The Nazi Dictatorship-Resistance of Groups

Question 1

How did the SPD resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 1

• Continued to campaign for election in March 1933
• Once Nazis gained Enabling Act in Reichstag crushed SPD and by end of 1933 thousands of SPD activists had been murdered
• Ernst Schumacher organised secret cells of supporters in factories where propaganda were smuggled across the border from Czechoslovakia

Question 2

How did the KPD resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 2

• KPD destroyed by wave of repression upon communists in Germany after Hitler came to power and about 10% of membership killed by Nazis during 1933
• KPD established underground network in some German industrial centres; however all these networks were broken up by the Gestapo
• Factor cells established and contact between members confined to word of mouth however party focused on survival and no serious challenge to regime possible

Question 3

How did workers resist the regime?

Answer 3

• 37 strikes reported in Rhineland-Westphalia, Silesia and Wurttemberg
• In whole of 1937, a total of 250 strikes were recorded and most were reactions to poor working conditions or low wages
• Increased strike activity in 1935-36 at widespread discontent over food prices
• Of 25,000 workers who participated in strikes in 1935, 4000 spent short periods in prison
• Absenteeism often a reaction against pressure of longer work hours, and regime so concerned about level of absenteeism in 1938 that new labour regulations were- severe penalties for ‘slackers e.g. in 1938 Gestapo arrested 114 workers at munitions plant in Gleiwitz for absenteeism and slow working

Question 4

How did the Protestant Churches resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 4

• Establishments of the Pastors’ Emergency League in 1933 and its development into the Confessional Church in 1934
• Trying to defend orthodox Lutheran Theology and resisting attempt to impose Aryan paragraph on Church ‘those not of Aryan birth dismissed from their jobs’
• Many churches refused to display swastika flags
• When two Confessional Church bishops arrested, mass demonstrations in their support; Nazi regime responded with increased repression and dissenting pastors had salaries stopped, banned from teaching in schools and over 700 arrested by 1937
• Majority of members professed loyalty to Hitler and Third Reich; churches as whole stayed silent for example no official condemnation of atrocities

Question 5

How did the Roman Catholic Church resist the Nazi Regime?

Answer 5

• In 1937, pope issued papal encyclical ‘With Burning Grief’ ; which condemned Nazi hatred upon the Church; as Nazis started attacking privileges granted in the concordat of 1933
• Document read out almost everywhere in Germany in March 1937
• Arrest of one priest led to noisy public demonstrations at his trial
• However clergy beginning to show ‘cautious restraint’ as church as a whole did not oppose the regime although individuals did e.g. Clemens von Galen, spoke out about atheistic views of Nazi ideologists and 19,000 Catholics showed support for Archbishop

Question 6

How did young people resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 6

• In late 1930s, many young people opted out of BDM and Hitler Youth my not attending or allowing memberships to lapse
• Some young people formed cliques or gangs to show independence e.g. Meuten gangs which flourished in communists strongholds in Leipzig in the late 1930s

Question 7

How did the elites resist the Nazi regime?

Answer 7

• General Blomberg and Commander-in-chief General Fritsch expressed their doubts to Hitler about invading Czechoslovakia and uniting with Austria and within three months, were both purged from the army leadership
• This imminent threat of war promoted General Beck to send an envoy to inform British and French governments however Britain and French agreed to peaceful German takeover of Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and Hitler achieved another victory

Question 8

What was the extent and effectiveness of this opposition?

Answer 8

• Opposition to the Nazi regime was fragmented and hampered by the fact that everyone was too afraid to speak up due to the fact that even a moan about the shortage of essential foodstuffs could lead to arrest and criminal charges
• There was also belief Nazi regime should be credited with having restored order, prosperity and national pride, and ridding Germany of its internal enemies; as seen by the Elite’s and agreeing with Hitler’s aims of rebuilding military strength in the East