"The most important reason why there was little opposition in Germany towards the Nazi regime was it's use of propaganda"

Another reason why there was so little opposition to the regime was the shear terror Hitler placed upon the public. Right from the start the Nazis showed there was no room for opposition during their regime and any incurred would not be tolerated. To enforce this point Hitler ordered the murder of hundreds of his opponents both in and out of the party, this was known as the “Night of the long knives”. The German public were horrified despite Hitler’s attempts to justify his actions. But despite this Hitler knew there would still be some people/organisations in Germany that would oppose him, so he set up several organisations to stop them. Firstly he set up “the SS (Blackshirt's)”. This was led by a man called “Heinrich Himmler” and was full of fanatical fans of Hitler. The SS had the primary responsibility for stopping all opposition to the Nazi regime and had virtually unlimited power to enforce this, e.g. arrest without trial and run concentration camps. Secondly, there was “the SA (Brownshirts)” who were no more than intimidators. It was their job to bully people, beat them up and ensure that there was no opposition whatsoever to Hitler. Thirdly, there was the secret police, or “the Gestapo”. As with the SS they were run by “Heinrich Himmler”. These were the most feared by the German citizens. This was because they had the right to arrest citizens on suspicion and send them to concentration camps. They would also tap telephones and read mail to catch any opposition before it even kicked of. Fourthly Hitler used Concentration camps to terrify the public. This was the Nazis ultimate sanction against opposition. Food was always limited and harsh discipline was used, it was also normal that once you entered you never left, the only escape was death. Occasionally a prisoner would be very harshly treated and then let out so he would spread the rumour of how bad these camps were. Finally, the use of the death penalty became more and more common as time progressed. To begin with it would be very serious crimes that carried this penalty but later on something as simple as listening to foreign radio stations incurred the death penalty. The use of these organisations and penalties greatly decreased opposition to the regime due to the terror the nation felt. The majority of Germans were terrified of being caught opposing Hitler’s regime so chose not to.

Another reason that there was such a lack of opposition was due to the fact that some people genuinely admired Hitler for various reasons. Firstly, many Germans thought Hitler was doing a good job. He had re-established Germany’s reputation in Europe and the rest of the world. Secondly, he had begun to rearm Germany ready for another war. Thirdly, they both shared some common hatred and Hitler had promised to abolish some of them, in particular he had torn up the treaty of Versailles and refused to pay reparation payments. He had also started to reclaim the Land taken from Germany after the war and rebuild its colony. Thirdly many Germans were overwhelmed that Hitler had given over 6 million unemployed people jobs. This was respected by the Germans as he had moved many of them out of poverty into houses, and work. Overall the Germans decided that all the good he had brought them far outweighed some of the compromises they had to make - meaning that they hadn’t opposed Hitler as they had an admiration for what he had done for them as people, and their country.

Throughout Germany there was a large amount of groups that opposed Hitler, but because they never united they were not strong enough to overpower the Nazi regime. Firstly, there were a variety of political parties, in particular the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party that went underground. They published anti-Nazi propaganda but very little reached the German people. In 1933 Hitler used the enabling law to ban all political parties. Secondly, there was the Catholic Church who could have easily overthrown the regime but chose not to oppose. Instead they signed the “concordat” which meant the church would stay out of politics and Hitler would stay out of the church, but Hitler did not keep to his word. The Protestant church also tried to oppose, but to keep control hundreds of priests were put into labour camps. Fourthly, many of the Army generals were very suspicious of Hitler and his policies. This angered Hitler greatly and in 1938 large numbers of generals were sacked. Fifthly, there were several youth groups that opposed Hitler. These youths didn’t attend the Hitler youth and were more interested in socialising and dancing to unapproved music (e.g. English, American and Jazz). These youths also found it fun to ambush the Hitler youths as neither got on with each other. In order to try and stop these youths Hitler condemned them as degenerate citizens and members of the “Swing Movement”, and issued pictures and posters to help citizens to identify them. Sixthly, there was a small organisation called the “White Rose” run by “Hans and Sophie Scholl”. They handed out pamphlets appealing for people to oppose the Nazi’s. It was not long before in 1943 the government arrested and executed the “Scholls” and other members of the organisation.

In conclusion, it is clear that none of the opposition did work as the Nazi regime continued until Germany lost the Second World War, but we have to ask why? One of the main reasons was the use of propaganda and the fact that this influenced the public’s opinion in favour of the Nazis. Another key factor was the terror the Nazis had over the German public and their use of concentration camps. Thirdly, was the lack of true opposition as the people/groups opposing Hitler did not unite together. This could have been due to fear or the fact that they all wanted different outcomes from their opposition. There was also a lack of high end opposition which would have stopped Hitler dead in his tracks. On the other hand there was also a lot of admiration for Hitler and for what he had done for the country. This admiration outweighs a lot of the opposition as they were in favour of the Nazis so were not tolerant of the opposition.