WARTIME OPPOSITION

Question 1

WHAT were ‘wild cliques’?

Answer 1

Often criminal gangs of working class young people who resisted the Nazi regime (e.g. the Edelweiss Pirates)

Question 2

WHAT were the Edelweiss Pirates?

Answer 2

Gangs of working class young people who rejected the disciplined and militaristic culture of the Hitler Youth, and often attacked the Hitler Youth before and during the war

Question 3

WHERE were the Edelweiss Pirates most prominent?

Answer 3

The Ruhr and Rhineland areas

Question 4

WHAT is an example of an Edelweiss Pirate group which actively resisted Nazism during the war?

Answer 4

The Cologne group in 1944 became affiliated with a group helping army deserters, escaped prisoners of war and concenration camp inmates

Question 5

HOW did the Nazis respond to the Edelweiss Pirates?

Answer 5

The Nazi response was increasingly harsh during the war, progressing from banishment to labour camps to public hangings in extreme cases

Question 6

WHAT was the Swing Youth?

Answer 6

Groups of middle class young people who organised clubs to listen to British and American swing and jazz

Question 7

HOW did the Nazis respond to the Swing Youth?

Answer 7

• They offended the moral precepts of the regime
• Himmler wanted to send the leaders to concentration camps

Question 8

WHEN was the White Rose active?

Answer 8

1942-43

Question 9

WHERE was the White Rose based?

Answer 9

Munich/Munich University

Question 10

WHO led the White Rose?

Answer 10

Hans and Sophie Scholl

Question 11

WHAT did the White Rose specifically resist against?

Answer 11

They specifically attacked the treatment of Jewish and Slav people in Eastern Europe

Question 12

WHAT did the White Rose do?

Answer 12

• Resisted the Nazis during the war, using Catholic influence
• Issued pamphlets and printed anti-Nazi slogans (e.g. ‘Hitler Mass Murderer’)

Question 13

WHAT was the target audience of the White Rose?

Answer 13

The educated middle class in Munich

Question 14

HOW did the Nazis respond to the White Rose?

Answer 14

Hans and Sophie Scholl were eventually caught by the Gestapo and executed in 1943

Question 15

WHAT were the limitations of youth resistance during the war?

Answer 15

• A lot of opposition can be attributed to rebelliousness
• Often failed to be specifically targeted (e.g. Edelweiss targeted the HJ, not the regime)
• Not enough wide-based support (e.g. White Rose limited to Munich)

Question 16

DID the Catholic Church institutionally oppose the Nazis during the war?

Answer 16

No. It supported Germany’s war aims in 1939 and the plan to invade the USSR in 1941

Question 17

WHO was Bishop Galen?

Answer 17

• Key opponent to Nazism during the war
• Spoke out against the ‘euthanasia’ programme, leading to its temporary halting

Question 18

DID the Protestant Church institutionally oppose the Nazi regime?

Answer 18

Not greatly. The only branch to publicly protest the treatment of the Jews was the Confessional Church of Prussia

Question 19

WHO was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

Answer 19

• An outspoken Protestant opponent to Nazism since 1933
• Banned from speaking in public in 1940
• Imprisoned in 1943 and executed 1945

Question 20

WHO are some examples of Catholic and Protestant opponents to the Nazi regime?

Answer 20

• Catholic: Bishop Galen
• Protestant: Bonhoeffer

Question 21

WHAT were the limitations of Church opposition during the war?

Answer 21

• Opposition was limited to individuals rather than the institutions as a whole
• The Nazi terror machine limited individuals’ opposition

Question 22

HOW did the communists resist Nazism during the wartime?

Answer 22

• Issued leaflets attacking the regime
• Used cells in key cities

Question 23

WHAT were the limitations of communist opposition during the war?

Answer 23

• Resistance was undermined 1939-41 after the 1939 Nazi-Soveit Pact
• They had no chance of gaining widespread support (threat from Gestapo and links with USSR)
• Less active resistance as they were just trying to survive

Question 24

WHAT was the Kreisau Circle?

Answer 24

• A group of elites who opposed Nazism 1942-43
• Focused on intellectual ideas and non-violent resistance

Question 25

WHO led the Kreisau Circle?

Answer 25

Count Helmut von Moltke

Question 26

WHEN was the Kreisau Circle active?

Answer 26

1942 - 1943

Question 27

WHO was Count Moltke?

Answer 27

Leader of the Kreisau Circle, executed in January 1945

Question 28

WHAT initial resistance plan did army opponents have during the war?

Answer 28

They initially planned to arrest Hitler and contact the British government to negotiate peace

Question 29

WHO was Stauffenberg?

Answer 29

A soldier with an aristocratic background, who was involved in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler

Question 30

WHEN was Operation Valkyrie?

Answer 30

July 1944

Question 31

WHAT was Operation Valkyrie?

Answer 31

Codename for the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler.

Question 32

WHAT was the plan for Operation Valkyrie?

Answer 32

• Plant a bomb in Hitler’s headquarters, and assassinate him
• Stage a military coup and create a provisional government to negotiate peace with the Allies

Question 33

WHAT were the consequences of Operation Valkyrie?

Answer 33

• Almost 5000 people were executed
• The army lost the last of its independence to the SS
• Beck committed suicide and Stauffenberg was executed

Question 34

HOW did the public react to Operation Valkyrie?

Answer 34

• There were reportedly widespread feelings of relief that it had failed
• The public supported the idea that they were traitors

Question 35

WHAT were the limitations of opposition from the army/elite during the war?

Answer 35

• Limited appeal (did not gain public support)
• Loss of independence after the July 1944 Plot
• No unity of purpose among those who resisted Nazism