The Nazi Police State

1
The Nazi Police State
2
The Nazi Party

• Hitler was popular but the Nazi party was not.
• The party was organised on the Fuhrer Prinzip
  with Hitler in the role of supreme leader.
• The function of the party was to spread Nazi
  ideas, carry out Nazi party policy and see that
  it was accepted by the ordinary people.

3
Organisation of the Party

• The backbone of the party was the Gauleiters
  Hitlers regional commanders. Hitler said I
  have made the Gauleiters true kings.
  Rauschinigg ,a former Nazi ,claimed he never
  ran counter to the opinion of his Gauleiter They
  had enormous power and were ultra loyal.
• At the bottom of the party organisation were the
  block leaders who spied on individuals in their
  street.

4
The Gestapo

• The Gestapo were the Prussian State police and
  came under Himmlers control in 1933.
• It was the most important security agent of the
  state able to decide for itself what the law was.
• Never before ..had an organisation attained
  such a comprehensive penetration ( of society),
  possessed such power,. and ability to arouse
  terror and horror. Jacques Delarue

5
Omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent?

• In fact the Gestapo were not everywhere.
• In the entire country there were only 32,000
  Gestapo officers.
• In Wurzburg there were only 28 Gestapo officers
  for a population of 1 million.
• Historian Gellatey in his book Hitlers willing
  executioners argues that the Nazi state was only
  possible with the backing of ordinary people. In
  fact 57 of denunciations came voluntarily from
  neighbours, in some cases over 80.

6
The SS

• The SS evolved from Hitlers elite body guard
  into the Nazi states main instrument of terror
  and the main pursuers of the racial state. In
  1929 they numbered only 280 by 1933, 52,000 by
  1939, 240,000.
• The SS helped in the consolidation of power and
  ran the first concentration camp Dachau near
  Munich.
• Laterly they carried out Nazi racial policy in
  the east including the extermination of the Jews.

7
Subversion of the Law

• There was a breakdown of the rule of law as the
  Gestapo and the SS became a law unto themselves .
  
• In February 1933 Goring ordered the shooting of
  the enemies of the state.
• The Nazis would not permit any criticism of the
  regime. There was no need to actually commit a
  crime, subversive thoughts and acts might lead to
  an accusation of being an enemy of the state.

8
Law Courts

• By 1935 courts deemed all police actions as
  legal.
• Special peoples courts were set up.
• Lawyers had to belong to the Nazi Lawyers
  Association.
• Judges were forced to take an oath of loyalty to
  Hitler.