The extent and effectiveness of opposition and non conformity

Question 1

What was support for the regime like in Germany ?

Answer 1

• There was a strong base of support for the regime.
• Widespread acceptance of the regime and most Germans believed that the Third Reich was preferable to the disorder of the final Weimar Republic years.

Question 2

How was support for the regime created ?

Answer 2

• Through propaganda and through Gleichschaltung, the regime was able to gain acceptance from the majority.

Question 3

How was the Nazi SS police system justified ?

Answer 3

• presented as an instrument to protect the majority against the corrupting influence of minorities.

Question 4

How much opposition was there to the regime ?

Answer 4

• On the whole, there was very little active opposition.
• However, various individuals and groups did, from time to time, try to resist Nazi attempt to ‘ coordinate’ them into the Volksgemeinschaft

Question 5

How was there political resistance to the regime ?

Answer 5

• The parties of the left ( SPD and KPD ) were expected to mount the stiffest resistance to Hitler and the Nazi takeover, expecting them to stage a general strike like in the Kapp Putsch

Question 6

Why was the left’s threat to the regime weak ?

Answer 6

• The left was bitterly divided , with the KPD attacking the SPD as ‘ social ‘ fascists ‘.

Question 7

How was the SPD a threat to the regime ?

Answer 7

• SPD adapted to the changed conditions in Germany.
• Organised in exile by Ernst Schumacher, the party established small, secret cells of supporters in factories.
• There were also some city - based groups such as the Berlin Red Patrol.
• Propoganda pamphlets were smuggled across the border from Czechoslovakia

Question 8

Was the SPD actually a threat to the regime ?

Answer 8

• The constant fear of exposure and arrest by the Gestapo limited the scope of their illegal activities and their threat.
• The priority of those involved was to survive and be prepared for a future collapse of the regime rather than to mount a serious challenge.

Question 9

How did the Nazi regime deal with the SPD ?

Answer 9

• When the regime had legal powers to establish a dictatorship, they began crushing the SPD
• By the endif 1933, thousands of SPD activists had been murdered or placed into ‘ preventive custody ‘ and the SPD leadership fled in exile.