Nazi Germany

Keeping Control:
Terror State

By Mr RJ Huggins
www.SchoolHistory.co.uk
Key Quote
“Terror is the best
political weapon for
nothing drives people
harder than a fear of
sudden death.”
 How did Hitler keep control of Germany?

The Terror State Propaganda

Secret police called the
Mass Rallies, Posters
Gestapo would spy on
and Propaganda films.
and arrest enemies of
the state.
Keeping The Nazis controlled
SS were responsible Control of and censored the radio
Germany & newspapers.
for running the
concentration camps.
School children were
indoctrinated with Nazi
Everyone was scared of Popularity ideas at school.
being arrested by the
Gestapo and being put in Ripping up the
Treaty of Versailles. Hitler Youth & the
a concentration camp.
Young Maidens.
Creating Jobs
The Terror State
• Both the Gestapo and
the SS were run by
Heinrich Himmler.
• The Gestapo
employed an army of
spies who would
inform on people.
 Enemies of the State
• Communists • Germans who bought
• Social Democrats from Jews
• Jews • Pacifists
• Trade Unionists. • Radical Christian
• Organisation
Work Shy
• Anyone who criticised
• Homosexuals
Hitler or the Nazi
• Gypsies Party.
Enemies of the State
• A list of German
women who were still
purchasing goods from
Jewish shops.
• Printed to scare or
terrorise other people
into not buying from
the Jews.
 How did the Terror State Work?
You are imprisoned When you are Gestapo Spies
for up to six months released you tell inform on you
doing hard physical everybody what has
labour. happened to you

You are woken up by

Fear
You are handed
over to the SS who the Gestapo at 1 am in
run the the morning and told
concentration that you have 5 minutes
camps. to pack your bags.

By signing this form Days or maybe weeks You are arrested

you are giving your later you are and thrown into a
consent to be put into interviewed and cell at the police
a concentration camp. asked to sign form station
D11
 How did the Terror State Work?
• Everyone knew someone who knew someone else who had
been in a concentration camp.
• Favourite joke amongst Germans at this time: A man goes
to the Dentist. The Dentist says: ‘Open Wide.’ The man
sits up and says: ‘Not in front of a stranger.’
• Favourite Saying amongst Germans: ‘Speak through a
Flower.’
• 800,000 Germans were imprisoned from 1933 – 1945 as
‘Enemies of the State.’
• 500,000 were executed by being shot in the neck.
Key Quote: Martin Niemollen, 1945
• When the Nazis came for the Communists I was
silent, I was not a Communist.
• When the Nazis came for the Social Democrats I
was silent, I was not a Social Democrat.
• When the Nazis came for the Jews I was silent, I
was not a Jew.
• When the Nazis came for me there was nobody
left to protest.