Nazi Methods of Control

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Nazi Methods of Control (Terror vs. Propaganda)

The SS

Schutz Staffeln: A large organisation within the Nazi Party run by Heinrich Himmler. These men were Hitler's personal bodyguards.

The SS was formed in 1925 from fanatics loyal to Hitler. After virtually destroying the SA in 1934, it grew into a huge organisation with many different responsibilities. It was lead ny Heinrich Himmler. SS were of course Aryans, very highly trained and loyal to Hitler. Under Himmler, the SS had primary responsibility for destroying opposition to Nazism and carrying out the racial policies of the Nazis.

Two important sub-divisons of the SS were the Death's Head units and the Waffen-SS. The Death's Head units were responsible for the concentration camps and the slaughter of the Jews. The Waffen-SS were special armoured regimen ' the SS in the community'.

Himmler quickly took the SS beyond its limited role to protect the Fuhrer. In 1936, Himmler was the Head of Police and soon the division between the police and the SS began to blur. This made the SS very powerful at both a local and national level.

Himmler believed strongly in racial theory and was anxious to keep German blood pure. Part of this was the euthanasia programme, which got rid of people who might have 'bad blood.' Those with hereditary illnesses were to be killed under the euthanasia programme, ordered by the SS.

The SS was also responsible for getting rid of other 'undesirables'. It was the SS who planned the 'Final Solution' (extermination of all Jews).

Euthanasia: Killing people in order to prevent suffering.

Hereditary: Where you inherit something from your family.

The Gestapo

The Gestapo: secret state police.

The Gestapo was the force which was perhaps most feared by the ordinary German citizen. Under the command of Reinhard Heydrich, Gestapo agents had sweeping powers. They could arrest citizens on suspicion and send them to concentration camps without trail or explanation.

Evidence shows that reports from ordinary German citizens were the most common way for the Gestapo to receive information. The effects of this were twofold. Firstly, it meant that no ordinary German was beyond reach of the Gestapo and that made people afraid and secondly, that the task of processing information, and sometimes following it up, kept Gestapo agents off the streets.

Denunciations were common and getting rid of people you didn't like was common. There are cases where young people who had been brainwashed by the Hitler Youth or the League of German Girls denounced their parents for being anti-Nazi.

Denunciation: The action of informing against someone.

Concentration Camps

Concentration Camp: Large camp surrounded by barbed wire which housed political prisoners and slave labourers.

Concentration camps were the Nazis' ultimate sanction against their own people. They were set up almost as soon as Hitler took power. The first concentration camp in 1933 were simply makeshift prisons in disused factories and workhouses. Soon these were purpose-built. These camps were usually in isolated rural areas, and run by SS Death's Head Units. Prisoners were forced to do hard labour. Food was very limited and prisoners suffered harsh discipline, beatings and random executions. Inmates were forced to work hard and listen to Nazi ideas all day long.

By the late 1930s, deaths in camps became increasingly common and very few people emerged from them alive. Jews, Socialists, Communists, trade unionists, church men and anyone else brave enough to criticise the Nazis ended up there. By 1939 the Nazis had built up a massive business by using their prisoners as slave labour, extracting raw materials and manufactoring weapons. During World War Two, these concentration camps became the scenes of mass genocide.

The Police and the Courts

The police and the courts also helped to prop up the Nazi dictatorship. Top jobs in the local police forces were given to high-ranking Nazis reporting to Himmler. As a result, the police added political 'snooping' to their normal law and order role. They were, of course, under strict instructions to ignore crimes committed by Nazi agents.

Similarly, the Nazis controlled magistrates, judges and the courts, which meant that opponents of Nazism rarely received a fair trail. The judges had to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler.

New laws meant that the death penalty could be given for, among other things, telling an anti-Nazi joke, having sex with a Jew or listening to a foreign radio station. The number of crimes punishable by death rose from 3 in 1933 to 46 in 1943. Prisoners were often confined within the normal prison system but in concentration camps under the exclusive authority of the SS.

The Nuremberg Rallies

One reason why opposition to Hitler was so limited was the work of Dr Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda. Goebbels passionately believed in Hitler as the saviour of Germany. His mission was to make sure that others believed this to.

Goebbels organised huge rallies called Numremberg rallies. This was probably the best example of Nazi propaganda which took place in the summer of each year. There were band marches, flying displays and Hitler's brilliant speeches.

The rallies brought some colour and excitement into people's lives. They gave them a sense of belonging to a great movement. The rallies also showed the German people the power of the state and convinced them that 'every other German' fully supported the Nazis. Goebbels also recongnised that one of the Nazi's main attractions was that they created order out of chaos and so the whole rally was organised to emphasise order.

The 1936 Olympics

One of Goebbels greatest challenges came with the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Other Nazis were opposed to holding the Games in Berlin, but Goebbels convinced Hitler that this was a great propaganda opportunity both within Germany and internationally.

Goebbels and Hitler also thought that the Olympics could be a showcase for their beliefs that the Aryan race was superior to all other races. However, there was international pressure for nations such as the USA to boycott the Games in protest against the Nazis repressive regime and anti-Jewish policies. In response the Nazis included one token Jew in their team!

Goebbels built a brand new stadium to hold 100,000 people. It was lit by the most modern electric lighting. He brought in television cameras for the first time. The most sophisiticated German photo electronic device was installed. The stadium had the largest stop clock ever built. With guests and competitors from 49 countries coming into the heart of Nazi Germany, it was going to take all of Goebbels talent to show that Germany was a modern, civilised and successful nation. When the games opened the visitors were amazed at the scale of the stadium, the wonderful facilities and the organisation of the games.

To the delight of Hitler and Goebbels, Germany came top of the medal table, way ahead of all the other countries. However, to their great dismay, a black athlete, Jesse Owens, became the star of the games and won four gold medals. So much for Aryan superiority!

To the majority of German people, who had grown used to the Nazi propaganda machine, the Games appeared to present ll the qualities they valued in the Nazis - a grand vision, efficiency strength and achievement.

Boycott: When you withdraw from something as a form of protest.

Repressive: Stopping the freedom of people.

The Media

Less spectacular than the rallies but possible more important was Goebbels control of the media. In contrast with the free expression of Weimar Germany, the Nazis controlled the media strictly. No books could be publised without Goebbels permission (not surprisingly the best seller in Nazi Germany was Mein Kampf).

In 1933 he organised a high profile 'book burning'. Nazi students came together to publicly burn any books that included ideas unacceptable to the Nazis.

Artists suffered the same kinds of restrictions as writers. Only Nazi-approved painters could show their work. These were usually paintings or sculptures of heroic-looking Aryans, military figures or images of the ideal Aryan family.

Goebbels also controlled the newspapers closely. They were not allowed to print anti-Nazi ideas. Within months of Nazi takeover, Jewish editors and journalists found themselves out of work and anti-Nazi newspapers were closed down. The German newspapers became very dull reading!

The cinema was also closely controlled. All films had to carry a pro-Nazi message. Films showed the greatness of Hitler and the massive achievements of Nazi Germany.

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

Goebbels banned jazz music because it was thought to be 'black' music and black people were considered inferior.

Goebbels loved new technology and quickly saw the potential of cheap radio broadcasting for publicising the Nazi message. He made cheap radios available so all Germans could buy one and he controlled all the radio stations. Listening to the broadcasts by the BBC was punishable by death. Just in case people did not have a radio, Goebbels placed loudspeakers in the streets and public bars.

Goebbels was supported in his work by the SS and Gestapo. Where he wanted to close down an anti-Nazi newspaper, silence an anti-Nazi writer, or catch someone listening to a foreign radio station, they were there to do the work for him.