Government and Opposition to 1945
Nazism as ideology
Hitler's style of government
the terror state
opposition and resistance
key nazi leaders
the effects of war
25 point manifesto & Mein Kampf
2 core ideas
supremacy of state
superiority of Aryan race
Volksgemeinschaft - people's community
Anti - Semitism
anti - feminism
'the survival of the fittest' - Social Darwinism
anti - Communism
the Fuherprinzip
anti - democracy
Lebensraum
totalitaranism
Gleichschaltung - establishing a totalitarian social, political and economic system through control and coodination
Practise
Propoganda
Goebbels - Ministry for Popular Englightenment 1933
press, radio, theatre, creative arts, film
Heil Hitler saliute
Censorship
book burning of Jewish texts May 1933
scope and depth of controll
Role of Goebbels
policies to discourage women working
medals for children, 1000 reich loan, etc
totalitarian regime
direct style of rule
Polycratic system - allowed Nazi ministers to compete with each other
1933 - 72 cabinet meetings
1937 - six cabinet meetings
1938 - one cabinet meeting then ceased all together
Hitler at top
Traditional institutions, Auxiliary Agencies, Nazi Party Organisations and Officials
Historian's view
Richard Evans - fear and terror were integral parts of Nazi political weaponary (Third Reich was fear.)
SA
restructured 1934
used to intimidate opponents
Himmler
Gestapo 1934
secret police for political enemies
1936 - given power to view law as seen fit
SS (Schutzstaffel)
main terror agency
auxiliary poilce
political enemies
creation of racial community
SD (Sicherheitsdienst)
security police
headed by Reinhard Himmler
elite force for collecting intelligence
under Hitler's will
ran concentration camps
Dachau March 1933
1939 - SS Death's Head
genetic programmes (Lebensborn)
Waffen SS rival regular army
click to edit
Chief of Police 1936
strong central control
1933 Civil Service Law
judges were all Nazis
repression
mild censorship
intimidation
loss of job/ status
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment
March 1933 - any malicious gossip, critical comment or unauthorised action could lead in arrest,
confinement in a concentration camp
execution
'Civil disobedience' (low level)
reading banned literature, listening to banned music, tuning into foreign broadcasts
protecting jews & other 'enemies' of war
refusing to join Nazi organisations or contribute to campaigns
supporting non-Nazi churches and organisations
historian's view
Mason (Marxist historian)
absenteeism, strikes and sabotage amongst workers were common
Richard Overy
some working class areas were 'no go' zones for Nazi officals
Organised public opposition
antii Nazi leaflets or slogans
Underground SPD movements - e.g Berlin Red Patrol
underground KPD cells - e.g Rote Kapelle
communist plots to kill Hitler
White Rose Group/ Sophie Scholl
1.3 million Germans sent to concentration camps between 1933-39
Church opposition
Confessional Church
Martin Niemoller
breakaway from Reich church
800 pastors imprisoned March 1937
concentration camp 1937-45
Catholic
Pope's encyclical 'with burning anxiety' March 1937
hundreds of clerks sent to concentration camps
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
campaigned against Nuremburg Laws 1935
joined underground resistance to gain evidence of Nazi crimes
Did not cause big impact
Army opposition
issues
disapproved pace of rearmament
growth of SS
rapid expansion of East
Hossbach Conference 5th Nov 1937
both dismissed
Werner von Fritsch and General von Blomberg very critical
44 generals transferred
16 generals
By 1938, Hitler combined Supreme Commander with War Minister
direct control
Hitler
Goebbels
Hess (deputy Fuhrer)
Martin Bormann (head of Nazi party chancellory.)
Himmler (architect of Holocaust.)
Goering
Speer (minister of armaments and war production.)
increased propaganda
radicalisation of Nazi regime
led to increased opposition
'work towards Hitler'
Wannsee Conference 1942
economic management
appointment of Albert Speer 1942
1943-44 Hitler in Wolf's Lair
Bormann basically given free reign
War-time opposition and resistance
Youth
Swing Clubs
Edelweiss Pirates
reject Nazi values
major cities
listen to Jazz
Hasso Schuzendorf put in concentration camp
working class
hike and attack Hitler Youth patrols
one group killed head of Cologne Gestapo, but all executed as a result
White Rose Gorup
Munich Univeristy
Sophie and Hans Scholl executed
Church
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1939
German counter-intelligence
'operation 7' - allowed some Jews to escape Germay
Bishop Galen
1941
condemned euthansia policy
Kreisau Circle
helped recue jews
involved Jesuits and laymen
Punishment
2720 inmates at Dachau
95% Catholic
1034 died
Army
Kreisau Circle
broken up by Gestap Jan 1944
Abwehr (Nazi intelligence Agency)
full of resistance
Head of Agency Admiral Canaris supported resistance activities
leaked info & protected jews
absorbed into SS 1944
July Bomb Plot 1944
execution of 5000 army officers
Ludwig Beck
Hans Oster
Colonel von Stauffenberg
Operation Valkyrie
escalated