12. Resistance

Question 1

Resistance inside the camps

Answer 1

Sporadic revolts occurred
Organised revolts in Sobibor and Treblinka death camps in 1943
At Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944, Jewish prisoners blew up Crematorium 4
Network of Jewish organisations smuggled detailed evidence to inform the Western allies about the Nazi extermination process but it had little impact

Question 2

What significant piece of resistance occurred between April and May 1943?

Answer 2

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Question 3

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising April-May 1943

Answer 3

SS forces entered Ghetto with aim of completing deportation of the remaining Jews
SS ambushed by Jews using the weapons they had smuggled in

Question 4

Result of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising April-may 1943

Answer 4

13,000 Jews killed
Among the 50,000 remaining residents almost all of them were captured and sent to death camps

Question 5

Name of the Zionist resistance movement in Nazi occupied France

Answer 5

Armee Juive (Jewish army)

Question 6

Intention of Armee Juive

Answer 6

To protect threatened Jews and take their fighting skills back to Palestine to help create a Jewish state there

Question 7

What did the Nazis require there to be in each Ghetto?

Answer 7

A Jewish Council (Judenraete) to ensure Nazi orders and regulations were implemented

Question 8

Tasks given to the Jewish Council in ghettos

Answer 8

Tasks such as making lists of names of Jews for deportation

Question 9

What happened to many members of the Jewish Councils?

Answer 9

They were either shot for refusing to carry out orders or died from suicide due to guilt
Many members believed that cooperation would ensure their survival

Question 10

Bielski partisans

Answer 10

In Belarus, from 1941 onwards, a Jewish resistance group called the Bielski partisans set up a community of 1200 partisans
They committed acts of sabotage and provided a refuge for Jews escaping the ghettos

Question 11

Ways in which people could resist to Nazi regime

Answer 11

Strikes
Hiding Jews
Assassinations
Buying from Jewish businesses
Photo evidence
Remove Nazi propaganda

Question 12

What law secured Hitler with the formation of a one party state?

Answer 12

1934 Law Against the Formation of Political Parties

Question 13

Why did opposition towards the Nazi regime decrease after 1935?

Answer 13

Living standards were good in Germany as the economy improved and unemployment decreased
Mass propaganda in Germany

Question 14

Why did the SPD oppose the Nazi regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 14

Because the Nazis didn’t respect the law
Originally voted against the Enabling Act
Secret SPD meetings held and propaganda pamphlets were smuggled across the border from Czech

Question 15

How did the Nazis respond to SPD opposition?

Answer 15

By the end of 1933, thousands of SPD activists had been murdered and leaders fled into exile

Question 16

Why did the KPD oppose the Nazi regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 16

They wanted Communist rule in Germany
Established an underground network in some German industrial areas

Question 17

How did the Nazis respond to KPD opposition?

Answer 17

First party to be banned
Gestapo broke down KPD networks
Communists killed

Question 18

Why did workers oppose the Nazi regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 18

Nazis took away workers’ rights
Poor working conditions and low wages
Strikes consistent throughout regime (37 in 1935 and 250 in 1937)
Absenteeism often a reaction against the pressure of longer hours

Question 19

How did the Nazis respond to workers’ opposition?

Answer 19

Trade unions absorbed into the German Labour Front
Of the 25,000 workers who strikes in 1935, 4000 were imprisoned

Question 20

Why did the Protestant church oppose the Nazi regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 20

Wanted Protestant Church to remain independent of the regime
Wanted to defend religion purely based on scripture
Refused to display Swastika flags
Demonstrations against religious arrests

Question 21

How did the Nazis respond to the opposition of the Protestant Church?

Answer 21

Dissenting pastors had their salaries stopped
Protestant church stopped form teaching in school
Many dissenting pastors sent to prison
By 1937, 700 dissenting pastors were arrested

Question 22

Why did the Catholic Church oppose the Nazi regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 22

Catholic belief in Sanctity of Life clashed with Nazi euthanasia program
The Pope’s 1937 encyclical ‘with burning grief’ was smuggled into Germany, secretly printed and distributed by messengers
Noisy public demonstrations at trials of arrested priests

Question 23

How did the Nazis respond to the opposition of the Catholic Church?

Answer 23

Charges against priests became regular occurrences
Intimidation and harassment of priests

Question 24

Why did young people oppose the Nazis regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 24

Membership was the Hitler Youth/League of German Girl was made compulsory in 1936 and many were against this
Many simply didn’t attend weekly parades
Those who did attend sometimes sung the tunes that had been banned
Some youths formed cliques to show their independence

Question 25

How did the Nazis respond to the opposition of the youth?

Answer 25

Nazis pressured the youth to conform
Arrests were made

Question 26

Why did the elites oppose the Nazi regime and what actions did they take?

Answer 26

Some aristocratic generals in the army and senior civil servants saw Hitler as a threat to old Germany
In 1938, many elites felt Hitler was leading an unprepared Germany into war
Plot to remove Hitler from power in September 1938
Detailed plans made for a march on Berlin if war was declared

Question 27

How did the Nazis respond to the opposition of elites?

Answer 27

Hitler replaced doubting generals with more complimenting generals
Conspiracy to overthrow Hitler receded when the invasion of Czech was successful