The Background to 1936 the TIME Normal People Under the Third

The background to 1936 THE TIME Normal people under the Third Reich. Their hopes, and expectations of the regime’s survival. Despite their concern over the blatant extreme and unsweetened policies of the two main political rivals (National Socialists and Communists) as the Nazis wrestled for power in 1933, most of the ordinary population of Germany were no great fans of, and almost pretty much glad to see the back of, the Weimar Republic as it crumbled. They no longer had any faith in its purpose and had become irretrievably disillusioned with most of its parliaments, leaders and politicians. What they wanted was order, stability and a start to any possible economic recovery. The majority believed (along with most statesmen, politicians, the military and senior ministers across Western Europe) that the Nazi regime would be a relatively short one. They foresaw a credible scenario where domestic or foreign setbacks would conspire against Hitler and some obstruction or other would curtail his time in office. Whereas, in a twist of savage irony, events largely conspired for him and complacent presumptions of his early dethroning were damagingly misjudged. The numbness of the people: war, defeat, depression, anarchy. The German people had suffered the effects of the Great War, which cost two million German lives and $37½ billion for the nation to wage - with reparations owed of a further 33 billion. The shame of defeat and the perceived humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles. The Great Depression, which left six million German workers unemployed and descended the country into political chaos and economic turmoil. Insane hyperinflation had wiped out people’s fortunes and destitution was commonplace. Crime and violence were the norm. This is the country the Nazis took control of. The Olympics. Toning down the aggression. Immediately prior to the staging of Berlin Olympic Games in August 1936 the Nazis acted to rein in their overtly aggressive policies to political opponents and the Jews. Controversial signage was temporarily removed and the country was cleansed for visiting dignitaries and foreign visitors. It was the intention of the regime to, for a short window, present the Reich in a less controversial/distasteful fashion. German people’s attitude to the Third Reich. How they divided into three groups: Pro. Anti. Neutral (just getting on with their lives). There were ardent Nazi supporters who backed the party and aimed to benefit from it. There were strong opponents who risked their lives and liberty standing up to it. And then there were the rest, who were more impartial. They found aspects of the regime unpalatable, but seemed willing to have them in office if they could provide any kind of improvement to the desperate circumstances of the past few years. Lucky Hitler. Taking huge risks and always getting away with it. At critical times, when matters could have very easily turned dramatically against him, Hitler acted in an extreme fashion, take great gambles which always seemed to pay off. Whether it be the bloodletting of the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 or the re-militarisation of the Rhineland in 1936 these drastic, and risky, acts arrested The background to 1936 decline in popularity and give the regime and its leader a stay of execution and a considerable new lease of life. Things beginning to look up for a change. In common with the economies of rest of the world, as the 1930s progressed undoubted signs of improvement began to show for Germany. Upturns usually follow downturns and this was always more than likely to happen. But the Nazis keenly sold this turnaround to the nation as their miracle. The population, glad for a recovery of any kind, were happy to play along with their charade. Fans of the Fuhrer. Hate his representatives. Hitler was always presented as the focal point of the Nazi party. Though many of the country’s local and national leaders (Gauleiters, Kreisleiters, Blockleiters) were openly mistrusted and despised, mud never seemed to stick to the Fuhrer. “If only the Fuhrer knew”, was a common response to the frequent failings and abuses of the opportunistic and inefficient party hierarchy. THE CRIMES The Kripo and Wilhelm Frick. Wilhelm Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior, initially had far less power than his counterparts in the rest of Europe. Notably, he had no authority over the police; in Germany law enforcement has traditionally been a state and local matter. Indeed, the main reason that Hindenburg and Franz von Papen agreed to give the interior ministry to the Nazis was that it was almost powerless at the time. Frick's power dramatically increased as a result of the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933. The provision of the Reichstag Fire Decree giving the cabinet the power to take over state governments on its own authority was actually his idea; he saw the fire as a chance to increase his power and begin the process of Nazifying the country. While the Kripo had units tasked to investigate political crimes, Kripo detectives in general prided themselves on being essentially apolitical, regardless of their outside political backgrounds and interests. For the Nazis, the Kripo presented a problem. Some more radical Nazis wanted a purge of German police forces, which would then be staffed with SA thugs. Nazis with police backgrounds, specifically Arthur Nebe and Wilhelm Frick, blocked such manoeuvres and Hitler’s crackdown on the SA in the summer of 1934 halted a police-wide purge. Frick and Nebe valued professional detectives, but wanted them to be, over time, thoroughly Nazified. Their method of doing this was more subtle than it was in other bureaucracies. The Nazis began by breaking the Weimar-era police unions, replacing them with the Nazi approved police union. Frick used his control of the union to turn it into a device for delivering a constant stream of Nazi propaganda, under the guise of educating the police forces on Nazi theories of the law and its enforcement. Weekly training and indoctrination sessions became the norm, but the explicit Nazi content was kept at a minimum to avoid alarming mature career detectives. The background to 1936 German criminology in the 1920s and 30s. Ernst Gennat, Director of the Berlin Criminal Police. Known, on account of his wide girth, as the Buddha of Alexanderplatz. During the twenties and thirties his unit boasted a 90% solve rate (as compared with 85% of most modern day police forces) and he is credited with developing the technique referred to today as profiling. He supposedly also coined the term "Serienmörder" (serial killer) to describe Peter Kürten in his acclaimed study, "Die Dusseldorfer Sexualverbrechen". His techniques and breakthroughs greatly advanced forensic detection throughout the world. Gennat himself solved 298 homicide cases. During the Third Reich he was able to continue his illustrious career, despite being no supporter of the regime. As a result of his successes he was even promoted to Department Director in 1934 and Vice Director of the Berlin Police in 1935. German serial killers during the Weimar Republic and the Great Depression. Weimar Germany is seen today as being to serial killers what the Italian Renaissance was to poisoners, an early golden age. Some of the most infamous remain: Peter Kürten: German serial killer known as The Vampire of Düsseldorf, who committed a series of murders and sexual assaults between February and November 1929. Kürten was executed on 2 July 1931 by guillotine in Cologne. Fritz Haarmann: Known as the Butcher of Hanover, Haarmann committed the sexual assault, murder, mutilation and dismemberment of a minimum of 24 boys and young men between 1918 and 1924. Haarmann was beheaded by guillotine in the grounds of Hanover prison on 15 April 1925. Karl Grossmann: During World War I, Grossmann sold meat on the black market and had a hotdog stand near his home in Berlin. It is believed the meat contained the remains of his victims. The exact number he killed is unknown, but it’s been estimated as many as 50 women ended up being murdered, dismembered and eaten by unwitting customers. Grossmann was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but hanged himself in his own cell in July 1922. Friedrich Schumann: Described as the first serial killer of modern times in Germany. ‘The mass murderer from Falkenhagener See’ hailed from Spandau and committed a minimum of six murders, plus a further eleven attempted murders. He was sentenced to death by the ax and was beheaded on 27 August 1921 in Plötzensee prison. Then, as now, both press and public shared an intense morbid curiosity for the acts and minds of these killers. With newspapers revealing, in lurid detail, the crimes and what befell the tragic victims, always rewarded by a healthy increase in sales. The Nazis promising law and order. Ever the opportunists, the Nazis, as they touted desperately for power, appealed to the electorate that they would be the party to put an end to this surge in gruesome attacks. The true impact of their success with this boast is unverifiable, since they so constantly manipulated real crime figures to their own advantage. .

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