Opposition to the Nazi Regime (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)
Revision Note
Did More People Support Than Oppose the Nazis? - Summary
From 1933 to 1945, the Nazi Party received a high level of support, and there was conformity from the German people. Control over the distribution of information enabled the Nazis to communicate their beliefs and ideas to society. The Nazi Party used the police forces as a tool to spread fear and censor opposition. Hitler placed Nazi judges in court trials to fix the outcome of legal cases. The Nazis sent many political opponents to concentration camps.
Resistance came from all areas of society, even from inside Hitler’s armed forces. The majority of the opposition was private. It was incredibly dangerous to openly oppose the Nazi regime.
Both the Catholic and Protestant churches had members who opposed Nazi attempts to control Christianity. The Nazis sent many pastors and priests to concentration camps for speaking out against the Nazi Party. A section of the German Protestant community set up the Confessing Church in opposition to Nazi interference in the Church.
While most of Germany’s young adults attended groups such as the Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens, some people hated the strictness and focus on military activities. The Swing Youth, Edelweiss Pirates and White Rose group demonstrated more physical, public and cultural resistance to the Nazi regime.
1943 marked a significant turning point. Germany was performing poorly in the Second World War. This increased opposition from more areas of society.
Was There Active Opposition to the Nazis?
Even before the Enabling Act removed political opposition, the Nazi Party were popular
Hitler won 36% of the votes in the second 1932 presidential election
The Nazi Party won 38% of the votes in the July 1932 election
There was a high level of conformity towards Hitler and the Nazi regime after 1933:
Four million people joined the Nazi Party from 1933 to 1939
Hitler’s policies reduced unemployment
Young people joined youth groups and embraced Nazi ideology
The Nazis rewarded women for getting married and having children
Propaganda created a cult of personality about Hitler
Censorship banned criticism and only promoted success
Hitler began breaking the Treaty of Versailles
Millions of soldiers joined the German Wehrmacht after 1935
The Saar coalfields were returned in 1935
There were still groups who opposed the Nazi regime:
Groups Who Opposed the Nazi Regime
Type of opposition | Description |
|---|---|
Trade unions | Hitler banned trade unions in 1933. Some trade unions operated illegally. They encouraged workers to stay off work sick or damage factory machinery. Some trade unions distributed leaflets that encouraged strikes |
Political groups | The Social Democrats campaigned against the Nazis from abroad. Some Communists and left-wing parties met in secret and spread pamphlets, anti-Nazi newspapers and jokes about Hitler |
The young | Youth groups formed in opposition to the Hitler Youth. The Swing Youth listened to jazz music, which Hitler had banned. The Edelweiss Pirates passively and violently resisted against the Hitler Youth. They went on camping trips and sang folk songs. The White Rose group published anti-Nazi leaflets |
Conservatives | Officers like General Ludwig Beck secretly communicated with the British. Businessmen and upper classes met in secret in opposition to the Nazis. An example of this was the Kreisau Circle |
The Church | After the Concordat failed, the Nazis targeted Catholic priests and shut down Catholic schools. The Reich Church was created to ‘Nazify’ the Protestant Church. Pastor Martin Niemöller created the Confessing Church against the Reich Church. Cardinal Galen led the Catholic opposition against the Nazi’s T-4 programme. Pope Pius XI denounced the Nazis as anti-Christian |
German citizens | Some German citizens undertook small acts of opposition against the Nazis. Telling anti-Nazi jokes was common, even with the risk of being reported to the Gestapo. Some people refused to do the straight-armed salute or say ‘Heil Hitler’ |
Why was Most Opposition Private?
Opposition During the Second World War
Most Germans publicly supported the Second World War because:
They believed that Germany was right to invade Poland in 1939
The Nazis controlled information about the war
The Nazis harshly punished any sign of dissent
After the failure of Operation Barbarossa, many Germans turned against the Nazi Party
Opposition Within the Army
Cause | Impact | |
|---|---|---|
Admiral Canaris | Hitler continually ignored military advice and invaded Poland in September 1939. Canaris feared a repeat of the failure of the Schlieffen Plan. He attempted to persuade key army officials to join in a coup against Hitler | Canaris delayed the planned coup due to the war's progress. He remained in the Abwehr until 1944 when he was arrested and executed |
July 1944 Plot (Operation Valkyrie) | By the summer of 1944, many army officials lost trust in Hitler’s leadership. They believed that killing Hitler would give Germany a better negotiating position. On 29th July, army officer Claus von Stauffenberg brought a briefcase containing a bomb into the key military headquarters of Wolf’s Lair, Rastenberg | Hitler only survived the assassination attempt because von Stauffenberg placed the briefcase behind the large wooden leg of the conference table. After the incident, Hitler ordered the execution of 4,900 Germans |
“The assassination must be attempted, at any cost. Even should that fail, the attempt to seize power in the capital must be undertaken. We must prove to the world and to the future generations that the men of the German resistance movement dared to take the decisive step and to hazard their lives upon it. Compared with this, nothing else matters.” |
A telegram sent to von Stauffenberg from Tresckow, a key plotter in Operation Valkyrie |
Youth Opposition
Type of opposition | Impact | |
|---|---|---|
Edelweiss Pirates | The main youth opposition group in Germany. Members of the group in Cologne killed the Gestapo chief in 1944 | In 1942, the German state arrested over 700 members. In response to the murder of the Gestapo chief, 12 members were publicly hanged |
White Rose group | Formed at Munich University in 1943. They publicly opposed the Nazi government through leaflets and marches | Its leaders, Hans and Sophie Scholl, were arrested and executed by guillotine in 1943 |
Worked Example
Why was there some opposition to Nazi rule?
6 marks
Partial answers:
There was some opposition to the Nazis because not all young people wanted to conform (1). Some of them found the Hitler Youth too regimented. As a result, young people created alternative youth groups. An example of this was the Swing Youth. They rebelled against the Nazis by listening to jazz music (1). This shows that there was opposition because the Nazis banned jazz music. This shows some opposition as young people created groups outside of what Hitler and the Nazis wanted. They actively disobeyed laws to gain more freedom (1).
Examiner Tip
In Paper One, ‘explain why’ questions are worth either six or ten marks. For full marks for this question, an examiner is looking for two fully explained reasons as to why there was some opposition to Nazi rule. Use the PEE structure in your answer:
P - Make a point about the question
E - Use evidence that supports the point that you have made
E - Explain why this evidence made people oppose the Nazis. Avoid repeating the point again. Explain how this factor forced a particular group of people to rebel against the Nazi Party’s control
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