RESISTANCE

Question 1

WHAT did the SPD do as opposition to the Nazis after 1933?

Answer 1

• Campaigned openly for the March 1933 election (and suffered violence from the SA)
• Voted against the Enabling Act
• Many were either murdered, put in concentration camps or had fled by the end of 1933
• Had a HQ in Prague and distributed propaganda leaflets.

Question 2

WHAT was the extent of SPD resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 2

SPD resistance was too disjointed and small, and their main priority was to survive, preparing for a future collapse of the Nazi regime, rather than any active resistance.

Question 3

WHAT percentage of KPD membership had been murdered by the Nazis in 1933?

Answer 3

10%

Question 4

WHAT did the KPD do as opposition to the Nazi regime after 1933?

Answer 4

• Their leader was arrested and their party was banned
• They established an underground network in some industrial areas
• Set up revolutionary unions to recruit (e.g. in Berlin and Hamburg)
• Published newspapers

Question 5

WHAT was the extent of KPD resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 5

Weak. They relied on word of mouth and many networks were broken up by the Gestapo.

Question 6

Overall, HOW great was resistance from the left wing and WHY?

Answer 6

Very weak because the Left was deeply divided (KPD and SPD hated each other) and resistance remained small. Even the Nazis thought they would do more to resist.

Question 7

HOW MANY strikes were there in 1937?

Answer 7

250 in total, with approximately a quarter of those involved spending time in prison as a result.

Question 8

WHAT did workers do as resistance to the Nazi regime?

Answer 8

• Absenteeism: not turning up to work, often as opposition to the longer working hours
• Deliberately damaging machinery

Question 9

WHAT was the extent of resistance from workers against the Nazis?

Answer 9

They tended to oppose smaller issues like poor working conditions and low wages, rather than the regime as a whole. The Nazis also put in place laws against worker resistance.

Question 10

WHAT laws did the Nazis put in place against worker resistance?

Answer 10

• 1938: the Nazis introduced labour laws to punish ‘slackers’
• The Nazis made ‘sabotage’ a criminal offence

Question 11

WHY did the Nazis view the Church as a threat to the regime?

Answer 11

The Church had alternative ideology and some organisational authority (when no other organisation did anymore). People also had AT LEAST equal respect/obligation to the Church as to the Nazi party.

Question 12

WHEN was the Pastors’ Emergency League / Confessional Church established?

Answer 12

1933 (PEL)
1934 (CC)

Question 13

WHAT was the Confessional Church?

Answer 13

A Protestant organisation which refused to be part of the coordinated Reich Church.

Question 14

WHAT were the Confessional Church’s aims?

Answer 14

• To remain independent of the Nazi regime
• To resist attempts to impose the Aryan paragraph (which stated that those not of Aryan birth had to be dismissed from their jobs)
• To defend orthodox Lutheran ideology, based purely on the Bible

Question 15

HOW MANY pastors were in the Confessional Church compared to the Reich Church?

Answer 15

6,000 in the Confessional Church, and only 2,000 in the Reich Church

Question 16

WHAT did the Confessional Church do to resist the Nazis?

Answer 16

• Pastors spoke out against the ‘Nazified Christ’
• Refused to display swastikas
• Held mass demonstrations against the arrest of bishops

Question 17

WHAT was the extent of Protestant resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 17

• Not unified (e.g. not all part of the Confessional Church)
• More inward-looking: a struggle against the Reich Church, rather than the Nazis
• The Church as an organisation stayed quiet, with only individuals actively resisting.

Question 18

WHEN was ‘With Burning Grief’ issued?

Answer 18

1937

Question 19

WHAT was ‘With Burning Grief’?

Answer 19

An encyclical issued by Pope Pius XI, which spoke against Nazi hatred of the Church

Question 20

WHAT did the Catholic Church do to resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 20

• Led public demonstrations against the arrests of priests
• Some priests spoke out against the Nazis at the pulpit

Question 21

WHAT was the extent of Catholic resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 21

Catholic resistance was partial, spasmodic and ineffective. Many older Catholics were torn between their faith and their wish to be seen as ‘good Germans,’ and organisational acts of resistance were focused on narrow defences of their independence.

Question 22

WHY were some young people feeling disillusioned by the Nazi regime by the mid-1930s?

Answer 22

The growing regimentation and compulsory membership of Nazi youth groups took away a lot of the excitement young people had previously felt about them.

Question 23

WHAT did young people do to resist the Nazis (1930s)?

Answer 23

• Many dropped out of Nazi youth groups
• Some hummed banned tunes
• Some formed cliques or gangs, which sometimes had overtly political beliefs (but not always).

Question 24

WHAT was the extent of youth resistance to the Nazis?

Answer 24

The majority of it was non-conformity and attempts of independence from the Nazi regime, rather than active resistance. Some would also argue that youth rebellion against authority was natural for teenagers, and not specific to the Nazi regime.

Question 25

WHAT prevented widespread opposition from the elites against the Nazi regime?

Answer 25

• The army, big business and conservative politicians had all made deals with Hitler, compromising them
• Active opposition would involve major intellectual changes to the elites who had a strong tradition of serving the state.

Question 26

WHAT did the elites do to resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 26

• Some expressed doubt over the invasion of Czechoslovakia, but were purged from the army due to this
• Beck and other senior army figures developed plans for a military coup, but it fell through due to lack of support from Britain and France

Question 27

WHAT was the extent of reistance from elites to the Nazis?

Answer 27

In the critical years, there was little resistance due to overlapping aims between the elites and the Nazis. Later, opposition increased but the Allies failed them and they were too late to make an impact.

Question 28

In total, HOW MANY assassination attempts were made against Hitler?

Answer 28

9

Question 29

WHAT was SOPADE?

Answer 29

The SPD in exile