opposition and resistance 1939-45 Flashcards
growing scepticism
-propaganda and the Hitler myth became less effective
-Nazi party less popular
-small number of ppl opposed the regimes by hiding jews, listening to the BBC
-But majority were still loyal to Nazis
Edelweiss pirates
-rejected the militaristic culture of the HJ
-sang songs banned in HJ
-1944: Cologne group linked to underground group who helped escaped Pows etc
-they were sent to labour camps/ arrested
-Dec 1942: 28 groups broken up and nov 1944 leaders of cologne group hanged
swing kids/ mc youth
-Swing clubs in Hamburg, listened to jazz
-alternative culture to the regime
-not overtly political but their morals offended Nazis
who were the white rose group?
-youth group based in Munich
-Led by Sophie and Hans Scholl at Munich uni
-influenced by Von Galen and the importance of individual freedom and responsibility
-both Sophie and Hans were arrested by the Gestapo and executed
actions of the white rose group
-passive resistance against the regime, attacked treatment of jews and slavs
-1942-43: issued 6 pamphlets which were spread across ger
-Feb 1943: painted anti-Nazi slogans e.g. ‘Hitler mass murderer’ on buildings
catholic church
-individuals did protest e.g. 1940 Bishop Galen against T4
-3 priests executed
-Archbishop Frings of Cologne spoke out against killings of PoWs: placed under surveillance
protestant church
-confessional church of prussia openly protested the treatment of Jews
-1943 Bonhoeffer called for resistance to Jewish policies (but was banned from public speaking in 1940)
-Bonhoeffer was arrested 1943, killed 1945
communists
-Nazi-soviet pact undermined them as couldn’t explain it
-operation Barbarossa galvanised communist resistance
-89 underground cells e.g. berlin. Gestapo had destroyed 22 of them by 1943
-issued leaflets
-too closely linked to USSR for most Germans to support
elites
-Kreisau home of Count Helmut von Moltke, leading figure of group
-some had moral conviction that the regime was evil, others thought that Hitler was leading the country to ruin
-Kreisau circle had 3 meetings 1942-43
-broken up by Gestapo & von Moltke executed 1945
lead up to bomb plots
-general Beck, Goerdeler and Ulrich von Hassell involved in plot to overthrow Hitler
-originally aimed to arrest Hitler and have negotiated peace
-after Hitler’s refusal to retreat at Stalingrad, plan to assassinate him
first bomb plot
-march 1943
-bomb on Hitler’s plane but didn’t work
-plot not discovered, but the Kreisau circle being arrested showed that Gestapo was close to undercovering it
bomb plot
-1943 conspiracy joined by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg
-plans for a militray coup to take over Berlin after Hitler’s assassination
-Satuffenberg successfully planted a bomb in Hitler’s HQ in East Prussia July 1944
-exploded but Hitler escaped w/ minor injuries
result of bomb plot
-coup failed- confusion among conspirators
-Hitler announced that he was alive
-SS arrested 7000 ppl, executing 5746 inc Stauffenberg
-army lost independence, placed under SS control
