National StudiesGERMANY 1918 – 1939

Nazism in PowerRole of Terror and Repression

ByS. Angelo

Head Teacher HistoryEast Hills Girls Technology High

School2009

Organs of State Terror1933 - 39

Sturmabteilung

Concentration Camps

Gestapo

SchutzStaffel

Sturmabteilung – the SA

Night of the Long Knives

Ran concentration camps – Lager

3 million membership – 1934

Led by Rohm

“ battering ram of the National Socialist Revolution” – Hitler

Schutzstaffel - SS

Formed in 1920s

Personal guard

Headed by Himmler

Organisation with

factories, courts, army

units

Political police

Ran concentration camps after

SA

Selective membership – Aryan, elites

SS State

Defend Hitler

• Root out enemies• Arbitrary arrests• Special Courts• Camps• SD intelligence reports

on public feelings

Elite Military Force

• Waffen-SS grew to rival Werhmacht

• Suppressed Warsaw Uprising 1943

Creation of Master Race

•Ran much of the conquered lands

•Organised labour and extermination camps

•Einsatzgruppen•Enacted Holocaust•Ran elite schools•12 Lebensborn clinics – breed pure Aryan race

Control of All Areas

• Forced labour • Armaments• Construction• V-weapon production• Over 150 firms – Stutthof

Geheimes Polizeiamt - Gestapo

Established 1933

Initially headed by Goering, then

Himmler (SS)

Protect the Nazi state against

enemies

Byword of cruelty and

brutality

AMT IV (Dept 4) GESTAPOPolitical Secret Police: Unquestioned powers of arrest : Sought out Opponents of the Regime

IVEnemies

Communists

Counter-Sabotage

ReactionariesLiberals

Assassinations

IV BChurches& Sects

Catholics

Protestants

Freemasons

Jews

IV CCard Index

Party Affairs

IV DOccupiedTerritories

Opponents Of the Regime

Churches& Sects

Records &Party Matters

WesternTerritories

Counter Espionage

Aliens

IV ECounter

Intelligence

In the Reich

Policy formation

In the West

In Scandinavia

In the East

In the South

Concentration Camps - Lager

Used for

opponents of the Nazi regime Socially “deviant” groups Intimidating the

population

Sachenhausen Concentration Camp – Berlin

Buchenwald Concentration Camp- Weimar

Dachau Concentration Camp - Munich

Loss of personal liberty

Reichstag Fire Decree 28/2/1933

Source Study: Mason

• Read Sources A- E (Republic to Reich)• What point is being made in Source A to explain how the

Gestapo operated in Nazi Germany?• In what ways are the sentiments expressed in Source A &

Source B similar?• What point is made in Source B that helps to explain why

the SS was able to exercise such influence and terror in the 3rd Reich?

• The letter in Source C not only sought to inform but it was intended to have another effect. What effect to you think a letter like this was intended to achieve?

• Explain what was Theodor Eicke’s main concern as he drafted the regulations for Dachau concentration camp in Nov 1933?

• What attitude and outlook is Eicke trying to build in his men (Source E)? Given the nature of the government system, why was this necessary?

Terror and Repression: Realities

Fear as an effective weapon

Gestapo lacked of manpower – Gellately (43 /650,000 in Essen)

Reactive rather than proactive

Co-operation – traditional views on authority

Denunciation – acceptable/ revenge

Gestapo mainly civil servants/bureaucrats with inherent internal rivalry

Terror and Repression: Historiography

Evans: The Third Reich in Power•Nazi control reached down to lowest

levels•Officials ensured compliance with

even the smallest details (banners, bunting, flags, rallies)

Overy: The Dictators•Popular appeal of Nazi justice

Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich•Sicherheitsdienst – Heydrich –

intelligence gathering

HSC Questions

• To what extent can Nazism be seen as totalitarianism in the period 1933 – 1939?

• Were the instruments of terror and repression the reasons for the lack of effective opposition to the Nazi regime?

• How far did the Nazi regime rely on terror and repression to consolidate its hold on power in the years 1933-39