Opposition to the Nazi regime 1939
How much opposition to the Nazis was there by 1939?
In 1933 the Enabling law was created, which allowed Hitler to rule without opposition for a period of four years. Hitler’s two main political opponents, the Social Democratic party, and the Communist party were banned, so they tried to secretly produce anti-Nazi propaganda, though not much of it was seen by the German people anyway.
Opposition from artists and authors was common because they were concerned about the effect on artistic freedom, because there were many restrictions on it. Some decided to speak out or produce work opposing the restrictions, others, including Albert Einstein, chose to emigrate.
The Nazis knew of the importance of the church, and understood that they had to maintain positive relationships with it. Many Germans were Christians, which would have made major opposition from them fatal to the Nazis, so they had to keep on good terms with them.
At first the Christian churches seemed very happy with the way the Nazis worked, because the encouragement of family values and the campaign against immorality appealed to basic Christian beliefs and standards. In 1933 the Catholic Church and the Nazis signed an agreement called the Concordat, which said that the church would not make comments on political issues if the Nazis would not interfere with religion. However, Hitler failed to keep his side of the bargain. He grew more and more critical of the Church, as he felt that their Catholic youth programme was rivalling the Hitler youth. In 1937, Pope Pius XI claimed that Nazism was antichristian, and in 1941 a letter from the pope criticizing the Nazis for ‘abuse of human rights’ was read out in catholic churches. Hitler was angered by this and retaliated, sending nuns and priests to labour camps.
When Hitler set up the Reich church to maintain control, the positive relationship with the Protestant church deteriorated. Around 800 protestant churchmen attempted to speak out against
In 1933 the Enabling law was created, which allowed Hitler to rule without opposition for a period of four years. Hitler’s two main political opponents, the Social Democratic party, and the Communist party were banned, so they tried to secretly produce anti-Nazi propaganda, though not much of it was seen by the German people anyway.
Opposition from artists and authors was common because they were concerned about the effect on artistic freedom, because there were many restrictions on it. Some decided to speak out or produce work opposing the restrictions, others, including Albert Einstein, chose to emigrate.
The Nazis knew of the importance of the church, and understood that they had to maintain positive relationships with it. Many Germans were Christians, which would have made major opposition from them fatal to the Nazis, so they had to keep on good terms with them.
At first the Christian churches seemed very happy with the way the Nazis worked, because the encouragement of family values and the campaign against immorality appealed to basic Christian beliefs and standards. In 1933 the Catholic Church and the Nazis signed an agreement called the Concordat, which said that the church would not make comments on political issues if the Nazis would not interfere with religion. However, Hitler failed to keep his side of the bargain. He grew more and more critical of the Church, as he felt that their Catholic youth programme was rivalling the Hitler youth. In 1937, Pope Pius XI claimed that Nazism was antichristian, and in 1941 a letter from the pope criticizing the Nazis for ‘abuse of human rights’ was read out in catholic churches. Hitler was angered by this and retaliated, sending nuns and priests to labour camps.
When Hitler set up the Reich church to maintain control, the positive relationship with the Protestant church deteriorated. Around 800 protestant churchmen attempted to speak out against