The Origins of Gestapo Power

The opening of Enemies of the People: Hitler's Critics and the Gestapo as read by the author.

The concentration camps symbolize the Holocaust. But the twisted road to Auschwitz was only one path in a wider system of terror. How did the concentration camp system change from 1935 to 1938? Who was in charge? How did the camps go from shrinking to expanding? What was the SS camp culture? What was life like for the prisoners? Join us for part two of our series on the evolution of the concentration camp system. In this episode, Chris and Ryan examine the expansion and experience of the pre-war camps up to Kristallnacht. Sources: Nick Wachsmann,Christopher Dillon, Eugen Kogon, Stanislav Zamecknik, Shlomo Aronson

How did the Accountant of Auschwitz end up before a court at 93 years of age? Who bears responsibility for genocide? What justice can there be for crimes committed a lifetime ago? Join us for a conversation with Ricki Gurwitz about the thorny moral issues raised by her new documentary. The news this week recounts the experiences of one survivor who appeared for the prosecution against Gröning before a forty minute discussion of the film.

Who defended Nazi war criminals after 1945? What limited prosecution and how did the German public think about post-war justice? Tune in to our interview with Craig Sorvillo about his research on Rudolf Aschenauer to find out! Get a hold of us on twitter @staxomatix or through email to [email protected]

How did life change for slave labour after Stalingrad? How did the German way of irregular warfare shape their experience as a vital yet dangerous resource in Nazi eyes? In part two, Chris begins by briefly describing the foreign worker program and the functions of work education camps before discussing life under the bombs as a foreign worker. He then reveals how German counterinsurgency doctrine, and Allied agitpropaganda, shaped the use of violence to maintain control.

How did an oppressive system become a murderous one? How was the Nazi foreign worker program built upon colonial precedents? In our latest episode, Ryan interviews Chris about his freshly defended dissertation on forced labour under Nazism. In part one, Chris tells us why he became a historian before outlining his main arguments and explaining their significance. A lively digression about the difficulties of working with court records and oral sources ensues. Then, Chris outlines the German theory and practice of forced labour over the long term from Southwest Africa up to the fall of the Nazis.

Chris is back! In his triumphant return, we discuss how the Reich Ministry of the Interior functioned as the war turned against Germany. What changed after Himmler took control? Who was Wilhelm Stuckart? What was the SS theory of government administration? Tune in to find out!

Where did the Nazi idea of a Judeo Bolshevik Conspiracy come from? How were modern anti-Semitic tropes woven into a narrative of Jewish puppet masters? In the first half of a two part Roots of Nazism episode, join Ryan for a whirlwind overview of modern anti-Semitism from the Enlightenment to the end of the First World War.

How did a democratic police force transform into the Gestapo in three short years? Tune in to find out and bear in mind the words of Martin Luther King Jr. “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”

How do historians come up with questions and find sources with answers? What are the ins and outs of working in an archive? In an episode chock full of resources, Ryan waxes poetic about overcoming the obstacles of taking research from conception to completion. Links: Klaus Gietinger on Wolfgang Niess, Die Revolution von 1918/19: Der wahre Beginn unserer Demokratie and Joachim Käppner, 1918 – Aufstand für die Freiheit: Die Revolution der Besonnenen. https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-28872 Archivportal www.archivportal-d.de Center for Research Libraries http://www.crl.edu/ Worldcat (for all your ILL needs) https://www.worldcat.org/ NARA Captured German Records https://www.archives.gov/research/captured-german-records Digitized Finding Aids for the Records of Reich Leader SS and Chief of German Police https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/t175-1.pdf https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/t175-2.pdf https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/t175-3.pdf