Analysis of how the Nazi's dealt with opposition.

Many passive forms of opposition during the Nazi regime were taken very seriously and people who committed these acts were often sent to concentration camps or tracked down by the Gestapo. For this reason, passive forms of opposition were not very effective when it came to resistance towards the Nazis ad Hitler's regime.

Opposition was varied and existed throughout the entire period of Nazi control from 1933-1945 with limited degrees of success, just because people were being oppressed and placed in concentration camps didn't mean that there were no forms of active opposition during this period.

Opposition came from church groups and organisation who were morally/religiously opposed to the Nazis and even youth groups the most famous being perhaps the 'White Rose' group from Munich.

Individuals like Georg Elser also opposed the Nazis, and came up with their own individual plans in which they would stop Hitler, which all failed.

A good example of passive resistance is GUNS (Guernsey Underground News Service).

The 1944 July Bomb Plot

As part of the plan, Colonel Stauffenberg would travel to Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia, where he would place a briefcase containing two bombs under Hitler’s briefing table. Once Hitler died in the explosion, the military would claim the assassination had been part of an attempted coup by the Nazi Party and would then implement Operation Valkyrie. The Reserve Army would seize key installations in Berlin and arrest high-ranking Nazi officials, including Goebbels, while disarming loyal SS units. Meanwhile, upon receipt of the Valkyrie orders, Stülpnagel would consolidate army power in France as well. In the confusion of Hitler’s death, Göring, Himmler, and other major Nazi leaders would be arrested, and a new government established with Goerdeler as Chancellor and Beck as president. This government would then be positioned to negotiate an armistice to end the war with more generous terms for Germany.
(https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-july-20-1944-plot-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler)

On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg placed one of two bombs in a briefcase under the table in Hitler’s briefing room in the Wolf’s Lair. He was unable to arm the second bomb in time. After Stauffenberg left the room, the briefcase was coincidentally moved under the heavy support of the table leg. It detonated, but failed to kill Hitler. This was not, however, immediately known to the conspirators. An ally at Hitler’s headquarters cut off all communication as Stauffenberg returned to Berlin to coordinate the implementation of Valkyrie. At first, the plan seemed to go smoothly as the Reserve Army began taking action, but delays, confusion, and poor communication robbed the coup of its initiative. Eventually, the fact of Hitler’s survival was broadcast, and the plot rapidly unraveled. (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-july-20-1944-plot-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler)

George Elser and his Bomb Plot

In 1939, Hitler was giving a speech in Munich to commemorate the early struggles of the Nazi Party. Elser had come up with a plan, completely alone, to assassinate Hitler during his speech. Elser had disguised 2 bombs as clocks and placed them inside a marble pillar next to the podium where Hitler was giving his speech. He insulated the bombs using cork to disguise the clicking of the timer on the bombs and used 2 bombs incase one of them failed.

However, Hitler cut his speech short by 13 minutes as he was in a rush to return to Berlin. Elser could do nothing to change the timer set on the bombs, so left the building shortly after. The bomb did explode, killing 8 people but not Hitler.

Perhaps the most near successful attempt of opposition was the July 1944 bomb plot led by a German army colonel know as Claus von Stauffenberg. It was nearly successful but ultimately failed and Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were all executed (as well as some 5000 other people 'connected' to the plot.

Elser was later caught, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo into trying to give out names of his accomplices, but Elser was adamant that he acted alone. He was then sent to various concentration camps and survived up until around 2 weeks before the war was lost by Germany; Hitler ordered all 'special' prisoners in the camps to be killed which included Elser.

Religious Threats

Religion was a large threat to the Nazis earlier on in their regime, the Catholic Church disagreed with the Nazi ideologies and because many people in Germany were very religious, the Church was seen as a major threat to the regime.

Because of this, the Nazis made the Vatican sign the July 1933 Concordat, meaning that the Vatican promised no resistance from the Church. This was significant due to the popularity that the church had and it was really the only other source of different political ideologies at this point due to all other political parties and trade unions being suppressed.

The German Evangelical Church was the largest Protestant church in Germany, and due to being mostly pro-Nazi, were allowed to continue to coexist alongside the Nazi Party.

Opposition from Youths

The White Rose was an opposition group created at Munich University during WW2. They distributed leaflets and proclaimed the tyrannical activity of the Nazis. The group’s activities would prove profound in exposing the Nazi’s war crimes across Europe as well as to its fellow university peers. This movement was started by two siblings, Sophie and Hans Scholl, whose organisation would be both their pride and their downfall. Although ending in execution, the siblings left a legacy which proved to be eternal, inspiring resistance to control and uphold justice for others even at the cost of one’s own life.

The 'Swing Kids' were young people who refused to join Nazi youth organisations and defined themselves through their favourite music. The Swing Kids didn’t make open political statements, but their love of foreign music, their wild style of dancing, and their acceptance of Jews and other outsiders were a strong contrast to the disciplined, formal culture encouraged by the Nazi Party.(https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/rejecting-nazism)

In the late 1930s, as Hitler Youth activities began to focus less on leisure activities and more on military drills and preparation for war, other young people formed their own groups in which they could more freely express their own interests and ideas. One of these groups was the Edelweiss Pirates. Members of the group, both boys and girls, would gather from time to time for weekend camping trips. They would pitch tents in the forest, sing, talk, and fight Hitler Youth patrols. The group’s slogan was “Eternal War on the Hitler Youth.” One Edelweiss Pirate explained his choice to join the group by saying, “It’s the Hitler Youth’s own fault . . . every order I was given contained a threat.” The group’s resistance to the Nazis continued throughout World War II. (https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/rejecting-nazism)

Grumbling, refusing to Nazi salute, refusing to follow regulations were all passive forms of rebellion. More violent methods were attempting to assassinate leading members of the Nazi Party or members of the regime.

George Elser's bomb plot was one of the few occourances in which a single individual had come so close to killing Hitler during the Nazi's rule. His form of opposition would have been very effective, if he had not relied on Hitler being 'in the right place at the right time' and if he had not been caught and imprisoned. However, his plot would later influence others to plot assassination plans for Hitler, giving his plot major significance within history.

Religion was the only real source of opposition for the Nazis between 1933-38, and by forcing the Vatican to sign the Concordat, Hitler was eliminating this source of opposition. For this reason, religion was not an effective source of resistance towards the Nazis and their regime due to the restrictions of the Concordat they were forced to sign.

Youth opposition groups were a target for Hitler due to the fact that he was conscious that young people were the most impressionable group in society, and he was actively trying to indoctrinate these people to make sure his regime would be successful; groups like the White Rose and the Edelweiss Pirates were a serious threat to this. This form of opposition was fairly effective in terms of resistance because they left a legacy for the people who followed them and many of these groups were functional throughout WW2, collecting new members and followings during this period, changing people's views on Hitler and the Nazis.

The Bomb Plot showed that the only effective sources of opposition to Hitler came from within the Nazi government and army, and even people from these groups were placed under great danger during planning and many died trying to plot. The failure of this plan was again due to the plan only working if Hitler was 'in the right place at the right time' and if everything went smoothly in terms of placing the bomb. Operation Valkyrie was not effective due to the fact it failed, and many men lost their lives due to their association with the plot.

Overall, the Nazis dealt with opposition mostly through force and oppression, discouraging any forms of rebellion within the country and punishing anyone who did go against them brutally through torture and murder. Due to this, not many successful forms of opposition were present during this time which gave Hitler peace of mind and let him focus on other areas of his dictatorship. However, there were a few plots including Elser's bomb plot and Operation Valkyrie which almost did succeed that worried Hitler and he then began tightening his grip on society. With Operation Valkyrie being so late into WW2, and it coming from members of his own army that he thought he could trust, Hitler realised then that no one could truly be trusted within his own party; even though he had many people executed in response to Valkyrie, he couldn't be sure that everyone he was working with was on the same side as him. Due to this, he became increasingly paranoid and harsh towards everyone within the Nazi Party and Germany as a whole.