2C.+Nature,+extent+and+treatment+of+opposition

Hitler single party state (1933-45) 2C - Nature, Extent and Treatment of Opposition

A list of some of the best documented assassination attempts on Hitler, which can be used to show the extent of the opposition to Hitler students || Assassination || Nothing. No opportunity || - || at victory parade || Parade called off || - ||
 * Date || Who || Plan || What happened? || Result ||
 * 1935-6 || Jewish
 * 9 Nov 1938 || Student Maurice Bavaud || Shoot Hitler at annual Munich parade || Couldn't get shot in || Executed (1941) ||
 * 9 Nov 1939 || Socialist Cabinet-maker Georg Elser || Plant bomb in beer-hall where Hitler was speaking || Hitler left early because of fog. Bomb went off and killed four people || Arrested and executed (1945) ||
 * June 1940 || Police Chief Friedrich von Schulenburg || Assassination
 * Feb 1943 || Army Command at Kharkov || Kill Hitler when he visited || Hitler changed his plans || - ||
 * March 1943 || Major-General Henning von Tresckow and Lieutenant Fabian von Schlabrendorff || Place bomb on Hitler's plane || Fuse worked, but bomb did not ignite as it was too cold || - ||
 * March 1943 || Colonel Rudolff von Gersdorff || Keep next to Hitler at an exhibition with a bomb || Hitler unexpectedly late || - ||
 * Dec 1943 || Major Axel von dem Bussche || Blow himself and Hitler up at a uniform exhibition || Building bombed by RAF so the visit was cancelled || - ||
 * July 1944 || Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg || Three bomb attempts || Briefcase, which exploded on the third attempt, had been moved further away from Hitler. He was shaken but not among the four killed || Over 5,000 people executed ||

(Weimar and Nazi Germany book, page 320)
Because Germany was a police state during this time period it was hard for opposition groups to form

The Nazi Police State:


A good way to summarize the Nazi Police State, as one website put it, is " The Nazi Police State was to ensure that everybody did as they were told - or paid the price. " Which, in essence, was it's main goal. The March 1933 elections showed that although a lot of Germans supported Hitler, there was still a substantial group of German citizens against him. " These people were likely to be a constant thorn for Hitler unless they were dealt with. For these people, the Nazis developed a policy of intimidation. Fear became a by-word for those who did not support Hitler. The wrong comment overheard by a Nazi official could have very serious consequences. "

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fileadmin/historyLearningSite/nazi_p1.gif

" As nearly 17 million people had not voted for either the Nazis or the Nationalist in March 1933, a large and visible police force was required to keep this sizeable group under observation and control. "

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/nazi_police_state.htm

Groups providing some opposition to the Nazi regime:

 * Judiciary: **

Despite an arbitrary system there were some judges which tried to keep the proper standards of justice. There was a growing intervention of the SS and the special courts.


 * The workers: **

Even though the magnitude German workers was large, their lacked in organizational strength, which caused them not to be a major opposition to the Nazi regime. Also a lot of the workers had good reasons to support the new dynamic government. There were strikes, but no other organizations that could have been used for opposition. Many workers also kept their links to illegal political parties.

**The Churches:**

Amongst Protestants, the Confessional Church fairly successfully resisted nazification, but it was more concerned to defend the Church than to weaken the regime. The Catholic hierarchy initially co-operated, but mass opposition of the laity to goverment interference modified government attack on the Catholic Church. Cathlic clergy criticised sterilisation, then euthanasia. Overall the Churches concentrated on protecting their own positions, and as institutions did not pose a threat to the Nazi regime, but remained an obstacle to a fully totalitarian state. Some individual pastors and priest resisted, and were killed or imprisoned as a result.

**Youth** Members of the White Rose, Munich 1942. From left: Hans Scholl, his sister Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst.

Various alternative and opposition youth groups developed, including Swing Youth, and the Edelweiss Pirates. There were some organised university groups, like the White Rose group in Munich from 1941 to 1943 with an objective "//to strive for the renewal of the mortally wounded German spirit.//" The White Rose was inspired by the sermons of Bishop Galen, with its members secretly distributing leaflets on such topics as "//Is not every decent German today ashamed of his government?//" and //"Germany's name will remain disgraced forever unless German youth finally rises up immediately, takes revenge, and atones, smashes its torturers, and build a new, spiritual Europe.//" The printed details about euthanasia programmes and the atrocities on the Eastern Front. They were arrested and their leaders, the brother and sister Hans and Sophie School, were executed.

**The Army**



Aristocratic officers generally remained suspicious of Hitler and Nazism. The initially co-operated, but later relations broke down as concern grew that Hitler was too radical in foreign policy. General Beck's plan to arrest Hitler in 1938 was ruined by Hitler's success at the Munich conference. Several officers were subsequently involved in failed assassination attempts, most notably in the July 1944 Bomb Plot. There was also considerable opposition activity in the Abwehr, the German military intelligence organisation. From 1935 it was headed by Admiral Canaris who tolerated resistance activities and helped Jews leave during the war. - The Abweht was absorbed into the SS in 1944 during a clampdown on opposition.

**Government and the Civil Service**

Initially, there were some critics withing the government: for example in June 1934 Papen pleaded in a speech for greater freedom and in August 1935 Schacht deplored anti-semitic violence. Some government officials planned an alternative government and maintained contacts with other opponents.


 * Opposition parties: **

In July 1933 all political parties were banned, except for the ruling Nazi party, their party leaders were arrested, but the left-wing parties continued some illegal activities.

"Groups providing some opposition to the Nazi regime" section from //(__Weimar and Nazi Germany book, page 323__)//

When Hitler came to power, anyone who opposed him or any of his policies were treated with terror. Some faced intimidation and threats from the Gestapo, others were imprisoned, or (in the worse case) executed. Even-though opposition was treated very harslhy there were some people and different kinds of groups who openly opposed Hitler and his policies. Some of these oppositions are explained above, although there were many more people and opposition groups who opposed Hitler, some of them include:


 * A group known as the the "White Rose Group", this group was formed by students from the Munich University and they published anti-Nazi leaflets, but in 1943 they were discovered and executed.
 * a paramilitary section of the Social Democratic Party, known as the Reichsbanner acted as spies and sabotaged railway lines.
 * During the Second World War "swing" groups were formed. These groups consisted of young people, they rejected Nazi values and ideology, drank alcohol, and danced to jazz. There were also more violent forms of the group, they were called the "Edelweiss Pirates". They sheltered deserters and beat up Nazi officials. Yet another part of this group known as the Cologne Pirates (who were the Edelweiss pirates based in cologne) killed the Gestapo chief in 1944, in retaliation the Nazis publicly hanged 12 of their members.
 * In 1944 an assassination attempt was planned to take Hitlers life by a group of intellectuals and and army officers called the "Kreisau Circle". The bomb was was planted by Colonel Stauffenberg, the bomb exploded but did not kill Hitler in the blast. After the failed assassination attempt Hitler ordered the execution of 5,000 people. (There is a movie based upon this plot to assassinate Hitler, its called "Valkyrie").

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Why Hitler was Feared - Persecution of Political Enemies
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