The police state Flashcards

All 7 cards in this deck

What was the Gestapo and what powers did it have?

The Nazi secret state police; they could search without warrants and detain, torture and imprison suspects without trial.

What was the SS and who led it?

Hitler's elite blackshirt force, led by Heinrich Himmler; it ran the concentration camps and could arrest and imprison people without trial.

What were the concentration camps used for in 1933–39?

SS-run camps, such as Dachau (opened 1933), where political opponents and 'undesirables' were held without trial and forced to do hard labour.

True or false? The Gestapo was a huge force with agents watching every German.

False. It was fairly small and relied heavily on ordinary Germans and block wardens informing on their neighbours.

What was the People's Court, set up in 1934?

A court that tried cases of treason in secret; only limited evidence was needed to bring a case and almost all defendants were found guilty.

Who set up the Gestapo, and when?

Hermann Göring, in 1933. Its officers worked in plain clothes, and it was later run by Reinhard Heydrich under Himmler.

What control over the German police did Himmler gain in 1936?

He became Chief of the German Police, so the SS now controlled all of Germany's police forces, including the Gestapo.