The Nazi Terror State

Learning Objective: To understand how the

Nazis dealt with opposition and the key features of the terror

state.

The Nazi terror state

• The vast majority of the German people supported the Nazi’s in the 1930s

• At least the majority of people agreed with what went on or at least went along with it

• Why did they do this?• One of the answers is

the terror state

How did the Terror State Work?

Gestapo Spies inform

on you

You are woken up by the Gestapo at

1 am in the morning and told that you have 5 minutes to pack

your bags.

You are arrested and thrown into a

cell at the police station

Days or maybe weeks later you are interviewed

and asked to sign form D11

By signing this form you are giving your

consent to be put into a

concentration camp.

You are handed over to the SS who run the

concentration camps.

You are imprisoned for up

to six months doing hard

physical labour.

When you are released you tell everybody what has happened to

you

Fear

The SS The Gestapo

The police and the Law courts

ConcentrationCamps

Methods:

Controlled by:

Duties:

How it helped Hitler to secure his position:

The SS

Methods:

Controlled by:

Duties:

How it helped Hitler to secure his position:

Concentration camps

Methods:

Controlled by:

Duties:

How it helped Hitler to secure his position:

The Gestapo

Methods:

Controlled by:

Duties:

How it helped Hitler to secure his position:

The police and the courts

Page 276-277

How far does this source explain the methods used by the Nazi’s to control the

German people?

Support for the Nazis (p.278)

• Fear was very powerful but there were other reasons too for explaining Nazi support. What were the other motives why people supported the Nazis. Use the notes to complete the spider diagramWhy was there

so little opposition?

Propaganda

Nazi successes

Economic fears

How effectively did the Nazi’s deal with their

opponents?• Using pp. 274—79 complete the

following tableOpponent Reasons for

opposing the Nazis

How the Nazi’s reacted to the opponents

Was the Nazi action effective?

Trade Unionists

Political Opponents

Church leaders

Army officers

Opponent

Reasons for opposing the Nazis

How the Nazi’s reacted to the opponents

Was the Nazi action effective?

Trade Unionists

They represented the workers rights and disliked Nazi control

They closed down the Trade Unions on 2 May 1933. all German workers were forced to join the German Labour Front (DAF)

The workers had no one to represent them- they were under the control of the Nazis and won support of employers

Political Opponents

Communists and Socialists who disagreed with the values of the Nazi’s. Anyone that didn’t agree or conform

Gestapo was used to spy on them and root out opposition. Many were sent to concentration camps like Dachau where they were over worked or starved to death. Others were executed.

Created fear so that society in general went along with the regime.Regime had very few opponents. No one really spoke out. There was no opposition.

Church leaders

Moral grounds, fears of Nazi control over the church, disliked the Nazi Pagan religion

Made a deal with the Catholic church- Concordat 1933 ( they would not interfere with the other)Tried to form all the Protestant churches together called the Reich church- however, many Germans were still loyal to their churches

A big social group remained uncontrolled by the Nazi’s which in some ways limited their control. People were loyal to their churches and the Nazi’s couldn’t replace this loyalty. Several church leaders rebelled on specific issues such as Bishop Galen and Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Army officers

Suspicious of the Nazis and in particular the SA.

The Nazi’s won their loyalty in the Night of the Long Knives when they purged the SA and bought them under control. They then made an oath of loyalty to Hitler

The army agreed to be loyal to Hitler and serve him and to stay out of politics. A powerful group in Germany had been won over- they would not oppose him.

How had the Nazi’s dealt with their opponents?

Overall, had they been effective?