Nazi Opposition, Repression & Censorship Flashcards
AR: Active Resistance, P: Protest, NC: Non-conformity, R: Repression, C: Censorship, L: Legality. (41 cards)
What is active resistance?
Acts that were intended to overthrow the regime.
Examples include the White Rose Group and unsuccessful assassination attempts on Hitler.
What was the White Rose Group, and what was the Nazis’ response to them? - AR
The White Rose Groups were a small group of Munich University students who actively opposed the Nazis by publishing anti-Nazi leaflets, putting up posters and painting graffiti on walls informing people of the bad treatment of Jewish people in the concentration camps.
Nazi response: The sibling leaders of the group, Hans and Sophie Scholl, were found and executed, leading to the end of the White Rose Group’s resistance.
What was the Stauffenberg bomb plot? - AR
An assassination attempt on Hitler initiated by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in June 1944.
The bomb detonated but Hitler survived.
What was the Kreisau Circle? - AR
A group that planned the future of Germany post-Nazism and supplied information to the Allies.
Members included Catholic and Protestant priests and elites like Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a lawyer who leaked details about Nazi death camps to Allies.
What is the difference between active resistance and protest?
Active resistance aims to overthrow the regime, while protest seeks to alter specific Nazi policies.
Protests were not aimed at ending Nazism or replacing Hitler.
What victory did the Catholic Church achieve in 1935? - P
The reversal of the government’s decision to ban crucifixes from classrooms.
- This was a significant success for Catholic protests.
Which figure protested against the Nazis’ T4 programme? - P
Bishop Galen protested - he argued that all life is sacred and that it was murder.
His attacks on the Nazis were secretly published and as a result of Hitler not wanting to lose the support of the German Catholics, he announced the suspension of the programme, but in reality it continued with greater secrecy.
What type of strikes did communists initiate all over Germany between 1933-35? - P
Wildcat strikes - there were 400 illegal strikes which remained focused on improving pay and conditions, rather than broader political goals.
What did communist workers continue to print after its ban in 1935? - P
Anti-Nazi literature, using material printed abroad and smuggled into the country.
What is non-conformity in the context of Nazi Germany?
Acts that diverged from Nazi standards, such as telling anti-Nazi jokes or refusing the Nazi salute.
Non-conformity was widespread and considered political defiance.
What was the role of the Edelweiss Pirates? - NC
They rejected the militarism of official youth culture and helped deserters.
They included both young men and women who rejected gender segregation of Nazi youth groups and sang pre-1933 folk songs.
Who were the Swing Youth and how did they reject Nazi policy? - NC
The Swing Youth declared their dislike of Nazi ideas and policies by listening to jazz music which they had initially outlawed in 1939 and banned from radios in 1935.
The Nazis rejected jazz music as degenerate having originated from African American roots that they did not support under their racism ideas.
What did ‘Machtergreifung’ stand for? - R
The ‘seizure of power’ referring to methods the Nazis used against their opponents.
It included various forms of repression and control.
How did the Reichstag Fire Decree (1933) result in a loss of legal protection? - R
It suspended individual rights and allowed imprisonment without trial.
The government was given power to put people in prison without charging them with a specific crime, to confiscate property and to intercept post and phone calls.
Hitler’s government was given the right to enforce law and order in German states.
What could the SS and SA do as a result of the Reichstag Fire Decree? - R
Beat or kill whoever they chose
How did Goebbels’ propaganda justify the Reichstag Fire Decree? - R
By arguing that the Communist plot was extremely serious and could lead to all kinds of terrorist activities and that the Communists were planning a revolution and therefore the Decree was necessary to ensure survival of the German state.
He also argued that these measures were only temp.
Following the Reichstag Fire Decree, how many KPD members were arrested? - R
10,000
- Short-term: Around 1/2 of the prisoners were released a month later.
How did the Reichstag Fire Decree begin to remove political opposition from the Nazis? - R
- Communist party wasn’t banned until later in the year but terror tactics meant the party was driven underground by early March.
- SPD funds and assets were seized in May which meant that the SPD could no longer campaign or organise effectively.
What was the Night of Long Knives? - R
A purge of SA leaders and others seen as threats to Hitler’s power in 1934.
It resulted in the deaths of 74 people, including Ernst Röhm and the decline of the SA.
What caused the Night of Long Knives? - R
Röhm’s criticism of Hitler’s willingness to compromise with the traditional aristocracy - the SA was more representative of the working class section of the Nazi Party.
Röhm’s goal to replace the traditional aristocracy with a new elite made up of people who had served the front line in WW1. He wanted a second revolution and a “people’s army”.
Hindenburg’s death meant that the army lost its powerful ally that defended them from radicals in the Nazi movement. So, the army began discussing a new government with von Papen which would end Hitler’s power and Röhm’s vision of a second revolution.
Himmler’s rivalry with Röhm - he wanted to grow the SS into becoming the most important organisation in Germany.
Rumours of von Papen’s new government forced Hitler to act on the tensions surrounding Röhm which led to Hitler making a deal with the army in return for their support after Hindenburg’s death.
What was the impact of the Night of Long Knives on the SA? - R
The SA’s membership declined from 1.6 million to 1.2 million by 1938.
It led to a significant reduction in their power.
What was the secret police’s focus from 1933 to 1936? - R
Dealing largely with political opposition.
Their focus shifted to enforcing conformity from 1936 to 1939.
What was the role of the Gestapo during wartime? - R
Involved in the Final Solution and targeted behaviours undermining the war effort.
They relied heavily on public denunciations which took up 90% of their surveillance.
What was the impact of the Special War Penal Code? - R
Allowed execution of anyone obstructing the war effort.
This increased the repression of non-conformity during the war.
