Introduction

Hitler believed in the use of force.  'Our motto shall be – if you are not a true German, I will bash your skull in', he declared.  Children were encouraged to report their parents to their teachers if they spoke against the Führer.  Every set of flats had a 'staircase ruler' who reported grumblers to the police.

Many of the Nazis' opponents were killed or sent to the concentration camps.  

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1.  Leidler's Story

This source tells the story of a man named Leidler, who had been a member of the moderate socialist Social Democratic Party.  The date is some time after July 1933.

An unknown man knocked at Leidler's door and asked for him by name.  Leidler took him in.  It was raining and the man was wet.  The man showed Leidler a Reichsbanner membership book and told him that he was on the run from the Gestapo.  He told Leidler that the had rebelled and was fighting the Nazis.  Did Leidler have any weapons?  Could he supply the names of any loyal Reichsbanner men in the area?

Leidler answered 'no' to each question and added, "I'm through.  I've had the shit kicked out of me.  All I can do is put you up overnight and feed you, which I'd do for any human being on a night like this."  In the morning, after breakfast, the man went to the door and, just before he left, turned his lapel back and showed Leidler an SS button.  Then he left wordlessly.

Interrogating the source:

For this source – looking at all the details of its provenance – how true do you think its account is likely to be?