme. leadership being glorified or demonising Jews and communists were both prominent ones - Goebbles approved films after 1933

Question 59

When does Nazi indoctrination and propaganda appear to be most successful ?

Answer 59

when aimed at children

Question 60

How was Hitler presented :

Answer 60

- hard working, tough in defeating countries enemies - political genius - dynamic and forceful - lived a simple life and sacrificed it to devote himself to his people

Question 61

Reality of Hitler :

Answer 61

- surrounded by officials who competed for his attention - was not actually very involved in decision making - not hard working - would get up in middle of day and disliked reading official documents and rarely got involved in detailed discussions on policy