1 of 5

Opposition and resistance in Nazi Germany

Key Questions What was the nature of opposition in Nazi Germany? What was the extent of opposition to Hitlers regime? How effective was the opposition to the Nazi regime? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the groups opposing the Nazi regime? Why was Hitler successful in overcoming opposition to his regime?

Historiography of opposition
1. Intentionalist historians - emphasis on motive
The historiography has been shaped by the continuing attempt within Germany to wrestle with the legacy of the Nazi past. During the Cold War, the history of resistance played an important role in the self-image of the new German states and was used to mould values and politics of their populations. a) Historians of the GDR (Communist East Germany) GDR presented as the successor state to the KPD. Communist resistance was seen as part of a centrally organised struggle against imperialists. An expression of the victory of the resolute anti-Fascists... is the existence of the GDR, in which the legacy of the German people who gave lives in the anti-fascist struggle was realised. Mammach, 1971 Limitations of this interpretation Opposition from SPD and church downplayed. b) Historians of the FRG (Democratic West Germany) Advanced to counter collective guilt theories of Allies. Emphasised resistance from elite, bourgeois and military figures. Centred on bourgeois, Christian individuals who made a choice to uphold freedom and democracy. Concept of totalitarianism discounted the possibility of ordinary people opposing the regime. It also bracketed together Communism and National Socialism as twin evils no recognition of Communist resistance, Social Democrats marginal. Only resistance which restored the original legal order was legitimate, not revolutionary resistance. Limitations of this interpretation Misses out main opposition groups, but also ignores the motivations of elite plotters. 1944 bomb plotters not liberals, but pre-WW1 ideas, not democratic, no desire for social change. Wanted major power status for German Reich, wanted dominance of central and eastern Europe. Objected to Hitlers methods not his aims. Monumentalisation of resistance. Hans Mommsen resistance without the people. View of Nazi state as a totalitarian terror state meant little opposition possible.

2. Late 1960s. Functionalist historians: emphasis on actions/effects of resistance

During the 1960s, there was a growing interest in social history and the study of everyday life (history from below). At the same time, the vision of the Nazi state as a totalitarian system began to break down. It was replaced by the concept of the polycratic state, with competing centres of power and authority. The

2 of 5 FRG assumption of resistance without the people was replaced by the contrary assumption: resistance by the people. a) The Bavaria Project Resistance by ordinary mortals, not heroes. Resistance = shads of grey the regime tried to impose on all areas of daily existence so you can count as resistance any attempt to restrict or block it. Not so concerned with motivation and intentions with challenging regime, but with actions. Considered anything which challenged total claim of Nazi claim Resistance is understood as every form of active or passive behaviour which allows recognition of the rejection of the National Socialist regime or a partial area of National Socialist ideology and was bound up with certain risks. refusal to give Heil Hitler greeting hanging out church flag instead of swastika banner fraternising with foreign workers criticism from the pulpit continuing traffic with Jewish cattle-dealers Strikes non participation in Nazi meetings maintaining social contact with Jews and former SPD members

Limitations Doesnt assess the motivation of the resistance. b) Resistenz Broszat expanded the definition of resistance still further by introducing the concept of resistenz. The meaning in German is different from the meaning in English. Means immunity as in medicine resistenz means any area of life which managed not to be totally dominated by the Nazis e.g. church, bureaucracy Wehrmacht maintained fairly independent of Nazism spheres of immunity. Traditional concept of resistance too much emphasis on morality and organisation resistenz emphasis on action, effect. Broszat Resistenz...did not, like most active resistance, generally fail but could be thoroughly effective Limitations Hofer Criticisms put illegal cattle-slaughterer on same level as somebody who had died for the regime. Resistenz had very little effect on the regime. Too broad definition didnt exclude integration into regime. Includes some behaviour which Nazis didnt recognise as opposition. Hoffer resistenz had very little relevant effect on the ruling totalitarian regime.

3. The Kershaw synthesis

Kershaw: Broszat and Hofer are both right about the effectiveness of Resistenz. Hofer is looking at Resistenz effectiveness in terms of whether it prevented regime from fighting a war of dominance by racially purified Germany hes right, it didnt. Broszat is talking about whether Resistenz prevented the total penetration of German society by the Nazis. Broszat was setting Resistenz against resistance, not as an alternative to it. Kershaw: concept of resistenz is flawed you cant completely separate motivation and intention from an action, impossible to look at effect in isolation from moral value. E.g. peasants who continued trafficking with Jewish cattle-dealers from material self-interest or from objections to Nazi measures.

3 of 5 Kershaw moderate functionalist concept of Resistenz is useful if not pushed too far helps to illuminate relations between rulers and ruled, social consensus, not the same as resistance. Resistenz s about conflict not resistance should be renamed opposition or dissent. The story of dissent, opposition and resistance in the Third Reich is indistinguishable from the story of consent approval and collaboration.

4 of 5 Write each letter in what you believe to be the right area of Kershaws diagram Dissent a) failing to give a Hitler salute b) trading with a Jewish cattle dealer c) listening to the BBC d) listening to jazz music with your Swing Youth friends e) taking a sickie from work f) not eating the one-pot meal on a Friday g) protesting against the Nazi euthanasia program h) taking part in an Edelweiss pirates attack on a Hitler Youth i) failing to turn up for a KDF meeting j) having a conversation with your SPD neighbour k) sheltering an army deserter l) taking part in the1944 July bomb plot to blow up Hitler m) preaching a sermon against the Nazis n) sending reports to SOPADE about public opinion in Germany

Opposition

Resistance

Factors making effective opposition difficult

Traditional respect for authority in Germany: Hitler had been appointed legally, and the instinct of civil servants was to obey. Gleichschaltung. The Nazi state eradicated the institutions allowing for formal expression of opposition, then used the SS and the Gestapo to pick off individual manifestations of anti-Nazi behaviour. In a one party state with government control of media and no independent trade unions the only realistic potential of ousting Hitler came from within the regime. Outside army and churches no mass institutions survived which were capable of articulating and organizing opposition. Opponents remained isolated from each other. Powerful secret police; arbitrary imprisonment, network of government informers; Keep quiet or youll end up in Dachau pervasive fear and caution Keeping head below parapet a normal reaction to terror. Popularity of many aspects of Nazism economic recovery, destruction of Nazism, rebuilding of a strong Germany, territorial expansion, successful foreign policy Also personal popularity of Hitler. Kershaw a substantial popularity and an underlying consensus [meant that]....resistance to Hitler, from the beginning, lacked broad support from the mass of the people.

5 of 5

Factors limiting opposition

The Churches Catholic resistance was limited because the Catholic Church approved of many Nazi policies e.g. patriotic foreign policy, anti-Judaism, defeating atheistic Marxism and banning abortion and contraception. Protestant resistance was less likely to succeed than Catholic resistance, because Protestantism was fragmented into a number of different sects. Also, the Protestants were protesting about a major constitutional issue (the foundation of the Nazi dominated Reichchurch), whereas the Catholic Church only protested on specific issues e.g. euthanasia, nazifying Catholic schools. Both Churches only protested about issues affecting them directly; they did not protest about the Nazis defiance of Christian morality. Although some individual pastors protested about Kristallnacht, neither Church issued an official statement of disapproval. Hitlers constitutional changes meant that a coup was the only hope of getting rid of the Nazis. However, the army had been appeased by the Night of the Long Knives; besides, Nazi rule held many benefits for the army, in particular increased men and resources, which bound it to the regime. By the 1930s, the army was largely Nazified thanks to the oath of allegiance to Hitler. The Airforce had been set up after Hitler had come to power, so was extremely loyal. The complicity of the conservative elites in Nazi rule hampered resistance. The elites had welcomed the destruction of the party system, the dismantling of the Treaty of Versailles and the mass murder of SA leaders. Nazi rule had destroyed the traditional places of elite opposition, such as the Reichstag and the bureaucracy. The destruction of ordered channels of government and administration and Nazi domination of the media reduced the possibility of organised resistance. The destruction of the Trade Unions had atomised the working class and robbed them of traditional solidarity. Working class resisters were isolated from other social groups and even from mass base in working class. Continuing conflict between Communists and Social Democrats made it easier for the Gestapo to acquire information. Stalins policy of coexistence with Nazis, exemplified by the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, meant that the Communist opposition in Germany did not receive any foreign support until 1941.

Army

Elites

Working class

Scale of opposition Against this background, scope of resistance impressive. The opposition shows that totalitarianism was only partly successful.. By 1939, about 150,000 Communists and Social Democrats had been interned in concentration camps, 40,000 Germans fled the country for political reasons, 12,000 convicted of treason, 40,000 imprisoned for political offences during the war 15,000 people were sentenced to death sentences for political offences