The Nazi Police State

The Nazi Police State The Police State was central to the whole Nazi project. It was a major part of their machinery to achieve their goals of making the German society racially pure and totally loyal to the Fuhrer. It did this with an aim of controlling every aspect of people's lives. This was achieved through the creation of an environment of fear and terror. This is the way that Hitler put it himself “Terror is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.” The German people learned that they will be safe if they did what they were told. 'Speak through a flower' was simply the best advice at the time. The impact of the Nazi Police State on German people was beyond what had ever been seen. In fact people continued to be willing to denounce relatives, friends or neighbours several years after the Nazi regime had fallen. The Nazi Police State was comprised of four pillars: the SS, the Courts, the Gestapo and the Concentration camps. The SS was formed in 1925 from fanatics loyal to Hitler. It was made up of "Aryan" people and led by Heinrich Himmler. SS’ primary responsibility for destroying Nazi opposition and carried out racial policies. It had 2 units; Death’s Head Units which were responsible for concentration camps and the "Jewish Question" and Waffen-SS working alongside the army. The Court system supported the Nazi

  • Word count: 1183
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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To what extent was the Nazi state a propaganda state?

To what extent was the Nazi state a propaganda state? In studying Hitler's rise to power previously, we were able to establish that propaganda was one of the key factors that helped to get him into power. However, once power had been obtained, I do not think that it was possible for the Nazi state to be a total propaganda state due to the necessity to keep people happy by delivering on promises and to make progress as a unified Germany. Nevertheless, propaganda would continue to play a significant role in the state following Hitler's 'takeover,' particularly in maintaining the 'Hitler myth' itself, and would in certain areas, determine policy. On the whole, prior to Hitler's arrival, Germany was not overtly anti-Semitic, and such racial sentiment principally existed in minority groups. However, Hitler and his propaganda machine led by Goebbels, were able to stir anti-Semitic feeling to a huge extent. Films such as 'Der Ewige Jude' showed Jews as parasites, while stereotypical posters identified the archetypal Jewish appearance. This in turn endorsed the racial extermination that followed, whether it be through active support or passive co-operation. Propaganda would play a great role in attempting to win the hearts and minds of German youth. Most importantly, youth were impressionable, so Hitler thought that propaganda would be sufficient to instil them with his

  • Word count: 801
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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The Nazi Police State

THE NAZI POLICE STATE The Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) was Hitler's secret state police. Under the command of Reinhardt Heydrich, they were employed to identify and bringing justice upon known and potential opponents of the Nazi regime. Heydrich was the right-hand-man to Heinrich Himmler, the chief of German Police and leader of the SS and there were strong rivalries between the two. This was endorsed by Hitler as he felt that these rivalries made sure that no one was ever able to challenge Hitler and/or his position of Supremacy The opponents of which the Gestapo were to bring justice upon consisted of Communists and Socialists (basically any opposing political party followers. On top of that, Jews, homosexuals and gypsies were punished. Although they were almost entirely innocent to the 'crime' of opposition to the Nazi party, Hitler's anti-Semitic views of their societies lead to the prosecution of 162,734 people by April 1939. The justice brought upon the opposition was what was called 'Protective Custody'. This was the imprisonment of anyone arrested under suspicion of opposition without trial of any form; the Gestapo could imprison whomever they thought as opposition without any evidence. They were an organization outside Jurisdiction, including that of the courts. Alongside this huge number of people in Protective custody, a further 21,000 people were put into

  • Word count: 5278
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Nazi Germany Church State Essay

One may argue when an oppressive and unconscionable state is in place religious intervention should be in high demand. As different perspectives arise the Church and State tend to dispute over what are more important, morals and ethics or the importance of the authority over a nation? The Church as an organisation works together to build the foundations of morality and ethics, along with emphasising and promoting the Kingdom of God, whilst the state is the prime governing body that enforces policies and regulation along with ensuring that the common good is shown throughout the social order. Through history many dictatorships have been implemented such as Nazi Germany that have achieved great success and failure, which commonly result in loss of freedom, human rights, lack of conformity and destroying any religious influence towards the majority of the population. During the period of 1933-45 the power abused by the Nazis and the detachment of the Church poses the question why an oppressive state demands religious intervention. The Church has been assigned the roll of promoting the Kingdom of God in many diverse ways to ensure we maintain this tradition within our society. The church prides itself on treating all human beings with the dignity and respect that they deserve which causes them to demand the right to intervene within an oppressive society. In reference to article

  • Word count: 988
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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The Creation of the Welfare State

The Creation of the Welfare State . What can you learn from source A about welfare at the beginning of the Second World War? At the beginning of the Second World War, welfare was quite expensive. Pregnant women who were poor had to pay a '£2 deposit and another 10 shillings', free treatment was not given to poor women. There was an antenatal and a postnatal clinic but the woman had not used it because of lack of money. She didn't receive any help at all. This person also said 'I had to walk down to the maternity home,' this tells us that the government provide free ambulance for pregnant women. This woman was quite poor, 'hole in my shoe,' this tells us that she had to save up for her pregnancy which meant she had no money to take good care of herself. Life for every woman wasn't the same some other poor women must have saved more and went to clinics but he the woman who had written this source did not get any help. 2. Does the evidence of source C support the evidence of sources A and B about welfare at the beginning of the Second World War? Explain your answer. Source C does support sources A and B. All three sources have related information about the lack of money and efficient hospital and medical care, they were also all written in the same period of time. Sources A, B and C are experiences from the 'early 1940's', which were being talked about and recorded in the

  • Word count: 2573
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state?

Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state? This question has been argued and debated for centuries and what has bemused many historians is to what extent did Hitler and the Nazi regime dictate Germany. In this essay I will evaluate the question "was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state?" A totalitarian state is when all aspects of life within a country, in this case Germany, are under control of a person or group; this person is often referred to as a dictator. In this essay I will outline the aspects of Germany life and consider to what degree Germany was a dictatorial state at the time of Hitler's and the Nazi regimes climax. The following are the aspects of Germany life, * Women * Young People * Workers * Media/Propaganda During the course of the essay I will decide whether or not Hitler had these certain aspects totally under control. Hitler joined the German army at the outbreak of World War I. He was twice decorated for bravery. When Germany was defeated in 1918, he was distraught. Hitler was convinced that Germany had been "stabbed in the back" by Jews. Turning to politics as a vehicle to promote his beliefs, Hitler joined the small 'German Workers' Party. He quickly became its leader. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg. Hitler realized that two forces within Germany represented potential challengers to his power, the army

  • Word count: 1385
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state?

Was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian State? ) Define totalitarianism in your own words. Totalitarian ism is when one leader or group has total control over something. In political terms it when one leader or part has total control over his/her country. 2) Explain how the Nazis attempted to create a totalitarian state. The Nazis tried to create a totalitarian state in which Hitler was in total control. They did this in a number of ways. The Nazis tried to control all the aspects of a Germans everyday life. They concentrated on destroying all their opponents, brainwashing people through propaganda, and school, creating fear into the lives of ordinary Germans, and giving people what they wanted so that they would have good reason to support the Nazi regime. Hitler tried to get rid of all his political opponents, because when this was done there would be no threat to his power. His first step was to ban the communist party. He did this by blaming them for starting the Reichstag fire. With the communists out of the way he had great success during the next elections. Soon after the Enabling acts were passed, Hitler was able to ban all other political parties, making the Nazis the only legal party. On May 2nd 1993 Hitler banned all trade unions, and then signed a concordat with the Catholic Church, which made sure they would stay out of politics. One of the Nazis main weapons in

  • Word count: 1887
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state?

Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state? The purpose of this essay is to explain whether Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state or not. Totalitarian state means when all aspects of life within a country are under the total control of a person or group, this is often referred to as a dictator. The aspects of life in Nazi Germany that I am going to examine are young people, women, the church, employment, leisure time, propaganda and censorship. After I have discussed these aspects of life I would finish off my essay with a conclusion answering the purpose of this essay. By 1934 Adolf Hitler appeared to have complete control over Germany, but like most dictators, he constantly feared that he might be ousted by others who wanted his power. To protect himself from a possible coup, Hitler used the tactic of divide and rule and encouraged other leaders such as Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Ernst Roehm to compete with each other for senior positions. One of the consequences of this policy was that these men developed a dislike for each other. Roehm was particularly hated because as leader of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) he had tremendous power and had the potential to remove any one of his competitors. Goering and Himmler asked Reinhard Heydrich to assemble a dossier on Roehm. Heydrich, who also feared him, manufactured evidence that suggested that Roehm had been

  • Word count: 2027
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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To What Extent Was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian State 1933-1939?

TO WHAT EXTENT WAS NAZI GERMANY A TOTALITARIAN STATE 1933-1939? There have been many debates since the 1920's about the nature and character of the nazi phenomenon. The oxford dictionary suggests a totalitarian state as a dictorial one-party government in which no rival parties or loyalties are permitted. This means the leader, in this case Adolf Hitler, has total control over the government and the people. In practice the term is often used to describe a political situation where a small organisation monopolizes the central of public and private life through the use of propaganda, terror and technology. In Hitler's Germany there were many characteristics of a totalitarian state. The nazi regime interfered openly into all aspects of living and communication with the help from the secret police (the Gestapo). The party penetrated the whole country with their policies and beliefs, for instance the police generated compliance throughout the whole country. Propaganda was highly effective and was a fundamental factor to the Nazis way of controlling Germany. One could say totalitarianism demands 100% conformity. Freedom of speech was no longer a part of life; conformity had taken its place, as it was the only way to feel safe! During the 1950's many historians concluded that nazi Germany was extremely totalitarian. In this day and age this is not widely accepted. Recent research

  • Word count: 2927
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Hitler's control and organization of the Nazi state was less effective than is commonly believed. Discuss

Hitlers control and organization of the Nazi state was less effective than is commonly believed. After World War I when the Weimar Republic ruled Germany, Germany faced many problems. These issues included; poverty, debt from the reparations, unemployment, and a very few amount of exports. The economy was also at an all time low with very high inflation, and the citizens of Germany were looking for anything to get them out of this mess. Because of this, the favour for more extremist powers was on the rise, and the support for democracy continued to decline. Adolf Hitler was the leader of one of the extreme right political groups: the German Workers Party, or the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. He began to win the hearts of German citizens with his plans to restore Germany to what it once was, a powerful and strong nation. Hitler's timing was just right with his campaigning because German's turned to the first alternative to the current Weimar Republic. Finally, on January 30, 1933, Hitler was named the chancellor of Germany. Hitler brought with him a new organization of the Nazi group and powerful army that enforced many new changes on Germany. But, once Hitler was in power it is thought that his control and organization of the Nazi State was less effective than is commonly believed. In this essay I will evaluate where or not this statement is true or false.

  • Word count: 976
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: History
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