1. The consolidation and establishment of Nazi authority – terror and intimidation

2. Focus questions
1) How significant was the use of terror and intimidation to the Nazi Regime? 2) How prevalent was it in Germany between ?
3) Did the regime rely on terror to maintain support/conformity?

3. Existing systems: Courts
Up to a point the Nazi government had to rely on the existing courts to sentence enemies.
The Nazi’s did introduce a number of measures to gain greater influence on the courts:
New laws – Dec 1934 anyone convicted of making hateful remarks about the state could be executed.
Judges were instructed to be tougher and pressure placed on them to be tougher.
To portray repression and persecution as something which reflected the will of the people
Why were the terms ‘People’s Court’ and ‘popular justice’ used?

4. Numbers
Between – around 225,000 Germans were convicted and imprisoned for political crimes.
162,000 were in protective custody without trial.

5. Machinery of terror
Himmler
Chief of police
However, they were heavily backed up by a machinery of terror. Examples:
1) SS
2) Gestapo
3) Concentration camps
Police state – by June 1936 Himmler had taken control of all the German police forces. SS SD
Security
service
Municipal
police
Security
police
Criminal
police
Gestapo

6. 1) SS
Created in Heinrich Himmler headed the organisation from 1929 – 280 members.
Responsible for party’s intelligence and espionage (SD – offshoot of SS). Himmler hoped that in the SS he would create a new racial elite and from 1935 only those of pure ‘Ayran’ ancestry could join.
By late 1930s became a vast organisation – ‘state within a state’ – powerful and most feared.
By 1939 – 240,000 members organised into divisions. Waffen-SS (military organisation), Death’s Head Formations (administer concentration camps).
Role – defend Hitler, elite military force, create a master race.

7. The SS under Himmler were directly responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Nazi regime, including the Holocaust. Officers were brutalised to make them cold blooded killers 7

8. Who was Heinrich Himmler?
How did a successful chicken farmer become arguably the worst war criminal ever known, responsible for the deaths of 6m Jews?
You are going to write a biography about Himmler following the instructions on the task sheet. Aim to produce about a page of work 8

9. 2) Gestapo How powerful were the Gestapo? 15mins to write
brief notes on the
following:
Aims
Means
Influence
(Layton p or
AQA p.97-9)

10. How powerful were the Gestapo?
AIMS: Security and surveillance, both in Germany and in the war years in the occupied territories also
MEANS: Relatively small organisation – in 1939 only 20,000 officers to cover the whole of Germany. Use of torture, Law on Malicious Gossip introduced 21st March 1933 (illegal even to tell jokes about Hitler). Relied on informers such as Block leaders. Most informers motivated by personal grudges (Gestapo became so overwhelmed by accusations that Himmler threatened makers of malicious denunciations with being sent to concentration camps!)
INFLUENCE: Despite its small size, very successful – atmosphere of fear and suspicion. Image of power intimidated potential opposition. Political debate stifled and criticism driven underground. People believed there were Gestapo agents and informers everywhere and thus adjusted their behaviour

11. What was the connection between the Gestapo and the SS?
They originated as distinct bodies – the Gestapo was a state body (Prussian secret police) whilst the SS was a party body created in 1925 as Hitler’s personal bodyguard
The SS and Gestapo shared a police role of rooting out enemies of the state but the SS also had a wider role for developing the new Nazi racial community
In 1936 Himmler was made Chief of German Police, adding control of the Gestapo to that of the SS and thus reinforcing the overlap

12. Fear of the Gestapo-SS was real vs. a clever myth: comparison table
Use p Layton or p.95-8 AQA textbook to gather evidence for each of these view points
The fear of the Gestapo-SS was very real
The Gestapo-SS was a clever myth that played on the fears of people

13. debate
“Violence and intimidation rarely touched the lives of most ordinary Germans. After 1933 at least, terror was highly selective, concentrating on small and marginal groups whose persecution not only met with the approval of the vast majority of Germans, but was actually carried out with the cooperation and often voluntary participation at the local level of the broad mass of ordinary German citizens. German society under the Nazis was, in this view, a society engaged in self-surveillance.”
The Third Reich in Power, R Evans, 2005
“Never before, in no other land and at no other time, had an organisation attained such a comprehensive penetration (of society), possessed such power and reached such a degree of ‘completeness’ in its ability to arouse terror and horror, as well as its actual effectiveness.”
The History of the Gestapo, Jacques Delarue, 1962

14. Document work (sources)
In pairs, read the sources and plan answers to the questions. Use the essay planning sheet to help you
When studying the sources, consider the provenance but you also need to go further. Think about:
Tone
Purpose
Audience

15. what do you think made the police state so powerful in Nazi Germany?
You have 3mins to use your play-doh to make a model showing your answer to this question

16. Homework: Essay planning
In pairs, choose one of the essay titles below and use the essay planning sheet to come up with a credible debate with evidence and a conclusion:
"The maintenance of a police state was essential for the preservation of Hitler's power in Germany between " Explain why you agree or disagree with this view (p.141 Layton can help you plan)
How far did the Nazis succeed in creating an atmosphere of fear in the general population by 1939?
Due: 23/01

17. Gestapo – Documentary (parts 3 – 15) on YouTube
As you watch the documentary, note down any evidence, facts and figures that could be useful in your essays
You could also add to the table that you completed last lesson (fear of the Gestapo was real vs. a clever myth)
Gestapo – Documentary (parts 3 – 15) on YouTube

18. 3) Concentration camps

19. Concentration camps and the final solution
Using the key words, you need to prepare a brief overview of the concentration camps and their key features – this will test your knowledge from GCSE
I’ll choose someone to deliver their overview in 10mins

20. Concentration camps
Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany established about 20,000 camps to imprison its many millions of victims. Some were very small - they weren’t all like Auschwitz
These camps were used for a range of purposes including forced-labour camps, transit camps which served as temporary way stations, and extermination camps built primarily or exclusively for mass murder
1933 – for political opponents. By 1934, torture and brutality had led to majority of prisoners being unwilling to continue their resistance against the regime and they were released
All concentration camps came under the control of the SS after 1934
Feb 1936 – round up criminals, asocials and homosexuals – attempt to start purifying the race. This change coincides with an increase in violence and brutality in the camps – camp guards had been given immunity from prosecution by Himmler
After Germany's annexation of Austria in March 1938, the Nazis arrested German and Austrian Jews and imprisoned them in the Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, all located in Germany
After the violent Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938, the Nazis conducted mass arrests of adult male Jews and incarcerated them in camps for brief periods

21. Concentration camps were not set up during the war, they had been an important instrument of the regime throughout , with the first being set up in 1933 – what does this tell you about how the Nazis viewed their use as a tool for terror and intimidation?

22. Reasons for anti-semitism
Why anti-Semitism?
In 20th Century Germany
General Reasons
Reasons for anti-semitism
Hitler

23. Why anti-Semitism?
General reasons: Religious – Jesus killed by Jews Economic – hostility to wealthy Jews (bankers, industrialists etc) or to poor immigrants Social – popular need to blame someone for problems, to find a scapegoat Political – government diverts discontent by attacking Jews Psychological – general hostility to things that are different/alien In 20th Century Germany: Influence of social Darwinism Blamed for defeat in WWI – the ‘stab in the back myth’ Hitler: His contact with Jews in Vienna His doubts about his own ancestry Pathological (diseased) aspects of his personality

24. How could the Holocaust happen?
Read the sources and complete activities 1 and 2 in the ‘Focus Route’ box
1). Write a key word next to each source that sums up the reason that the Holocaust was tolerated
2). A more thorough answer needed – include a comment on the provenance and a quote for each source you pick
Ext. If you finish, consider the 3 ‘Talking Points’
Finish for h/w – due next lesson

25. Do you think there is a value in shocking portrayals such as this and in harrowing photographs of Jewish victims? Why/why not?