Download The Nazi Police State Nazi Germany was a poli

The Nazi Police State
Nazi Germany was a police state (a state where the government uses the police to control people’s
lives). Views opposed to Nazis were supressed. Hitler used two main organisations to control
Germany – the SS and the Gestapo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The SS (Schutzstaffel)
 A military group, set up in 1925 as Hitler’s personal bodyguard.
 Run by Heinrich Himmler from 1929
 Nazi Party’s own private police force – totally loyal to Hitler
 SS warned Hitler about Röhm in 1934 and SS officers murdered SA leaders in Night of LK
 During 1930s SS increased to 50,00 and put in charge of all state security services
 Also carried out Nazi policy of racial purification.
 A branch of the SS ran concentration camps
 Himmler ensured members were Aryan in appearance and married ‘racially pure’ wives
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Gestapo
 Hitler’s non-uniformed secret police force4
 Set up in 1933 by Herman Goering
 Placed under control of SS in 1936
 Led by Reinhard Heydrich
 German people could not tell Gestapo from ordinary public so feared them
 Arrested people who acted/spoke out against Nazi ideas
 Offenders could be imprisoned without trial
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In most states police have to act within the law and can be held accountable in court. The SS and
the Gestapo could arrest people without being responsible to anyone but their commanders and
Hitler.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Concentration camps (not death camps – death camps opened late 1941)
 First opened in 1933
 Normally located in isolated areas
 Inmates mainly political prisoners and ‘undesirable’ groups – Jews, prostitutes
 From 1938 concentration camp inmates were forced to work (e.g. making army uniforms)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The law courts
 Hitler took control of what happened in the courts
 He set up the “National Socialist league for the Maintenance of the law”
 He insisted all judges must be members
 If any judges displeased the Nazis, they were denied membership
 Hitler gave judges freedom to punish people, even when they had not broken the law
 Hitler set up a new “People’s Court” to hear all treason cases
 Judges for the People’s Court were hand-picked and Hitler increased sentences if he thought
them too lenient
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXAM Q – Describe the key features of the police state in Nazi Germany (8 marks)