Watching, informing, disappearing — how Nazi Germany's terror state worked

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Watching, informing, disappearing — how Nazi Germany's terror state worked

An SS officer checks papers at a Berlin doorway while a Gestapo car waits, 1930s Nazi Germany

GCSE History

The Nazi police state wasn't sustained by an army of secret agents - it was sustained by ordinary Germans who informed on their neighbours, colleagues, and family members. The Gestapo had only around 32,000 agents to monitor millions of people; denunciations did the rest. This page covers the SS, the Gestapo, and the concentration camp system.

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