Opposition

Question 1

How were the SPD affected by the Nazis coming into power?

Answer 1

• Deputies defy SA/SS intimidation and voted against the Enabling Act.
• Crushed when dictatorial powers were allowed -> end of 1933, 1000s were murdered or placed into ‘preventative custody’.
• Adapted: Ernst Schumacher organised small secret cells of supporters in factories.
• Propoganda pamphlets smuggled from Czechoslovakia.
• Fear of exposure and arrest by Gestapo limited scope of illegal activities.
• Priority was to survive rather than challenge.

Question 2

How were the KPD affected by the Nazis coming into power?

Answer 2

• Devastated by repression, 1st party to be banned, after Reichstag fire.
• Leader, Ernst Thalmann, arrested at an early stage.
• 10% membership killed during 1933.
• Revolution unions set up in Berlin and Hamburg.
  -> Broken up by Gestapo.
• Not completely eradicated -> factory cells set up -> contact reduced to word of mouth to reduce discovery.
• Priority was to survive.

Question 3

How did workers try to resist?

Answer 3

• After 1933: union resistance quickly dissolved -> trade unions were absorbed into DAF (German Labour Front).
• Strikes still occured: 1937, total of 250 strikes recorded.
• Over 25,000 workers involved in strikes in 1935 -> 4000 spent short period in prison.
  -> strikes due to poor conditions and pay.
• Absenteeism used (less overt method).
  -> Harsh penalties introduced for ‘slackers’.
  -> E.g. 1938, Gestapo arrest 114 workers for slow working.

Question 4

How did the Protestant Church resist?

Answer 4

• Developed Confessional Church in 1934 which was led by pastors.
• During 1934 -> pastors spoke against ‘Nazified Christ’.
• Many churches refuse to display swastika flags.
• when 2 bishops were arrested, there were mass demonstrations showing support.
• Led to more repression: salaries were stopped -> end of 1937, over 700 pastors were imprisoned.
• Regime failed to totally suppress but there was no total opposition.
• Majority of Churches professed loyalty.

Question 5

What were the motives of the Protestant Church resisting?

Answer 5

• Protect independence from regime.
• Resist the ‘Aryan Paragraph’ -> this purged any pastor who converted from Judaism.
• Tried to defend orthodox Lutheran theology -> didn’t want to adopt Nazi ideologies.

Question 6

How did the Catholic Church try resisting?

Answer 6

• when privileges under concordat of 1933 were attacked, church was at odds with regime.
• 1937: Pope issued papal encyclical ‘with burning grief’ opposing pressure on Catholic Church.
• Repression increased: ‘abuse of the pulpit’ was a crime.
• Intimidation had desired effect -> local gov official report (1937) that clergy were showing ‘cautious restraint’.

Question 7

How did the youth try resisting?

Answer 7

• Membership of youth groups made compulsory in 1936 and growing regimentation resulted in disillusionemt among young people.
• Hitler Youth and League of German Girls limited free time: compulsory gymnastics and endless military drilling.
• Late 1930s: low attendance of weekly parades.
• Some formed overtly political resistance: e.g. Mouton gangs in Leipzig.
• Swing Youth, Edelweiss pirates are also other groups.

Question 8

How did the elites try resisting?

Answer 8

• Long tradition of being loyal to who was in charge -> required shift in thinking.
• Nov 1937: Hitler shows secret plan to invade Czechoslovakia.
  -> General Blomberg and Fritsch express doubts. Hitler removes them within 3 months and replaced with compliant generals.
• Believed Germany unprepared for war.
• Threat of war prompts General Beck and senior army figures to plot military coup on Hitler.
• GB and France alerted but not prepared for war -> agree to peaceful takeover of Czechoslovakia.
• Conspiracy to overthrow faded away.