However, these institutions did not provide as much opposition as they could have done. One might have expected a united front by the churches against the regime and open condemnation of his policies. In fact, what open opposition there was often came from individuals within the churches rather than from the churches as a whole. It was in the Catholic Church’s interest to reach an agreement with the Nazis. The concordat between the Nazis and the pope signed in June 1933, guaranteed independence for the catholic church in its own affairs in return for a promise that its clergy would not interfere in political matters. This involved the catholic bishops taking an oath of loyalty to the Nazi state. For the Catholics this agreement seemed to grant them protection from Nazi interference and a guarantee of their survival. For the Nazis, the advantages of keeping the Catholics happy had already been amply demonstrated when the centre party helped to provide the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass the Enabling Act.
However, Hitler’s promises were not worth the paper they were written on. By the end of 1933 catholic priests were being harassed. In 1936, the catholic youth groups were forced to merge with the Hitler Youth and the closure of the monasteries and convents began. The pope responded in 1937 with an encyclical “With Burning Concern” which denounced the Nazi State, but this did little to stem the attacks on the church which in fact increased during the war.
The Nazis adopted a slightly different tactic with the protestant church. They tried to infiltrate it and control it from within. There was a nationalist movement called the “German Christians” and a new more nationalist church constitution was drawn up and Ludwig Muller, an ardent Nazi support was made Reich Bishop. Not all Protestants agreed with the new direction their church was taking, however. An alternative church was set up in 1934 for opponents, known as the “Confessing Church”, led by Pastor Martin Niemoller. He initially supported the Nazis and joined the party but became disillusioned, especially when they began to interfere with the church. His sermons attacking the Nazis religious policies and hi leadership of the Confessing Church led to his imprisonment in a series of concentration camps after 1938. It attracted the majority of the total protestant clergy, around 7000. However, the fact that it attracted so much support led to a dilution of Nazi policy. The Nazis certainly tried to undermine the influence and independence of the churches, with mixed results. They were fortunate not to face more united resistance from both churches, who opted for self-preservation and a defence of their religious freedoms as opposed to a strong defence of what we might term “Christian Values”.
The army was thus the only other institution in a position to mount a serious threat to Hitler but they chose to support him in 1934. The ambitious rearmament programme was divisive; older, more traditional officers were concerned with mass recruitment and remained suspicious of Hitler, until relations broke down as concern grew that his policies were becoming too radical, while younger officers welcomed the injection of more money into better and more plentiful equipment. The Night of the Long Knives was another of Hitler’s plans in order to “buy off” the army. He used it a settling of old political scores whilst claiming that he had responded to a treason plot. Hitler was thanked for his “determined and courageous action”. Thus, Hitler had succeeded in gaining the support and approval of the army, which was to be so crucial if he was to achieve his ambitious aims abroad. Rohm was assassinated in order to keep the SA under control. The SA ceased to be a serious military presence and became what Rohm feared – a propaganda show piece which could be displayed at events like the giant Nuremberg rallies. Their role as prime Para-military wing of the party was eclipsed by the SS, originally conceived as Hitler’s personal bodyguards in 1925.
However, this did not stop the High Command from plotting to assassinate Hitler, the most significant of which was the July Bomb Plot 1944. Count Claus von Stauffenberg placed a briefcase, which contained a bomb in order to blow Hitler up, which exploded on the third attempt. However, it had been moved further away from Hitler and he was not among the four killed. The Nazis executed 4000 people for complicity. The army’s resistance had no results as their plot failed to have a significant impact on the Nazi party, who had more power to overcome the opposition.
Although there was a small amount or organised religion amongst the main german institutions, there was a far greater deal of individual resistance to the Nazi regime. However, this was not as widespread as it could have been. There was no organised and legal opposition with which people could give their support but there was also a huge amount of political apathy from the general public. The successes of the Nazi party created a powerful sense that things were gradually getting better, and were certainly better compared to the years of the depression. The Nazis in fact achieved enough successes to win considerable popular support. The general fall in unemployment was a significant factor in this support, as were the return of strong leadership and the destruction of communism. In addition, the increased power and status of Germany following rearmament, conscription and foreign policy coups, such as the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, helped to convince people that in the long run, their country stood to gain from Nazi rule, however unpleasant certain aspects of this rule were. Thus, this created a sense of political apathy among the german citizens. If their lives were not affected by the problems or situation in Germany, then people became indifferent and apathetic towards german politics.
The outbreak of World War Two sparked a new sense of resistance among the german nation. Although the german people did not greet the outbreak of the war with enthusiasm, the early victories helped to sustain public confidence in the party. The sudden collapse of powerful countries such as France seemed to confirm the belief that Hitler was a military genius. However, by December 1940 the initial victories were over. The people could still remember the horror of 1918 and people were more concerned with maintaining peace and preventing the onslaught of the war. Mid-way through the war events like the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of El-Alamein, between October 1942 and February 1943, made influential figures in the army think that Germany would lose the war. Earlier in 1941 the Nazi party leaders, in secret, began working on a programme known as “The Final Solution”. In 1941 the army had begun massacring the Jews and at the Wanasee Conference in January in 1942 started the organisation of death camps. The german people were outraged by the massacring and so the Nazis decided to put the Jews into large ghettos. However, they were running low on land in which to place these ghettos and so the Nazis were forced to do something about the situation, and so, while the concentration camps were being built, the Nazis started liquidating the ghettos.
At this time the german citizens began to discover what Hitler was doing. Many were outraged; Jews in particular, at the deportations and some began fighting against Hitler. The Warsaw Uprising is an example of this. The Jews in Warsaw rose up against the SS in order to drive them out. However, 3000 Jews were killed along with 500 SS troops. The remaining survivors were taken to Auschwitz and gassed. Events like this created fear from the general people and so many individuals would not resist against the threat of the SS. However, there was a lack of apparatus to resist and only towards the end of the war, when Germany had lost, again, did the german people criticise and openly resist Hitler and the Nazis.
The estimated 1.3 million Germans who were sent to the concentration camps and the 300 000 who left Germany between 1933 and 1939 are an indication of widespread opposition to the Nazis. However, throughout the regime active resistance was only a minority affair. Successful policies, first economic and then foreign, made it hard to gain support for opposition activities. The power of the police state backed up by informers, was a further major obstacle. Most opposition groups were isolated and unable to co-operate. The war made opposition harder, but the defeats after 1943 inspired more attempts to remove Hitler. Institutions such as the army and the churches provided the best opportunities for resistance but they would not and could not become the significant opposing group to the Nazis. Aside from assassination attempts, the Nazi regime was secure, with its use of the Gestapo and concentration camps, and was only brought down by a vast coalition of enemy powers.
