Opposition and Resistance

• Music: 'hi there guys as we've seen over the last few videos the nazis did everything they could to try to control the thoughts and actions of the german people through propaganda and censorship through control of religious organizations and through the terror of the police state on the whole the germans did at the very least conform with the dallas's rules and ideals but it could be argued that there was significant support for the nazis in 1932 hitler had 36 percent of the vote in the presidential election and 38 of the votes in the july reichstag elections this proves that around 40 percent of the german people did support the nazis at the least in the beginning many germans continue to support the nazis throughout the 1930s partly because of the success of propaganda and censorship in controlling what the people learned about the nazis but also because of some of the nazi policies have been very successful the nazis for example appeared to have almost eradicated unemployment although as you will see in my forthcoming video on nazi policies this may not have been the case they'd also built up the army and won several foreign policy successes however not everyone in nazi germany was happy there were oppositions from various groups which weren't discovered were dealt with harshly one group that opposed the nazis were members of the army an example of this is general ludwig beck he was a senior member of the army and in 1938 tried to get the army to arrest hitler and sent a message to the british promising the german army wouldn't fight back if the british attacked he was unsuccessful in both these plots and later during the war attempted to assassinate hitler on two occasions another important group providing opposition were those who would once belong to the now banned trade unions these workers would try to undermine the nazis by calling in sick or working slowly on major projects but the effect of this was limited there was some political opposition especially from the former spd they produced an opposition newspaper called the red shock troop which sold around 3 000 copies however the organizers were arrested and sent to concentration camps the spd did continue to campaign against the nazis from abroad setting up the sop ade which shared information with foreign nations about the nazis there are lots of examples of individuals and small groups who opposed the nazis usually in small ways like producing leaflets or writing graffiti but some spied on behalf of the communists or the western powers there are two main groups of opposition that you need to know about in detail for your exam one is religious opposition which i talked about in my last video and the other is opposition from the youth of germany most of you will know that the nazis tried to control the actions and education of the young through the hitler youth for boys and the league of german maidens for girls in 1936 membership of these organizations became compulsory and most young people conformed to the expectations however a small number of german young people rebelled against the e'
• Membership of Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens became compulsory in 1936
• Most young people conformed to the expectations of Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens
• A small number of German young people rebelled against the expectations
• In 1936, membership of the Hitler Youth for boys and the League of German Maidens for girls became compulsory
• Most young people conformed to the expectations of the Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens
• A small number of German young people rebelled against the expectations of self-sacrifice and devotion to the Nazi state
• Key groups of opposition

  • Edelweiss Pirates
  • Swing Youth
• Edelweiss Pirates were mainly made up of working-class young people, mainly boys but also girls
• Edelweiss Pirates hated the military discipline of the Hitler Youth and the lack of freedom allowed by the Nazis
• Edelweiss Pirates grew their hair, wore American-style clothing, and girls adopted American-style dresses and white socks
• Edelweiss Pirates were not highly organized, with different areas having their own versions like the Traveling Dudes in Essen and the Navajos in Cologne
• Edelweiss Pirates engaged in activities like taunting or beating up Hitler Youth members, going on hikes, singing parodies of Hitler Youth songs, telling jokes mocking Hitler and the Nazis
• Swing Youth were mainly white middle-class teenagers who enjoyed American culture, fashion, and music
• Swing Youth played illegally imported music, enjoyed swing music like that of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, danced forbidden dances like the jitterbug, and smoked and drank against the rules for young people
• Some Swing Youth preferred jazz, popularized by black singers like Louis Armstrong, and called themselves Jazz Youth
• The opposition provided by these groups was limited to challenging rules for young people and rarely spoke out about wider issues
• Membership of the Edelweiss Pirates was around 2,000, while the Hitler Youth had around 8 million members in 1938
• The youth groups began to make physical attacks against the Nazis only with the outbreak of World War II
• These groups were never a significant threat to the Nazis due to their small numbers and focus on challenging culture rather than politics