The Nazi Police State (Edexcel GCSE History)

The Aspects of the Nazi Police State - Summary

Role of the SS

• The SS was created in 1925 to act as personal bodyguards to Hitler

• Members had to be both ‘racially pure’ and radically loyal to the NSDAP

• Heinrich Himmler became leader of the SS from 1929

• The SS wore black uniforms to be easily identifiable from the SA

• The SS had several roles:

  • Protect Hitler and other Nazi leaders

  • Provide security during political meetings

  • Urge people to subscribe to the Nazi newspaper, Der Völkischer Beobachter

  • Marry ‘racially pure’ wives to create ‘racially pure’ children

  • Manage and control other police forces, including the SD and Gestapo

• The SS were responsible for carrying out the arrests and murders of SA members during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934

Increasing Membership of the SS 1925-1939

Role of the SD

• The SD was created in 1931 by Heinrich Himmler:

  • Reinhard Heydrich was placed in charge

• They gathered intelligence on anyone they suspected or knew opposed the Nazi Party, which included:

  • Existing and new Nazi Party members

  • Leaders and activities within other political parties

  • Minority groups such as Jewish people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Freemasons

  • Government officials 

• Heydrich and the SD were responsible for compiling a list of SA members to be targeted during the Night of the Long Knives

• The SD became the only police agency to collect and manage intelligence from 1934

Increasing Membership of the SD, 1932-1939

Role of the Gestapo

• Hermann Goering initially created the Gestapo to “investigate and combat all attempts to threaten the state”

• By 1934, Reinhard Heydrich led the Gestapo

• They were infamous for wearing plain clothes so they could not be easily identifiable

• The Gestapo had several roles:

  • Tapping phones and spying on opponents

  • Arresting, questioning and torturing suspects:

    • Around 160,000 people were arrested in 1939 for political crimes

  • Sending people directly to concentration camps using protective custody

  • Releasing information about concentration camp conditions to spread fear

• They relied on denunciations from the public to target suspects:

  • Only around 10% of political crimes committed were discovered by the Gestapo, compared to 80% reported by ordinary citizens

• Towns such as Hamburg and Frankfurt only had 40-50 Gestapo agents, which demonstrates the reliance on fear to reduce opposition

Increasing Membership of the Gestapo, 1937-1939

The Development of Concentration Camps

• Most arrests made by the police services were related to ‘political crimes’, which involved speaking out against the Nazi Party

• Dachau was opened in 1933 and became the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany:

• Concentration camps were created to imprison many groups:

  • Minority groups such as Jewish people and Jehovah’s Witnesses

  • ‘Undesirables’ such as homosexuals, prostitutes and Romani

  • Political opponents, including journalists, writers, intellectuals and communists

• Conditions in concentration camps were awful and inmates were forced to do hard labour

Controlling the Legal System

• Control of the legal system allowed the Nazi Party to remove opposition under the illusion that it was fair and just:

  • However, cases were often pre-determined and biased in favour of a conviction

Judges and lawyers  

• Judges and lawyers were required to prioritise the interests of the Nazi Party above all else:

  • Judges joined the National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law

    • Judges were dismissed if they did not join

  • Lawyers joined the German Lawyers Front

• Judges had to wear the swastika from 1936

• Judges decided the outcome of cases, not the jury

Law courts 

•  Trial by jury was removed so that judges could decide the outcome of the case

• The People’s Court was introduced to hear cases of treason:

  • Judges radically loyal to the Nazi Party were selected

  • Trials were held in secret

  • The right to appeal was removed

• Control of the legal system led to a rapid rise in the number of political opponents executed:

  • Between 1930 and 1932, only eight people were executed

  • Between 1934 and 1939, this increased to 534 people

How did the Nazi Party control the legal system?