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ARRoGANT CoURiERS WiTH ESSaYS
Grade Level: Type of Work Subject/Topic is on:
[ ]6-8 [ ]Class Notes [An Essay on German ]
[x]9-10 [ ]Cliff Notes [Government Officials in ]
[ ]11-12 [x]Essay/Report [WWII ]
[ ]College [ ]Misc [ ]
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THE HENCHMEN
German Government Officials in WWII
Many people have contributed to the cruel treatment of human beings,
specifically Jews, in Nazi Germany during the second World War. This is a
report on the damage carried out by some of the Nazi criminals working
under the rule of Adolf Hitler.
Many people contributed in Hitler's attempt to carry out his 'Final
Solution'. Among these people are Ernst Roehm, Joseph Goebbels, Adolf
Himmler, and Hermann Wilhelm Goering. While I discuss how they partook in
World War Two, keep in mind their actions will, and have, left a mark on
the world forever.
Little is known about Ernst Roehm's childhood. He was a quiet boy who
never went looking for trouble and didn't express hatred towards anyone,
mostly because his parents were Libertarians and never paid attention to
the politics in Germany's heartland. In college, Hitler's ideas and
notions had a strong impact on Roehm's personality. Though Roehm never
graduated, he joined the Free Corps, a group of soldiers dedicated to
changing injustices in the German government. After a while, Roehm started
to grow tired of the Free Corp's non- violent style, and he was tempted to
be more of an activist in government reform. Hitler, looking to recruit
fellow officers in his plan, then in it's infancy, liked Roehm's strong
presence and personality. Roehm, jobless and nowhere to go, joined
Hitler's office. After Hitler was elected into office some years later, he
split his dictatorship into different divisions. Roehm, being one of the
original officers, was chosen as head of the Sturmabteilung, or SA,
commonly referred to as the Brownshirts and storm-troopers. By 1932, the
Brownshirts had reached more than 400,000 members. All types of men who
Hitler saw fit enough to join were members. Among them were ex-Free Corps
soldiers like Roehm, students who weren't able to find jobs, shopkeepers
who went out of business or weren't profitable enough, the unemployed,
uneducated, and common criminals. As you can see, they were a very diverse
bunch. Roehm had full power over where they demonstrated and protested.
What was their cause? None really. They were merely an idea of Hitler's
to spread his popularity, as well as the Nazi Party's. They roamed the
streets of Munich, often drunk, singing racist stanzas from songs, beating
anyone they thought, judging just from appearance who they thought was a
Jew or a Communist. Roehm screamed to the marching storm-troopers, "We
will brawl our way to greatness." He enjoyed violence for it's own sake,
and he is quoted as saying to reporters after they burned down a kosher
diner, in which he also had the left side of his nose shot off, "Since I am
an immature and wicked man, war and unrest appeal to me more than order."
In one incident, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering, heads of other Nazi
divisions, jealous of Roehm and the rest of the Brownshirt's public
popularity, even though they had more power internally, conspired against
Roehm and the storm-troopers. They forged letters and documents to Hitler
in Roehm's name, in which confessions of high treason were written. Many
members of the storm-troopers were executed. When Hitler himself came to
partake in the executions, they started screaming "Heil Hitler", the salute
to Hitler. Hitler realized that the documents had been forged, and let the
rest, including Roehm go free. Hitler and the storm-troopers never found
out who had written them. Another incident of a much greater magnitude was
'the night of long knives', on June 30, 1934. Hitler cut off relations
with all his fellow branches except the SS. He let most of them all go,
except members of the storm-troopers. They were all executed, and Roehm
insisted that Hitler kill him. He felt any other person to kill him would
be considered unfaithful to Hitler and an undignified death. Hitler killed
him and in all of World War Two Ernst Roehm remained the only person to
ever die by Hitler's bullets.
Another henchman of Hitler's, Joseph Goebbels, born in 1897, in Rheydt,
Germany and the son of peasants, probably had the most effect on Germany's
society and public life. A childhood bone disease stunted his growth, so
he didn't grow more than 5 feet and he walked with a limp. His actions are
well documented since he kept a diary of almost everything in his political
life. Thin-faced and slender, before working for Hitler, he was a
successful playwright of scripts about political satire. He was the man
who convinced Hitler to run for President of Germany on February 22, 1933,
against Paul von Hindenburg, the president at the time, in an eventual
successful campaign. After Hitler was elected as the new dictator over
Germany, Goebbels was elected as the official Propaganda Minister. He had
under his legal jurisdiction the power to control Germany's common society.
He tried to convince Nazis to become more devout and to convince people who
weren't Nazis to join the party. He controlled all the publications, radio
programs, films, and arts. Out of all that was deemed inappropriate by
Goebbels, music prevailed the best, as he was an avid fan of classical
music. Still, all Jewish music was banned. Goebbels often chatted with
fellow officer Hermann Goering about what to do with the Jews they found on
raids of their homes. Goebbels said they should clean up the glass from
Kristallnacht, the 'night of broken glass', in which Jewish synagogues were
destroyed, and then the Nazis would turn the vacant spaces into parking
lots. He also said Jews should be excluded from everything. After Goering
agreed, these statements sadly came true. On another occasion, on May 10,
1933, a book-burning took place, one of many during those years in Germany
and the countries it defeated, right across from the University of Berlin.
The Nazis burned world-renowned authors as well as German books while
Goebbels yelled, "The soul of the German people can again express itself.
These flames not only illuminate the final end of an old era; they also
light up a new!" During Germany's downfall, he poisoned his six children,
and then at the request of Goebbels, a fellow Nazi shot him and his wife
Magda to death in 1945.
Adolf Himmler, born in 1900 in Munich, held many ranks in his busy
political life. He ordered the deaths of millions, beginning with the
'blood purge' in 1934 and ending with the systematic killings of Jews in
World War Two concentration camps. He followed Hitler since 1923, and since
then he became the chief of police of Germany in 1936, the Minister of the
Interior in 1943, the Minister of Home Defense in 1944. Today he is
believed to be the head cohort in coordinating the Reichstag fire, after
following Hitler's orders. The Reichstag building was the democratic
party's headquarters. On February 27, 1933, in hopes of disrupting the
proceedings going on that evening, Himmler and the rest of the SS he
commanded snuck into the building through the heating tunnels and place gas
bombs throughout. The Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels blamed the
fire on the Communists. This gave the Nazis an excuse to bring down the
Communist Party by search and seizures, arrests, and killings, using the
excuse that they were withholding evidence from the fire. Toward the end
of the war, Himmler was the head of the SS Police, Gestapo, slave camps,
and directed the resettlement of Eastern Europeans with Aryans to persuade
the Europeans to become like them. He committed suicide in 1945.
Second to Hitler as the leader of Nazi germany, Hermann Wilhelm Goering
was one of the few Nazis with a good record intact after World War One.
Born in 1893, in Rosenheim, Germany, he was the Reich Marshal, and he
commanded the air force. After he became a follower of Hitler's in 1920, a
couple of years later he was elected the president of the Reichstag, the
German legislature, in 1928. This gave him the power to frustrate
democratic procedures, and help Hitler get unlimited power in 1933. Before
the outbreak of World War Two, he directed the buildup of Germany's war
industry. At the start of World War Two, Hitler appointed him chief aide.
He was completely ruthless with opponents and rivals, and he was convicted
of war crimes at Nuremburg in 1946. Right before he was about to be
hanged, he swallowed a bottle of poison.
Bibliography
1. Bradsher, Keith Fascism and the Jews The New York Times,
June 6, 1993, p.58
2. Bullock, Alan Hitler: A Study in Tyranny Harper, 1962
3. Devaney, John Hitler: Mad Dictator of World War II New
York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1978
4. Holborn, Hajo Republic to Reich: The Making of the Nazi
Revolution New York: Pantheon Books, 1972
5. Marrin, Albert Hitler New York: Viking Kestrel, 1987
6. Mitchell, Otis C. Hitler Over Germany: The Establishment of
the Nazi Dictatorship (1918-1934) Philadelphia: Ishi Press,
1983
7. Padfield, Peter Himmler New York: Holt and Company, 1990
8. Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A
History of Nazi Germany New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960
9. Steinart, Marlis G. 23 Days: The Final Collapse of Nazi
Germany New York: Walker and Company, 1969
10. The World Book Encyclopedia (1986) vol. 8, p. 236