Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: The Police State - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

19 original exam-style questions - 6 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

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This topic is chapter 4 of GCSE History: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 Practice Book 1.

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5.4 Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: The Police State

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 75 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Question 15 refers to Source A. Questions 17, 18 and 19 refer to Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2. Write in full sentences for Questions 16, 17, 18 and 19. You are advised to spend about 75 minutes on this pack.

Source A, and Interpretations 1 and 2

Source A was written for Revision Library. It is an original text representative of an official notice of the kind displayed in a German workplace after 1933, reminding employees of the risks of criticising the government. It is not a reproduction, translation or paraphrase of any surviving notice, and no genuine document or named authority is reproduced. Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 were also written for Revision Library, in the style of history textbook extracts discussing why open opposition to the Nazi regime remained so limited between 1933 and 1939; they are not the work of any real, named historian.

SOURCE A: a workplace notice written for Revision Library, representative of the kind of official notice displayed in German factories and offices after 1933.

ALL EMPLOYEES ARE REMINDED: careless talk about the government, its policies or its leaders will be reported. Every workplace has a duty to support the new Germany. Employees who hear disloyal remarks from a colleague, a neighbour or a family member should report them to their block warden or local party office without delay. Loyal citizens have nothing to fear. Those who spread rumours or complaints damage Germany's recovery and will answer for it. Display this notice where all staff can see it.

INTERPRETATION 1: from a history textbook written for Revision Library, discussing why open opposition to the Nazi regime remained so limited between 1933 and 1939.

The main reason opposition remained so limited was fear of the regime's machinery of terror. The Gestapo, founded in 1933, and the wider SS network built a climate in which ordinary Germans could not be sure who might report them, whether a neighbour, a colleague or even a family member, to the authorities. Early concentration camps such as Dachau, opened in March 1933, demonstrated from the very start of the regime that resistance carried a real and severe personal cost, and this knowledge was enough to deter most Germans from open dissent even if they privately disagreed with Nazi policies.

INTERPRETATION 2: from a history textbook written for Revision Library, discussing why open opposition to the Nazi regime remained so limited between 1933 and 1939.

Fear alone cannot fully explain the lack of opposition, because for much of this period genuine support for the regime was also strong. Falling unemployment, the restoration of national pride after the humiliations of Versailles, and constant propaganda praising Hitler's leadership meant that many Germans had little motivation to resist a government they credited with real improvements to their lives. Terror mattered most for identifying and silencing the minority who did object, such as communists and socialists, rather than for controlling a wider population that, for much of the decade, broadly approved of what the regime appeared to be achieving.

Name the secret state police force of Nazi Germany, founded in 1933.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Give the date, in May 1933, on which independent trade unions were banned and replaced by a Nazi-controlled organisation.

(Total for Question 2 is 1 mark)

Name the organisation that judges and legal officials were required to swear a personal oath of loyalty to, rather than to the constitution.

(Total for Question 3 is 1 mark)

State two ways in which the Nazi regime controlled the actions of ordinary local government (the Lander) after 1933.

(Total for Question 4 is 2 marks)

Give two features of the SS (Schutzstaffel) and the role it played in the Nazi police state.

(Total for Question 5 is 4 marks)

Give two reasons why open opposition to the Nazi regime was difficult to organise between 1933 and 1939.

(Total for Question 6 is 4 marks)

Give two things you can infer from Source A about how the Nazi regime tried to control ordinary people's behaviour. Support each inference with a detail from the source.

(Total for Question 7 is 4 marks)

Explain why the Nazis were able to create an effective police state in Germany between 1933 and 1939.

(Total for Question 8 is 12 marks)

What is the main difference between Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 about why open opposition to the Nazi regime remained so limited between 1933 and 1939? Explain your answer, using details from both interpretations.

(Total for Question 9 is 4 marks)

Suggest one reason why the authors of Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 might have different views about why opposition to the Nazi regime remained limited.

(Total for Question 10 is 4 marks)

Which interpretation do you find more convincing as an explanation of why open opposition to the Nazi regime remained so limited between 1933 and 1939? Explain your answer, using Interpretation 1, Interpretation 2 and your own knowledge.

(Total for Question 11 is 16 marks)

Name the Nazi official who was head of the SS and, from 1936, head of all German police forces.

(Total for Question 12 is 2 marks)

Give the date, in March 1933, on which Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, opened near Munich.

(Total for Question 13 is 2 marks)

State two groups of people held in early concentration camps such as Dachau in 1933.

(Total for Question 14 is 2 marks)

Give the date, in April 1933, on which the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was passed.

(Total for Question 15 is 2 marks)

State what the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service allowed the Nazi government to do.

(Total for Question 16 is 2 marks)

Give the date, in April 1933, on which the law coordinating the governments of the German states (Lander) with the national Nazi government was passed.

(Total for Question 17 is 1 mark)

Give the name used for the Nazi process of bringing every organisation and level of government under party control.

(Total for Question 18 is 1 mark)

Name the special court, established in 1934, that tried Germans accused of political crimes against the state.

(Total for Question 19 is 1 mark)

Mark scheme · 5.4 Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: The Police State

Question 1

B1 the Gestapo
Answer: The Gestapo

Question 2

B1 2 May 1933
Answer: 2 May 1933

Question 3

B1 Hitler personally (accept 'the Fuhrer')
Answer: Hitler personally (the Fuhrer)

Question 4

B1 state parliaments (Landtage) were abolished and their powers transferred to the national government
B1 Reich Governors, answerable directly to Hitler, were appointed to oversee each state and enforce national policy
Answer: State parliaments were abolished, and Reich Governors answerable to Hitler were appointed to oversee each state.

Question 5

B2 the SS began as Hitler's personal bodyguard and grew, under Heinrich Himmler from 1929, into a large organisation that ran the concentration camp system and provided the regime's ideologically committed core
B2 the SS worked closely with the SD (the party's intelligence service) and, from 1936, controlled the Gestapo, giving it a central role in surveillance and the suppression of opposition
Answer: The SS grew from Hitler's bodyguard into the organisation running the camp system, and it controlled the Gestapo and SD, giving it a central surveillance and enforcement role.

Question 6

B2 rival political parties and independent trade unions had been banned by mid-1933, removing the organisations through which opposition might normally have been coordinated
B2 widespread surveillance by the Gestapo and encouragement to report disloyal neighbours or colleagues created fear and distrust that discouraged people from speaking openly, even to those they knew
Answer: Rival parties and trade unions had been banned, removing organising structures, and widespread surveillance/encouraged reporting created fear and distrust.

Question 7

B1 inference 1, e.g. the regime encouraged ordinary people to inform on one another, including friends, colleagues and family
B1 supporting detail for inference 1 from the source, e.g. the notice tells staff to report 'a colleague, a neighbour or a family member' to 'their block warden or local party office'
B1 inference 2, e.g. the regime wanted to discourage private criticism of the government by making people fear the consequences
B1 supporting detail for inference 2 from the source, e.g. it warns that those who spread 'complaints' will 'answer for it', while 'loyal citizens have nothing to fear'
Answer: The regime encouraged people to inform on those close to them; and it used fear of consequences to discourage private criticism of the government.

Question 8

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two general reasons why the police state was effective, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (4-6): Identifies and begins to explain one or two reasons, supported by some accurate detail.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains two or three reasons for the effectiveness of the police state, each supported by accurate and relevant detail.
Level 4 (10-12): Explains three or more reasons in a well-developed, logically structured way, supported throughout by precise and accurate detail, showing how the reasons connect.
Indicative content:
- A dedicated surveillance and enforcement apparatus was built quickly: the Gestapo, founded in 1933, and the SS under Heinrich Himmler, who took control of all German police in 1936, gave the regime a permanent, centralised machinery for identifying and suppressing dissent.
- Concentration camps such as Dachau, opened in March 1933, demonstrated from the very start of the regime that resistance carried severe personal consequences, making the threat of arrest credible to ordinary Germans.
- The legal system was brought under Nazi control: judges swore personal loyalty oaths to Hitler from 1934, and the People's Court, established in 1934, tried political cases outside the ordinary courts, removing legal protection for opponents.
- Rival organisations that might have coordinated opposition were dismantled early: independent trade unions were banned in May 1933 and other political parties in July 1933, leaving no legal structure through which resistance could organise.
- Widespread encouragement to inform on neighbours, colleagues and even family members created an atmosphere of mutual suspicion, so that the state did not need to watch everyone directly to make people feel watched.
- These reasons connect: the legal and organisational changes of 1933 removed the structures opposition would have needed, while the police apparatus and camp system that followed ensured that any individual who still tried to resist could be identified and punished.

Question 9

B2 Interpretation 1 argues the main reason was fear of the regime's terror apparatus, the Gestapo, SS and concentration camps such as Dachau, which deterred even Germans who privately disagreed
B2 Interpretation 2 argues the main reason was genuine popular support, driven by falling unemployment, restored national pride and propaganda, so terror mainly silenced a smaller minority of genuine opponents
Answer: Interpretation 1 sees fear of terror (Gestapo, SS, camps) as decisive; Interpretation 2 sees genuine popular support as decisive, with terror mattering mainly for a small minority.

Question 10

B2 the authors may focus on different types of evidence: Interpretation 1 draws on the machinery of repression (the Gestapo, camps), while Interpretation 2 draws on economic and social evidence, such as employment figures and popular attitudes
B2 the authors may hold different general views about how dictatorships maintain control, e.g. one emphasising fear and coercion and the other emphasising genuine consent, leading them to weigh the same period differently
Answer: They may draw on different types of evidence (repression vs economic/social evidence) or hold different general views about whether dictatorships rely mainly on fear or on genuine consent.

Question 11

Level 1 (1-4): States a simple preference for one interpretation, with little or no supporting reasoning or own knowledge.
Level 2 (5-8): Describes the content of one or both interpretations and gives a limited reason for a preference, with some own knowledge.
Level 3 (9-12): Explains reasons for a preference between the interpretations, using relevant own knowledge to support or challenge each one.
Level 4 (13-16): Evaluates both interpretations critically, using precise own knowledge to reach a sustained and well-supported judgement about which is more convincing, or how far each is convincing.
Indicative content:
- Evidence supporting Interpretation 1: the Gestapo and SS built a nationwide surveillance network, and Dachau's opening in March 1933, within weeks of Hitler becoming Chancellor, showed from the very beginning that dissent carried severe personal risk.
- Evidence supporting Interpretation 2: unemployment fell substantially across the 1930s through schemes such as the National Labour Service and rearmament, and Nazi propaganda under Goebbels constantly reinforced a narrative of national recovery under Hitler, which many Germans appear to have genuinely welcomed.
- A convincing answer might note the two views are complementary rather than contradictory: genuine support explains why the regime rarely faced organised mass opposition, while fear of the Gestapo and the camp system explains why even the minority who disagreed, such as communists, socialists and some church figures, rarely acted on their views openly.
- Own knowledge that resistance did exist, but remained small-scale and largely underground, for example among banned trade unionists and socialists, could be used to argue that both fear and consent worked together to keep opposition contained rather than either factor working alone.
- A full answer reaches a supported judgement, weighing the balance of fear and genuine consent across the period to argue for one interpretation over the other, or for their combination.

Question 12

B1 Heinrich Himmler
B1 correctly identifies him as head of the SS, given control of all German police in 1936
Answer: Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, who was given control of all German police forces in 1936.

Question 13

B1 22 March (accept a date in the range 20-23 March)
B1 1933
Answer: 22 March 1933

Question 14

B1 political opponents, e.g. communists and socialists
B1 trade union leaders
Answer: Political opponents, such as communists and socialists, and trade union leaders.

Question 15

B1 7 April
B1 1933
Answer: 7 April 1933

Question 16

B1 it allowed the government to dismiss Jewish and politically unreliable civil servants
B1 from posts such as the courts, schools and universities, bringing the state bureaucracy under Nazi control
Answer: It allowed the dismissal of Jewish and politically unreliable civil servants from posts such as the courts, schools and universities.

Question 17

B1 7 April 1933
Answer: 7 April 1933

Question 18

B1 Gleichschaltung (coordination)
Answer: Gleichschaltung (coordination)

Question 19

B1 the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof)
Answer: The People's Court (Volksgerichtshof)

Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: The Police State - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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5.4 Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: The Police State

Source A, and Interpretations 1 and 2

Question 1

Question 2

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