Download 4. Germany Opposition and Race

Germany
Opposition and Race
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Answers
What were the main opposition groups in Nazi
Germany and why was there so little
opposition?
• Army
• Churches
• Young People
• Little opposition due to the control systems of
the Nazis – terror and propaganda
How did the Churches oppose the
Nazis and why were they a significant
threat?
• Some priests and pastors preached sermons which
criticised Nazi policy or the worship of Hitler
• The Confessional Church was set up as a direct
rejection of the Nazi controlled Reich Church
• The Churches were a threat because they were so big
and people were so loyal to them
• They also had ready-made networks with buildings,
meetings, communications and command structures
which could be used to coordinate and lead an attack
on the Nazi regime
How did young people oppose the Nazis and
why were the Nazis worried about this?
• Refusing to join the Hitler Youth
• Drinking, smoking, listening to jazz music and
generally ‘rebelling’
• Attacking Hitler Youth groups
• Assassinated a leading Nazi in Cologne
• The Nazis were worried because young people
were the future and the Nazis were desperate to
keep control of them and make them into Nazis
What were the key features of Nazis policy towards
minority groups and which groups were targeted?
• Aryan supremacy – the idea that the aryan race
(blond hair, blue eyes) were ‘the master race’,
superior to all others and born to rule the world
• Anti-semitism – the hatred and oppression of
Jewish people
• Survival of the fittest – the idea that anyone who
was ‘unfit’ e.g. disabled or from an inferior race,
did not deserve to live
• Particularly targeted Jews, gypsies, homosexuals
and disabled people
What were they key features of Nazi treatment of
minorities 1933-39?
Propaganda – encouraged people to hate minorities,
particularly Jews
Discrimination, e.g. boycotts of Jewish shops or not allowed to
hold certain jobs
Nuremberg Laws banned marriage between Jews and nonJews and removed citizenship and the right to vote from
Jews
Kristallnacht – coordinated attack on jewish shops,
synagogues and homes
What were the key changes in the Nazi
treatment of minorities 1939-45?
1939 – Ghettos introduced where Jews die from
starvation and disease
1941 – Einsatzgruppen introduced – mobile killing
squads that go into villages, round up the Jews
and shoot them there and then
1941 – Gas vans – used by einsatzgruppen instead
of shooting them
1942 – Wannsee Conference – meeting to discuss
the Final Solution to the Jewish problem
1942 – Final Solution introduced – death camps
with gas chambers
When were the Nuremberg Laws passed and
why were they significant?
• 1935
• Banned marriage between Jews and non-Jews
• Removed citizenship from Jews and with it, the right to vote
• The ban on marriages indicated clearly that Jews were inferior
to the Germans
• The removal of citizenship meant Jews had no protection
from the law in Germany and with no vote they had no say
and so no way of protecting themselves
When was Kristallnacht and why was it
significant?
• 1938
• Attack coordinated by the government on Jewish businesses,
homes and synagogues.
• Windows were smashed and buildings burned down.
• At least 91 Jews were killed and 30,000 were put in
concentration camps
• It was the first time there had been ‘official’ violence against
the Jewish population and as such was a significant step up
from the previous treatment and an indicator of the organised
murder that was to come
Why were Pastor Niemoller and the White Rose Group
significant?
• Niemoller was the leader of the Confessional Church, a
Protestant church set up when the Nazis took control
of the main Reich Church in Germany
• Niemoller was an outspoken critic of the Nazis and
ended up in a concentration camp but survived
• The White Rose Group were a small group of students
at Munich University who wrote and published leaflets
criticising the Nazis and the war
• They were arrested and executed
• Both Niemoller and the White Rose proved that there
were people in Germany who did not accept the Nazis
and were brave enough to stand up to them