The Nazi State: Government and Opposition

The Nazi state was a chaotic system of competing power centres, all subordinate to the Fuhrer's will. Understanding how it functioned is essential for evaluating the nature of Hitler's power and the extent of opposition.

Key Definition: The Fuhrerprinzip ('leader principle') held that the Fuhrer's authority was absolute, deriving from his personal qualities as embodiment of the national will.

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Polycratic vs Monocratic Debate

Intentionalists (Bracher, Dawidowicz) argue Hitler was a 'strong dictator' directing policy from above. Chaos was deliberate 'divide and rule.'

Structuralists (Broszat, Mommsen) argue Hitler was a 'weak dictator' — avoiding decisions, allowing subordinates to compete. Policy emerged through 'cumulative radicalisation.'

Feature	Intentionalist	Structuralist
Hitler's role	Active, directing	Disengaged, reactive
Policy-making	Top-down directives	Bottom-up competition
The Holocaust	Planned from the start	Evolved cumulatively
State structure	Deliberate divide-and-rule	Administrative anarchy

Ian Kershaw synthesises both views: 'working towards the Fuhrer' — officials anticipated Hitler's wishes and competed to implement them, creating radicalisation without direct orders.

Key Definition: 'Working towards the Fuhrer' — Kershaw's concept that officials competed to implement what they believed Hitler wanted, creating cumulative radicalisation.

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The Terror Apparatus

The SS and Gestapo

Under Himmler, the SS grew from a bodyguard into the most powerful organisation: Allgemeine-SS (political surveillance), Waffen-SS (combat units), Totenkopfverbande (camp guards), and SD (intelligence).

The Gestapo was surprisingly small (~32,000 for 66 million people). Robert Gellately shows it relied heavily on denunciations from ordinary Germans — suggesting significant popular complicity.

Concentration Camps

Dachau (March 1933) was the first camp. By 1939, six main camps held ~25,000 prisoners for punishment, deterrence, forced labour, and racial persecution.

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Opposition and Resistance

Group	Key Actions	Limitations
Churches	Catholic Mit brennender Sorge (1937); Confessing Church (Niemoller, Bonhoeffer)	Largely defensive; did not challenge racial policies
Youth	Edelweiss Pirates; Swing Youth	Cultural rather than political
Conservatives/military	July Plot 1944 (Stauffenberg); Kreisau Circle	Came very late; had earlier supported the regime
White Rose	Sophie and Hans Scholl — leaflets in Munich 1942–43; executed	Small-scale but powerful moral symbolism
Communists	Underground networks; Red Orchestra	Severely disrupted by Gestapo