Connor Shanley
In the book Hitler’s Willing Executioner’s, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen talks about how the German people under the Nazi regime were all willing to help Hitler commit his crimes against humanity. It is important, however, to acknowledge the fact there were Germans who disagreed with Hitler and who protested his policies. These people cannot be forgotten; they stood in the face of evil and defied it. These groups carried some of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century from Sophie Scholl to one of the most famous theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some of these groups were non-violent, such as the White Rose society, who simply protested Hitler’s policies through writing. Other groups such as the Valkyrie plot and the Abwehr plot tried to eliminate Hitler and replace his government. Both violent and non-violent German resistance to Hitler under the Nazi regime was effective in discrediting and weakening the Nazi government.
The German resistance to Hitler was not made up of one organization. The resistance was made by many different efforts, and it manifested itself in many different ways. The first real resistance to Hitler came before he even got power. The first people to protest Hitler were the communists and socialists; during Hitler’s campaign for election, they protested against Hitler. After he took power, these communists and socialists helped Jews and political prisoners escape to friendly countries. When war broke out with Russia, they helped the invading Russian army with food, money, supplies, and information.
The communists and socialists never united into one single movement; they were rather scattered efforts throughout Germany. Three other major united movements or groups within Germany, who stood against Hitler, though. The first was a non-violent group known as the White Rose Society. The White Rose Society was established in 1942 at the University of Munich. It was founded by three students: Christoph Probst, Hans Scholl, and Sophie Scholl. These students did not lead any coup attempts or try to start a civil war. These students simply spoke about living in an inhumane society.
Hans and Sophie Scholl both originally supported the Nazi government. They were both proud members of the Hitler youth. Their parents were never supportive of the Nazi’s, however. Hans’s and Sophie’s view began to radically change when the Nazis started to invade other countries. Though their views changed in the 1930s, they didn’t start writing until 1942. This is when they began to write about the “Enslavement” of the German people under the Nazis.
In the summer of 1942, the White Rose Society started writing their first leaflets. The leaflets were entitled “Leaflets of the White Rose.” The first leaflet was dropped in the fall of 1942. It started some real disorder in Germany. People began printing copies and distributing them to other cities. The writings impacted some students in Hamburg so much they started their own “White Rose Society.” In Munich, anti-Nazi graffiti began to spread rapidly. The leaflets were even given to U.S. soldiers before they invaded North Africa. In the winter of 1943, the publications had to stop because Hans and Christoph were both sent to fight on the Eastern Front against the Russians. Once they returned in February, they started work on a second pack of leaflets entitled the “The Leaflets of Resistance.” Only two of these were published, however, before they were all arrested on February, 18, 1943. On February 22, their trial began. The three founding members stood bravely, but on February 23, all three were beheaded.
Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst, and Sophie Scholl served as martyrs for the academic community who stood against Hitler. Unfortunately, the Hamburg branch of the White Rose Society was also caught and many were sentenced to death. These examples served to inspire others to speak out against Hitler. This is the most well-known non-violent resistance to Hitler. There were many coup attempts on Hitler. Some of these attempts were non-violent; they simply wanted to overthrow Hitler, with no blood shed. Others were full-on assassination plots. These coup attempts came from many different places within German society. The most famous ones and the ones that almost worked, though, came from inside Hitler’s own military.
General Ludwig Beck was the Chief of General Staff of the German army. When Hitler announced Germany was going to invade the ethnically German parts of Austria, Beck was outraged. Beck said he would refuse to carry through any order pertaining to the invasion of Austria. Beck did not have to carry through any orders to invade Austria. Austria was annexed as part of Germany and did not put up any fight. In 1938, Hitler announced plans to invade the ethnically German part of Czechoslovakia. General Beck had a major problem with killing any Germans, even it was just through ethnicity. Beck again protested, suggesting all generals of the German army should resign because it would be a crime to kill other Germans.
He sent the following letter to his fellow generals: “The very existence of the nation is at stake. History will attribute a blood-guilt to leaders that do not act in accordance with their professional expertise and political conscience. Your military duty to obey [orders] ends where your knowledge, your conscience and your responsibility forbids the execution of an order. If in such a situation, your advice and warnings are ignored, then it is your right and your duty before the Nation and History to resign from your positions” (Schrader, “The First Coup”).
This failed not because other generals didn’t agree with him, but because they were afraid of what might happen to them. Beck resigned his post, but Franz Halder agreed with Beck. Franz Halder and General Hans Oster, head of counter intelligence, made a plan to arrest Hitler. They made a plan down to the tee to execute if Hitler ordered the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately, the English and the French signed away Czechoslovakia, and there was no fight over it. So the generals could never carry out their plans, because there was no invasion.
After the first unsuccessful coup attempt, Hitler began to conquer all of Europe. By 1941, Hitler had conquered from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean Sea. Among the German public he was very popular. Hitler began to lose popularity in December of 1941, when he tried to invade Russia. Now Generals Beck, Olbricht, and Bussche began to make a plan to overthrow the Nazi regime. They were just waiting for Hitler to get more unpopular. General Olbricht wrote a plan in case of an uprising known as plan “Valkyrie.” Valkyrie detailed the set-up of a new government in the case of Hitler’s death or a rebellion. The plan was constructed so when Hitler was killed the Nazi regime would be taken out. In 1943, Oster and Tresckow joined the plot. In the summer of that year, Tresckow obtained plastic explosives from the English and placed it on Hitler’s plane. This attempt did not succeed. The bomb didn’t go off.
There were many other assassination attempts. One included all the conspirators shooting Hitler at lunch, but many objected saying it wasn’t honorable. They agreed on one plan in July of 1944. The plan was to have Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg plant a bomb in one of Hitler’s meetings. This was the best option so that way the bomb wouldn’t just kill Hitler, it would kill his advisers as well. The plan was originally set for July 12, but it was delayed because Hitler’s right-hand man wasn’t present.
On July 15, however, Von Stauffenberg asked for permission to carry out the plan and plant the bomb. Olbricht could no longer wait and gave the order to go ahead and plant the bomb. The bomb went off but did not kill Hitler; the bomb was behind a leg of the oak table. Hitler’s life would have ended if the bomb was just half a foot to the right or left. They still tried to carry out plan Valkyrie. It didn’t work. The Nazis quickly stopped the plan. All the conspirators were caught; most were shot on sight.
The next attempt on Hitler’s life was led by one of the most famous theologians of the 20th century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer mixed the two types of resistance: at the beginning of the Nazi rule over Germany, he was passive. He simply was protecting the church; once the war started happening, Bonhoeffer realized violent action was necessary. He decided Hitler must be killed.
Dietrich Bonheoffer was born February 4, 1906. He was homeschooled in his early years. Bonheoffer graduated from Union Seminary in New York in 1930. In 1931, he began teaching at the theological faculty in Berlin. In 1933, Hitler’s rise to power sparked much debate within the German protestant church. There was a debate if they should let “non-Aryans” serve as pastors. Bonhoeffer was opposed to this idea of the Church putting a race restriction on pastors. Bonhoeffer was getting worried the Nazi regime was starting to take too much power in the church. Bonhoeffer formed his own church, called the confessing church. The Nazis were infuriated by Bonhoeffer’s teaching, and they outlawed his church. The fact the Nazis outlawed it did not make a huge impact, however; Bonheoffer still had an underground seminary for his church.
In 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer decided to join the “Abwehr” plot to kill Hitler. He continued on with the church until he was arrested in April 1943, after it was discovered he had given money to help Jews escape to Switzerland. The Abwehr plot still carried on, though, and on July 20, 1944, five days after the Valkyrie plot, the Abwehr plot tried to kill Hitler but failed. It was discovered Bonhoeffer was part of this plot. He was then sentenced to death and was executed in April 1945.
All of these groups showed great courage in the face of evil. They all stood up for what they believed was right and paid for it. It is important to recognize not all Germans supported the Nazis; some fought and gave their lives trying to defeat the Nazis. Others simply spoke the truth. In the end, all these groups succeeded in making the Nazi regime less powerful. They made other Germans realize what a twisted organization the Nazis were.
Bibliography
Barnett, Victoria. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” Ushmm.org. 1st ed. National Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2009. Web. 10 October 2010.
Braun, Elihai. “Dietrich Bonheoffer.” Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 1st ed. Jewish Virtual Library, 2009. Web. 12 October 2010.
Hornberger, Jacob. “A Lesson in Dissent.” Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 1st ed. Jewish Virtual Library, 2010. Web. 10 October 2010.
Scholl, Igne. The White Rose: Munich 1942 – 1943. Farmington, PA: Weslyan University Press, 1983.
Schrader, Helena P. “1938: The First Coup Attempt.” Valkyrie-plot.com. 2nd ed. 23 April 2008. Web. 10 October 2010.
—. “1942: Plan Valkyrie.” Valkyrie-plot.com. 2nd ed. 23 April 2008. Web. 12 October 2010.
Redeeming Pandora 