Starter
Title: The Nazi police state
Objective & Outcomes
• To understand how the Nazis created a police state to
control the German people
• Grades 3-4: Will have made accurate notes on Himmler, the
SS and Gestapo
• Grades 5-6: …also… explained how these controlled people
through fear and terror
• Grades 7-9: … also … analysed the importance of terror/fear –
e.g. was the fear of terror more important than terror itself?
Were different groups of people controlled in different ways?
Key terms:
Gestapo: the secret police (in Nazi Germany)
How did the Police State Work?
Start here:
You are imprisoned
for up to six months
doing hard physical
labour.
You are handed
over to the SS who
run the
concentration
camps.
By signing this form
you are giving your
consent to be put into
a concentration camp.
When you are
released you tell
everybody what has
happened to you
Fear
Days or maybe weeks
later you are
interviewed and
asked to sign form
D11
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
Terror is the best
political weapon, for
nothing drives people
harder than a fear of
sudden death.
Two students in the class have been asked by
Mr Miller to inform on the behaviour of the
other students in the class and will report
back to me after class. These students have
been told not to tell anybody else (even fellow
informers) what they are doing.
How does this make you feel?
Think-Pair-Share 2 minutes.
Happy? Annoyed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=ojzTBjPTHuk&feature=related
•A police state is where a Government oppresses
it’s people using rigid control
• In Nazi Germany the police state was enforced by
4 organisations
1.
2.
3.
4.
The SS (Schutzstaffel)
The Gestapo (the Secret Police)
The Legal system
Concentration Camps
What role did Himmler play in establishing a POLICE STATE?
SS leader
(Reichsfuhrer)
Set up the first
concentration
camp at Dachau
in 1933
Heinrich
Himmler was
responsible for
the police state.
By 1934,
Himmler was in
charge of all
police in Prussia.
Loyal to Hitler,
he oversaw the
growth of the
SS.
From 1936,
Himmler was
head of all
political and
criminal police
in all of
Germany.
Himmler was interested in the
occult and folklore, e.g. he
believed only 12 people should sit
round his table at meetings (like
King Arthur’s round table), he was
a keen astrologist, and he saw the
SS as modern-day Teutonic
Knights (medieval knights who
took part in the Crusades).
Heinrich
Himmler
5 minute factfile
Cover at least 4
facts (black font)
about Himmler. Feel
free to add any of
the odder things
about him too
(coloured fonts)
Obsessed
with
racial
purity
His position as Reichsfuhrer
meant he was in overall
control of the SS, the
concentration and
extermination camps, the
Gestapo and the police.
Responsible for much of the
Holocaust (Final Solution)
Before
1929,
Himmler
had been
a chicken
farmer.
Despite being
responsible for so
many deaths,
Himmler was highly
sensitive – he
couldn’t watch the
executions he
ordered.
Around the room there are 8 different
pieces of information. 2 on each part
of the Police State
You should go to each station and try to collate
information which will help you to describe that
particular organisation
Higher order
thinking: explain how
this helped control
the German people
Remember to think about:
- Who (was involved)?
- What (did they do)?
- Where (did they operate)?
- When (did the operate)?
- Why (did they do the things they did)?
Organisation and Source Information collected
Source 1
SS
Source 2
SS
Source 3
Gestapo
Source 4
Gestapo
Source 5
The legal system
(normal courts)
Source 6
The legal system
(the People’s Court)
Source 7
Concentration Camps
Source 8
Concentration Camps
PLENARY: Choose one of the following
questions to answer
1. Describe the Nazi’s use of the SS between 1933-39 (5)
2. Describe the Nazi’s use of the Gestapo between 1933-39(5)
3. Describe how the Nazis changed the legal system between 193339(5)
4. Describe the Nazis use of concentration camps between 1933-39
HELP:
4-5 marks: A more accurate and detailed answer
TRY TO INCLUDE
WHO (was involved)
WHEN (they operated)
WHERE (they operated)
WHAT (they did)
WHY (did they do the things they did)