Topic Three: The Resistance Movements in Germany and in Occupied Countries

By: Penny Coutas

 If History is worth telling because of the noble things which men have done or tried to do, then it is worth telling of the German Resistance to the Nazi regime both within Germany and in the occupied countries. In all countries under Nazi control there were resistance movements such as in the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia and parts of France, all on a fairly large scale. However, the resistance in Germany was on a small scale. This was not only because of the punishments associated with the ‘treason’, but also because it involved activities directed against the resisters’ own nation. Nevertheless, there were many individual acts, such as Hans and Sophie Scholl who ran the resistance group ‘White Rose,’ opposition in Protestant and Catholic churches, labour movements and middle-class resistance. Opposition also arose from sections of the army under the leadership of Colonel Claus von Strauffenberg. Although the resistance movements in German were quite passive, the resistance to the regime both in Germany and in the occupied countries was significant in each case to some degree.

There were resistance movements in all countries under Nazi control such as in Yugoslavia, Poland, the USSR, and France. Opposition and resistance differed from place to place and country to country. In the rugged mountainous terrain of Yugoslavia, partisan resistance fighters, led by Josip Tito, could pin down considerable numbers of German troops. Countries in low-lying areas such as Poland were not suited to this kind of ‘partisan warfare’, and so Poland had a huge ‘underground’ army. When Soviet forces approached Warsaw in 1944, the Polish underground army attacked the Germans. Although when the Germans first entered the Soviet Union in 1941 they were greeted as liberators, these ideals soon changed. Hitler regarded the Soviet people as sub-human, and they were treated as such. Indeed, "those who were not shot, blown up or frozen to death were either sent to Germany as slave workers or left to starve." The result was that by 1943, up to one million Soviet partisans were operating behind German lines, attacking German bases, railways and convoys, killing large numbers of German soldiers. Support for resistance groups grew in France between 1940 and 1942. By 1943 all French resistance groups were known as the maquis, made up of two main political groups – the communists and the party who supported General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces. However, the price of resistance was often very high; for example the Germans killed 5000 people in retaliation for the assassination of the Secret Service chief Reinhardt Heydrich in Czechoslovakia. Soviet POWs were captured and surrounded by barbed wire, left to starve until the realisation that they would better serve as slave labour. The SS and Gestapo, aided by special French police units struck back at the maquis. 

Nevertheless, the resistance movements in these occupied countries were significant. The Germans had to employ many divisions on anti-partisan and other duties, which reduced the number of men available at the front, ethically and morally it was the people’s retaliation, and in the end, helped win the war against the Nazis.

In the many elections held before 1933, the traditional core of the working class showed itself to be the social group least susceptible to National Socialism. It was only logical for Socialists of all kinds, as declared political enemies of Nazism, to be the first to attempt to organize resistance within Germany. However, most of the workers who supported Nazism were impressed by the slogan "Work and Bread", something which finally gave them hope again after years of unemployment. The "Red Assault Party" is an example of a working-class resistance movement. It was their main objective to

"…attempt to stop the trend towards withdrawal political responsibility. . . We wanted to prevent a general atmosphere of discouragement on the German left…even under difficult circumstances. For what concrete purpose we, admittedly, would not have been able to say at that time…"

They circulated pamphlets and wanted to show that Germany not only consisted of Nazis. The work of various groups of this kind was pretty much the same throughout Germany. They printed publications, helped equip Jews with false passports and escape across the border. They collected money to support the families of political prisoners or prisoners condemned to death. Most active in this respect was an organization known as "Red Aid". Posters and wall announcements put up by the regime were removed or modified by pasting on new texts. Resistance slogans were painted on houses and on roads under darkness. Resistance by workers formed the most significant component of the German resistance movement, and formed an outlet for the people to follow their moral and ethic values. However, they were not a huge threat to the Nazi regime.

 

The churches were the only institution which both had an alternative ‘ideology’ to that of the Nazi regime and were permitted to retain their own organizational autonomy (self-government). This made them a major obstacle to the Nazi attempt to establish total control over German life. However, the churches in Germany were not united in their attitudes to the Nazis. The Protestant Churches divided into the German Churches, tolerated by the regime and the Confessing Church whose clergy condemned the Nazis from the pulpit and ended in concentration camps. The Pope also made it difficult for German Catholics to stand up to Hitler by promising that Catholics would stay out of politics. Pastor Niemoller wrote later about the lack of effective opposition:

"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew; then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist; then they came for the unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a union man. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me." 

There was, however, one successful protest against Nazi policy from the Catholic Church. The bishops publicly condemned the euthanasia compaign the Nazis initiated in 1940, thus pronouncing on matters outside the narrowly defined ecclesiastical sector. One of the most outspoken Church leaders, the Bishop of Munster, Clemens August Graf von Galen, went as far as to bring official charges for murder under Article 211 of the German Penal Code when he heard of the killing of the mentally ill.

"A large number of patients from the Marienthal Provincial Asylum . . . will then soon be deliberately killed, as is generally believed has occurred with such transports from other asylums . . . such an action is . . . contrary to the moral laws of God and Nature." 

This resistance was significant in that it aroused public opinion and the government cancelled its program to kill off Germany’s mentally handicapped. However, Niemoeller was a prisoner in Dachau concentration camp, many hundreds of Lutheran pastors who joined the Confessional Church and Catholic priests and nuns were imprisoned, beaten and tortured. Hitler’s opponents had to work in small, secret groups whether they be religious, old or young.

 

Young people were involved in most of the resistance groups. The group named "The White Rose" became a symbol for resistance within Germany based on youthful idealism. The leading figures were Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans at the University of Munich, and their main criterion was not a political rejection of National Socialism, but rather a moral one and the affirmation of those intellectual, cultural and religious values that were forbidden. They began by printing a small anti-Nazi newsletter, entitling their work as ‘Leaves of the White Rose’, and the group came to include a large number of students, artists and teachers. These newsletters were distributed through university networks and to residents of Munich, whose names were taken from the telephone directory. However, no concrete plans were made for an effective resistance. On 13 January, the local "Gauleiter", a man by the name of Giesler, held a speech before the students in which he told the women in the auditorium that they "would be better off giving birth to children for the Fuher than hanging around the university." This remark evoked a wave of indignation that electrified the student body, and caused violent clashes between students and units off the SS and police. This in addition to the news that the German Army had been defeated at Stalingrad caused the members of the White Rose to assume that the end of the war was not far off. They dared write the words "Down with Hitler" and "Freedom" where there was virtually no way to avoid being seen. In February 1943, after distributing a newsletter, both Sophie and Hans were arrested, sentenced to death by the People’s Court and guillotined the same afternoon. "Yet even if German resistance had consisted of nobody but the Scholls and their friends, their actions would have been enough to save a little of the honour of those whose tongue is German," and thus, it was significant. However, no matter what the preparatory meaning of the early resistance centres were, the next requirement had to be to break the chains laid on by the Gestapo and the SS. This could only be done by the nation’s armed forces. 

It was only after 1942 that the military resistance was gathering momentum. Its members, most of whom had been ant-republicans had welcomed the Machtergreifung, were moved by a genuine and deeply felt revulsion against what the regime was doing. By the beginning of 1944, a small circle of officers was determined to abandon their former scruples and to attempt to overthrow Hitler. However, they found it difficult to accept that unconditional surrender and Allied occupation might be preferable to the regime. Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg hoped to push the Allies out of Normandy after a successful coup before starting peace negotiations. Consequently, long discussions took place in various middle-class circles to which most of the higher ranks belonged.

The middle class was even less suited and more poorly prepared for organized resistance against the Nazi regime than other groups. This was the reason why the middle-class resistance movement 

"consisted of outstanding individuals or groups formed spontaneously for motives often based on moral indignation or in reciprocal sympathy with any form of rebellion, which was a special motivating factor."

Thus small groups made up the middle-class resistance movement, such as the "Wednesday Society", the "Freiburg Circle", the "Soft Circle" and "The Kreisau Circle". The "Kreisau Circle" contained many of Hitler’s most important opponents. They, like other ‘circles’ had long discussions about how Germany and Europe would be governed after Hitler. Some in the group opposed the idea of assassinating Hitler, but a new recruit, Colonel Klaus Philip Schenk; Count von Stauffenberg did not. He had decided that Hitler’s rule was an "utter disaster" and that he must be killed, and his Government would lead the new Germany.

Many resistance groups decided that the only way to rid Germany of Nazism was to kill Hitler. The leading Nazis were totally devoted to him, the armed forces had sworn and oath of personal loyalty to him. Only with Hitler dead could a non-Nazi leader take charge and get the backing of the Army. There were several plots to kill Hitler, all taking place after the start of the war. The most significant of these occurred on 20 July 1944. von Stauffenberg was the main leader of this plot and As Chief of Staff to the Home Army, he attended a conference at Rastenburg. He made an excuse to leave early, and left his briefcase containing a bomb under the table. When he was a short distance away, the bomb exploded and caused great damage to the hut. von Stauffenberg was convinced Hitler was dead, and so flew to Berlin and planned to direct the takeover of the government. However, Hitler was not dead. The suitcase had been moved to give Hitler more legroom, and although he was hurt, he survived. News of Hitler’s survival reached Berlin before von Stauffenberg did. Four leading conspirators, including von Stauffenberg, were captured, court martialled and shot the same night. Hitler’s response was revenge, and the Gestapo went to work. Thousands of suspects were rounded up and tortured. The ringleaders faced and agonising death of slow strangulation hung by piano wire from meathooks and film of their dying was rushed to Hitler the same night. Nearly 5000 were executed, and Field Marshal Rommel, Germany’s most famous general and war hero, was forced to commit suicide to protect his family from Hitler’s revenge. 

Was the assassination attempt significant? It certainly showed Hitler’s unforgiving nature, and enforced the brutality of the regime. In addition, it made these factors clear to the people. They were no longer disillusioned by the Nazi Regime – the time of propaganda was long gone. Thus it was significant in showing the people, workers, churches, youth, army and middle-class, the true brutality of the regime. 

Therefore, all the resistance movements in Germany and the occupied countries were significant. The German resistance movement and its failure was as significant to the people as the period of Nazi tyranny. The resistance which occurred in occupied countries such as the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia and France, and the resistance movements by the workers, churches, youth, army, middle-class in Germany were significant to the people. They found it noble, and ethically and morally right. Indeed, in 1946 Winston Churchill said of the resistance movement in Germany that its number had steadily grown smaller due to persecution, but that it was one of the noblest phenomena in the political history of mankind,

"Those men and women fought without assistance at home or abroad. They were driven only by their conscience. As long as they were alive they were invisible, since they were forced to act clandestinely…The deeds and sacrifices of these people formed the foundation for rebuilding the German nation...I hope that the time will come when it will be possible to give this heroic chapter of German history the fair assessment that it deserved."

and so the German resistance movements were significant both within Germany and the occupied countries.

 

Word Count: 1300 (excluding quotes)