Significance is defined as ‘sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention’ and opposition is defined as ‘resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument’ . Opposition was significant to Nazi Germany to a lesser extent. There were multiple groups which opposed the Nazi regime such as; the Jews, the Churches, the army and youth groups. The different groups did not bring about any significant change, in fact, they made it easier for Hitler to gain control as their opposition gave him an opportunity to show his power, thus making it less likely for people to stand up to him out of fear of getting executed/hurt. Although the Nazis never fully made Germany a totalitarian state, Hitler was never overthrown by resistance and he was ultimately defeated by the allied powers’ military intervention.
Youth groups
There were multiple different youth groups which opposed Hitler and the Nazi ideology, such as, the Edelweiss Pirates, the White Rose and Swing Youth. Those involved in Swing Youth would wear forbidden clothing associated with the West to express a more democratic identity and listen to jazz music, which was banned because it was seen as degenerate. Although this resistance was seen as Resistenz – a passive resistance – the Nazi’s still felt threatened by their new ideas regardless and thought it would turn them against Germany and towards the West. In order to quash this group, they would send the leaders to concentration camps and, for the others, cut their hair and send them back to school to be closely supervised. However, it could be argued that the Swing Youth were ‘motivated by the desire to have a good time’ and didn’t care for politics. Their significance was to a lesser extent as their group was easily dealt with by the Nazis and portrayed the Nazis to be more powerful, potentially making it easier for Hitler to make Germany a totalitarian state. On the other hand, members of the Edelweiss Pirates would sing a song which was about their hatred of Hitler and how they would ‘get rid’ of him. It was obvious they were a rebellious youth group trying to escape the invasive and suppressive Nazi system therefore causing issues for Hitler’s goal of the totalitarian state. As time went on, they got more violent and increasingly openly opposed to the Nazi’s by, for example, beating up members of the Hitler Youth. Their ideas were also shown through inscriptions written on walls such as ‘Down with Hitler’ and ‘The OKW is lying’, and even if they were removed, ‘within a few days new ones [would] appear on the walls again’ . Lastly, the White Rose were a group of university students who distributed leaflets and sent letters in order to turn opinion against Hitler and the Nazi regime. The first leaflet criticized the Nazi regime’s crimes, while the second directly accused them of the mass murder and persecution of the Jews. Initially, they called themselves the ‘White Rose’, however, in their fifth leaflet, they changed it to the ‘German Resistance Movement’, further showing their opposition. In general, although the youth groups were a new symbol of freedom, there impact was significant to a lesser extent, as they didn’t bring about any change. If anything, they allowed Hitler to strengthen his grip on Germany as they were strongly dealt with, for example leaders of the Edelweiss Pirates being sent to concentration camps, causing fear in other youths as they didn’t want to be sent to concentration camps and inevitably be murdered.
The army
Claus von Stauffenberg, General Ludwig Beck and Karl Goerdeler led the conspiracy known as Operation Valkyrie, or, the July Bomb Plot to assassinate Hitler within the armed forces on 20th July 1944. Their aim was to kill Hitler, take over Berlin and its armed forces from the Nazi Party including the SS, and make peace with the Western allies. Considering the entire army signed the oath of allegiance, an oath sworn to protect and defend Hitler from 1934 onwards, it shows the extent of which the army opposed Hitler and the Nazi regime, as they were willing to risk their lives in order to overthrow him. The plot did not succeed, instead, Hitler survived with ‘only superficial injuries’ , and consequently 5,000 people who were suspected of taking part were executed including 19 generals and 26 colonels. The conspirators themselves were additionally too slow meaning they therefore didn’t take over the radio stations or phones. Overall, this plot was very insignificant to bringing about any change as firstly, it failed, secondly, Hitler further showed his power and control by executing over 5,000 people including his own generals. As well as this, although their main goal was to remove Hitler, it was for multiple reasons such as the larger part of the group were conservative nationalists and didn’t necessarily believe in democratic ideas. This further shows how they weren’t necessarily doing this for Germany as a country, they were doing it with self-interest at heart in order to take power and rule as they wished.
Churches
Two different types of churches in Germany, Protestant and Roman Catholic although united in their hatred for Hitler and the Nazi regime, did not act together. The Protestant Church made a new church, ‘the confessing church’ in opposition to the Reich church formed by the Nazi’s. This was their form of active resistance as they were publicly showing they didn’t want to partake in the new Nazi-infested church, therefore displaying they did not want to conform to the Nazi regime. However, this separation did not bring about change. The theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was executed for his role in the conspiracy to overthrow the regime, and Pastor Martin Niemöller was sent to both the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps, in which he spent seven years for his criticisms of Hitler. The German Evangelical Church regarded itself as one of the main pillars of German culture and society angering Hitler since this competed with the idea of German speaking peoples being completely loyal to himself. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church was originally a partner with the Weimar Republic, so were automatically against right wing parties such as the Nazis due to the difference in ideologies. Therefore, catholic leaders were initially more suspicious of National Socialism rather than their Protestant counterpart. However, Cardinal Galen spoke out against the Nazi’s after it was publicised the Nazi’s were murdering people with disabilities as well as leading a campaign which forced Hitler to discontinue the programme of euthanasia. Moreover, the crucifixes from public places such as schools were removed and replaced by Hitler’s picture in order to strengthen the loyalty to Hitler rather than God, however, they were returned after a number of protests during the years of 1935 to 1941 in Lower Saxony, Saarland, East Prussia and Bavaria which encouraged Nazi leaders to back away. Nevertheless, their opposition was completely insignificant since, in 1933, they signed a Concordat with Hitler agreeing to stay out of politics, so they had little impact. Although they never joined Hitler in regard to their views/ideologies, ‘the purpose of the Church opposition was self-defence’ , considering they only opposed Hitler to ensure people still attended their services. Overall, combined, the Churches had an insignificant impact regarding opposition and bringing about change because although the Protestant church separated itself, there were huge consequences such as the execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Additionally, the Roman Catholic church also signed the Concordat implying a sense of loyalty to Hitler. The Churches also show the lack of interrelationships as there was never a unites, broader coalition against the Nazis despite their common goal of removing Hitler from power.
The Jews
The Jews resisted Nazi oppression in a variety of ways, both collectively and as individuals. Considering they knew that uprisings wouldn’t work, organized army resistance was the most impactful form of Jewish opposition, for example Jewish prisoners succeeded in initiating resistance and uprisings in some Nazi concentration camps/killing centres such as Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor. In October 1943, Jewish prisoners rose against their guards, and those with stolen weapons attacked the SS staff and Trawniki-trained auxiliary guards. Additionally, members of the Sonderkommando also rioted against the SS guards in October 1944. Around 250 died during the fight, and another 200 afterwards. Five woman, four Jewish and one not, who had been supplying them with explosives were also found and killed. Moreover, during February and March of 1943, there was a collective street protest, Rosenstraße, instigated by the non-Jewish wives and family members of Jewish men who were at risk of deportation due to their religion/race. This shows how Hitler had very little control over the Jews since they knew they could die, but still risked their lives to take a stand against Hitler, even in the concentration camps/killing centres. Overall, Jewish opposition was significant to a larger extent since, although they were imprisoned and eventually murdered, their will to publicly oppose the Nazis shows how adamant they were on displaying their opposition.
Opposition in European countries
Opposition in European countries could be described as people/groups of people who weren’t German or living in Germany who opposed the Nazi regime. In France, 1941, both the Gaullist resistance movement and Communist resistance movement committed acts of assault on German officials. Post-German occupation of Denmark, in 1940 a resistance movement began in which, they killed informers, raided German military facilities and sabotages the rail lines. Additionally, in the Netherlands, the Dutch population led by leaders in the trade union mounted a general strike in protest of arrests and violent treatment of the Jews. Both communist and non-communist peoples harassed the German authorities. Furthermore, the Warsaw uprising revealed the extent of people who opposed the Nazi regime in other European countries. In Poland, the Armia Krajowa launched an uprising, where Western allies dropped ammunition and supplies, the Soviet Union were within sight of the city, however, it was defeated. Although they fought for two months, they eventually gave in to the Germans. In Slovakia, communist and non-communist underground leaders launched an uprising in 1944. It took two months for both the Germans and the Hlinka Guard militia to quash the uprising, further displaying the powerful force of opposition. Under the rule of Josef Tito, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Slovenes and Jews joined together to fight the Germans and Italians, and ultimately played a key role in successfully driving the German forces out of Yugoslavia. Furthermore, in May of 1942, Czech agents working for the British launched an assassination attempt on SS General Heydrich who was the chief of the Reich Main Office for Security and the architect for the ‘Final Solution’ of the Jews. It was unsuccessful considering, the German SS and police force killed all the men as well as deporting the women and children of the villages Lidice and Ležáky. In general, the Warsaw uprising failed due to the lack of support from the Soviets and British and American unwillingness to demand that Stalin extended assistance to their Polish ally.
Conclusion
To conclude, opposition to Nazi Germany was significant to a lesser extent, as no impactful change was actually brought about. Although the youth groups were the most significant form of opposition since they were living under his rule and symbolised a new sense of freedom, they were ultimately quashed, allowing Hitler to show his true power, ensuring the unlikeliness of people to take a stand out of the fear of being executed. While the Warsaw uprising could be proved to be significant as it shows the extent of opposition from people in other European countries, overall it was unsuccessful due to the majority of the uprisings failing and thus bringing about no change. Conclusively, the credit for Hitler’s defeat goes to the allied powers’ military intervention seeing as Hitler was never overthrown by resistance.
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