24 - Opposition And Resistance In Wartime

Question 1

What sentiment grew towards end of war

Answer 1

As defeat loomed and the German people experienced severe hardships in the final years of the war, there was a growing mood of disillusionment with the regime and its propaganda

However majority of Germans stayed loyal

Question 2

How could individuals resist

Answer 2

Gave refuge to help them escape deportation to the death camps

Workers took unauthorised absent for their jobs

Question 3

What increased absenteeism

Answer 3

In September 1939 after the regime cut wages and bonuses, increased hours and suspended paid holidays
Many workers refused to work overtime

Question 4

Hwo did the regime stop absenteeism

Answer 4

They were so concerned about the subsequent loss of production that it withdrew many of the measures in October

Question 5

Three main forms of opposition from young people

Answer 5

Edelweiss pirates
Swing youth
White rose group

Question 6

Who was part of edelweiss pirates

Answer 6

Most working class youths aged 14-18
Active in Rhineland and Ruhr industrial areas

Question 7

Sentiment of edelweiss pirates

Answer 7

Rejected the reg8mentation of the Hitler youth and tried to avoid conscription

Question 8

Actions of the edelweiss pirates

Answer 8

In 1944 the cologne group linked to an underground group that helped army deserters and escaped prisoners of war

Obtained supplies by attacking army and depots

Question 9

Regime dealing w edelweiss pirates

Answer 9

Many groups broken up by Gestapo

13 leaders of cologne edelweiss pirates were publicly hanged in Nov 1944 to make an example of them

Question 10

What was the swing youth and what was there sentiment

Answer 10

A form of youth rebellion that involved unconventional clothes, hairstyles and tasted in music (eg listening to America jazz)

Not overtly political but their pleasure seeking lifestyle offended the moral code of the Nazi regime

Question 11

Who joined swing clubs

Answer 11

Began in the 1930’s attracting middle and upper class young people in major cities including Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart and Frankfurt

Question 12

What happened to swing youths

Answer 12

In 1941 police began mass arrests of swing club members, many were sent to concentration camps
Repression led some swing youth to become more political in their opposition

Question 13

What was the white rose group

Answer 13

Student movement based in Munich
Led by Hans and Sophie Scholl
Supported by Professor Kurt Hubener
Emphasised the importance of individual freedom and personal responsibility
Attacked nazi treatment of Jews and Slavs
Issued pamphlets in 42-43 and painted anti Nazi slogans on walls
Six members were executed in 1943

Question 14

What was common for working class youths

Answer 14

Long tradition for them to form independent youth groups such as ‘wild cliques’
Nazis never succeeded in eradicating entirely

Question 15

What form did middle class youth opposition take

Answer 15

Unconventional behaviour and for some more active opposition

Question 16

Did the Catholic Church speak out against the regime

Answer 16

No, was compromised by its support for many nazi policies such as the invasion of the USSR and by the need to protect its organisation

Only individuals churchmen opposed

Question 17

Which bishop spoke out against the regime

Answer 17

Bishop Galen spoke out against the euthanasia programme in 1940
This led to halt the killings in August 1941

Question 18

Opposition from an archbishop
What happened to hip

Answer 18

Archbishops Frings of Cologne spoke out against the killings of prisoners of war and against the persecution of the Jews

He was placed under the surveillance of the Gestapo

Question 19

Opposition from protestant church

Answer 19

The Protestant confessional church in Prussia publicly protested about the treatment of Jews

One of the leading figures in this, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 and executed in 1945

Question 20

What was the Nazi Soviet pact of 1939;

Question 21

What did the pact mean for communist resistance

Answer 21

Compromised communist resistance

Question 22

What revived communist resistance

Answer 22

The invasion of the USSR 1941

Question 23

What were the two main networks of communist resistance

Answer 23

One involved in spying for the USSR

the other more independent group collected information about Nazi atrocities and distributed anti-Nazi propaganda

Question 24

How many secret cells in Berlin did the KPD have in 1941

Answer 24

89 secret cells

Question 25

Where else did the KPD have secret cellls

Answer 25

Hamburg, Mannheim and central Germany

Question 26

What happened to these cells

Answer 26

They were subject to Gestapo infiltration and many were destroyed by the end of 1943, including 22 of the communist cells in Berlin.

Question 27

Why did KPD resistance not attract mass support

Answer 27

Under Gestapo pressure and with links to Germanys enemy, had no prospect.

Question 28

What about the Nazis did many elites support

Answer 28

anti communist and anti democratic policies

Question 29

However what did many aristocratic army officers and civil services increasingly come to believe

Answer 29

That the Nazi regime was morally repugnant and was leading Germany to disaster

Question 30

What was the kreisau circke

Answer 30

A diverse group of aristocrats, lawyers, SPD politicians and churchmen.

They were United only in their belief in personal freedom and individual responsibility

Question 31

Where did the kreisau circle meet

Answer 31

Had three meetings at the home of count Helmut Von Moltke in 1942-43

But was broken up by the gestapo

Question 32

Did the army have any plans for a coup

Answer 32

Some plans to remove Hitler at the time of the Sudetenland crisis in 1938 but the plot was never activated and the conspirators were not discovered

Question 33

What did a group of senior army officers conclude in 1943

Answer 33

After the crisis at Stalingrad concluded that Hitler had to be assassinated to pave the way for negotiated peace

Question 34

What was the crisis at Stalingrad

Question 35

Failed attempt to assassinate Hitler 1

Answer 35

An attempt to explode a bomb in Hitlers aeroplane in March 1943

Question 36

Second attempt to assassinate Hitler

Answer 36

July 1944
Bomb placed in his headquarters by Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg
The bomb exploded but Hitler survived
The spconspirators were arrested tortured and executed

Question 37

What happened to the army after the 44 assassination attempt

Answer 37

Put under control of the SS which restricted further opposition

Question 38

Which of Hitlers promises at first won favour

Answer 38

He helped restore german pride, which had been shattered after ww1 and the ToV, giving German people new faith in their future

He provided political stability, economic recovery and a fair standard of living

Question 39

What kind of physical destruction did Germany face post war

Answer 39

Towns and communties lay in ruins. Hamburg, cologne, Düsseldorf and Dresden were little more than rubble heaps

Communications had broken down as roads, railways and bridges disappeared

Industrial plants were smoking or idle, agricultural land was left barren or pock marked by shells and other war time debris

Question 40

What human cost were there post war

Answer 40

6.5 million Germans killed and many more unaccounted for lost on the soviet German front

In the final months of war ,millions of civilians had lost their lives

Half a million or more perished in burning cities whilst others, largely in the east had been killed by advancing troops

Question 41

What was the sentiment by 1945

Answer 41

The Nazi regime was something most Germans wanted to put behind them and forget