During Hitler's rise to power he used a private army he called the Brown Shirts to intimidate opponents. He had to be careful in doing this because he wanted and needed public support. The use of fear really came into being just days after he became Chancellor in 1933. He had the Reichstag burned down then used the "emergency" to seize complete control. He then outlawed the Catholic and Communist political parties, his chief opponents, and arrested their leaders. His Brown Shirts launched into a reign of terror, arresting, beating, even killing random people across the nation. By law none could be held to account. The purpose was to "re-educate" the population, to cow them into submission so they would not dare stand up to the regime. It worked.
Hitler controlled Germany in many ways after he became chancellor in 1934. He used propaganda effectively, using his SS and Gestapo as enforcers. Using the "Enabling Act" which he pushed through after the Reichstag fire, Hitler was able to pass any new law that he wanted. He got rid of ALL his political opponent by turning Germany into a ONE party state -- the Nazi State .
Hitler's use of propaganda, putting Josef Goebbels in charge of organising "Hitler over Germany", gained him more supporters as people saw nothing and heard nothing -- except whatever Hitler wanted them to see and hear.
Hitler also got rid of all priests in churches, as he thought that they were spreading anti- Nazi beliefs. He got rid of them and put his own men in charge of them instead. Political opponents went to concentration camps or prison as political prisoners, opponents in the Army were given postings in North Africa and then later in Russia on the Eastern Front, social opponents were suppressed by the police or arrested & sent to concentration camps.
To control the minds of the young of Germany, Hitler made the "Hitler Youth". This was like boy scouts. Boys there were taught under the Nazi Racial Ideology, and learned about Nazi history.
The interesting thing about Nazi Germany was that with the socialisation of people towards Nazi life, there was little outward resistance, but there were lots of underground movements & a niche society developed -- people conformed in public & rebelled in Private
As a form of government, National Socialism is totalitarian in character aiming at the total control of all politics, economy, social relationships and thought, by a small group which claims to understand how to cope with all aspects of human existence.
The word "Socialist" in the name of the Nazi Party did not refer to the nationalization of the means of production but rather to requiring the economy to serve the interests of the Party.
Hitler succeeded in reducing unemployment by initiating public works projects, including the construction of superhighways (autobahns), and establishing the Labor Service to provide jobs for young workers who could not find employment in the private sector. In 1936, the Four Year Plan was launched with the purpose of promoting economic self-sufficiency and of mobilizing the economy for war.
But Hitler loved children, didn't he?
Right.
