starter activity

1
? starter activity
If you want to express your opposition to todays
governments what is the most effective form of
resistance?.
2
How much opposition was there to the Nazi regime?
3
? Your task

• Which of the factors in the table would
  encourage opposition and which would make
  effective opposition difficult?

Copy of table
4
7 possible reactions

• Copy the following forms of resistance to the
  Nazi regime out in a line with the most hostile
  on the left to the least hostile on the right.
• Nonconformity
• Acceptance
• Resistance
• Participation
• Enthusiasm
• Protest
• Commitment

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7 possible reactions
Resistance
Protest
Non-conformity
Acceptance
Participation
Enthusiasm
Commitment
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? Your task

• Below each of the reactions copy two or three of
  the examples of resistance shown in table 17a,
  p.319 of Hite and Hinton. Compare your choice
  with your neighbour.

7
Why was there apparently so little opposition?

• Recent historiography focussed on public
  opposition , e.g. Bishop Galen over euthanasia
  July 1944 Bomb Plot
• Death of Hindenburg helped Hitler
• High unemployment made industrial action
  unpopular
• Hitler was legally elected

Galen
Hindenburg
8
Why was there apparently so little opposition?

• Opposition banned under Law against Formation of
  New Parties, July 1933
• Army appeased by Night of Long Knives, June 1934
• Plebiscites showed NSDAP popular
• Early victims unpopular in Germany, e.g. KPD,
  Jews, SA

Rohm, leader of SA
Van der Lubbe on trial in 1933
9
Why was there apparently so little opposition?

• Hitler NSDAP toned down extreme views in
  speeches propaganda
• Successes in economy, e.g. reduction in
  unemployment through public works scheme
• Opposition was poorly organised the story of
  resistance is really that of a hundred subgroups
  and thousands of individuals (Hite Hinton)

10
? Your task

• Read p. 322-3 of Hite and Hinton and take notes
  on the different forms of resistance shown below.
  Which was the most effective?
• Churches
• Youth
• Army
• Government Civil Service
• Judiciary
• Workers
• Opposition parties
• Traditional elites

11
Resistance from the Church

• 1934, Confessional Church broke away from Reich
  Church due to resistance to state interference
  Martin Niemöller Dietrich Bonhöffer
• Bishop Galen, Catholic Bp. Munster, aka Lion of
  Munster for outspoken sermons

Niemöller
Bonhöffer
Galen
12
Resistance from the Church

• July 1933, Catholic Church Nazi govt. sign
  Concordat (agreement)
• Catholic clergy criticised sterilisation
  euthanasia programmes
• Church adopted position of self-preservation
• Criticism limited to individuals, e.g. Bishop
  Galen, Catholic Bp. Munster, aka Lion of
  Munster for outspoken sermons

Catholic clergy giving the Nazi salute
13
Youth

• Range of alternative youth groups, e.g. Edelweiss
  Pirates Swing Youth
• University resistance groups, e.g. White Rose
  group in Munich, led by Hans Sophie Scholl

Barton Schink, Edelweiss Pirate, executed aged 16
14
Army
General Beck

• Suspicions strong among senior aristocratic
  army officers
• Several plots, e.g. 1938 attempted arrest of
  Hitler at Munich by General Beck 1944 July Bomb
  Plot by Claus Von Stauffenberg
• Abwehr (German Army Intelligience) tolertaed
  resistance helped Jews escape headed by Admiral
  Canaris

Claus von Stauffenberg
15
Government Civil Service
Von Papen

• April 1933 civil service purged of alien
  elements, although only 5 removed
• Critics within Cabinet, e.g. Von Papen spoke
  publicly of need for freedom of speech in June
  1934 1935 Schact denounced anti-Semitism

Schact
16
Judiciary

• Senior judges wanted to operate within rule of
  law, e.g. Franz Gürtner, non-Nazi Justice
  Minister 1933-41
• Defiant judges by-passed by Peoples Court and
  Special Courts created in 1933

17
Workers

• German Labour Front (DAF), Nazi organisation
  replaced free trade unions
• Strikes 400 between 1933 1935
• Many workers maintained links with outlawed
  political parties

German Labour Front
18
Opposition parties

• All political opposition parties banned in July
  1933
• SPD in exile (based in Prague) organised
  underground movements, e.g. Berlin Red Patrol
  Hanover Socialist Front
• KPD (Communists) formed underground cells, e.g.
  the Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra)

Pre-1933 election poster for KPD
19
Traditional elite

• Kreisau Circle formed in 1933 to oppose Hitler
• Membership included officers professionals
• August 1943 drew up Basic Principles for a New
  Order, a plan for an open, egalitarian society
  after Nazism

Moltke, founder member of the Kreisau Circle
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? Your task

• Read the sources on p.326-7 of Hite and Hinton.
  Which are more valuable as evidence of opposition
  to the Nazi regime?