Opposition to Hitler

Question 1

Opposition was weak under the Nazis

5 things

Answer 1

1. most people who disagreed were afraid of the gestapo or the SS.
2. they were afraid that their neighbours and friends would inform on them.
3. those who did voice their opposition were sent to concentration camps
4. opposition within the party was crushed in the Knight of the Long Knives.
5. Nazi propaganda persuaded most people that they were better off under Hitler

Question 2

Nazis overcame most resistance

5 things

Answer 2

1. they banned communist groups and sent communists to concentration camps
2. they had some oppostition from religious groups after the church land was confiscated
3. Jehovah’s witnesses were persecuted for not supporting the regime and were sent to concentration camps.
4. Some opponenets in the Reich church joined together in the confessing church but a lot of them were arrested- Martin Niemoller- the founder
5. the Pope Pius 6 sent out a letter against racismand nationalism which was read out in catholic curches. Catholic protesters had some success in reducing Nazi interference with the Churhc.

Question 3

Kreisau circle were against violence

3 things

Answer 3

1. It was an anti-nazi movement led by Helmuth von Moltke and Yorck von Wartenburg. made up of churchmen, scholars and politicians
   2,THye were against violence so didn’t actively fight agaisnt the Nazis but just discussed how they could make Germany better after the Nazis
2. In 1944 memeber including Moltke were arrested and executed.

Question 4

Resistance in the army grew during the war

5 things

Answer 4

1. by 1944 many German military officers were very unhappy with Hitler’s leadership and believed he was leading Germany to defeat.
2. there had been some plots against Hitlerbefore the war but after German defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad in 1942 they were more serious.
3. July 1944 Claus von Stauffenberg along with other German officers planned to kill Hitler, they wanted to install a moderate government
4. Stauffenberg planted a bomb in a briefcase and left it in a meting room by Hitler’s chair. However someone moved the briefcase and the bomb exploded and Hitler was unhurt.
5. most of the plotters were captured and executed.

Question 5

White Rose group

6 things

Answer 5

1. It was a small group of lectures ad students form Munich university led by Hans and Sophie Scholl
2. They protested against Nazi discrimination and minorities.
3. Some male members had served in the army and had been horrifies by the atrocities of the German army and the mass killings of Jews.
4. THey wrote anti-Nazi graffiti and distributed anzi-Nazi leaflets and posters/
5. in 1943 they did their first public anti-Nazi demonstration
6. many of the group were later arrested by the Gestapo and tortured and executed - including the Scholls

Question 6

The Edelweiss pirates

5 things

Answer 6

1. They were rebellious young people and formed during hte 1930s. Groups in different towns had different names- Navajos and the Roving Dudes
2. they rejected Nazi values and avoided joining the Hitler Youth. their slogan ‘Everlasting war on the Hitler Youth’
3. They were hard to control as they weren’t a single organisation with a clear leader.
4. at first they were ignored by Nazis as they had no real political agenda.
5. However in the 1940s they distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, and helped army deserter, forced labourers and escaped concentration camp prisoners.
   In 1944 several members in Cologne were publicly hanged and many were arrested.

Question 7

The Swing Kids rejected Nazi culture

4 things

Answer 7

1. They were groups who rebelled against Nazi tight control the Nazis had over culture including film and music.
2. they listened to American music-Jazz and swing, drank alcohol, went to bars and watched American films.
3. They wore bold fashionable clothes , the boys had long hair and the girls wore make-up
4. From the early 1940s the Nazis began to attack them , members were arrested and sometimes dent to concentration camps.