Nazi Germany, 1933-1939: The Police State
After 1933, the Nazis built a police state to identify, intimidate and eliminate anyone who opposed the regime. The SS (Schutzstaffel), led by Heinrich Himmler, grew from Hitler's personal bodyguard into a huge organisation controlling the Gestapo (the secret police) and the SD (the security service), which gathered intelligence and arrested political opponents. The first concentration camp opened at Dachau in March 1933, initially to hold political prisoners such as communists and socialists without trial. The legal system was brought under Nazi control: judges were required to support Nazi ideology, and a new People's Court dealt harshly with political crimes. Fear was maintained partly through terror, arrests, camps and surveillance, and partly through ordinary citizens acting as informers, block wardens who monitored their own street, and colleagues or neighbours reporting suspicious behaviour to the Gestapo. Historians disagree about how far most Germans were terrorised into obedience by this machinery, or how far many actively cooperated with it, since the Gestapo itself was a surprisingly small organisation that relied heavily on denunciations from the public.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn what each organisation actually did, since exam questions often ask you to distinguish them: the SS (Himmler's elite paramilitary and later racial police force), the Gestapo (secret police who investigated and arrested political and other opponents) and the SD (intelligence-gathering security service).
- Learn the concentration camp system's early purpose precisely: Dachau opened in March 1933 to hold political prisoners, especially communists and socialists, without trial, before the camp system later expanded to hold other groups the regime targeted.
- Learn how the legal system was changed: judges had to demonstrate loyalty to Nazi ideology, and the People's Court, created to try political crimes, gave defendants little real chance of a fair hearing.
- Learn the two, sometimes contradictory, explanations for why most Germans obeyed: fear of terror and surveillance (arrest, the camps, block wardens reporting on their street) versus the more surprising fact that the Gestapo was a small force that relied heavily on ordinary citizens choosing to denounce their neighbours, colleagues or family members.
- For a 4-mark 'give two things you can infer' question, look carefully at whether the source suggests fear imposed from above, or willing cooperation from below, since both are valid inferences depending on the source's content.
- For a 12-mark 'explain why' question, treat institutions (SS, Gestapo, camps), legal control, and social methods (informers, block wardens) as separate, linked factors, explaining HOW each one specifically discouraged opposition.
- For interpretation questions on this topic, expect a genuine historiographical debate between historians who stress terror imposed from above and those who stress consent or complicity from below; a strong answer explains why each view is reasonable rather than dismissing one side.
Worked example
Explain why the Nazis were able to suppress political opposition so effectively in Germany between 1933 and 1939.
- Identify the range of methods used: legal control of the courts, terror through the SS, Gestapo and concentration camps, and social pressure through informers and block wardens.
- Explain the institutional side with detail: the Gestapo could arrest and question suspects without normal legal safeguards, and from March 1933 political prisoners could be sent to concentration camps such as Dachau without trial.
- Explain the legal side with detail: judges were required to support Nazi ideology, and the People's Court was set up specifically to deal harshly with political crimes, removing any realistic legal protection for opponents.
- Explain the social side with detail: block wardens monitored their own street or apartment block, and ordinary citizens frequently denounced neighbours, colleagues or family members to the Gestapo, which was in reality too small a force to police the whole population without this public cooperation.
- Conclude by linking the factors: institutional terror gave the regime the power to punish opposition severely, but it was widespread public compliance and denunciation that let a relatively small Gestapo force monitor a nation of millions.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Who led the SS from the early 1930s?Show answer
Answer: Heinrich Himmler.
Q2What was the Gestapo?Show answer
Answer: The Nazi secret police, responsible for investigating and arresting political and other opponents of the regime.
Q3In what year and month did the first concentration camp open at Dachau, and who did it initially hold?Show answer
Answer: March 1933; it initially held political prisoners, especially communists and socialists.
Q4What was required of judges under Nazi rule?Show answer
Answer: They were required to demonstrate loyalty to Nazi ideology and to apply the law in line with Nazi aims.
Q5What was the job of a block warden?Show answer
Answer: To monitor the residents of their own street or apartment block and report suspicious or disloyal behaviour.
Q6Why is it surprising that the Gestapo could monitor the whole German population so effectively?Show answer
Answer: Because the Gestapo itself was a relatively small organisation, and it relied heavily on denunciations volunteered by ordinary citizens rather than on its own surveillance alone.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE History exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Study Source A. Source A: from a Gestapo case file, describing a report received in 1937. 'A resident of the building reported that her neighbour had been overheard criticising the Fuhrer during an argument in the courtyard. Two officers visited the following day. The neighbour was questioned for several hours and warned that a further report would result in his arrest.' Give two things you can infer from Source A about how the Nazi police state operated. Complete the table below. Inference 1: Detail in the source that tells you this: Inference 2: Detail in the source that tells you this:
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Explain why the Nazis were able to create a police state in Germany in the years 1933 to 1939.
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Study the two interpretations below, which give different views about the Nazi police state in Germany in the years 1933 to 1939. Interpretation 1: from a history textbook, published 2014. 'Nazi Germany was, above all, a state of terror. The SS, Gestapo and concentration camp system created a climate of fear so pervasive that most Germans complied out of dread of arrest and punishment, not genuine agreement.' Interpretation 2: from a history textbook, published 2020. 'The Gestapo was a small organisation that could not have policed Germany's population alone. It functioned largely because ordinary Germans chose to denounce neighbours, colleagues and even family members, showing significant willing participation in the regime's control, not simple terror from above.' (a) What is the main difference between the views in Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 about how the Nazi police state controlled the German population? Explain your answer, using details from both interpretations. (4 marks) (b) Study Source B and use your own knowledge. Source B: a note on Gestapo staffing, adapted from historical records. Historians estimate that a single Gestapo office might employ only a small number of full-time officers to cover a large town or district, far too few to conduct constant surveillance of every resident without outside help. Why might the authors of Interpretation 1 and Interpretation 2 have a different view about how the Nazi police state controlled the German population? Explain your answer, using Source B and your contextual knowledge. (4 marks) (c) How far do you agree with Interpretation 2 about how the Nazi police state controlled the German population in the years 1933 to 1939? Explain your answer, using Interpretations 1 and 2 and your own knowledge. (16 marks)
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See real GCSE History past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
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