Opposition to Hitler

• Popularity for the Nazis

  • Many Germans admired Hitler and liked what the Nazis were doing
  • For example, many teenagers enjoyed the adventures they had in the Hitler Youth; wealthy businessmen and factory owners were pleased to help the Nazis mass-produce weapons and equipment for war; employed people were motivated by the Strength through Joy movement and the work conditions improved by the German Labour Front
  • They supported the Nazis because of what they were achieving in Germany
• Resistance and opposition

  • However, not everyone supported what Hitler and the Nazis were doing
  • Some Germans were uncomfortable with the concentration camps and the dreaded Gestapo, while others were shocked at the treatment of Jews or the physically or mentally disabled
  • Others hated the restrictions and limits put on their lives
  • However, it was very difficult to actually show that you didn't support Hitler
  • You couldn't vote for someone else in an election because there were no elections, and you ran the risk of being arrested or punished if you publicly spoke out
  • In spite of this, a small number of Germans did find ways to show their unhappiness with the Nazi regime and oppose Hitler
• Moaning or 'grumbling' about the Nazis

  • The lowest type of opposition was moaning or grumbling
  • Often in the privacy of their own homes, people might tell an anti-Hitler joke or complain about the way their Jewish friends were being treated
• Passive resistance

  • Passive resistance was when Germans publicly showed they didn't support the Nazis, by refusing to do exactly as they were told
  • They refused to give the 'Heil Hitler' salute, or to give money to the Hitler Youth members who went from house to house collecting funds, for example
• Open opposition

  • Some Germans, like the Swing Youth, openly declared their dislike of Nazi ideas and policies by listening to jazz music and having Jewish friends
  • Other groups, like the White Rose group urged Germans to get rid of Hitler
  • They handed out anti-Nazi leaflets, put up posters and wrote graffiti on walls
  • Banned youth groups such as the Edelweiss Pirates and the Navajos beat up Nazi officials and helped army deserted
  • Others sabotaged railway lines and acted as spies, passing on military secrets to other countries
  • The leaders of Germany's two main religious faiths - the Protestant Church (40 million members) and the Catholic Church (20 million members) - made some criticism of the Nazis too
  • For example, the Catholic Church spoke out in 1941 against the killing of disabled people
• Attempts to kill Hitler

  • Hitler and the Nazis could not be voted out, so some felt that one of the only ways to get rid of them was to assassinate Hitler
  • In fact, there were around 50 attempts on Hitler's life, some by lone individuals, and others by organised groups
  • The Kreisau Circle, for example, consisted of army officers, university professors and aristocrats who were shocked by Hitler's plans for war and the brutality of the Nazi regime
  • They discussed assassinating Hitler and getting rid of the Nazis, but didn't actually do anything
  • The Beck-Goerdeler group even contacted the British about the possibility of removing Hitler, but nothing could be agreed
  • The group did, however, make attempts on Hitler's life in March and November 1943, and was behind the July Bomb Plot of 1944
• The July Bomb plot

  • The 1944 plot was the closes any Germans got to assassinating Hitler
  • The war was going very badly at this stage, and a disillusioned army officer, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, agreed to be part of a group that would detonate a bomb where Hitler was meeting other Nazi leading
  • Then, they hoped to take over, end the war, and change Germany for the better
  • Despite killing four men, burning Hitler's hair, bursting his eardrums and blowing some of his clothes off, the bomb failed to kill Hitler