The Nazi dictatorship

The Nazi dictatorship

How did the Nazis control Germany, 1933–39?

The nazi's dictatorship

What were the Gestapo and the SS?

Who were in the concentration camps?

How did the Nazis use the propaganda?

Which media were manipulated by the Nazis?

Crushing opposition: The Nazi police state

The Gestapo

• The GESTAPO was the secret state police.
• The Gestapo could arrest and send citizens to concentration camps without trial.
• They had a network of ‘informers’ listening in on people’s conversations.
• The Gestapo was the organisation most feared byordinary citizens.

Crushing opposition: The Nazi police state

The SS

• The SS grew into a huge organisation with many different responsibilities.
• SS men were Aryans, loyal to Hitler.
• The SS' main responsibility was crushing opposition and carrying out Nazi racial policies.
• There were three important subdivisions:

1. The SD would investigate potential disloyalty within the armed forces or politically sensitive cases.
2. The Death’s Head units were responsible for the concentration camps and the transportation and murder of the Jews.
3. The Waffen-SS fought with the army.

Crushing opposition: The Nazi police state

Concentration camps

• Concentration camps were the Nazis’ ultimate sanction against their own people.
• The first camps were set up as soon as Hitler took power in 1933.
• Jews, socialists, communists, trade unionists ended up in these camps.
• Prisoners were forced to do hard labour.
• The aim was to ‘correct’ opponents of the regime.

Propaganda in Nazi Germany

Joseph Goebbels, minister for enlightenment and propaganda, believed in Hitler as the saviour of Germany. His mission was to make sure that others believed this too. Goebbels constantly kept his finger on the pulse of PUBLIC OPINION and decided what the German public should and should not hear.Control of media and culture Goebbels was supported in this work by the terror state. When he wanted to close down an anti-Nazi newspaper, silence an anti-Nazi writer, or catch someone listening to a foreign radio station, the SS and the Gestapo did that work for him.

pROPAGANDA IN THA NAZI GERMANY

Newspapers

Art

Books

Only Nazi-approved painters could show their works. These painted or sculptured of heroic-looking Aryans, military figures or images of Aryan families.

Jewish editors and journalists were fired and anti-Nazi newspapers were closed down. Those who remained were not allowed to print anti-Nazi articles.

No books could be published without Goebbels’ permission.In 1933 Goebbels organised a ‘book-burning’.

Posters

• Goebbels plastered Germany with posters proclaiming the successes of Hitler and the Nazis and attacking their opponents.

Radio

• Goebbels saw the potential of radio broadcasting for spreading the Nazi message, he controlled all the radio stations.
• Hitler’s speeches and those of other Nazi leaders were repeated on the radio over and over again.

the persecution of minorities

What kind of laws did the Nazis implement to minorities?

Who did suffer the most?

What were the Nuremberg laws?

What was the Kristallnacht?

the persecution of minorities

Through their twelve years in power the Nazis persecuted any group that they thought challenged Nazi ideals.

• Organisations for gay and lesbian people were shut down. Books by gay authors were banned. Around 100,000 gay people were arrested with around 50,000 sent to prison.
• A so-called ‘euthanasia programme’ was begun in 1939 against the mentally handicapped: at least 5000 babies and children were killed between 1939 and 1945. Between 1939 and 1941, 72,000 mentally ill patients were gassed before a public outcry in Germany itself ended the extermination.

the persecution of minorities

Early measures against the jewish people Hitler began to mobilise the full powers of the state against the Jews.

• They were banned from the Civil Service and from public services such as broadcasting and teaching.
• SA and SS troopers organised boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses, which were marked with a star of David.

• Goebbels’ propaganda experts bombarded German children and families with anti-Jewish messages.
• In daily life Jews faced discrimination.

the persecution of minorities

The Nuremberg laws In September 1935, Hitler announced two anti-Semic laws.

1. The 'Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour' made it illegal for Jews to marry or have sex with Aryan.
2. The 'Reich Citizenship Law' classified Germans:

• Aryan of pure German blood
• Mischiling or mixed race
• Non-Aryan

Only Aryans were given full German citizenship.

the persecution of minorities

Kristallnacht In November 1938 a young Jew killed a German diplomat in Paris. The Nazis used this as an excuse to launch a violent revenge on Jews. They ran riot, smashing up Jewish shops and workplaces. Ninety-one Jews were murdered. Hundreds of synagogues were burned. Twenty thousand Jews were taken to concentration camps.