HISTORY IGCSE CONTENT - 20TH CENTURY OPTION - DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: THE NAZI REGIME - OPPOSITION TO THE NAZI REGIME

1. DEPTH STUDY
GERMANY
THE NAZI REGIME
OPPOSITION TO
THE NAZI REGIME
1

2. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
INTRODUCTION
In the last general election held under the Weimar Republic in
March 1933, the Nazis gained support from nearly 44% of the
German population.
More than half of the country preferred a non-Nazi option.
It was always difficult to be in the opposition with the Nazi
regime, as the secret police (Gestapo) suppressed any
information about opposition activities.
Once the war began to go badly for Germany, then opposition
became more widespread and serious.
The main sources of opposition to the Nazis are summarised in
this presentation.

3. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuraT7JwJY8

4. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
TRADE UNIONS OPPOSITION
Officially banned in May 1933 but some activists, with links to
left-wing groups, continued their work in secret organising
illegal strikes, demonstrations, and works-to-rule.
See Nazi Destroyed Unions in your OneNote library.

5. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
Communists and trade
unionists were among Hitler’s
first targets. Here, Nazis rally
in front of the headquarters of
the German Communist Party
(KPD) in 1933 in Berlin.
Slogans on the building
include: Against war, fascism,
hunger … for work, bread, and
freedom.

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LEFT-WING GROUPS OPPOSITION
Communists and Social-Democrats both maintained underground
networks after 1933.
Anti-Nazi actions included the distribution of pamphlets, the
deployment of posters and slogans, and the printing of illegal
newspapers.
Strikes among industrial workers were encouraged.
The Meuten were gangs of working-class teenagers and young
adults. They sympathised with socialist ideology. They were
frequently attacked by Nazis, including the Hitler Youth.

7. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
YOUTH OPPOSITION
In 1933, Hitler Youth (HJ) took over all youth movements in
Germany, except Catholic ones (which were eliminated in 1936).
The Hitler Jugend aimed to:
- control the activities of young people outside the classroom;
- make them loyal to Hitler;
- train boys to be soldiers and prepare girls to be wives and mothers.
Not all young people became part of the Hitler Youth movement.
A significant minority managed to avoid joining. Some even
established rival youth groups. During the war, 'swing' groups
formed.
These were young people who rejected Nazi values, drank alcohol
and danced to jazz.

8. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
YOUTH OPPOSITION – THE EDELWEISS PIRATES
An important group was called the Edelweiss Pirates.
It was based initially in the Rhineland. Members reacted to the
discipline of the Hitler Youth by daubing anti-Nazi slogans and
singing pre-1933 folk songs.
Their main activity was camping trips to the countryside to get
away from the stifling control of the Nazis.
In 1942, over 700 of them were arrested.
They picked fights with members of the Hitler Youth, distributed
pamphlets and broadsheets, and scrawled graffiti on walls.
In 1944, the Cologne Pirates (the Edelweiss Pirates based in Cologne)
killed the Gestapo chief, so the Nazis publicly hanged 12 of them.

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10. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOPTURrhzDw

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YOUTH OPPOSITION – MEUTEN “THE PACKS”
In the working-class districts such as Leipzig, youth gangs emerged in
the former red strongholds that, while broadly similar to the Edelweiss
Pirates, had a more politicized class identity and drew on the
communist and socialist traditions of their neighbourhoods.
These gangs were known as 'Meuten' (literally 'Packs').
Gestapo reports on the Leipzig Meuten estimated their numbers at
1.500 between 1937 and 1939.
The Meuten, probably because of their clearer political position, were
subject to more detailed state attention and suffered more
and ruthless repression than some of the other youth groups.

12. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
The group wore motley
clothes, with the males
wearing plaid shirts,
white socks
and Lederhosen in the
summer, and slalom
shirts and ski pants in
the winter.
Females wore long
blue skirts of the
traditional youth
movement. Red
kerchiefs were used as
pro-left sympathies
were also seen in the
group.

13. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
YOUTH OPPOSITION – THE WHITE ROSE
Similar action was carried out by The White Rose (die Weiße Rose), a
group of Munich University students.
They published anti-Nazi leaflets, but were discovered and
executed in 1943.
They marched through the city in protest at Hitler’s policies.
Its leaders, brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, were
arrested and sentenced to the guillotine.
See The White Rose reading in your OneNote library.

14. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtOKRsF6Rr0

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Monument to the "Weiße Rose" in front of the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

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YOUTH OPPOSITION – THE SWING KIDS
This was a youth movement that started in Hamburg in 1939 and
spread to Berlin and other German cities.
The ‘Swing Kids’ (Swing Jugend) group was mainly upper middle class
young people who rejected Nazi values as well as having the money to
visit night clubs. They danced the jitterbug to banned jazz music.
They were closely monitored by the Gestapo, who regularly raided
illegal jazz clubs. The movement was a challenge to Hitler announcing
that all German adolescents had to join a Nazi youth movement.
They challenged the Nazi image of youth by growing their hair and
wearing fashionable clothes. They also listened to swing music,
was seen by the Nazis as Black music and met at secret dance halls.
This often led to clashes with the Hitler Youth and the security
forces.

17. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
Nazi propaganda against jazz music.
The text reads: Degenerate Music, A
Reckoning
by Undersecretary Dr. H. S. Ziegler

18. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
The Swing Youth were a group of
jazz and swing lovers in Germany in
the 1930s, mainly in Hamburg and
Berlin.
Formed in Hamburg in 1939, they
were composed of 14-to-21-year-
old boys and girls in high school,
most of them middle- or upper-
class students, but with some
apprentice workers as well.
They admired the American way of
life, defining themselves in swing
music and opposing the National-
Socialist ideology, especially the
Hitler Youth.
Swing Kids is a 1993 American dramatic film directed by
Thomas Carter and starring Christian Bale, Robert Sean
Leonard and Frank Whaley. In pre-World War II Germany,
two high school students, Peter Müller and Thomas
Berger, attempt to be swing kids by night and Hitler
Youth by day, a decision that acutely impacts their friends
and families.

19. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
YOUTH OPPOSITION AND THE HITLER JUGEND
In spite of this opposition, the young tended to be the most active
supporters of the regime.
They approved of Nazi slogans such as “Youth must lead the youth”.
They liked the diverse activities of Hitler Youth (HJ) and the opportunity
to get away from parental control.
The Hitler Youth also increased their chances of university places
better jobs. Peer pressure played a part in their support for Hitler.
Those who did not support the regime often obeyed its rules out of fear
of the consequences of opposition for themselves or their family.

20. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vveMFEUCSbI

21. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJCR6TtMKcM

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23. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhgpBy5Bvc

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25. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
YOUTH OPPOSITION – ZAZOUS AND SCHLURFS
Involvement in the Pirates and the Meuten meant that many members
moved from non-conformity through to open protest and political
resistance against Nazi state.
The youth movement against Nazis was very active, especially in France
and
The Zazous (1940-1945) were the French anti-Nazi cultural youth
movement who opposed the Vichy regime in occupied France.
Influenced by jazz and swing they met in basement clubs and scuffled
with fascists on the streets.
The Schlurfs were also working class Austrian youth who rejected the
values of Nazism. See “The Schlurfs - youth against Nazism”, reading in
your OneNote.

26. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbo8BzM_BrY

27. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
The Schlurfs, working class
Austrian youth who rejected
the values of Nazism.

28. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
RIGHT-WING GROUPS OPPOSITION
The most important Conservative opposition group was the
Kreisau Circle (named after Kreisau in Silesia) which organised
secret discussion meetings on how Germany would be
governed after Hitler’s removal.
Membership included army officers, aristocrats, and
professional persons.
A paramilitary wing of the Social Democratic Party, called the
Reichsbanner, sabotaged railway lines and acted as spies.

29. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
Graf von Moltke and members of the Kreisau Circle anti-Nazi resistance group on trial

30. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
THE CHURCHES OPPOSITION
A number of churchmen from both the Roman Catholic and
Protestant churches spoke out against the Nazi regime.
In 1941, the Catholic Bishop Galen of Munster spoke strongly
against euthanasia, forced sterilisation and concentration camps.
As a result of this, euthanasia was stopped.
The Protestant Pastor Niemoller was another outspoken critic of
the Nazis who formed a rival church to the Nazi Reich Church.
He spent eight years in a concentration camp.
In 1937, the Pope's message 'With Burning Concern' attacked Hitler
as 'a mad prophet with repulsive arrogance' and was read in every
Catholic church.

31. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
Bishop Galen of Munster
Protestant Pastor Niemoller

32. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
THE ARMY OPPOSITION
General Beck’s plans to overthrow Hitler during the late 1930’s
were impeded by the successful and bloodless takeover of
Czechoslovakia.
When Germany’s military fortunes changed after the disastrous
defeat at Stalingrad, senior army officers planned to assassinate
assassinate Hitler.
The bomb plot of 20 July 1944 failed and led to 5000
executions.

33. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iojQ6Ao5WA

34. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D