unit 2

• The SD was the main official Intelligence-gathering agency.  spied on various aspects of German society but did not take action against individuals but passed on Information to those who did - the Gestapo.
• The Gestapo (secret police): The Gestapo investigated all activities that posed a danger to the state. Initially they focussed on political opponents but later focussed on Jews, homosexuals and religious dissenters. They tapped telephones, opened mail and relied on informers to pass on Information. The Gestapo would Interrogate prisoners and try to get confessions.
• • Police: In 1936 they were put under the control of the SS. They carried out their normal duties but also provided intelligence on potential enemies and arrested them.
• ° Judges and courts: Judges had to swear an oath to Hitler. The number of criminal offences punishable by a death sentence rose from 3 in 1933 to 46 in 1943.
• Concentration camps: These were camps that gathered people who threatened the state and 'concentrated them' in one area. These were different from the extermination camps, like Auschwitz that came later. Early concentration camps were set up to Imprison political opponents. By the mid-1930s other inmates began to arrive, religious opponents, criminals, the work shy and some Jews.
• Newspapers

  Nazi's controlled newspapers through the Reich Press Chamber and by 1929 the Naz's owned 2/3 of the newspapers. Content was tightly censored.
• Radio

  National and local stations were controlled by the Reich Radio Company. By 1939 70% of all Germans owned a radio in their home.
• Rallies

  Were used to show the strength of the Nazi Party. Nuremberg was the biggest Rally, in 1934 over 250,000 people attended.
• Posters

  Often portrayed Hitler as God like and often showed the ideal Aryan family.
• Berlin Olympics 1936

  This event was used as an important piece of propaganda, Anti - Semitic signs were taken down and the newspapers toned down. Nearly all winners were Aryan with the exception of Jesse Owens.
• Film

  Nazis limited the amount of foreign films shown in Germany. By 1939 2/3 of all films were paid for by the state and promoted Hitler or criticised the Jews.
• Opposition (The Left)

  • Social Democrats
  • Communists
• Social Democrats

  • Formed resistance groups who produced anti-Nazi leaflets and posters
  • Many were hunted down by the Gestapo
• Communists

  • Held meetings and produced a communist newsletter called The Red Flag every month
  • Also hunted by the Gestapo
• Opposition (The Church)

  • Jehovah's Witnesses
• Jehovah's Witnesses

  • Refused to give the Hitler salute and compulsory military service
  • They wrote anti-Nazi leaflets
  • 6,000 were Imprisoned in Concentration Camps
• Opposition (Youth Groups)

  • Swing Kids
  • Edelweiss Pirates
• Swing Kids

  • Were angry that the Nazi's imposed German culture and banned American culture
  • They listened to Jazz music, grew their hair and wore baggy trousers
• Edelweiss Pirates

  • Were opposed to Nazi politics and the enforced Hitler Youth Groups
  • They wore a white edelweiss flower as a sign of resistance
  • Picked fights with the Hitler Youth
• posters the Nazis created to push the Nazi ideology were the Eternal Jew and long live Germany.
• the eternal Jew was a poster of a Jewish man drawn to show the stereotypical image the Nazis were trying to promote.

  it features a hammer and sickle with was the symbol of the soviet union (communism) and the Nazi often tired to link Jews to communism

  there is also money in the man's hand and Jews were often portrayed as greedy.
• The Long Live Germany poster depicts Hitler as having a light shining on him and a swastika sign large on the poster.

  hitler looks very powerful in this image because a crowd is following him.