How did the Nazis keep control in Germany?
Method 1: Terror-The stick: After the Reichstag fire, the Nazis rounded up many opponents and killed or tortured them in concentration camps.
Police and courts
Early in 1933, the Nazis took control of the police and courts.
The Role of the Police and Courts
People who did not like the Nazi would not get a fair trial: Lawyers and judges were controlled by the Nazis.
Police ignored crimes committed by the Nazis.
Police were also informers as their bosses were all Nazis.
Police had to take an oath of loyalty towards the Nazi Party.
Gestapo
The Role of the Gestapo
Gestapo: state secret police.
They had a huge number of informers.
Collected information on people who were thought to be 'anti-Nazi'.
Telephones were tapped.
They would arrest people and torture them and send them of to concentration camps.
The Gestapo Leader: Reinhard Heydrich
The Gestapo's role was to root out all possible enemies of Nazism( kill them, or arrest them).
A grocer who told anti-Nazi jokes to his customers.
A teacher who taught his pupils to see through Nazi propaganda.
A worker who refused to give the 'Heil Hitler' salute.
Crimes that the Gestapo punished:
Belonging to banned organisations: 30%-This included political opponents such as the communists who opposed the law against the start-up of new parties, and Germany being a one-party(Nazi) state.
Non-conforming behaviour: 29% of the cases- This included criticising the Nazis.Anyone who did not oblige with the Nazis and support them would be dealt with by the Gestapo.
Impact that Gestapo had on German people's lives:
Even though the terror organisations gave the Nazi power, they didn't always have to use it :Fear made people conform.
Since the German people feared the Gestapo(since they could be anyone, anywhere), they informed on each other.
When war broke out on 1939, the Gestapo rounded up 162,000 people into 'protective custody'.
The SS (The Schutzstaffel)
Leader: Heinrich Himmler
The SS was first Hitler's personal bodyguard-created from the best members of the SA( brown troops).
After the SA was destroyed in 1934, the SS grew into a huge organisation under Himmler.
It had many sub-divisions.EX: the Death's Head Units which ran the concentration camps.
As its power increased, the SS began to use its own courts-which sentenced 20,000 Germans to be sent to concentration camps.
Method 2: The Carrot-Nazi Achievements For a lot of Germans, the terror wasn't necessary since they already admired Hitler and the Nazis, since many Germans did very well out of Nazi rule, and didn't need persuasion to support them.Even those who didn't were prepared to put up with them because of their achieven=ments in Germany.
Benefits of Nazi Rule
The Economy
Re-arming Germany created an economic boom and increased national pride.
Huge government spending on roads, housing, etc. created jobs and brought unemployment down.
Big business
Big jobs working for the government were available.
There were no trade unions to make trouble.
Middle class
The threat of Communism was removed.
People had pride in Germany after Hitler overturned the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Industrial Workers
The 'Strength Through Joy' organisation provided leisure opportunities.Ex:: Sports clubs and holidays.
The 'Beauty of Labour' organisation improved working conditions in industries.Ex:: Canteens and washrooms.
Farming Communities
The 'Reich Food Estate' gave farmers guaranteed markets and prices for their goods.
The 'Reich Entailed Farm Law' protected farms from being closed by banks.
Method 3: Control by Propaganda A vast propaganda effort supported both the carrot and the stick.Both Hitler and Joe Goebbels were experts in propaganda.They believed that all mass media had to be carefully controlled and thought that people had to be told what to think.
Negatives
Not all farmers gained from Nazi policies.Many country people still left the land to work in factories, where they earned higher wages.
Industrial life had its negatives.In 1933, the working week was 43 hours, but had risen to 47 hours by 1939.The value of wages did not get back to 1928 levels until 1938.
Overall, workers accepted the benefits and kept their heads down .
Radio
Goebbels-and the ministry- controlled radio stations and transmitters.
Cheap radio sets were made.Germany had more radios per head than the USA-every German had a radio.
Special wardens made sure that people listened to the radio.
Press
The ministry closed down about two-thirds of Germany's newspapers.
It also controlled information supplied to the remaining newspapers.
Special events
Goebbels staged rallies, meetings, and processions.
The most spectacular success was the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.Germany won the most medals and Goebbels commissioned a special film called Olympia.It was a box office smash.
The role of Rallies: Control, Order, Power, Unity
Control and order were the messages that the Nazis provided.Rallies helped them provide these messages.
A huge stadium in Nuremburg was built for this purpose.
Goebbels organised and controlled these rallies.
Foreign programmes were banned,
Hitler's speeches, German history, and music were broadcasted.
Loud speakers were everywhere.
Art and Culture
The Reich Chamber of Culture was set up in September 1933, and headed by Goebbels.
Anyone who worked in journalism, radio, film, literature, theatre, music, or the arts had to belong to the chamber.Otherwise, they couldn't get a role in a play or publish a book, or sell a painting, etc.Members had to be approved by Goebbels so that there was virtually no need for censorship.
The Role of Books
Any book that did not agree with the with Nazi ideas was burnt.To remove any chance of anti-Nazi thinking, book burnings were common.
All books had to be censored.
The Nazis did not want independent thinking.
Film
There were some major propaganda films made by Nazi-approved film-makers, such as Triumph of the Will(about the 1934 Nuremburg Rally) and The Eternal Jew, 1940 ( a vicious anti-Jewish film).
Goebbels controlled all films.
Newsreels were made by Goebbels' film makers and shown before every film.
Goebbels ordered some openly pro-Nazi films to be made when he had strict control over the scripts.
The Environment
The Nazis built huge new buildings, especially in Berlin.Nazi-approved artists made massive sculptures showing idealised bodies.
Posters and photographs were everywhere, especially ones glorifying Hitler.