Control and opposition in Nazi Germany 1933–1939

By 1939 the Nazi regime ran a comprehensive police state backed by propaganda and a network of party organisations that reached into every household. Yet there was always opposition — sometimes from individuals, sometimes from organised groups. This topic explores how the Nazis controlled the population and what limits they faced.

The police state — the SS, Gestapo, courts and camps

• The SS (Schutzstaffel) — Hitler's elite black-shirted bodyguard, expanded under Heinrich Himmler from 1929. By 1939 it controlled all police, intelligence and concentration camps. Members had to prove "Aryan" ancestry to 1750.
• The Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) — secret police founded in Prussia 1933, nationalised under Himmler 1936. Famous for arrests "in the night and fog"; in fact only ~32,000 officers nationwide, relying heavily on tip-offs from neighbours.
• The SD (Sicherheitsdienst) — internal Nazi Party security, ran by Reinhard Heydrich.
• The People's Court (Volksgerichtshof, 1934) — handled "political" crimes; defendants had no defence rights and almost all were found guilty.
• Concentration camps — Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück (women, 1939). Used for political prisoners, "asocials", Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses.

Propaganda — Goebbels and the Ministry of Propaganda

Joseph Goebbels created the Reich Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment in March 1933. It controlled:

• Newspapers — by 1939, two-thirds were owned by the party.
• Radio — the Volksempfänger ("people's receiver") was a cheap radio that mostly received Nazi stations. By 1939, 70% of households had one.
• Film — The Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1935) glorified the Nuremberg rally; The Eternal Jew spread vicious antisemitism.
• Books — burning of "un-German" books in May 1933; censorship of every published work.
• Rallies — annual Nuremberg parade with searchlights, banners, choreographed marching.
• The 1936 Berlin Olympics — international showcase of Nazi orderliness; Jewish athletes excluded from German team.

The aim was a Volksgemeinschaft — "people's community" — bound by loyalty to the Führer.

Churches

Hitler signed a Concordat with the Vatican in July 1933: the Catholic Church kept its schools and clergy in return for staying out of politics. The compromise was uneasy. From 1937 onwards Hitler narrowed Catholic Action; the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge (March 1937) condemned Nazi abuses. Pastor Niemöller and Bonhoeffer founded the Confessing Church in 1934 in opposition to the official "German Christians". Niemöller was imprisoned 1937–45; Bonhoeffer hanged in 1945.

Youth

• Hitler Youth (HJ) for boys 14–18, League of German Maidens (BDM) for girls 14–18. Membership compulsory from December 1936.
• By 1939, 8.7 million members.
• HJ activities focused on military training, ideology, sport. BDM emphasised motherhood and homemaking.
• Schools rewrote curricula: Maths problems involved bombing raids; Biology stressed racial science; PE was 5 hours/week.

Opposition

Despite the police state, opposition existed:

• Communist underground (KPD) — small cells distributed leaflets in the Ruhr; many leaders fled or were imprisoned.
• The Confessing Church — anti-Nazi Protestant clergy.
• Edelweiss Pirates — youth gangs in Cologne and the Ruhr who attacked Hitler Youth patrols.
• Swing Youth — middle-class teens in Hamburg/Berlin who listened to American jazz and wore long hair.
• The White Rose (1942–43) — Munich students Hans and Sophie Scholl; arrested for distributing leaflets and executed in February 1943.
• The July Plot 1944 — army officers led by Stauffenberg tried to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb. Failed; ~5,000 executed in revenge.

How effective was Nazi control?

Strong points:

• No party rivals; no independent media; no free unions.
• Most Germans benefited from full employment by 1936 and the Strength Through Joy leisure programme.
• The terror of arbitrary arrest deterred most resistance.

Limits:

• The Gestapo relied on civilian denunciation; without it, only ~30,000 officers could not police 80 m people.
• Workers grumbled about wages; absenteeism rose in late 1930s.
• Churches retained moral authority outside party control.
• Youth subcultures showed teenagers were not fully indoctrinated.

A high-level answer notes that control was extensive but not total — and that the war (1939–45) would test the regime's grip.