3.4 Opposition, resistance and conformity Flashcards
Why was there so much conformity in Nazi Germany?
Propaganda and censorship - criticism banned and using media to spread pro-Nazi messages
Naz success - unemplyoment reduced, foreign policy sucess
What is the difference between opposition and resisitance?
Resistance - refusing to support something, speaking against it
Opposition - actively working against something to remove it
Why is is hard to know how much opposition there was in Nazi Germany?
Organised opposition e.g. trade unions was banned
Unofficial opposition was risky - reported to Gestapo and people would be punished
What was the PEL?
Pastors’ Emergency League
Opposed joining regional churches onto Reich Church
Nazis stopping Old Testament teaching and banning Jews becoming Christians
What was the confessing Church?
Set up by PEL
2 Protestant Churches: Reich Church (accepted Nazi interference) and CC
6,000/8,000 pastors joined CC
800 sent to conc. camps
How did the Catholic church oppose the Nazis?
400 Catholic priests sent to Priests’ Block at Dachau
Opposition muted among normal Chrsitians
Attendance to church services, defying Nazis
Public applause for Church leaders who opposed Nazis
How did Niemoller support Nazis?
Opposed Weimar - thought Germany needed strong leader
Voted for Nazis in 1924 and 33
Welcomed Hitler as Chancellor
Why did he oppose the Nazis eventually?
They interfered in running of Protestant Church
Founder of PEL (1933) and Confessing Church (1934)
Opposed banning Jews becoming Christians but not other restrictions on Jews in the 1930s
What happened to Niemoller from 1934?
Realised his phone had been bugged; Nazis were dictatorship, should be opposed
Spoke out against them, repeatedly arrested 1934-37
1937 - arrested and charged with treasonable statements
Put in solitary confinement in 1938 in a conc. camp
What did Niemoller do in 1939?
Asked if to be released to fight for Germany in WW2
Transferred to Dachau until end of the war when he was freed
Who were the Edelweiss Pirates?
Local groups had different names e.g. Travelling Dudes
Symbol = white edelweiss flower
Teens reseting military discipline of Hitler Youth and lack of freedom
Boys wore longer hair and copied American fashion
Hung around street corners - attacked/taunted Hitler Youth
Went on hikes in the country to ‘get away’ - sang songs, mocked Nazis
Who were the Swing Youth?
Rich teens, admired American culture esp. clothes/music
Played records illegally imported from US
Gathered, drinking, smoking to listen to swing in groups
Favourite dance - jitterbug
Organised illegal dances - up to 6,000 attending
Who were the Jazz Youth?
Like Swing Youth but for Jazz by black singers
Heinrich Himmler said they should be beaten and put to hard labour
Why was youth opposition limited?
Mainly cultural - concerned with clothes, music rather than politics
Wanted freedom
Limited numbers - Edelweiss Pirates = 2,000 by 1939
Hitler Youth = 8 million
Didn’t do much - anti-Nazi graffiti, anti-Nazi jokes
1939, start of WW2 - Edelweiss pirates began to physically attack government
