HOW EFFECTIVELY DID THE NAZIS DEAL WITH THEIR OPPONENTS?

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HOW EFFECTIVELY DID THE NAZIS DEAL WITH THEIR OPPONENTS?

After Nazis had control of Germany, the last thing they wanted was an opposition of any sort, aiming to create a totalitarian state where there are no rival parties or political debates. The citizens of Germany were responsible to serve the state and obeying the leader. This orderly state was acheived by providing many positive aspects for people to focus on. This was aimed to keep people's mouths shut and psychologically persuade them to trust and believe in the Nazis. For those who were still not loyal to the Nazis, they were dealt with by force.

TRADE UNIONISTS

The Nazis used Concentration camps as prisons for their own people. Anyone who was brave enough to criticise the Nazis would end up in the concentration camps which were located in isolated areas. Prisoners here were forced to do hard-labour under a strict discipline with little food. Beatings and random executions were frequent making death tolls rise and few people emerged from the camps alive.

The trade unionists had different beliefs to the Nazis on what they feel is the ideal trading enviroment. The Nazis did not want the trade unionists to persuade more and more people to join the union possibly causing a revolt, and so they felt the trade unionists posed a substantial level of threat, enough to make the Nazis take action towards them.The Trade Union offices were raided by the S.A. and S.S. troops which also destroyed the Communists base camp. People who were arrested from here were either executed or sent to concentration camps.

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This action resulted in an increase of fear amongst the public making people believe the true power of the S.A. and S.S. Further more encouraging them to 'keeping their heads down.' German workers feared losing their jobs if they did express opposition. The public were encouraged to report to the Nazis if they heard someone speak against them. This spread distrust around the community and people no longer knew who they could trust. The Gestapo reinforced this distrust making Germans feel that is they did not inform on each other, the secret police force would find them out anyway.

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