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HI136 The History of Germany
Lecture 12
Everyday Life and the
Possibility of Resistance
Discussion Questions
• Was the NS regime a totalitarian
dictatorship?
• What is resistance?
• How useful are the categories victim,
resistor, and collaborator in describing
people who lived under the Third
Reich?
Control of Information
Reich Ministry
Propaganda and
Enlightenment
Reichskulturkammer
(Reich Camber of Culture)
Theatre
Film
Press
Fine Arts
Music
Literature
Ministry of Propaganda
“I view the first task of the new
ministry [of Propaganda] as
being to establish co-ordination
between the Government and
the whole people . . . It is not
enough for people to be more
or less reconciled to our
regime, to be persuaded to
adopt a neutral attitude towards
us, rather we want to work on
people
until
they
have
capitulated to us, until they
grasp ideologically that what is
happening in Germany today is
not an end in itself, but a
means to an end.”
Josef Goebbels, 15 March
1933
Themes
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Anti-Semitism
Anti-Bolshevism
Awakening of the German people
Superiority of the Aryan race
Mastery of Central Europe
(Lebensraum)
• Volksgemeinschaft (People‘s
community)
• Hitler myth
Broadcasting
• 1933: Reich Radio Company
established – a single state
broadcaster controlled by the
government.
• In 1932, only 25% of German
households owned a radio
(Volksempfänger, People’s
Receiver). By 1939 70% of
German families have access
to a radio, and announcements
broadcast by loudspeakers in
public places.
• ‘Radio Wardens’ made sure
that people tuned in to Nazi
propaganda.
The Press
• Germany had nearly 5,000
different daily newspapers in
1933.
• Eher Verlag (Nazi publisher)
bought up papers – it owned
2/3 of the German press by
1939.
• The Government controlled
news stories at source
through the state news
agency, DNB.
• ‘Editor’s Law’ (Oct. 1933)
made editors personally
responsible for content.
Culture and the Arts
Key themes expressing Nazi ideology:
• Anti-Semitism
• Militarism & the glorification of war
• Nationalism
• The purity and superiority of the Aryan race
• The cult of the Führer
• Anti-modernism
• Neo-paganism
Nazi cinema focused on propaganda films,
historical epics and feel-good musicals and
comedies
Sculpture by Josef Thorak (1937)
Education and Youth
•
‘Co-ordination’ of education
system
– ‘Politically unreliable’ teachers
sacked.
– Curriculum brought into line with
Nazi ideology.
•
Youth Organizations:
– Deutsches Jungvolk (German
Young People, DJ) – Boys aged
10-14.
– Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) –
Boys aged 14-18.
– Jungmädelbund (League of
Young Girls) – Girls aged 10-14.
– Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of
German Girls, BDM) – Girls aged
14-18.
Religion
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•
•
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National Socialism fundamentally anti-Christian.
The German Faith Movement attempted to introduce a kind of völkisch
neo-paganism.
July 1933: Concordat with the Vatican promises religious freedom for
Catholics in exchange for a promise to keep out of politics.
Attempts to ‘co-ordinate’ the Protestant churches:
– The German Christians sought to merge Protestantism with Nazi ideology.
– July 1933: new church constitution introduced and Ludwig Müller appointed
Reich Bishop.
The Nazi Calendar
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30th January – The Seizure of Power
24th February – The refounding of the Party (1925)
First Sunday in March – Heroes Remembrance Day
20th April – Hitler’s Birthday
1st May – National Day of Labour
Second Sunday in May – Mothering Sunday
September – Annual Nuremberg Party Rally
9th November – Munich Putsch (1923)
NS Party Organization and
Leadership
The Role of Hitler
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•
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August 1934: Posts of President &
Chancellor combined. Hitler formally
adopted the title Fuhrer.
He was Head of State & Head of
Government, as well as
Commander-in-Chief of the armed
forces, head of the civil service, and
party leader.
In theory he had unlimited power.
One of the central debates on the
functioning of the Third Reich
surrounds Hitler’s role.
The Schutzstaffel (SS)
Group photo of an SS wedding in the grounds of
the Main Office for Race and Settlement (1936).
Himmler stands to the right of the bride.
Heinrich Himmler
Reichsführer SS and Chief of Police
SS
Ordnungspolizei
(order police)
Municipal police
Sipo
Security Police
(Heydrich)
Kripo
Gestapo
Criminal Police Secret state police
Leibstandarte
Waffen SS
Totenkopfverbände
SD
Security Service
(Heydrich)
Foreign
intelligence
Domestic
intelligence
Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler
(1900-1945)
SS-Obergruppenführer
Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942)
“I swear by God this sacred oath: I will
render unconditional obedience to Adolf
Hitler, the Führer of the German nation
and people, Supreme Commander of
the armed forces, and will be ready as a
true soldier to risk my life at any time for
this oath”.
Military Oath of Allegiance
The Historiography of
Resistance
•
Used to legitimize post-war states
– East German historians presented Communist resistance as the only anti-Fascist
force in Germany.
– West German historiography concerned with accusations of ‘collective guilt’ &
presented resistance as based on high moral and ethical values, the individual
standing up against tyranny.
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1960s: Hans Mommsen – argued that national-conservative resistance
rooted in the anti-democratic right of the 1920s.
1970s: Peter Hüttenberger & Martin Broszat – resistance in everyday life.
Broszat – Resistenz (immunity): people retain their moral & ethical values
without actively challenging the regime.
Mommsen – Widerstandpraxis (Resistance Practice): resistance was a
process encompassing different forms of dissent as individuals came to
reject the regime in its entirety.
Ian Kershaw – Two approaches to the study of resistance: Fundamentalist
(dealing with those committed to the overthrow of the regime) and Societal
(dealing with dissent in everyday life).
Forms of Opposition and Dissent
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Organising a coup
Attempting to assassinate Hitler and other leaders
Going on strike
Helping victims of Nazism
Spying for foreign governments
Deserting from the armed forces
Committing suicide
Emigrating
Distributing anti-Nazi leaflets
Underachieving in the workplace
Absconding from work
Publicly criticising the regime, telling anti-Hitler jokes
Listening to American jazz and the BBC
Not giving the Hitler greeting
Refusing to join Nazi organisations
Reading banned Nazi literature
George Elser (1903-1945)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
Sophie Scholl (1921-1943)
Hans Scholl (1918-1943)
Plots against Hitler, 1938-45
• May-September 1938: Army plot to depose Hitler.
• November 1939: George Esler attempts to
assassinate Hitler during the annual commemoration
of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.
• 13 March 1943: Attempt to blow up Hitler’s plane.
• March 1943-March 1944: Various military plots to
assassinate Hitler orchestrated by Colonel Henning
von Tresckow and General Friedrich Olbricht.
• 20 July 1944: Plot to kill Hitler with a bomb planted in
his military headquarters in East Prussia.