16.2.2

The Gestapo & SS

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The Nazi Police State

Hitler ran Germany as a police state. This means that the police controlled every aspect of daily life for German citizens. The Gestapo and SS were two key groups in this system.

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The Gestapo

  • The Gestapo was Hitler’s secret police service, set up by Hermann Goering in 1933 and led by Reynhard Heydrich (centre) in 1934.
    • The Gestapo did not wear uniforms as they were secret investigators.
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The purpose of the Gestapo

  • The Gestapo was a small unit of 50,000 policemen who relied on informers to identify opponents.
  • They spied on German citizens and prosecuted people who spoke against the Nazi regime.
    • Punishment for such a crime was torture or being sent to a concentration camp.
  • The German population were terrified of the Gestapo’s power.
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The SS (Schutzstaffel)

  • The SS was Hitler’s Protection Squad (bodyguards).
    • It was set up in 1925 AD and led by Heinrich Himmler.
  • The SS recruited Aryans. It was an expectation that SS troops would also have children with Aryan women.
  • SS troops were highly trained and very disciplined (this was one reason why Hitler preferred them to the SA).
  • They wore black uniforms.
  • The SS had 90,000 full-time employees and 200,000 'informal workers', who were informants passing information.
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The role of the SS

  • The SS were in charge of Germany’s police force.
    • They had the power to search people’s property and send them to prison without receiving a trial.
    • They ran the concentration camps.
  • In the Second World War, the SS were in charge of the Einsatzgruppen and death camps.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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