8C - How effectively did the Nazis control Germany?

Nazi Aims:

A strong Germany - He wanted strong leadership like in the days of the Kaiser

A racially pure Germany - He wanted to remove Jewish People and any non - aryans from positions of leadership.

A Peoples Community - The Nazis wanted people to give their hearts and minds to Hitler. People would see their contribution to Germany more important than their own fullfillment.

After gaining power in the events of January 1933, The Nazis started to remove anything that stopped them from achieving these goals. Political opposition was removed - its leaders intimidated into silence.

Crushing Opposition: The Nazi police state

The Gestapo - It was a secret state police commanded by Reinhard Heidrich. They could arrest citizens and take them to concentration camps without trial or even explanation. They had infromers who would listen on peoples conversations. The Gestapo was the most feared organisation among ordinary citizens.

The SS - The SS grew into a huge organisation with many responsibilities. The SS men were aryans, well trained and loyal to Hitler. Under Himmler, the SS carried out racial policies and crushed opposition. There were 3 main subdivisions: The SD which were the SS own internal security and would investigate potential disloyalty among armed forces and other sectors, The Death Head Units were responsible for the concentration camps and the transportation and murder of Jews, The Waffen fought alongside the army.

Concentration Camps - They were makeshift prisons in disused factories and warehouses before purpous - built ones. Jews, communists, trade unionists and anyone else brave enough to criticize the Nazis were executed here. Prisoners were forced to work, food was limited and faced random executions.

The Police and the Courts - Top jobs in police were given to high ranking Nazis. They were given instructions to ignore crimes committed by Nazis. They controlled magistrates and judges meaning opponents of Nazis rarely ever received a fair trial.

Propaganda in Nazi Germany

Goebbels made sure that everyone believed Hitler was the saviour of Germany. He decided what the public opinion should be and what they should and should not hear. He used every tool available to make everyone in Germany loyal to Hitler.

The Nuremberg Rallies:

The Nuremberg Rally took place once every year. There were bands, marches, flying displays and Hitler’s brilliant speeches. The rallies gave the people a sense of belonging while still showcasing the power of the state. The rally also emphasized order in a world of chaos.

Control of media and culture

Books - No book could be published without Goebells’ approval. Not surprisingly, the bestseller book during the period was Mein Kampf.

Art - Artists suffered the same kinds of restrictions as writers. only Nazi approved painters could show their works. These usually had to be paintings or sculptures of heroic looking Aryans, military figuirs or an ideal Aryan family.

Newspapers - Anti - Nazi newspapers were shut down. German newspapers became lesser and less popular.

Cinema - All films had to carry a pro - Nazi message. The newsreels before movies told of the achievements of Hitler and Germany, there is evidence that people arrived late to movies to avoid these. Goebells censored all foreign films coming into Germany.

Music - Jazz music was banned as it was considered black music and blacks were considered inferior.

Posters - Goebells plastered Germany with posters that showed Hitler and the Nazis’ success in Germany.

Radio - He made cheap radios available so that all Germans could buy one and he controlled all radio stations. Listening to foreign broadcasts was punishable by death. Just in case people did not have a radio he installed loudspeakers in streets and other public places. Speeches by Hitler and other Nazis were played on repeat on radios and loudspeakers.

The 1936 Olympics

This was a great propaganda oppurtunity globally and within Germany. It was going to take all of Goebells’ skills to show that Germany was a modern, civilized and succesful nation. No expense was spared and people were amazed by the scale of the stadium. They were also struck by the loyalty to Hitler and the presence of the army and SS everywhere. To Hitlers’ delight, Germany came on top of the medal table. The Olympics presented all the qualities they valued in the Nazis, however, to foreigners whom were not uses to such blatant propaganda, it backfired on the Nazi regime.

The Nazis and the Churches

The relationship between the churches and the Nazis was complex. At first there was some cooperation. Hitler signed the Concordat which meant that Hitler agreed to leave the Catholic church alone and allowed it to keep its schools while they had to stay clear out of politics. Hitler tried to get rid of all protestant churches. Many Germans still believed that their true loyalties still lied with old churches.

Churchgoers either supported the Nazis or did very little to oppose them. However there were some very important exceptions. The Catholic Bishop Galen critisized the Nazis and led a popular protest against Nazi policies of killing mentally ill and physically disabled people which forced the Nazis to stop for some time. The Nazis decided it was too risky to silence him.

Persecution of minorities

Organisations for gay and lesbian people were shut down. Homosexuality was already a crime and there was a lot of antigay prejudice even before the ban which the Nazis exploited. They were forced to wear a pink triangle to tell them apart,

A euthenesia program was started against people who suffered from mental disorders and physical disabilities. Most patients were gassed.

The extermination of Roma did not recieve any sort of outcry. Alcoholics and beggars were sent to concentration camps and this also did not recieve any comment.

Hitler hated Jews. In his years of poverty in Vienna, he became obsessed by the fact that they ran most successful businesses. He also thought they had forced the surrender of Germany in the First World War.

Early measures against Jews

They were banned from public services.

SA and SS boycotted Jewish businesses

People were bombarded with anti Jewish messages

In daily life Jews faced discrimination.

They were refused jobs and Jewish students were humiliated and segregated.

The Nuremberg Laws

The Law for The Protection of German Blood and Honor prohibited marriage between Aryans and Jews.

The Reich Citizenship Law classified Germans into different racial groups: Aryans, Mischling or mixed race, Non - Aryans including Jews.

Only Aryans were allowed full German Citizenship

These laws aimed to institutionalize racial discrimination and solidify the Nazis' ideology of racial purity.

Kristallnacht

in 1938, a young Jewish man killed a German diplomat in Paris. The Nazis used this as an excuse to launch a violent revenge on Jewish people.

SS troopers with pickaxes and hammers ran riot and destroyed Jewish shops and workplaces and murdered 91 people. Many Jews were taken into concentration camps.

After this, Nazi policies towards Jews got extremely more harsh.

Jewish children were banned from schools.

Opposition to Nazi Rule

Political Opposition - Some socialists did still meet secretly but their activities were small scale. There was some attempts to sabatoge factories, railways and army stores. The Gestapo had broken up lots of meetings. Political opposition was mostly powerless.

Social opposition - This was much more common than political opposition. Local party officials reported that they had to increasingly bully people to attend Nazi rallies. They even had to use radio wardens to force people to listen to Hitler’s speeches. They reported a lot of complaints in public places. Some Church Leaders critisized the Nazis as well.