Nazi: Opposition And Dissent

Question 1

How did people express opposition and dissent - anti Nazi campaigns

Answer 1

• in the early 1930s, the KDP, SPD and trade unions printed pamphlets and other anti-Nazi literature.
  For example, in 1933 an SPD group published the newspaper Red Shock Troop about every ten days and built up a membership of around 3.000. But their leaders were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
• Other SPD and KPD groups sprang up, but by 1938, was clear it was easy to trace groups by their publications. After this, the KPD and other groups did much of their work by word of mouth and tended not to form organised groups.
• The SPD outside the country (SOPADE) then turned mostly to gathering information about public opinion in Germany to pass on to the Allies. Once Germany invaded the USSR in Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, communist groups revived.

Question 2

How did people express opposition and dissent - sabotage

Answer 2

• workers held lightning strikes for some hours, eg. In 1936 workers who built the autobahns held one.
• workers worked slowly, damaged machinery, and falsely reported in sick. All of these could have led to arrest if reported, but due to need for workers many of these actions were overlooked
• but when groups became too organised, Gestpo would take action and arrest the members.

Question 3

How did people express opposition and dissent - disobedience

Answer 3

• some young, middle-class, affluent kids didn’t join the Hitler youth. Instead they went to clubs to listen to things like jazz music, dressed in westernised clothing, and even set up their own bands.
• after 1940, such clubs were illegal, with the occasional arrest occurring (they were largely untouched though). But, these youths didn’t want to actively express anti-Nazi sentiment.

Question 4

How did people express opposition and dissent - church opposition

Answer 4

• Hitler himself was well-aware of religious power, but wanted German beliefs to be directly towards him. He did this first by setting up concordant with pope to leave Catholic Church alone if he didn’t interfere with German politics. Then set up Nazi-influenced ‘people’s church’ as branch of Protestant church.
• But, by 1933, the People’s Church had become less Christian and more Nazi, even displaying their banners and demanding removal of Old Testament due to it being ‘Jewish’. This caused a reaction and led to development of Confessing Church in 1934. Condemned people’s church for obeying the state, being anti-Semitic and many members were arrested.