German Resistance Summary: By Nilab & Sigma

The gestapo (Secret police) 

Adolf Hitler was the oppressive dictator of Germany from 1918-1924, and suppressed any criticism from the German people using his secret police called the Gestapo. However, German people that disliked Hitler’s ways resisted their "Fuhrer" and risked getting executed and arrested. Some Germans disliked Hitler so extensively that they plotted his assassination as the article from the Holocaust Museum states. Other ways in which Germans resisted Hitler's orders were by assisting Jewish people. Anna Rudolph was a German that was interviewed by Historians and featured in an article in the book "Perspectives on modern world history: The Holocaust". She and other Germans hid Jewish people and prevented Hitler's army from taking them to concentration camps to be executed brutally.




Even some German children knew how Hitler's actions were wrong and resisted Hitler's hate messages using opportunities they had. Hitler youth was a mandatory school program for children and some did not take part in this compulsory program because they did not want to be apart of the Nazis. Some German citizens were completely unaware of Hitler's actions because the Nazi's controlled all media and filled newspapers and radios with Nazi propaganda. In the Holocaust Museum article, the historians mentioned how some Germans distributed leaflets that spoke out against Nazism and were arrested or never seen again. Among these Germans were Sophie and Hans Scholl, two siblings/ students who started a "white rose movement" and advocated against Nazism. These visionary Germans were arrested and accused of treason then condemned to death.

Anti-nazi Propaganda 

 

Hitler youth propaganda 

Hans and Sophie Scholl with white rose members

                                                             











Around the world, many accuse Germans of blindly following Hitler's footsteps. However what people fail to see is that Germans have tried to resist the Nazi's many times. Throughout history many Germans lost their lives brutally for trying to make a difference and stop anti-Semitism or trying to move past the time period of Nazi Germany.


To read more about German resistance or about the Holocaust visit This link

Other Interesting Facts:


- The gestapo were a group of Nazi secret police that arrested anyone against Nazism and the German citizens did not know what happened to those arrested. (We now know about the concentration camps)

-Hitler made sure that NO ONE could oppose the Nazi's and even condemned his "beloved" Aryan people to death if they disliked his ways

-The white rose movement leaflets were dropped from airplanes on Germany from allies of others in the war (wow, the entire world wanted to stop Hitler!)


"Holocaust History." German Resistance to Hitler. Web. 04 May 2012. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005208>.

Above is a video that explains the White Rose movement's actions.


Situations from the Book Thief that support Anti-Nazism:


Liesel's thoughts : " All Jews are not all the same"

Liesel: "I hate Hitler" (Zusak,115)

Max: "Sometimes I dream of me fighting Hitler and I win" (Zusak, 251)

Plot: "Hans presented the Jew with a piece of bread" (Zusak, 394)

Plot: "The Hubermann's hid Max in their basement and treated him like family". (Zusak, 223)


Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. 1st ed. United States: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print.