SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION FOR NAZIS Flashcards
(18 cards)
1
Q
HITLER’S PERSONALITY
A
- Hitler and Goebbels’ rallies and speeches incredibly popular
- Did not participate in Weimar politics- could distance themselves from treaty and their mistakes
- Understood common issues; new politician that came from the people rather than hated elites
2
Q
EARLY PROPAGANDA
A
- Organised by Goebbels, enhanced on March 1933 with creation of Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
> coordinated all media, any opposing views concealed - mass meeting and rallies used nationally and locally
- trained visiting speakers did door to door campaigning
- radio broadcasts, posters, pamphlets
- Nazis ensured messages were simple and clear
- Support from Hugenberg after Anti-Young campaign aided them- media empire had 53 newspapers
- 1932- Hitler travelled by plane “The Fuhrer over Germany”- first ever campaign to do so
- debatable effect- received support from areas they did not pursue, and did not always succeed in campaigned areas
3
Q
SA
A
- Reorganised under Rohm in 1930
- offered food, shelter, uniform, and purpose to unguided, unemployed young men
- numbers increased to 500,000- distributed propaganda, protected Nazi speakers at meetings, assaulting opponents
- Despite violence, gave the Nazis an organized and well-disciplined view (until 1933)
4
Q
GROWING SUPPORT
A
- more successful in rural areas, Berlin and industrial areas were KPD and SPD safe seats
- More support in Protestant than Catholic areas (Centre Party dominated)
- More support in the North
- More support in middle class
- More successful among young people
- Trends indicated that Nazis appealed more to groups who did not have strong support for an existing party
5
Q
INDUSTRIALISTS
A
- Big business and industrialists were against Weimar- disliked power of trade unions and preferred authoritarian forms of government
- sympathetic to anti-parliamentary democracy system
- industrialists made contributions to political parties they agreed with
- Fritz Thyssen donated large sums to Nazis
- Contributions were less significant than those made by traditional elites
6
Q
WORKERS- support
A
- important to keep them appeased for autarky
- coordinated with Gleichschaltung (forcing into line)
- Despite the German Labour Front not allowing any bargaining in wages- its strength through joy and beauty of work policies were popular
- Workers worked harder and accepted lower wages
7
Q
WORKERS- opposition
A
- before 1933 German working class largest and most unionsed in Europe- largest unions linked to SPD and consistently opposed Nazis
- Trade unions absorbed into German Labour Front after 1933
- opposition:
> striking was dangerous but occured; 1936: strike at car factory for 17 minutes, 7 ringleaders arrested by gestapo and imprisoned
> 1937: 250 strikes recorded, mostly due to poor conditions or low wages
> absenteeism against long hours; this became so worrying that in 1938 severe penalties were introduced; 114 workers in Gleiwitz arrested
> deliberately damaging machinery- made criminal offence and prosecutions increased 1938-39
8
Q
YOUTH- support
A
- Generally easy to convince and highly supportive
- enjoyed Hitler Youth and German maidens until compulsory in 1939
- strict ideological education enforced support
9
Q
EARLY OPPOSITION
A
- 1930-33 limited, contemporaries did not see Nazis as potential threat; conservative elites thought they could be controlled and manipulated
- KPD and SPD both opposed- KPD main opponent especially in Berlin; Goebbels incited people to engage in violence with them
- SPD and KPD did not co-operate in their opposition; SPD-led coalition oppressed USPD/KPD agitation in early days of Weimar
10
Q
SUPPORT pre Nazi state
A
- 1932 election: 33%
- March 1933: 44%
- November 1933 Plebiscite: 88%
- enjoyed wide-spread support, not only due to arm tactics
- Poor economy, need for stability
11
Q
SUPPORT post Nazi state
A
- Very little active opposition
- life became depoliticised, no open and free debate; but generally it is agreed that citizens were accepting of the regime
12
Q
WOMEN
A
- stronger support for Nazis
> Women put on pedestal, many believed in traditional roles that Nazi ideology spread
-
13
Q
RELIGIOUS RESISTANCE
A
- Christian Churches only organisations allowed to maintain an alternative ideology- powerful organisation
- Churches made compromises, knowing the risks that opposition would have
14
Q
PROTESTANT CHURCH
A
- Efforts to coordinate Protestant Church into Volksgemeinschaft led to division within Protestant congregation
- Pastors’ Emergency League 1933, Confessional Church 1934- acts of resistance; led by Pastors who refused to accept being part of coordinated Reich Church
> resisted attempt to impose Aryan paragraph of 1933 (pastors dismissed due to Jewish background) - Confessional Church pastors spoke against Nazified Christ and refused to display Swastika flags
- Two Confessional Church Bishops arrested leading to mass demonstrations- met with more repression
- By 1937, 700 pastors had been imprisoned
- Regime failed to silence Confessional Church, but did not form full opposition to the regime
- Churches mainly remained silent
15
Q
NIEMÖLLER
A
- Protestant pastor- held strong nationalist and anti-semitic views
- initially welcomed Hitler’s appointment but began opposing the Aryan paragraph
- Arrested when he co-founded the confessional Church but released, then immediately sent to a concentration camp in 1937- treated as Hitler’s personal prisoner
16
Q
CATHOLIC CHURCH
A
- Stronger position, retained their independence
- More unity, centralised, and traditional independence from State
- Catholic leadership in both Rome and Germany typically remained neutral with concordat of 1933
- When concordat of 1933 came under attack Catholics began speaking out
- 1937- Pope issued the papal encyclical against the regime; smuggled into Germany and secretly printed and distributed
- Only time when Catholic Church openly fought against regime
- Charges against priests for abuse of the pulpit became common- some resistance, but after intimidation and harassment to priests continued they began acting with more caution
- Opposition was mainly for the Church to maintain their rights, not wider fight
17
Q
GALEN
A
- Archbishop of Munster
- Spoke out against atheist views of leading Nazi ideologists Rosenberg
- 1935- issued pamphlet refuting Rosenberg’s views, particularly concept of “racial soul”
- 19,000 Catholics showed up for annual July procession to show support
- Local Nazi Party officials complained, but he was too important to be arrested
- Helped to build Catholic resistance to the regime
18
Q
ELITES- opposition
A
- Many members of conservative, traditional elite had serious misgivings about Nazi Party
- Some aristocratic generals in army and senior civil servants saw Hitler as threat to Old Germany even after Night of Long Knives- significant since after the death of Hindenburg the only way to get rid of the regime would have been a military coup
- Regime consolidates its power by an alliance with the army, big business, and conservative politicians
- Conservative elites broadly shared Hitler’s aims for Germany even if they disproved of methods- tradition of serving the state meant there was little opposition
-Unease caused by lack of preparation for Germany into war; Blomberg and General Fritsch (commander-in-chief of army) expressed doubts; purged within 3 months in late 1937 - September 1938: Hitler ordered army to prepare plans for invasion of Czechoslovakia- if it had been launched Britain and France would support and cause war
> Led to General Beck and other senior army figures plotting to remove Hitler from power
>Envoy sent to Britain and France about the plans- but governments would not risk war and signed to a peaceful takeover of the Sudetenland area- another victory without bloodshed
