Life in Nazi Germany

The Nazi Terror State was a method through which the Nazis extended and maintained their power over German society.

After coming to power in 1933 through a combination of pseudo-legal means and intimidation, terror became one of the main ways that the Nazis consolidated their power, seeking to control and suppress their opposition, and Germans in general.

The threat and use of terror, and the fear that terror spread, was a defining feature of the Nazi regime. The Nazi Terror State relied on three main different elements of control: the removal of rights and freedoms and the ‘Nazification’ of German; the establishment of a police state; and the development of a concentration camp system.

To reinforce their control, the Nazis attempted to eliminate opposition through banning political parties, closing down trade unions and using the justice system and courts to oppress and imprison their perceived opponents.

The Nazis wanted to eliminate any possible opposition to them. In the early years they were in power, their main ‘enemies’ were other political parties, especially the communist KPD and socialist SPD parties, and trade unions.