Opposition

Question 1

Army (soldiers)- 3

Answer 1

• Hitler knew his expansionist goals of acquiring lebensraum could only be achieved with the army on his side.
• The army had been angry at the rise of SA andd this was another reason why the Night of the Long Knives was necessary to appease the army elite.
• In august 1934, the oath of allegiance further diminished opposition
• As rearmament occurred and German expansion was undertaken , the army was happy to follow Hitler
• In 1938, Hitler removed War Minister General von Blomberg and army Commander in Chief General von Fritsch as they didn’t support his plans
• Hitler then removed another 16 generals and installed men that he believed were totally loyal to him.
• all possibility of army resistance was over

Question 2

Army Officers- 5

Answer 2

German officers attempt to assassinate Hitler. On 20 July 1944, during a meeting with Adolf Hitler, German officer Claus von Stauffenberg placed a bomb under the table as Germany was being led to disaster however failed.

Question 3

Church- 4

Answer 3

• Mostly willing to go along with the Nazi Regime
• Violations of the Concordat of 20th july 1933, and desire to unify churches into a pro-nazi church saw opposition such as the Confessing Church in 1934 formed by Martin Neimoller, sent to concentration camps for 8 years until the end of the war and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was hung in April 1945.
• Cardinal von Galen, spoke against Euthanasia policy in 1941. Known as the “Lion of Munster” for his Nazi criticism and was never arrested for his great popularity may have caused public backlash against the Nazis.

Question 4

Youth

Answer 4

• Little opposition from the youth as they mostly hitler’s most fanatical supporters.
  those that did were:
• Edelweiss pirates formed in 1939, organised activities and attacked Nazi officials and members of Hitler Youth. In 1944, members killed the Gestapo Chief in Cologne and 13 members were publicly hung.
• The swing kids formed in 1935, were apolitical and focused on music, jazz and swing, from the “degenerate” US.
• In August 1941, the SS clamped down and 300 were arrested and leaders sent to concentration camps.

Question 5

Political and Industrial

Answer 5

• In the November 1932 election, the KPD and SPD combined vote would have been 4% greater than the Nazis however they wouldn’t combine
• Unemployment during the depression weakened potential industrial action by workers
• Ban of trade unions on 2 May 1933 and establishment of GLF 8 days later ended worker power
• Gleichschaltung enabled by Reichstag fire decree 1933, ended left wing opposition
• KPD followed orders from the Comintern, which became an arm of Stalin’s foreign policy. Stalin did not believe Nazism would last and ordered the German communists (KPD) not to cooperate with the Social Democrat Party against the Nazis. This instruction plus the attack of SPD of January 1919 meant they would not be any cooperation. This diminished left resistance to Nazis.
• Communist opponents did engage in espionage against the Nazi Regime in the ‘Red Orchestra’ between 1938-1942 but this was compromised by the Nazi-Soviet non aggression pact signed in August 1939. Violated 22 Jun 1941 when Germany invaded Russia