CENSORSHIP - controlling what people read, hear or see
PROPAGANDA - Giving people false or
misleading information to change their opinions
Josef Goebbels was in charge of
the propaganda - his title was the
minister of enlightenment and
propaganda The aim was to control
the German people through
persuasion and that all Germans
accepted Nazi ideas and actions -
through censorship.
Goebbels controlled
books, book burnings,
newspapers, Reich
chamber of culture (art)
and radio.
THE SS - They had originally been a private bodyguard
for Hitler and other Nazi leaders and it only had 500 men.
SS stands for Schutz staffel or protection squad and in 4
years, Himmler managed to build it into an elite force of
50,000 tall, blond, blue-eyed Aryan supermen. Physical
standards very strict, replaced brown shirts with black
ones. Became means of terrorising or intimidating into
obedience. Feared because they had almost unlimited
powers to arrest anyone, search houses, confiscate
property and they also ran concentration camps.
ROLES OF THE SS included being Hitlers protection
squad, to crush the SA leadership, when in power 1933
onward - ran concentration camps, organised the
Gestapo and controlled the police, arrests, no trial only
imprisonment = fear, 1939 onwards -> war = SS fighting
units, Waffen SS, concentration camp - huge factories
produced goods for war, huge profits.
CONCENTRATION CAMPS - Concentration camps were 1st temporary prisons run
by the SA and SS in disused factories or warehouses or in hastily erected barbed
wire enclosures in the countryside. Some took overflow of jails and other specialized
in particular types of people like trade unionists. Feared because opponents taken for
questioning, torture hard labour or re-education. If someone killed a letter sent home
saying been killed from disease. Later, they were scenes of mass killings.
THE GESTAPO - Were secret police run by Himmler. Tapped
telephones, intercepted mail, spied on people. Anything said bad about
Hitler was to be reported to them, they could strike anywhere at any time.
THE POLICE AND COURTS - Nazis didn't get rid of these, just
controlled them. Police under control of the SS and judges took oath of
loyalty to Hitler. Number of crimes punishable by death rose from 3 in
1933 to 46 in 1943. Included listening to foreign radio stations.
INFORMERS - Every town divided into a small unit
called blocks which included a handful of houses. Their
local Nazi visited them weekly to check up on them and
reported them if they were telling anti-Hitler jokes,
refusing to support the party, showing signs of
independant thinking, hosting illegal political meetings or
not flying the Nazi flag on celebration days. Had to write
reports on residents.
BERLIN OLYMPICS 1936 - Successes -> facilities/buildings were impressive, well
organised, 75 million marks spent on facilities, Germany won the most medals, it was a
technical success - radio/film. Failures -> Jesse Owens won medals and the support of
the German crowd much to Hitlers disapproval, military were over the top/intimidating,
Hitler Youth did not impress foreign athletes, racism put off foreign athletes.
DONKEY AND A CARROT! - Hitler
sat on the back of a donkey with a
carrot on a stick in front -> donkey
represent the German people, carrots
try to attract people to Nazis and stick
to beat people who don't follow.