DB3a0470 · Section DB: Depth Study B — Germany, 1918–45

How effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933-45?

Key learnings

Terror machinery and a Nazi justice system
After Hitler became Chancellor (Jan 1933), the Nazis built a terror state. The SS under Himmler ran the camps; the Gestapo used informers to make dissent dangerous; the SD watched opinion. Justice was politicised: the People's Court (1934) tried political cases without appeal, judges had to be loyal Nazis, and the death penalty reached anti-Nazi jokes. Dachau (1933) held prisoners without trial.
Propaganda, culture and limits of control
Goebbels' propaganda ministry (1933) controlled the media: newspapers were controlled, cheap radios and loudspeakers spread broadcasts, and film carried Nazi messages. The Reich Chamber of Culture vetted the arts and the Nuremberg Rallies staged unity. Yet "how effectively" is a both-sides judgement -- weigh it against real limits: private jokes, church and youth criticism, and falling morale after Stalingrad (1943).

Common mistakes

Drawn from real examiner reports.

Justice system ≠ Nazi social changes

A justice-system question is not a cue to describe social changes like the curriculum or women's roles -- that is off-topic, and it wastes the real detail: special political courts (the People's Court, 1934) with no appeal, judges required to be loyal Nazis, and the death penalty extended to anti-Nazi jokes.

Digest (## DB3a): candidates don't know the specific meaning of the justice system and write generally about social changes (curriculum, women), which is off-topic; they under-use detail on special courts and the death penalty for anti-Nazi jokes (Paper 1).

Church opposition is under-covered

Candidates are confident on secular and youth resistance -- the Edelweiss Pirates, the Swing Movement, the White Rose (1942-43) and the July Plot (1944) -- but weak on church opposition. Balance both: Pius XI (the 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge), Bishop Galen against the euthanasia programme, Niemoller's Confessing Church, and Bonhoeffer, executed for resistance.

Digest (## DB3a): candidates are more confident on secular/youth resistance (Edelweiss Pirates, Swing Movement, White Rose, July Plot) than church opposition (Pius XI, Bishop Galen, Niemoller, Bonhoeffer) -- unbalanced answers (Paper 1).

Don't drag in Weimar-era opposition

The Spartacists were a Communist uprising crushed in January 1919, during the Weimar Republic, well before the Nazis took power in 1933. They are irrelevant to a question on opposition to Nazi rule after 1933. Bringing them in wastes time and shows muddled chronology -- keep Nazi-era opposition (youth, student, church, military) distinct from Weimar-era revolts.

Digest (## DB3a): irrelevant Weimar-era opposition (the Spartacists) is wrongly included in a Nazi-era question (Paper 1).

Political persecution ≠ racial persecution

On "control of opposition after 1933," don't slide into racial persecution of Jews (Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, the camps). Political opponents -- Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists, the first at Dachau -- were targeted for their politics; Jews on racial grounds. This question wants the political strand, not the racial one.

Digest (## DB3a): on control of opposition after 1933, candidates conflate persecution of Communists with racial persecution of Jews (camps, Kristallnacht) and miss the control-of-opposition focus (Paper 4).

Weigh the limits, not just terror

On effectiveness of control, candidates handle terror and propaganda well but are weak on counter-evidence. Show the limits too: opposition groups survived throughout the regime, Germans still told anti-Nazi jokes privately despite the risk, and wartime morale fell sharply after Stalingrad (1943) despite continued propaganda. Control was extensive, but never total.

Digest (## DB3a): on effectiveness of control, candidates handle terror/propaganda well but are weak on counter-evidence, the limits to control (Paper 2).

Don't drift into general WWII narrative

A question on Nazi control of opposition is not asking for a Second World War narrative. Weaker answers pad with general wartime military events, which fall outside the focus and earn no credit. Stay on how the regime found, deterred and punished opponents -- the Gestapo, the courts, the camps -- and keep to the years and theme the question specifies.

Digest (## DB3a): on control of opposition after 1933, candidates add general WWII material rather than keeping to the control-of-opposition focus (Paper 4).

The SA were Nazis, not Communists

The SA (Sturmabteilung, "brownshirts"), led by Ernst Rohm, were the Nazis' early street-fighters -- Nazis, not Communists. By 1934 their size and Rohm's ambitions threatened Hitler, who had the SS murder the SA leaders in the 1934 Night of the Long Knives. The SS and Gestapo became the main terror bodies; treating SA, SS and Gestapo as one confuses distinct organisations.

Exam tips

Structure a "how effectively" answer
For "how effectively did the Nazis control Germany?", work in three moves: set out the machinery of control with named detail (Gestapo informers, People's Court, camps, propaganda); add a genuine limit; then reach a supported judgement, not just a list of methods.
Always supply counter-evidence
Candidates handle terror and propaganda well but are weak on counter-evidence. When asked how effective control was, give the limits -- surviving opposition, private jokes, falling morale after 1943 -- so the judgement rests on both sides, not the machinery alone.
Bias does not make a source useless
On Paper 2, a biased or propaganda source is not useless -- it is useful evidence of the message it promotes. Judge usefulness from the source's content and purpose, not from provenance alone ("it's Nazi, so biased"), and state a clear verdict rather than hedging.

Revision notes

Overview

Once in power, the Nazis built a state that combined terror (surveillance, courts, camps), propaganda (mass media and culture), and the removal of rival organisations to control German society. This Key Question asks you to know the methods of control in detail, assess how effectively opponents were dealt with and how much opposition survived, and reach a balanced judgement on whether Nazi Germany was truly a totalitarian state -- one in which the regime aimed to control almost every aspect of public and private life.