New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

Nazi control of the police and the legal system

I can explain how Hitler created a police state in Nazi Germany.

New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

Nazi control of the police and the legal system

I can explain how Hitler created a police state in Nazi Germany.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Hitler’s regime built a police state using the SS, Gestapo, SD and concentration camps to control the German population.
  2. The SS oversaw other Nazi security bodies and controlled policing, intelligence, racial policy and concentration camps.
  3. The Gestapo, Germany’s secret police, monitored people, used fear and denunciations to arrest citizens without trial.
  4. The SD gathered vast amounts of intelligence, helping to create a society gripped by paranoia and silence.
  5. The legal system was restructured to serve Nazi goals, with courts delivering harsh, ideologically driven verdicts.

Keywords

  • 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 misconception

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

Emphasise that early camps (1933–1939) were brutal prisons for political opponents and ‘undesirables’, but were not yet part of a systematic extermination programme. The Holocaust’s industrial death camps came later.


To help you plan your year 11 history lesson on: Nazi control of the police and the legal system, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Across all three learning cycles, teachers may wish to compare the Nazi police state to the way in which the police, the courts and the law function in the UK.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What worried Hitler and senior leaders about the SA by summer 1934?

their growing ties to the communists
their loyalty to foreign governments
their refusal to take part in Nazi propaganda
Correct answer: their unruly violence and radical ideas

Q2.
The SA posed a serious threat in 1934 because they wanted to take over the army with a people’s force and promoted ideas that alarmed wealthy businessmen who had funded the Nazi Party.

Correct Answer: socialist

Q3.
Match each Nazi figure to their role in the power struggle against Röhm.

Correct Answer:Heinrich Himmler,head of the SS, seeking to expand its power

head of the SS, seeking to expand its power

Correct Answer:Hermann Göring,head of the Gestapo, with military ambitions

head of the Gestapo, with military ambitions

Correct Answer:Franz von Papen,vice-chancellor who publicly criticised SA violence

vice-chancellor who publicly criticised SA violence

Q4.
What did General von Blomberg and the army leadership warn Hitler in June 1934?

that Hitler must merge the SA and army
Correct answer: that the President might hand power to the military to stop the SA
that Röhm had joined the Communists

Q5.
What were the key consequences of the Night of the Long Knives?

Correct answer: Hitler gained the army’s personal loyalty.
Hitler lost support from the military.
Correct answer: Hitler showed he was willing to murder even close allies.
Hitler's image as a peaceful leader was strengthened.

Q6.
After Hindenburg’s death, Hitler merged the roles of President and Chancellor, giving himself the title of .

Correct Answer: Führer, Fuhrer

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is a police state?

a country where citizens vote for new laws by popular referendum
a country where only military leaders are allowed to govern
Correct answer: a country where police forces control society through fear and surveillance

Q2.
What role did the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) play in the Nazi police state?

They led marches and propaganda events.
They passed new laws in Nazi courts.
They ran concentration camps.
Correct answer: They spied on citizens and gathered information.

Q3.
As Nazi Germany’s secret police, the used fear, surveillance, and denunciations to control the population, despite having only a small number of officers.

Correct Answer: Gestapo

Q4.
How did the SS gain full control of the Nazi terror system by 1939?

Correct answer: They brought all terror organisations under Himmler’s command.
They were appointed by the Weimar government to restore order.
They won national elections and gained new powers.

Q5.
The Nazis reshaped the legal system so that had to join the National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law.

Correct Answer: judges

Q6.
Why did some Germans support the Nazi police state despite its brutality?

They believed Nazi justice was fairer than Weimar law.
Correct answer: They valued the sense of order after the chaos of the Weimar years.
They were paid by the Nazis to support the regime.

Additional material

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