The Gestapo was an information gathering and law enforcing body of the Nazi regime, which began its operation in 1933. The organization has been examined though many lenses, some more popular than others. The article, “ The Gestapo and German Society” by Robert Gellately argues how ultimately it was society that fueled the Gestapo’s power beyond the limits of what they could have achieved without society’s help. Other perspectives into the analysis of the Gestapo have included the organizations legal history and insights into key leaders such as Henirich Himmler. What some of these other perspectives lack is a thorough assessment of the Gestapo’s operations. Gellately created a compelling argument by determining what led to a Gestapo case being initiated and the number of employees per branch compared to the population to conclude that the Gestapo lacked the physical resources to be the motor of the terror system within the Nazi regime. Yet, the author leaves room to argue that German society had adequate reason to fear the brutal behaviour of the Gestapo regardless of private citizen’s cooperation in cases. To support the idea that the Gestapo relied heavily on the work of other people or organizations, Gellately presented various statistics from the time the Gestapo was in operation. Gellately notes that out of the 825 files that were collected from the Gestapo 26% of the cases were initiated from the reports of the population, while only 15% were from their own observations, 13% from interrogations, and another 13% had no information. The author used the information to conclude that cases from private citizens were vital for the Gestapo. Part of the reason why the success of the organization relied heavily on the cooper... ... middle of paper ... ...e argued the importance of public denunciations towards the success of the terror system and the Gestapo. Gellately makes it clear that without the help of private citizens the Gestapo would not have had as strong and organized of a reputation as they had. Yet, it should not be ignored that the Gestapo was brutal in its negotiation techniques, and that reputation could induce fear into public cooperation. It may be true that the general public instilled more fear into themselves about the capabilities of the Gestapo through volunteering information, than the Gestapo itself, but that should not imply that the Gestapo was not a creator of fear in that era. Works Cited Gellately, Robert. “The Gestapo and German Society: Political Denunciation in the Gestepo Case Files.” Journal of Modern History (The University of Chicago Press) 60, no. 04 (December 1988): 654-694.
The atrocities of war can take an “ordinary man” and turn him into a ruthless killer under the right circumstances. This is exactly what Browning argues happened to the “ordinary Germans” of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the mass murders and deportations during the Final Solution in Poland. Browning argues that a superiority complex was instilled in the German soldiers because of the mass publications of Nazi propaganda and the ideological education provided to German soldiers, both of which were rooted in hatred, racism, and anti-Semitism. Browning provides proof of Nazi propaganda and first-hand witness accounts of commanders disobeying orders and excusing reservists from duties to convince the reader that many of the men contributing to the mass
The Gestapo, Hitler’s secret Police, instilled a lot of fear into the German people's eyes. With their leader being one of Hitlers advisers, you can tell they were pretty important to Hitler. However, they weren't always lead by one of Hitler’s advisers. The Gestapo had many roles to Hitler's war plan. With this they had many duties to do and many different complicated ways they did their duties.
In The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen, the author is able to show the reader the support building strategy used by the Nazi party in Northeim and surrounding areas. Allen's thesis is that Nazi party was able to succeed the village of Northeim and else where because they were able to reach out the lower and middle class. Since these classes held the majority of the population, the Nazi party discovered what they wanted from government officials and then used that to persuade these classes to vote for them. To give you a background of the village of Northeim is vital to the understanding of how this party could have come in and take over the political scene so quickly.
When faced with the prospect of jail or death, Americans would turn even on their own friends (737). This exercise will not only help me to make these connections, but it also helps me to learn details on the sequence of events and the chain reactions they cause during this time period. However, I believe the book would have been more helpful had it clarified more on why people were so anti-communist. This exercise also aids in connecting the events at the time to each other. Rather than simply learning the events in a sequence, one can now look at them as a web of interconnecting facts, such as the bridge between HUAC and McCarthyism.
The arguments of Christopher Browning and Daniel John Goldhagen contrast greatly based on the underlining meaning of the Holocaust to ordinary Germans. Why did ordinary citizens participate in the process of mass murder? Christopher Browning examines the history of a battalion of the Order Police who participated in mass shootings and deportations. He debunks the idea that these ordinary men were simply coerced to kill but stops short of Goldhagen's simplistic thesis. Browning uncovers the fact that Major Trapp offered at one time to excuse anyone from the task of killing who was "not up to it." Despite this offer, most of the men chose to kill anyway. Browning's traces how these murderers gradually became less "squeamish" about the killing process and delves into explanations of how and why people could behave in such a manner.
In times of great terror and panic, the citizens of a nation must decide what they value most: their right to privacy or the lives of the innocent. Government surveillance is criticized, however there are times in a nation’s history where, in order to ensure the safety of their citizens, they must surveill the country for potential hazards that might exist in the world. The government-issued program, COINTELPRO--a series of illegal projects during the twentieth century organized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation--while heavily criticized for its unconstitutional grounds--was justified because it benefitted the nation during a period of upheaval. COINTELPRO is popularly condemned by historians and professors such as Brandeis University Professor of Sociology, David Cunningham, who asserts that the FBI counterintelligence program was only a form of repression that allowed for the government to suppress matters that they consider bothersome (234). This however was not the case.
Murders inflicted upon the Jewish population during the Holocaust are often considered the largest mass murders of innocent people, that some have yet to accept as true. The mentality of the Jewish prisoners as well as the officers during the early 1940’s transformed from an ordinary way of thinking to an abnormal twisted headache. In the books Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi and Ordinary men by Christopher R. Browning we will examine the alterations that the Jewish prisoners as well as the police officers behaviors and qualities changed.
To illustrate the ideas this essay proposes, it will first give a clear and factual overview of the Rosenberg Case. It all began even before the Rosenbergs came into the picture, namely with the arrest and confession of soviet spy Klaus Fuchs in 1950. This namely led to the investigation of his courier, Harry Gold, and then David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother. Greenglass cooperated and named Julius Rosenberg as a fellow spy, claiming that he provided Julius with documents from the Los Alamos lab where atomic bombs were fab...
2001. OUTLINE The government of Nazi Germany greatly resembled the Party, the government in 1984, as both were very power-hungry governments. I. System of government A. A. Nazi and Party ideology B. B. Propaganda and control of media II. Children A. Education of children B. Youth organizations III.
Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.
Zedner, L. 2005, "Securing Liberty in the Face of Terror: Reflections from Criminal Justice", Journal of Law and Society, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. pp. 507-533.
Have you wondered what is the Gestapo? What did they do? Most people confuse the Gestapo with the SS. When Hitler came into power he appointed Herrman Goring the Minister of the Interior of Prussia, a major German state ,which gave him control of the police. The story that started all with one man, Herrman Goring.
Rothe, D. & Muzzatti, S.L. 2004. Enemies everywhere: Terrorism, moral panic and US civil society. Critical Criminology. 1(12): 327–350.
MODERN HISTORY – RESEARCH ESSAY “To what extent was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian state in the period from 1934 to 1939?” The extent to which Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state can be classed as a substantial amount. With Hitler as Fuhrer and his ministers in control of most aspects of German social, political, legal, economical, and cultural life during the years 1934 to 1939, they mastered complete control and dictation upon Germany. In modern history, there have been some governments, which have successfully, and others unsuccessfully carried out a totalitarian state. A totalitarian state is one in which a single ideology is existent and addresses all aspects of life and outlines means to attain the final goal, government is run by a single mass party through which the people are mobilized to muster energy and support.
Within Nazi government, Hitler acted as the final source of authority, which serves as evidence against the notion that Hitler was ‘weak’. Having consolidated power by 1934 Hitler was, at least theoretically, omnipotent, being Chancellor, Head of State and “supreme judge of the nation”. However, the notion that Nazi government systematically pursued the clear objectives of the Fuhrer is challenged by the reality of Nazi government structure. It has been widely accepted by historians that the Nazi State was a chaotic collection of rival power blocs. Mommsen’s explanation that this was the result of Hitler’s apathy towards government a...