The police state
The SS and the SD
(Schutzstaffel) began as Hitler's bodyguard. Led by Heinrich Himmler, it grew into a huge organisation. Its members, in black uniforms, were chosen to be completely loyal to Hitler. The SS ran the concentration camps, and could arrest people and search homes without a warrant.
(Sicherheitsdienst) was the SS's intelligence service, led by Reinhard Heydrich. It gathered information on opponents of the regime, and on what ordinary Germans were thinking.
Key terms
The Gestapo, and how far people informed
The was the secret state police. It could arrest people and send them to concentration camps without a trial. People feared it greatly.
But the Gestapo was quite small. It relied heavily on ordinary Germans informing on each other: neighbours, colleagues and even family members. Many investigations began with a tip-off. Some people informed out of loyalty to the regime; others to settle personal grudges. also kept watch on each neighbourhood.
Significance: because anyone might be an informer, people were careful what they said, even in private. Fear helped the regime control people.
Exam tip
For 'How far' questions about Nazi control, compare fear (the Gestapo, SS and camps) with and popular support. Many historians argue all three mattered.
Key terms
Concentration camps
The first opened at Dachau, near Munich, in March 1933.
At first, camps held political opponents: communists, socialists and trade unionists. Later, other groups were sent there too, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma and Sinti, gay men, people the Nazis called 'asocial', and, after November 1938, many Jewish men.
Prisoners were held without trial, forced to do hard labour, and treated brutally. Many died.
Significance: the camps removed opponents, and the fear of being sent to one stopped many others from speaking out.
Key terms
Nazi control of the legal system
- Judges had to join a Nazi organisation for lawyers, and judges who were Jewish or opposed the Nazis were dismissed.
- (from 1933) heard political cases, without a jury, and the accused had few rights.
- (from 1934) tried cases of treason. Its judges were loyal Nazis, and trials were often held in secret.
- Even when courts found someone not guilty, the Gestapo could arrest them again as they left.
Significance: the law no longer protected people from the state. It was a tool of Nazi control.