Rise of the Nazis

(suspenseful music) -

Narrator

Himmler is head of the SS, a paramilitary group of fanatical Nazis who see themselves as Hitler's most loyal soldiers. The black-shirted, Jack-booted SS is very much a product of Himmler's ideas. Aryan supremacy, hatred of parliamentary democracy, the dispensation of violence against anyone standing in the way of the Nazis, extreme antisemitism. He was a micromanager. SS members had to seek Himmler's permission if they wanted to marry. His ambition is to make the SS the central institution in Nazi Germany in charge of political repression. (ominous music) More conservative Nazis believe that the best way to control political opponents was by using the law to lock them up. Himmler thought that even more radical measures were required. -

Narrator

Himmler now follows Goering's lead and he uses new laws to start arresting Nazi opponents. The instrument Himmler used was called euphemistically, protective police custody. Protective police custody meant that prisoners could be locked up in the hundreds of thousands over the course of 1933, without having the chance to speak to a judge, without having a chance to speak to a lawyer. Himmler used protective police custody quite indiscriminately to extend his power, to extend the power of the SS.