L4: resistance and opposition to the nazi regime 1933-1939

why was it difficult for people to oppose the regime?

• atmosphere of terror created by the police state

• conformity of society to the nazi regime

• no free press

• nazis’ absolute control of court and police

• no opposing political parties

• civil service and local government controlled by nazis

• denunciations by others

methods of opposition that COULD be used

• attempted coup d’état

• active resistance/opposition

• passive resistance/non conformity methods

• private grumbling/disagreement

what was an attempted coup d’état?

• nazis couldn’t be voted out

• could only remove a dictator like hitler with force e.g. killing/imprisoning and then replacing

what was active resistance/opposition?

• actively attempting to challenge the nazis

  • e.g. forming/ being a member of a resistance cell

  • acting as a secret agent

  • protesting/disagreeing with nazis in public

what were passive resistance/nonconformity methods?

• absenteeism from work or similar nazi activities

• continuing to support jewish businesses with patronage

• refusing to say heil hitler

• doing things disproved of by regime e.g. listening to jazz music

what was private grumbling?

• ‘grumble’ with family and friends or colleagues from work IN PRIVATE

• never in earshot of someone who may report them to the nazis

how was ernst thälmann (leader of the kpd) removed as a source of opposition?

• arrested 3rd march 1933 → KPD had no leader for election on the 5th

• taken into ‘protective custody’ where he remained for 11 years in solitary confinement

• shot in buchenwald concentration camp in 1944

what proportion of kpd members were killed in 1933? why?

• 10% killed during 1933

• communists were well prepared to directly oppose nazi authority and acted as a political threat

how did the KPD rebel?

• active resistance

• organised underground networks in industrial areas

• recruited members

• published illegal newspapers

how effective was the opposition presented by the KPD?

• limited, devastated by the wave of repression instilled by nazi police state

• ALL cells and networks discovered and disbanded by gestapo

• secret activity continued → information spread by word of mouth, no trail, grumbling

• aimed to survive regime rather than overthrow it

how did the SPD as an institution seek to rebel against the nazis?

• committed to working within law → found difficult to oppose totalitarian regime

• campaigned openly for participation in 5th march 1933 election

• voted against enabling act → made themselves an open target for nazis

• leader fled abroad to ensure survival and continuation of ideology

specific methods used by spd to oppose nazis

• active resistance

• ernst schumacher → organised creation of small cells of supporters in factories

• city based cells also met

• pamphlets smuggled into germany containing anti nazi propaganda

• spd agents produced reports to inform leaders abroad of situation in germany

example of a SPD city-based cell

berlin red patrol

name of the reports written by spd agents to be given to their leaders abroad

the solace reports

effectiveness of SPD opposition

• scope of illegal activities limited by constant fear of exposure and arrest created by effective nazi police state

• prioritised survival of members and prepare to play a role in the future when the regime inevitably collapses

  • NOT to seriously challenge the nazis

when were trade unions banned?

2nd may 1933 → replaced by DAF, unions were viewed as enemies of the volksgemeinschaft

how did workers oppose the nazi regime?

• strikes (despite having right to strike revoked in the ban of trade unions)

• absenteeism

• sabotage of machinery

how many strikes occurred in 1935 and 1937? why?

1935: 37strikes in areas like the rhineland

1937: 250 strikes

in response to low wages and poor working conditions and increasing food prices

why did absenteeism from work increase?

• noncompliance opposition

• less overt than striking but remained effective

• increased in response to longer working hours

statistics of direct opposition from workers and their punishment by the nazi police state

1935: 4000 of the 25,000 who strikes in spent time in prison
1936: 7 ringleaders arrested and imprisoned by the gestapo after a 17 minute strike at the Opal car factory

how did the nazi party threatened workers and hindered their opposition?

1938

• severe punishments for slackers introduced

• sabotage of machinery became a criminal offence

• prosecution for matters increased

how many workers were arrested for absenteeism and slow working in 1938?

• 114 workers (at a munitions plant)

what was the initial relationship if the protestant church with the nazis?

• able to retain their ideology and remain independent of the regime

• powerful position, able to influence ordinary people

• didn’t want to threaten nazis

• made compromised to ensure their survival

what organisation was formed by the protestant church in 1933? why? developments?

• 1933: Pastors’ Emergency League

• in reaction to the creation of the the state led Reich Church

• 1934: developed into the confessional church, led by pastors that were NOT party members

how did the protestant confessional church reject nazi authority? event in 1934?

• refused to become part of a coordinated state church

• aimed to maintain independence and ideology

• resisted imposing ‘aryan paragraph’ of the law of the reconstruction of the professional civil service

  • it insisted any pastor who’d converted from judaism be purged from the church

• 1934: pastors from CC spoke in sermons against nazi regime and the ‘nazified christ’

• refused to display swatstika

• mass demonstrations after arrest of 2 pastors

what was the message of the law on the reconstruction of the professional civil service (the aryan paragraph)?

any pastor who had converted from judaism is to be purged from the church

how many pastors were imprisoned by the end of 1937?

1937: over 700 pastors had been imprisoned

effectiveness of the resistance by the confessional church?

• offered more dissent and resistance to the regime

• were not silenced by the regime

• failed to offer full opposition → most members swore loyalty to hitler (likely self-preservation)

• individual pastors risked lives in resistance

• church as a whole entity → remained silent and did NOT defend human rights or condemn atrocities

how did the nazis attempt to punish the confessional church?

• salaries stopped

• banned from teaching in schools

• 1937: over 700 pastors imprisoned

who was martin niemoller?

• protestant pastor → held strong nationalist views

• antisemitic

• initially welcomed appointment of hitler but didn’t join the party

how did martin niemoller stand up against the nazi regime? ideologies?

• opposed nazi interference in the evangelical church

• opposed the aryan paragraph

• arrested 1937 → on trial, acquitted of all charges, rearrested and sent to a concentration camp

  • good treatment ensured by hitler

  • confessional church viewed him as a martyr

  • repudiated previous anti-semitic views in prison

when was the reich concordat signed?

20th july 1933

what was the purpose of the reich concordat?

guaranteed the rights of the church in return for their loyalty to the fuhrer

how did the catholic openly condemn nazi policies as they became more radical?

• spoke against nazi policies increasingly

• 1937: ‘with burning grief’

  • document issued by pope, condemned by the nazis

  • march 1937: smuggled into germany and read aloud in almost every catholic church

effectiveness of catholic church opposition

• some individual priests showed bravery and opposition

• church as a whole failed to offer real opposition → chose to maintain own position

• nazis increased repression

• more priests charged with abuse of the pulpit

who was clemens von galen?

• archbishop of munster

• figure of the church that hitler deemed too important to arrest despite continued complaints from nazi officials

how did archbishop clemens von galen stand up against the nazi regime?

• 1934: issued a pamphlet, gave sermon disagreeing with nazi atheistic ideologies

• 1934: 19,000 catholics supported in july church procession in munster

• 1936: protested about removal of crucifixes from schools

• opposed regime through ww2

how many people supported clemens von galen in munster’s july church procession 1934?

19,000 catholics

why were the conservative elites a threat to hitler?

• had always had concerns about nazi party

• a military coup (coup d’état) was the only way to overthrow the regime

• agreed with aims but disagreed with methods

why was the threat of the conservative elites limited?

• majority cooperated with hitler in 1933

• all believed in loyalty and obedience to authority and the state

  • would have to achieve dramatic and rapid ideological change for resistance to occur (highly unlikely)

  • very few opposed hitler

why was unease growing in the elites in 1938?

• many in army and civil service felt hitler was leading germany into a war they were not prepared for

• revealed plans to annex austria and invade czechoslovakia within a year

who opposed hitler’s plan for war in 1938? consequences?

• general blomburg → defence minister

• general fritsch → commander-in-chief of the army

• purged from army leadership for three months from expressing doubts

• replaced with more compliant generals

what event triggered the plot of a coup d’état by general beck?

september 1938: hitler ordered army to prepare for invasion of czechoslovakia within → would lead to inevitable war with britain and france

how did planned coup d’état fail? leader?

• general beck → head of the german army

• remove hitler from power with military coup, assisted by britain and france

• plot abandoned when hitler took over sudetenland unopposed by britain or france

why did young people rebel against the regime? (through their youth groups)

• activities became more disciplined

• took up a lot of free time → compulsory gymnastic sessions on weekdays, all-day sunday hikes, endless military drilling

• based on part of gleichschaltung: no individual should have leisure time independent of nazi party

acts of nonconformity from young people

• allowing group membership to lapse

• not attending weekly parades

• humming tunes that were banned at meetings

• formation of cliques or gangs e.g. meuten gangs in old communist strongholds