chapter twenty four Flashcards
(14 cards)
as defeat loomed and the German people experienced severe hardships in the final years of the war there was a growing mood of dissilusionmenet with the regime and its propaganda , despite this
the majority of germans remained loyal and their main concern was survival - however a small number of individuals and groups openly opposed the nazis
some individuals for example
gave refuge to jews to help them escape deportation to the death camps
workers who took unauthorised absence from their jobs or did not work as hard as they were encouraged to do were expressing
dissatisfaction with the regime
in September 1939 after the regime cut wages and bonuses m increased hours and suspended paid holidays in return
abseentism increased and many workers refused to work overtime
the regime was so concerned about the subsequent loss of production the it withdrew
many of the measures in October 1939
opposition from young people
- edelweiss pirates
mostly working class youths ages 14-18
active in the Rhineland and Ruhr industrial areas
rejected the regimentation of the hitler youth and tried to avoid conscription
in 1944 the cologne group linked to an underground group that helped army deserters and escaped POW
obtained supplies by attacking army depots
many groups broken up by gestapo
13 leaders of cologne edelweiss pirates were publicly hanged in nov 1944 to make an example of them
opposition from young people
- swing youth
a form of youthful rebellion that involved unconventional clothes hairstyles and music ie listening to American jazz
swing clubs began in the 1930’s attracting middle and upper class young people in major cities including Hamburg , Berlin , stuggart and Frankfurt
not overtly political but their pleasure seeking lifestyle offended the moral code of the nazi regime
in 1941 police began mass arrests of swing club members : many were sent to concentration camps and repression led some swing youth to become more political in their opposition
opposition from young people
- white rose group
a student movement based in Munich
led by Hans and Sophie scholl and supported by professor Kurt huber
emphasised the importance of individual freedom and personal responsibility
attacked nazi treatment of jews and slavs
issued pamphlets in 1942-3 and painted anti nazi slogans on walls
six members executed in 1943
there was a long tradition among working class youths to form independent youth groups such as the wild cliques which the nazis never
successfully eridacted
among middle class young people resistance took the form of
unconventional behaviour and for some more active opposition
opposition from church men
the Roman Catholic Church compromised by its support for nazi policies such as the invasion of USSR
only individual churchmen raised opposition against nazis
bishop glen spoke out against the euthanasia programme in 1940 which led to a halt to the killings in august 1941
archbishop Frings spoke out against the killing of prisoners of war and against the persecution of the jews - placed under the surveillance of the gestapo
the protestant confessional church in Prussia protested publicly about the treatment of jews , Bonhoeffer leading figure of the church was arrested in 1943 and executed in 1945
communis opposition
the nazi soviet pact of 1939 had compromised communist resistance but the invasion of the ussr in 1941 revived com resistance
there were two main networks one involved in spying for the USSR the other a more independent group that collected info about nazi atrocities and distributed anti nazi propaganda
in 1941 the KPD had 89 secret cells in Berlin alone , cells were subject to gestapo infiltration and many were destroyed bu the end of 1943 , incl 22 com cells in Berlin
under gestapo pressure and with links to germanys enemy the KPD resistance had no prospect of attracting mass support
army and civilian critics
the Kreisau circle was a diverse group of aristocrats , united in personal belief of individual responsibility and personal freedom , the group had 3 meetings at the home of Count Helmut von Moltke in 1942-43 but was broken up by the gestapo
in the army there had been some plans to remove hitler at the time of the Sudetenland crisis in 1938 but the plot was never activated or discovered
in 1943 a group of senior army officers concluded after the disaster at Stalingrad that hitler had to be assassinated to pave the way for negotiated peace
an attempt to explode a bomb in hitlers aeroplane in march 1943 failed
July 1944 bomb placed in headquarters by von stauffenberg , bomb exploded but hitler survived , conspirators arrested tortured and executed . army put under SS control after this restricting further opposition
overview of the nazi state by 1945
unconditional surrendered of nazi Germany in may 1945 brought 12 years of nazi rule to an end
hitler had helped German pride which had been shattered after ww1 , giving people faith
he provided political stability , economic recovery and a fair standard of living
1945 few illiusons left the war brought death misery and physical destruction to the nation
germans had not felt impact of war severely before 1944 , but after the country was in a state of chaos and disarray people were demoralised
physical destruction
- towns lay in ruins , communications broken down as roads etc disappeared , industrial plants were blown up or idle
human cost
- 6.5 mil germans killed and many more unaccounted for
- final months millions of civilians had lost their lives , Half a million and more had perished in cities
by 1945 the nazi regime was something most germans wanted to behind them and forget
