HW 19

A. The Gestapo was the organization that served as Hitler's secret police force. Protective Custody refers to an order by which "enemies of the state" are sent to prison at concentration camps. Deaths Head Units were the branch of the SS that ran these concentration camps.

B. The people who were arrested as "enemies of the state" included Jews, people who opposed Hitler politically to various levels, people who are declared "work shy" (the example given suggests that this refers to people who turn down offers of unemployment relief), people who were part of the "Bibelforscher" (a religious group that refused to military service), homosexuals, and professional criminals.

C.1. Judging from the evidence in document B, the purposes of the concentration camps were to remove people who were potential threats to the Nazis from society and to punish these people for disagreeing with Nazi beliefs.
C.2. The prisoners were probably treated badly because they were members of groups that the Nazis disagreed with and had very little respect for, and because the SS had a large amount of freedom to do what they wanted.