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Propaganda, Terror and Repression

Main elements of Nazi Propaganda

•Simplicity - Keep it simple; assume low level of intellect

•Repetition - Essential!; use of slogan

•Singe View - one-sided; allow no possible alternative belief

•Marginalisation - establish scapegoat; stereotypes (Jews and Communists); sense of fear;

Main elements of Nazi Propaganda

•Lying - The bigger the lie the better

•Masses - importance of mass meetings; power of mass suggestion

•Emotion - make people feel not think

•Contempt - masses are empty-headed; understanding is limited

Organs of State Terror

•SA -

•paramilitary force - street battles

•ran early concentration camps (1933-1934)

•real power ended in June 1934 (Long Knives)

Organs of State Terror

•SS -

•‘Hitler’s bodyguards’;

• lead by Himmler from 1929;

•elite character;

•racially pure;

•ran concentration camps from 1934;

•undertook key police functions in 1930s

Organs of State Terror

•Gestapo -

•‘secret police’

•set up in November 1933

•under the control of Goering then Himmler

•looked after internal security

•operated free from judicial constraint

Organs of State Terror

•Concentration Camps -

•set up in 1933 (Dachau and Oranienburg)

• initially for political opponents but later for ‘socially undesirable’, and then the Jews

•use of uncontrolled brutality

•inmates were depersonalised