To What Extent Was Germany A Totalitarian

State During The Third Reich Essay, Research Paper

To what extent was Germany a totalitarian state during the

Third Reich ........... In order to

answer this question it is important to first define the key phrase

.totalitarian state... According to

Fredrick, a totalitarian state must: attempt to control every part of people.s

lives, be a dictatorship with one party and one leader, have the country.s

media, economy and education system firmly under state control, and try to

control the social lives of its people. A totalitarian state may also tend to

be both militaristic and nationalistic. An alternative definition given by the Encyclopaedia

Britannica says: .In the broadest sense,

totalitarianism is characterized by strong central rule that attempts to

control and direct all aspects of individual life through coercion and

repression. The state achieves popularity through a strong, charismatic

leader.. In order to answer the question,

each of the above points must be addressed and compared with the example of

Nazi Germany on order to decide to what extent Nazi Germany was a totalitarian

state. The Nazi Regime was unusual, and

far from being the well organised, disciplined regime it is often perceived to

be, Hitler ran Germany in a similar fashion to a medieval monarch.. Hitler was an all-powerful dictator but he

was lazy and ran the country from his mansion in Bavaria in a similar fashion

to a medieval court.. In order to get a

proposal passed as law, the party member would have to come to Bavaria, flatter

Hitler and then present his proposal..

He despised paper work and often slept until midday, he thought of

himself as the visionary leader and he was quite content to be the visionary

figurehead and allow those under him to take care of the administration.. He never made appointments as he believed in

the principle of survival of the fittest and allowed a permanent battle to rage

beneath him.. He believed that if those

under him were allowed to fight for his approval then eventually the successful

group with a gifted leader would emerge victorious.. This group would, in Hitler.s opinion be the most talented as

they would have outwitted all their opponents..

For this reason Hitler had four offices that claimed to represent him,

all of which fought for his attention and approval. This unusual system of

administration led to an unusual structure of individual power blocks, all

fighting for superiority.. This system

led to a limitation to the party.s control..

The individual power blocks did not cooperate or communicate with each

other, and although the SS and the Gestapo were effective units of repression,

they were not as dominant in Germany as is often thought.. It was the reports given by the people of

Germany that allowed the Gestapo to make arrests and maintain effective

repression.. Through encouraging the

unsubstantiated gossip that spreads in any community and taking this as

concrete evidence, the Nazi party and more particularly the Gestapo were able

to maintain a degree of control over people.s everyday lives.. However, I would argue that the system was

only partially efficient as the reliance on unsubstantiated gossip and a lack

of real facts must inevitably lead to the conclusion that there were things

that the gossip missed within any community..

The degree of control of people.s lives, therefore, was extremely limited.. However, the state certainly did set out to

control every aspect of people.s lives. The control the Nazis exercised

in other areas was also limited.. The

education system introduced by the Nazis was unusual.. The emphasis upon physical excellence and militarist drill was

resented by many, along with the blatant attempt by the party to indoctrinate

Germany.s youth through emphasising nationalist principles and showing the

party in a wholly positive light.. The

Hitler youth was often seen as positive, but in fact it has been shown that

education standards fell in Germany due to the increased emphasis on the

physical aspect.. Although in many ways

there was a strict control of the education system by the Nazis, the ability of

the system introduced to indoctrinate the youth of Germany was limited, and in

many cases succeeded only in isolating the new generation, the control here was

limited.. The economic ideas held by

Hitler, in general, lacked direction and purpose. He had no clear economic aims

and ambitions.. He concerned himself

little with economic matters; he was more concerned by ensuring that the

country was ready for war.. However,

initially he did have the insight not to attempt to run the economy himself and

left it up to the president of the Reichsbank, Schacht to fulfil this

role.. It is ironic that the area in

which the Nazi party itself had little or no input into was the area

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