{"id":803,"date":"2017-10-11T18:53:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T18:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=803"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:56:13","slug":"nazi-methods-of-control","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/european-history\/nazi-germany\/nazi-methods-of-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Nazi methods of control"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did the Nazis have total control over of the German people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Was there any opposition to Hitler and the Nazi’s Third Reich? This section looks at whether or not Hitler did have total control over his people.<\/p>\n

In the period 1933-43 the Nazi party could be said to have had virtually total control of Germany. There were no attempts to overthrow the Government, few incidents of public opposition to Nazi policy and little in the way of political pressure groups opposing policies.<\/p>\n

This suggests that Hitler and the Nazi’s had total control of Germany during this period. It is however a slightly misleading image. There was some underground resistance to Nazi measures, some anti government pamphlets were produced and there were certainly instances of members of the public refusing to join the party or make the Nazi salute. There is evidence to show that some people were executed for failing to comply with these regulations.<\/p>\n

It must also be remembered that the Nazi party employed a very forceful approach to opposition and that the Nazi propaganda machine was such that opposing views would rarely have been visible publicly. This means that the scale of opposition is extremely hard to gauge: it is true though that the majority of people within Hitler’s Third Reich were either supportive or sympathetic towards the regime. The most obvious opposition was from the churches, yet this was not on a scale large enough to worry the government and wasn’t pointed enough to have any great impact upon popular beliefs.<\/p>\n

In general it can be said that the Nazi’s, until the first defeats in the east, were very much in control of the people. They didn’t pacify all Germans and there were occasions when policy would be grumbled about. The nature of the regime was such though that complaints were dealt with quickly and effectively through propaganda, the people would see benefits in other aspects of their lives and those who had more hard line views about the Nazi leadership would be removed from public circulation, either through imprisonment or execution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Germany 1919 – 1945 Links<\/h2>\n

The Second Reich<\/h3>\n

Unification of Germany<\/a> – Political systems within the Second Reich<\/a> – German Society during the Second Reich<\/a> – Collapse of the Second Reich<\/a><\/p>\n

Weimar Republic<\/h3>\n

Interim Government<\/a> –\u00a0Founding of the Weimar Republic<\/a> –\u00a0Impact of the First World War on Germany<\/a> –\u00a0The Treaty of Versailles and its impact on Germany<\/a> –\u00a0Weimar Constitution<\/a> –\u00a01919-1923: Years of Crisis?<\/a> –\u00a0Spartacist Uprising<\/a> –\u00a0Kapp Putsch<\/a> – Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold<\/a> – Reparations<\/a> –\u00a0Hyperinflation in Germany, 1923<\/a> –\u00a01924-1928: A Golden Era?<\/a> – 1925 Presidential Election<\/a> – Gustav Stresemann<\/a> –\u00a0German Foreign Relations 1919-1932<\/a> –\u00a0Germany in the Great Depression<\/a> \u00a0–\u00a0Failings of the Weimar Republic<\/a> – Dada Movement<\/a><\/p>\n

Rise of the Nazi Party<\/h3>\n

The Munich Putsch<\/a> –\u00a0Did the Economic Crisis of 1923 help the Nazi’s?<\/a> –\u00a0Origins of the Nazi Party<\/a> –\u00a0Rise of the Nazi Party<\/a><\/p>\n

Nazi Germany<\/h3>\n

Totalitarian Regime in Nazi Germany<\/a> –\u00a0How did Hitler consolidate power?<\/a> –\u00a0Mein Kampf<\/a> –\u00a0Nazi methods of control<\/a> –\u00a0Opposition to the Nazi Regime<\/a> –\u00a0Organisation of the Nazi Party<\/a> –\u00a0Fuhrerprinzip<\/a> –\u00a0Kristallnacht<\/a> –\u00a0Youth and Education<\/a> –\u00a0Goering and the 2nd 4 Year Plan<\/a> –\u00a0Anti-Jewish Boycott, 1933<\/a> –\u00a0Nazi Anti-Semitism<\/a> –\u00a0DAF (The German Labour Front)<\/a> –\u00a0Propaganda in Germany 1919-39<\/a> –\u00a0Economic Policy of the Nazi Party<\/a> – Kreisau Circle<\/a> – The Confessing Church<\/a> – Catholic Church<\/a> – Edelweiss Pirates<\/a><\/p>\n

Biographies<\/h3>\n

Ludwig Beck<\/a> – Dietrich Bonhoeffer<\/a> – Bishop Clemens von Galen<\/a> – Carl Goerdeler<\/a> – Robert Ley<\/a> – Helmuth von Moltke<\/a> – Martin Niemoller<\/a> – Erwin Rommel<\/a>\u00a0– Hjalmar Schacht<\/a> – Sophie Scholl<\/a> – Albert Speer<\/a> – Claus von Stauffenberg<\/a> –\u00a0Fritz Todt<\/a> –<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did the Nazis have total control over of the German people? Was there any opposition to Hitler and the Nazi’s Third Reich? This section looks at whether or not Hitler did have total control over his people. In the period 1933-43 the Nazi party could be said to have had virtually total control of Germany.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":789,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-803","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/803\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}