Consolidation and Maintenance of Authoritarianism in Nazi Germany

Authoritarian States IB History 11

Fascism

• Hitler’s Nazi Germany was a fascist state, which means that it used any means possible to stay in power and removed all opposition.

• Fascism is a form government that uses its power to eliminate all laws, institutions, or people that oppose the nation or government.

Changing Government Structures• Hitler did not entirely remove

German Government structures but changed them to ensure he and the Nazi Party could stay in power:

• Laws were made to ban Unions and other political parties that were opposed to the Nazis.

• Hitler eventually changed laws to gain complete control over the German Military as well.

Propaganda and Repression• Hitler used propaganda, which is

the distribution of heavily biased information, to promote the Nazi Party and criticized anyone opposed to he and the Nazi Party.

• In addition, Hitler was able to use the German Secret Police (“SS”), and the military to physically intimidate organizations that opposed him and their leaders.

Quiet Opposition • Even though Hitler and the Nazi Party

had nearly total control over Germany, there were still small groups who quietly opposed Hitler.

• Hitler agreed not to intervene in the business of Churches if they did not become involved in politics, and as a result Churches became places were people could openly discuss their opposition to Hitler.

• There was even opposition to Hitler within the Nazi Party, and he was often subject to assassination attempts.

Research Simulation• Small groups of Germans, some of

who were even members of the Nazi Party, opposed Hitler quietly. These groups often met in Churches because it was an institution that was relatively unaffected by Nazi control.

• Despite the fact that Nazi’s had near control over all of Germany, if you were a German in opposition to Hitler and the Nazis would you feel comfortable enough to go to a Church and openly express your opposition?