Totalitarianism In Germany
Jon Smith
Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany final paper
I pledge to have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.
A Totalitarian regime uses terror not only as an instrument to suppress opposition, but once free of opposition, terror is employed to ensure the movement of the regime. As Hannah Arendt contends, "if lawfulness is the essence of non-tyrannical government, and lawlessness is the essence of tyranny, then terror is the essence of totalitarian domination."(p. 162) Terror is the instrument used by the totalitarian movement to achieve a complete totalitarian state. Unlike many other totalitarian states, “The Third Reich was not a totalitarian state; it was a caricature of onea caricature reflecting all …show more content…
The Gestapo itself originated as a remnant of the Prussian State Political Secret Police and was actually originally under the control of Hermann Goering who was a rival of Himmler for the position of the Third Reich's top policeman. Not until the Night of Long Knives did Himmler actually gain control of the Gestapo as well and put it under his deputy, Heydrich's control. Even so, the SS was often frustrated in its bid to grow in influence or power without constant struggles and conflicts with other rival organizations within the Nazi regime, particular the Party and the Wehrmacht. In fact, Hitler rather than centralizing power in a single agency, sought to disperse it among as many of his subordinates as possible in order to keep their individual domains of influence low and ultimately remain the sole arbitrator and judge of any conflicts of jurisdictions. Hitler's own vision of the SS was far from the heights of fantasies conjured up by the Reichsfuehrer-SS: it was to remain, from beginning to end, nothing more than an ultra-loyal police, protection and paramilitary force principally to carry out the will (and the dirty work) of the Nazi leadership. The Teutonic dream of Himmler -- to racially seed, nurture and grow a class of Nordic super-Aryans; to create a nation-state of warrior peasants made up of "racially pure" elite overlords settled on and governing the fertile soils of Eastern Europe remained just that -- a futile dream. The SS in all actuality, was highly unorganized, and lacked discipline within its fanatical elites. Heinz Hohne higlights this repeatedly. What started out as a headquarters' bodyguard for Hitler (and other top Nazis) in the 1920s, expanded and evolved into a kind of cultish pseudo-Teutonic Order of
Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany final paper
I pledge to have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.
A Totalitarian regime uses terror not only as an instrument to suppress opposition, but once free of opposition, terror is employed to ensure the movement of the regime. As Hannah Arendt contends, "if lawfulness is the essence of non-tyrannical government, and lawlessness is the essence of tyranny, then terror is the essence of totalitarian domination."(p. 162) Terror is the instrument used by the totalitarian movement to achieve a complete totalitarian state. Unlike many other totalitarian states, “The Third Reich was not a totalitarian state; it was a caricature of onea caricature reflecting all …show more content…
The Gestapo itself originated as a remnant of the Prussian State Political Secret Police and was actually originally under the control of Hermann Goering who was a rival of Himmler for the position of the Third Reich's top policeman. Not until the Night of Long Knives did Himmler actually gain control of the Gestapo as well and put it under his deputy, Heydrich's control. Even so, the SS was often frustrated in its bid to grow in influence or power without constant struggles and conflicts with other rival organizations within the Nazi regime, particular the Party and the Wehrmacht. In fact, Hitler rather than centralizing power in a single agency, sought to disperse it among as many of his subordinates as possible in order to keep their individual domains of influence low and ultimately remain the sole arbitrator and judge of any conflicts of jurisdictions. Hitler's own vision of the SS was far from the heights of fantasies conjured up by the Reichsfuehrer-SS: it was to remain, from beginning to end, nothing more than an ultra-loyal police, protection and paramilitary force principally to carry out the will (and the dirty work) of the Nazi leadership. The Teutonic dream of Himmler -- to racially seed, nurture and grow a class of Nordic super-Aryans; to create a nation-state of warrior peasants made up of "racially pure" elite overlords settled on and governing the fertile soils of Eastern Europe remained just that -- a futile dream. The SS in all actuality, was highly unorganized, and lacked discipline within its fanatical elites. Heinz Hohne higlights this repeatedly. What started out as a headquarters' bodyguard for Hitler (and other top Nazis) in the 1920s, expanded and evolved into a kind of cultish pseudo-Teutonic Order of