Nazi Police State

• Fuhrer


  Hitler became Fuhrer on 2nd August 1934
• SS


  Created in 1925 to act as personal bodyguards to Hitler

  Himmler became leader in 1929

  Wore black uniforms to be easily identifiable from the SA

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

  1925 --> 240 members

  1939 --> 290,000 members
• SD


  Created by Himmler in 1931

  Heydrich incharge

  Gathered intelligence on anyone they suspected or knew opposed the Nazi party

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

  1932 --> 33

  1939 --> 4,000
• Gestapo


  Goering initially created the Gestapo to 'investigate and combat all attempts to threaten the state'

  Heydrich led the Gestapo by 1934

  Wore plain clothes so could not be identified

  The Gestapo relied on denunciations from the public to target suspects

  1937 --> 6,500

  1939 --> 20,000
• 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

  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.

  Judges and lawyers were required to prioritise the interests of the Nazi party above all else

  Judges had to join the National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law

  Lawyers had to join 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: 1930 --> 1932, 8 people executed and 1934 --> 1939, 534 people executed