Terror in Nazi Germany

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Key Individuals

Welhelm Frick

  • Wilhelm Frick was a senior Nazi Party official who served in Hitlers cabinet as Minister of the Interior from 1933-43 
  • The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for internal security and the protection of the constitutional order, for civil protection against disasters and terrorism, for displaced persons, administrative questions, and sports. It is host to the Standing Committee of Interior Ministers and also drafts all passport, identity card, firearms, and explosives legislation.
  • gave legality and independance to the SA.

Herman Goering

  • Goering was one of the most senior politicians in Nazi Germany and a close confidante of Hilter.
  • He was appointed Prime Minister and Interior Minister for Prussia and he was given control of the Luftwaffe 
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Night of the Long Knives, 1934

The Night of the Long Knives30th June - 2nd July 1934, saw the wiping out of the SA and its leadership and others who had angered Hitler
Causes
-By June 1934, the army saw the SA as a threat to their authority, The SA outnumbered the army which was threating to them. The army stood at 100,000 and the SA had around 2-3 million men.
-Hitler saw Rohm and the SA as too revolutionary and was worried that he would instigate another revolution which would force the Nazis out of power.
-Hitler also needed nationalist elites onside, the nationalist elites were supportive of the army who had the power to over through the Nazi government, so getting rid of the SA would mean the army would be supportive of the government.
-Hitler wanted to become president and to do this he needed the army’s support so said he would reduce the power of the SA.

Event 
-At least 84 SA members were executed including Ernst Rohm and other leaders of the SA. Over 1000 members were also arrested. Hitler did not feel bad about the purge and was willing to get rid of his own men for his personal gains so what wouldn’t he do to become fuhrer.

Consequence.
-It got the army onside.
-He gained public support as he took responsibility for the executions by saying he was protecting the German people from a coup.
-The ** was now in charge of terror so things were more organised from a Nazi point of view.

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Reichstag fire, 27th February 1933

The Reichstag fire took place on February 27th 1933. The Reichstag building was where Germany’s parliament sat and the fire that destroyed it has to be seen as one of the defining moments in the early days of NaziGermany.

  • Hitler, Goebbels and Goering declared that the fire was the work of the Communists and Socialists and the SA was put on alert to maintain order if and when the communist insurrection started.
  • A young Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was arrested and vharged with causing the fire. There was however no definitive evidence which proved he has started it.
  • The Nazis gained the most from this becaue it was used to justify the immediate suspension of civil liberties. Terror had now become a legal means to crush opposition.

Consequences
- Communists were blammed meaning that people were less liekly to vote for them in elections
- The Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (March 1933), The Enabling Act.(March 1933)

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The Decree for the Protection of the People and th

On February 28th 1933, Nazi leaders exploited the Reichstag fire to gain President von Hindenburg's approval for a more extreme measure called the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State.

The regulations suspended important provisions of the German constitution, especially those safeguarding individual rights and due process of law.

The decree permitted the restriction of the right to assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, among other rights, and it removed all restraints on police investigations.

With the decree in place, the regime was free to arrest and incarcerate political opponents without specific charge, dissolve political organizations, and suppress publications. It also gave the central government the authority to overrule state and local laws and overthrow state and local governments. This law became a permanent feature of the Nazi police state.

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The Enabling Act, 24th March 1933

On March 24th 1933The Enabling Act was passed. The act was to have huge consequences for the citizens of Nazi Germany. The formal title for the Enabling Act was the ‘Law for Removing the Distress of People and Reich’ It would allow hitler to make laws without the approval of the reichstag and without reference to the president for a period of 4 years.

The government building was out of use due to the fire and for the German Parliament to function it needed a suitable building to replace it. The Kroll Opera House was used. It was small enough to make any SA presence look very menacing if Reichstag members were not going to vote accordingly.

Hitlers sole objective at the meeting was to secure the necessary two thirds majority votes for his Enabling Act. (he needed two thirds majority because it was a change in the constitution)

The final vote for the Enabling Act was 444 for and 94 against. All the constitutional criteria for duputies being present were there ang the Enabling Act was signed into law. After 1933 the Reichstag barely met.

The Enabling Act was the final piece in the framework the legitimised the Nazi dictatorship. with the new law in force, the Nazis could now begin to construct the one party terror state.

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1st Law for the Coordination of the Federal States

The 1st law for the coordinations of the federal states was refered to as Gleichshaltung.In Nazi terminology, Gleichschaltung, was the process of Nazification by which Nazi Germany successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of society, "from the economy and trade associations to the media, culture and education".

The Nazis used the word Gleichschaltung for the process of successively establishing a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of society. It has been variously "translated" as Nazification of state and society, synchronization, bringing into line, and co-ordination, but the German word is often left as a cultural term in English texts.

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The S S

The SchutzStaffel better known as the S S was formed in 1926 and functioned as a personal bodyguard for Hitler.

  • The S S was considered to be an elite force and membership was restricted to those who were pure Aryan Germans.
  • On 6th January 1929 Heinrich Himmler was appointed leader of the SchutzStaffel. Himmler was an ambitious man and set about building up membership of the S S.

Under Himmler’s leadership the S S was divided into three sections:

  • The Security Section which included: the SD and the Gestapo.
  • The Military Section which included: Leibstandarte SchutzStaffel and                                   S S Verfügungstruppe (Special Purpose Troops, S S -VT)
  • The Concentration Camp Section which included: S S Totenkopfverbände (Death’s Head Units)

After the Nazis came to power in 1933 the S S grew rapidly and expanded its role.

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The SA

The SA was better known as the Brownshirts or Storm Troopers. From 1921 to 1933 the SA disrupted the meetings of Hitlers political opponents as well as defended the halls where Hitler was making a speech in public. The SA was made up of “ruffians” and “bullies”. However, it played a very important role in the first years of the Nazi party.

In 1931, the leadership of the SA passed to Ernst Rőhm. He wanted the organisation of the SA to mirror that of the German Army. 

In 1931, there were 100,000 men in the SA. In 1932 there were 400,000 and by 1934 there were around 2-3 million members. 

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The Gestapo

The Gestapo was Nazi Germany’s feared secret police force. During World War Two the Gestapo was under the direct control of Heinrich Himmler who controlled all the police units within Nazi Germany. 

  • The Gestapo acted outside of the normal judicial process and it had its own courts and effectively acted as judge, jury and frequently executioner.
  • The Gestapo’s main purpose was to hunt out those considered a threat to Nazi Germany. By the time World War Two started these included Jews, Communists, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals – basically anyone who was thought to challenge the hegemony of the Nazi Party within Germany.
  • The Gestapo’s greatest weapon was the fear that it created 

The German people believed that the Gestapo was everywhere and that you could trust no one. There was an acceptance that if you crossed the state the Gestapo would get you. Their methods of dealing with anyone in 'protective custody' were well publicised- deliberatley so, as this further enforced the message that an individual should be totally loyal to the state. if the gestapo felt the need to give someone it had had arrested some semblance of going through the legal procss it used the feared peoples court. here a deasth sentence was almost garunteed.

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Nazi violence against political opponents

-The Nazi 'legal revolution' and the 'revolution from below', in which the SA unleashed a reign of terror against socialist and communist opponents. Using their new found powers the SA unleashed a sustained assault on trade union and KPD offices as well as on the homes of left wing politicians.
-Gangs of storm troopers broke up SPD and KPD meetings. On 5th February, a young Nazi shot dead the SPD mayor of a small town in Prussia and later in the month a communist was killed in clashes with the SA.
-Not only were these crimes ignored by the police but when the SPD newspaper condemned the killings, the paper was banned.
-The Centre Party also became a target after its news papers criticised the Nazi regime, their newspapers were banned and storm troopers attacked the party's meetings.
-Thousands of communists, socialists and trade unionists were rounded up and imprisoned in makeshift concentration camps.
-The first permanent concentration camp was set up on 8th March 1933. By July 26,789 political opponents had been arrest and imprisoned into some 70 camps.

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Reichstag Elections, 1933

March,1933

November, 1933

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Key Individuals

Geobbles 

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Key Individuals

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