Opposition to Nazism

Question 1

when was the july bomb plot?

Answer 1

20 July 1944

Question 2

what was the army’s opposition to the nazis?

Answer 2

• very limited
• some disillusioned officers joined groups
• July Plot

Question 3

what was the July Plot?

Answer 3

led Claus Von Stauffenburg, involving senior German military officials

Question 4

what was the impact of the july plot?

Answer 4

• Stauffenberg was shot the same day
• 5,000 people were executed in the crackdown on opposition that followed
• great German general Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was implicated and forced to commit suicide as punishment for his involvement.

Question 5

what was protestant’s opposition to the nazis?

Answer 5

• Neimoller Confessional church (‘we must obey god rather than man’)
• bonhoffer believed it was duty to help jews and was linked to assassination attempt
• didnt want to be nazified
• many protestant votes for nazis in 1932 and mar 1933

Question 6

what was catholic’s opposition to nazis?

Answer 6

• 1937 Pope ‘with burning anxiety’ (criticised hitler as a ‘mad prophet with repulsive arrogance’)
• archbishop galen of munster (protested against persecution of the chruch and euthanasia of mentally disabled)
• 400 priests imprisoned in dachau
• moral opposition to nazism

Question 7

what points could the catholics and nazis have agreed on?

Answer 7

• anti semitism
• contraception
• communism (which said religion was ‘the opium of the masses’)

Question 8

what was the kreisau circle?

Answer 8

~25 people, mostly men and a few women (wives) from a variety of backgrounds (noble descent, protestant, catholic, professionals, socialists, conservatives) with strong links to army (some current/former army generals)

Question 8

why did religious opposition to the nazis fail?

Question 9

who led the kreisau circle?

Answer 9

Moltke

Question 10

when was Moltke arrested?

Answer 10

January 1944

Question 11

how did the kreisau circle oppose hitler?

Answer 11

• on moral and religious grounds
• didn’t promote violent rebellion
• held secret meetings to discuss reorganisation of gvt after end of 3rd reich

Question 12

how did the kreisau circle end?

Answer 12

most members arrested after july plot

Question 13

what was the red orchestra?

Answer 13

~400 people connected through personal contacts and spread across germany, france, holland, switzerland who worked closely with french communist party and were united regardless of beleifs or faith

Question 14

what did the red orchestra do?

Answer 14

• turned germans against hitler
• secretly distributed anti-nazi leaflets
• brought news of regime’s crimes and nazi war plans to allies
• wrote letters to prominent figures (eg uni professors)
• collected photographs and documents to eventually bring perpetrators to justice, when nazis defated

Question 15

who were the Edelweiss Pirates?

Answer 15

a largely localised loose network of working class gangs (some wore recognisable badges)

Question 16

what did the edelweiss pirates do?

Answer 16

• held unauthorised meetings and engaged in street fights esp with hitler youth
• used symbols of outlawed german youth movement
• assisted deserters
• collected allied propaganda dropped from planes and put in letterboxes
• went on hiking and camping trips
• generally stayed apolitical and were neither pro-british, nor pro-american
• after allies took control of some parts of germany, they looted and assassinated gestapo members

Question 17

what happened on the 25th October, 1944, about the Edelweiss Pirates?

Answer 17

Himmler clamped down and 13 ppl (6 of which were active members) were publicly hanged

Question 18

when was the White Rose formed?

Answer 18

1943 by students of Munich university

Question 19

what did the White Rose do?

Answer 19

• wrote and distributed anti-nazi leaflets
• led protest marches
• many supporters
• non-violent, intellectual resistance
• links to other youth groups - ie students in ulm
• wrote graffiti (‘down with hitler’ ‘freedom’)

Question 20

who led the White Rose?

Answer 20

5 students and 1 professor (hans and sophie scholl)

Question 21

who were the Meuten?

Answer 21

anti-nazi gangs based in leipzig which aimed to destroy nazi control and had links to SPD and KPD underground
- working class and used socialist and communist ideology
- more politically driven than edelweiss pirates
- attacked by nazis

Question 22

how many members did the Meuten have?

Answer 22

over 1000

Question 23

who were the Swing Kids and Jazz Youth?

Answer 23

a youth movement started hamburg 1939 who had some contacts with white rose and some were working class but mostly middle to upper class students

Question 24

when did the Swing Kids and Jazz Youth begin?

Answer 24

1939, Hamburg

Question 25

what did the Swing Kids and Jazz Youth do?

Answer 25

• challenged hitler youth and nazi view of youth by growing hair, wearing fashionable clothes, drinking
• secret dance halls
• anglophiles - also admired ‘american way of life’
• started as self-indulgent
• mainly (originally) apolitical
• preference for speaking english

Question 26

how did the Nazis respond to the Swing Kids and Jazz Youth?

Answer 26

over 300 arrested and many sent to conc camps