Impact of Terror in Both Nazi Germany and Communist Russia
Hitler and Lenin used terror to rule both Germany and the Russia. In fact, there was so much terror and tension in both nations to such an extent that citizens were suspicious of each other because there were informers everywhere. Any suspected persons or Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps where they were killed in the most inhumane ways (Combs & Slann 49). All that the dictators wanted was to have control over the economy and wanted to use any means possible in order to achieve this. People were intimidated choosing to suffer in silence lest they be killed.
Use of terror in these two nations was effective at the time. The perpetrators succeeded in silencing their opposition and killing the minority groups. In both instances, there was loss of personal freedom and therefore, both Lenin and Hitler achieving what they wanted, a totalitarian and authoritarian rule over the people where their forces were to take control of the economy. But again, these two leaders led their nations to unity even thought the people had to pay the price by their own lives (Ryan 116).
Terror was an essential component for the ruthless dictatorship of these two nations because it is through it that they could have a tight grip on the people and the economy. People fear death and in instilling the fear of death was a sure way of achieving their goals. The Bolsheviks who were supporting Lenin had hated the market system and wanted to nationalize the economy and militarization of labor which in the end they achieved by the use of terror. In Germany, Hitler ensured that the workers were made happy by being given holidays and travels in order to have their loyalty.
Works Cited
Combs, Cindy & Slann, Martin. Encyclopedia of Terrorism. Revised Edition. New York: Infobase Publishing. 2007.
Ryan, James. Lenin’s Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence. New York: Routledge. 2012
