Why Was There so Little Opposition to the Nazi Regime?
Why Was There So Little Opposition to the Nazi Regime?
It is very difficult to judge the levels of opposition to the Nazi regime because of the extreme measures that were in place to suppress it. This being the case therefore, can we conclude that the fact that there was relatively little political resistance meant that the German population were too scared to speak out, as they knew what the consequences would be? Or was it perhaps that the government had taken measures to ensure that the German population did not feel the need to air any grievances that they had with the Nazi party, because they didn’t have any?
Adolf Hitler, when appointed Chancellor in 1933, wanted to use his newly acquired power base to create a new Volksgemeinschaft a new German nation. However, in order to be in this new ‘master race’ having ‘Aryan’ qualities was essential, as well as being socially and politically committed to the Fuhrer. In order to create this new community the government needed to make the various groups which constituted the German public sympathetic to their cause. The most obvious place to start was youth indoctrination.
The Nazi’s used two major institutions to convey their ideology to the younger generation: the school system and youth groups. The Hitler Youth offered a fun and exciting way of turning the youth of Germany into a group of people ready for the life devoted to the state that the Volksgemeinschaft required. However, as membership became compulsory there were children attending who did not want to engage themselves in war like simulations, but rather listen to music and play games like children their age did the world over. This increased as the biased nature of the Hitler Youth became more apparent. Considering that popular western pastimes such as Jazz music and swing dancing were strictly prohibited by the state, it is unsurprising that there were young people who rebelled and did such things for enjoyment. One such group was the Edelweiss Pirates,
It is very difficult to judge the levels of opposition to the Nazi regime because of the extreme measures that were in place to suppress it. This being the case therefore, can we conclude that the fact that there was relatively little political resistance meant that the German population were too scared to speak out, as they knew what the consequences would be? Or was it perhaps that the government had taken measures to ensure that the German population did not feel the need to air any grievances that they had with the Nazi party, because they didn’t have any?
Adolf Hitler, when appointed Chancellor in 1933, wanted to use his newly acquired power base to create a new Volksgemeinschaft a new German nation. However, in order to be in this new ‘master race’ having ‘Aryan’ qualities was essential, as well as being socially and politically committed to the Fuhrer. In order to create this new community the government needed to make the various groups which constituted the German public sympathetic to their cause. The most obvious place to start was youth indoctrination.
The Nazi’s used two major institutions to convey their ideology to the younger generation: the school system and youth groups. The Hitler Youth offered a fun and exciting way of turning the youth of Germany into a group of people ready for the life devoted to the state that the Volksgemeinschaft required. However, as membership became compulsory there were children attending who did not want to engage themselves in war like simulations, but rather listen to music and play games like children their age did the world over. This increased as the biased nature of the Hitler Youth became more apparent. Considering that popular western pastimes such as Jazz music and swing dancing were strictly prohibited by the state, it is unsurprising that there were young people who rebelled and did such things for enjoyment. One such group was the Edelweiss Pirates,