Study Guides

Unit Summary

In this unit pupils undergo a period study that provides an unfolding narrative which tells a story about a period that shaped the world we live in today. They look at the key events, developments, people and stories that defined the chosen period.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to explain how Hitler created a police state in Nazi Germany.

Key Notes

• Hitler's regime built a police state using the SS, Gestapo, SD and concentration camps to control the German population.
• The SS oversaw other Nazi security bodies and controlled policing, intelligence, racial policy and concentration camps.
• The Gestapo, Germany's secret police, monitored people and used fear and denunciations to arrest citizens without trial.
• The SD gathered vast amounts of intelligence, helping to create a society gripped by paranoia and silence.

Vocabulary To Learn

• police state: a country where the government uses the police and security forces to control every part of people's lives through fear, surveillance and arrest
• concentration camp: a place where large numbers of people are kept as prisoners in extremely bad conditions, especially for political reasons
• intelligence: information collected by a government or security organisation to identify threats and control opposition, often using spying or surveillance
• secret police: a police force that works in secret to spy on, arrest, and punish people who are seen as enemies of the government, often using illegal methods
• denunciations: public accusations made by ordinary citizens to Nazi authorities, reporting others for disloyalty to the regime; these reports, often driven by personal motives, fuelled widespread fear and paranoia

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Pupils may assume that all concentration camps in this period were death camps like Auschwitz.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• 1923, the Ruhr and hyperinflation Study Guide
• Early unrest and the Treaty of Versailles Study Guide
• Economic recovery under Stresemann Study Guide
• Employment in Nazi Germany Study Guide
• Germany before the First World War Study Guide
• Germany's naval ambitions before the First World War Study Guide
• Goebbels and propaganda in Nazi Germany Study Guide
• Hitler's creation of a dictatorship Study Guide
• How Hitler became Chancellor of Germany Study Guide
• Industrialisation, social reform and the growth of socialism Study Guide
• Nazi racial ideology and the treatment of minorities Study Guide
• Opposition and resistance to Hitler and the Nazi Party Study Guide
• Stresemann's international achievements Study Guide
• The Final Solution Study Guide
• The First World War and the German Revolution Study Guide
• The growth in support for the Nazi Party Study Guide
• The growth of unemployment and rise in support for the Communist Party Study Guide
• The Nazi economy and WW2 Study Guide
• The Nazi Party and religion Study Guide
• The persecution of Jews Study Guide
• The putsches of 1919-23 Study Guide
• The Reichstag Fire and the Enabling Act Study Guide
• The Weimar Republic Study Guide
• Weimar culture 1924-29 Study Guide
• Women in Nazi Germany Study Guide
• Work and life in Nazi Germany Study Guide
• Young people in Nazi Germany Study Guide