The 'Terror State' in Nazi Germany

The 'Terror State' in Nazi Germany

1. The SS

   • led by Heinrich Himmler
   • Nazi Aryans, highly trained+loyal to Hitler
   • Job: destroy opposition and carry out racial policies

2. The Gestapo= secret state police

   • Led by Reinhard Heydrich
   • most feared
   • Could arrest citizens and send them to concentration camps solely on suspicion
   • Germans thought they were extremely powerful so they informed on each other anyway
   • Germans thought they were everywhere but only 50,000 in Germany

3. The police and courts

   • Top jobs were given to high-ranking Nazis reporting to Himmler
   • Ignored crimes committed by Nazis
   • Opponents to Nazis rarely got a fair trial

4. Concentration camps

   • Led by SS Death's head unit
   • For Jews, socialists, communists, trade unionists, church and anyone who criticised the Nazis
   • Hard labor and discipline
   • Food shortage
   • Beatings and random executions

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