14 - The 'Terror State'
- Created by: Becca Newman
- Created on: 12-03-20 11:33
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- The 'Terror State'
- The Nazis and the Law
- Nazi concept was based on leadership + Hitler didn't want to be bound to the law
- Hitler's word was law
- After 1933 the Nazis didn't introduce a new constitution
- They created new laws to bend the justice system to their needs
- New courts + police organisations were introduced
- Not all Germans were treated as equals
- Judges couldn't act independently of the government
- Individuals could be arrested without trial
- Judges couldn't act independently of the government
- Nazi concept was based on leadership + Hitler didn't want to be bound to the law
- The Police System in the Third Reich
- Nazis didn't abolish the Weimar separate police forces of different states
- But they did create of Nazi controlled police forces who answered to Hitler
- Many police forces created confusion
- ** - controlled by Heinrich Himmler
- SA - controlled by Rohm in 1933 (could arrest + detain)
- SD (an intelligence gathering offshoot of the **)
- Gestapo - secret State police in Prussia. 1933 it covered the whole country
- Many police forces created confusion
- But they did create of Nazi controlled police forces who answered to Hitler
- Himmler (** Chief of Police)
- **
- Orpo Municipal Police
- Sipo Security Police (Heydrich
- Foreign Intelligence
- Domestic Intelligence
- SD Security Service Heydrich
- Kripo Criminal Police
- Gestapo Secret State Police
- 1933-36 Goering, Rohm + Himmler fought over police control
- 1934 Himmler's power was strengthened with the Night of the Long Knives
- Rohm eliminated + SA power reduced
- Himmler exploited the rivalry between Goering and Frick
- 1934 Himmler's power was strengthened with the Night of the Long Knives
- 1936 **, SD and Gestapo were paced under Himmler's control
- 1939 creation of the Reich Security Department Headquarters (RHSA) which placed all police under ** control
- The **
- After the Night of the Long KNives the ** role expanded
- By 1936 when Himmler was appointed Chief of the German Police the ** controlled the entire Third Reich + concentration camps
- Himmler intended the ** to be obedient - values of loyalty + honour
- 1936 control tightened + increased repression
- More concentration camp inmates
- ** violence was systematic + ruthless as instruments of terror
- ** concentration camp guards were brutalised to remove human feelings towards inmates
- ** violence was systematic + ruthless as instruments of terror
- More concentration camp inmates
- After the Night of the Long KNives the ** role expanded
- The SD
- Established 1931 as Nazi party internal security
- Investigated claims of infiltration from political enemies
- Led by Reinhard Heydrich
- After 1933 it's role was intelligence gathering
- Monitor public opinion, identify on unsupportive people
- By 1939 it had 50k officers
- Staffed by amateurs who were committed to the Nazis
- It worked independently of the gestapo + lead to overlaps between them
- Established 1931 as Nazi party internal security
- The Gestapo
- Originally created for Prussia alone, but eventually extended over entire country
- Reputation for being omniscient
- Ordinary Germans believed it had agents everywhere
- Only 20k officers in 1939 - most were office-based agents + not members of the Nazi party
- Professional police officers who served the state
- Depended on information from informers
- Every block of flats/street had a 'block leader' who reported on suspicious activity
- A lot of info came voluntarily because of personal grudges
- So much info it was impossible to investigate all crimes
- Successful in creating an atmosphere of suspicion
- Nazis didn't abolish the Weimar separate police forces of different states
- The Court and The Justice System
- Jan 1933 few judges belonged to the Nazi party despite being conservative
- Lon tradition of freedom from political interference for lawyers + judges was a problem for Nazis
- ** + SA violence was clearly illegal + lawyers wanting to uphold the law prosecuted stormtroopers
- Lon tradition of freedom from political interference for lawyers + judges was a problem for Nazis
- Hitler was annoyed that all but one of the defendants were acquitted in the Reichstag Fire
- A few judges and prosecutors were dismissed by the regime
- Coordinating the justice system
- Merging the judges + lawyers' associations with League of National Socialist Lawyers
- Created the Front of German Law in April 1933
- Career prospects depended on adhering the regime
- Special courts were set up in 1933, the People's Court in 1934
- Dealt with political crimes + had 3 'Nazi judges' alongside 2 professional judges
- No juries + no rights to appeal to sentences
- Merging the judges + lawyers' associations with League of National Socialist Lawyers
- SA + ** threats + these measures got the judges + lawyers into line
- Many non-Nazi judges continued to work but the justice system couldn't interfere with Nazi terror
- 1934-39 - 3400 people were tried by the People's Court (Communists + socialists)
- Most given the death penalty
- Jan 1933 few judges belonged to the Nazi party despite being conservative
- The Nazis and the Law
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