Concentration Camps were the NAZI’S ultimate sanction against their own people. They were almost set up as soon as Hitler took power. In 1933 the first concentration camps were built in disused warehouses to house overflow from prisons and political prisoners. Then things changed and they became purpose built in rural areas and were run by as said earlier the SS’s Death’s Head unit. Prisoners were forced to labour and they were extremely poorly treated. By the late 1930’s deaths in concentration camps were normal and very few people ever left alive. Jews, Socialists, Communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Trade Unionists, churchmen and many others who openly opposed the NAZI Party ended up in these camps. It is important to note that when they originally set up they were not death camps. These happened later for mass execution.
Not surprisingly with such an array of organisation to control Germany, there was not much effective opposition. Seeing that in 1934 all the communist leaders were taken to concentration camps orgainsation of the opposition was very weak. Hitler viewed the church also as a threat but we will be discussing this later under the title ‘Churches’.
Keeping the Workers Happy
The NAZI’S kept the German workers happy using many methods, these are:
- Bonuses – the NAZI Party gave money to ‘good’ citizens at times such as Christmas and Hitler’s birthday. This maid people happy and while people were happy they were less likely to complain
- Holidays – In the early 1930’s Germany economically was struggling. This meant that the citizens worked long and hard times to keep above debt. For most of Germans this meant forfeiting holidays. Therefore the NAZI’S gave paid holiday to people who live in the inner slums of city’s to go to rural camps. This maid people happy and while people were happy they were less likely to complain again.
- Jobs – Hitler saw the problem of unemployment and so he illegally increased the size of the German Army, which went against the Versailles agreement. He also made more community workers. Not only this Germany was also healing economically which naturally created more jobs.
- Recreation – Hitler held the Olympics in Germany, many Olympians did not go because they believed Germany to be unstable. Hitler claimed that the Germans were a superior race (Aryan). But when a black American (very different from Aryans) won 5 gold medals Hitler was reported to charge off in disgrace. But he built the nations pride by show them that they were superiors.
- Radios – by giving people radios he had access to people’s homes to promote NAZI ideas.
- Arts – By sponsoring art and culture it gave the NAZI Party popularity
- Cars – they created the VW (people’s car) so he gave people a feeling of pride because cars were special and considered not for normal people.
- Hitler Youth – taught the youth of Germany (i.e. 14 – 18) NAZI ideas and encouraged sport. This kept the majority of the youth out of trouble (except for the Edelweiss Pirates).
- They took over the Trade Unions and made new NAZI ones.
Propaganda and Censorship
Censorship is the practice of, ‘officially examining books, films etc and suppressing unacceptable parts.’
This took many forms in NAZI Germany. Examples of these are:
- Only the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party was allowed to run for the election.
- Public burnings of books that had views that differed from those of the NAZI Party’s.
- The Press and Newspaper was censored
- Theatres and cinemas were censored to only show ‘safe’ material and that which reinforced propaganda.
- The nations art galleries were censored to the liking of Hitler.
Hitler succeeded in ensuring propaganda by using censorship. He censored opposite ideas and because he owned radio, the press, films and the theatre he tailored them to show huge amounts of propaganda. Hitler used a very sneaky, sly method to get propaganda into peoples heads subliminally. He did this by using the radio he gave them to the German people as gifts but because he owned the radio he while people were off guard crammed propaganda that may have been subtle but had the desired effect of propaganda. Dr. Joseph Goebbels was put in charge of the NAZI’S propaganda.
Another way he used propaganda was that the NAZI Party help press conferences which ‘guided’ the press. Really steering the newspapers to what they wanted them to say.
Another use of propaganda is the mass rallies. Hitler stirred up the audience and there were many uses of fireworks and other things that incited the crowd into frenzy.
Due to the propaganda and the censorship that took place in Germany between 1933 – 1945 most Germans were moulded into something that the NAZI Party wanted. Without their use of propaganda and censorship people could have perceived the raw facts but by censoring and adapting them people perceived a brain dead copy which moulded their perception.
Education and the Young
Hitler realised that the youth of Germany if moulded correctly could be of great benefit. He started the NAZI Youth Group’s that encouraged accepting Hitler as a god. They believed more in Hitler than they did in their parents. It taught children to hate Jews by using huge amounts of propaganda. Goebbels realised that the best use of propaganda is when people did not know that they were witnessing propaganda. This is why the radio was such a good use of propaganda; people did not realise that they were letting the NAZI ideas into their heads. Thus when Hitler educated the NAZI youth they were so inexperienced that they also did not realise that they were being moulded, thus they were like gel (easily shaped into whatever you want).
In German schools Bernard Rust was chosen to take the control of the German Curriculum and adapt it NAZI style. Teachers who were known to be critical of NAZI ideas were dismissed and the remaining teachers were re-educated in NAZI views so that they could teach the NAZI way. Textbooks were withdrawn and new ones written by NAZIS so that they could not influence the children.
Some of the new textbooks contained questions such as:
“ The Jews are aliens in Germany. In 1933 there were 66,060,000 inhabitants of the German Reich of whom 499,862 were Jews. What is the percentage of aliens in Germany?”
The NAZI school curriculum was shaped like this:
- Physical Education was given 15% of school time, and some sports like boxing became compulsory for boys. Pupils had to pass a test and pupils that failed could have been expelled.
- History that concentrated mainly on the rise of the NAZI party, the injustice of the treaty of Versailles and also the evil of communism and Jews.
- Biology which backed up the belief of an Aryan race (superior). They taught the difference between other inferior races and also that is biologically incorrect to marry other races.
- German taught every day to read about heroes from the war and the NAZI youth groups.
- Geography was adapted to teach pupils of the land that the great Germany once controlled and the need for more space.
- Religious Studies wasn’t forced be taken from 1937 onward because of various paranoid views of the church as will be discussed later.
All of the teachers who were trying not to teach 100% NAZI style. The NAZIS told the children that the teachers were to teach them but they were to report anything that the teachers do that does not suggest a root of NAZIISM. Therefore teachers found it very difficult to teach what they knew to be correct and many teachers could not cope and so left the education business.
Parents who refused to allow their children to go to the NAZI youth found themselves with their children being taken away.
Churches
In the NAZI rule there was two views on the church in the NAZI party, these were:
- DESTROY THEM! – All the NAZIS saw the church as a threat. One third were Roman Catholic and two thirds Protestant. The Protestant Church had the most members in the whole of Germany, including the NAZI Party. If there were ever a conflict between the two (NAZI Vs Church) the NAZIS would loose due to faith and loyalty of the Christians. Also all large gatherings were cancelled apart from NAZI ones, therefore the Church was the only large gathering where NAZI views were not promoted thus they could promote ANTI-NAZI ideas.
- USE THEM! – The NAZIS needed the church. For example Protestant leaders were amongst the most successful NAZI election speakers. Also the Church supported some important NAZI ideas such as the Army and family unity. Therefore if the NAZI Party could build on this then they could have a very solid base.
When the time came to take a stand Hitler decided to put off a conflict with the Church until he knew that he could win. Then he signed a Concordant (Understanding). This was to say that all the Catholic Church schools and Churches would be left alone as long as the Church stayed out of Germany’s political affairs. Then Hitler united the Protestant church under one Reich church and under a pro-NAZI bishop Muller. They then became known as the German Christians and they wore NAZI outfit and the swastika.
This gave Hitler a huge amount of power. Though it is worthy to mention that not everything was plain sailing. People such as Martin Niemoller, Paul Schneider and Cardinal Galen were opposed to NAZI rule. These opened alternative churches where people were not brain washed. The 30,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses who were in Germany all refused to the NAZI principles and the result was that most ended up in concentration camps and 10,000 died as a result of not following the NAZI ideas.
But even though there was resistance there was not enough to stop Hitler.
Jews
Jews in Germany were considered as the Japanese considered eta, very low. Hitler and the propaganda lead to people being sucked into believing that it was the Jews =fault that they lost the First World War, that they had been stabbed in the back. Also they had portrayed for a long time that Jews were child molesting, old, fat, rich evil people who wanted their own gain in front of the Nations. Propaganda like this can be the reason for the hatred of the Jews. Such hatred was vented for example in Kristallnacht. There, 91 Jews were killed, 300,000 sent to concentration camps and 400 synagogues set alight. The reason was that the NAZI Youth had a riot and were not stopped. Also such terrible things as Death Camps and the mass executions followed. By 1945 70% of the Jews in Europe were murdered in total 6 million! Such things as the holocaust ensued.
An important part that the Jews played in Germany was that they were mostly very well off business people. Therefore to create more jobs Hitler literally did a hostile take-over of their industries and created more German jobs.
Jews in September 1935, in the Nuremberg Laws Jews were no longer considered citizens but subjects. Thus Jews lost some of their rights. Later things followed such as they had to register all their property so that it was easier to confiscate and they had to have a huge ‘J’ stamped onto their passport.
_ Women
Women in Germany were greatly needed but disliked in the same way. Hitler realised that to have a better empire they needed a large population and recently the birth was low. So the NAZI Party encouraged births. There were many ways, for example:
- Discourage Contraceptives
- Give prizes to be gained for good mothers
- Use lots of propaganda to think that they want children.
- Give benefits to parents with lots of children.
- Make the society look up to women who were pregnant.
- Make divorce legal for anyone who’s partner was infertile.
The mother’s had to fit a certain ‘mould’. They had to cook, look, work, act and bring their children up in a certain way. An Aryan lady by the name of Gertrude Scholtz-Klink was put as a figurehead for women to look up to.
But now that the birth rate had gone up by 30% Hitler realised that Germany needed workers. Thus they had to set off another propaganda campaign saying that women should go back to work. They needed more workers because of the 4-year plan.
