To what extent was the severity of Nazi repression an indication

The Opposition groups that existed in Hitler's regime ranged from opposition groups motivated by the desire for freedom, to resistance groups, motivated by riding Germany of Hitler at any cost. However, the Nazi regime was not willing to tolerate this, and in most cases, not all, the strength of the repression was an indication to the effectiveness of the opposition groups. The Swing and Jazz youth groups, consisted predominantly teenagers from upper middle class background, whose opposition consisted of listening to "Hot Jazz" and taking "uninhibited indulgence in swing" in illegal dances attended by up to 6,000.

The Nazi's detested Jazz, as it was American ("mongrel" by being comprised of several different ethnic backgrounds which would go against the Nazis social standards) music and was concerned that the American stations would entice the youths with American propaganda. Therefore, the Gestapo issued strict clampdowns on the groups, with Himmler's suggested punishment to be "beaten, given the severest exercise and then put into hard labour". Nevertheless, it is probable that there was no political motivation, just the youthful desire to have a good time.It was quite apparent that they posed no real threat to the Nazis, and thus, their punishment was one of the least severe, throughout Hitler's regime. In comparison, the Edelweiss Pirates (who emerged in the late 1930's) were "working class" (source 3) and posed a slightly stronger threat. There was no political ideology, they held antipathy towards the uniformity towards the Hitler Youth and were motivated by the lack of freedom in Germany.

They stressed their free-spirited individuality by wearing a distinctive uniform including a checked shirt and Edelweiss flower badge, which was used by the Gestapo as means of identification.They also held similarities with "Raving Dudes" and "Navajos". Their initial resistance started with the graffiti slogans such as "Eternal War on Hitler Youth", with whom, they took part in "pitched battles" and sang parodies of Hitler youth songs and tell rude jokes. It was this hostility towards the Hitler Youth that worried the authorities, moreover, towards the end of the war their attitude changed distinctively from rebellion to resistance.

They posted American and British leaflets into local letterboxes, shielded army deserters and joined resistance fighters, especially Communist.The Nazi responses for these non-conformist activities were by no means uniform. They regarded the Pirates as extremely hostile and a growing danger to the Hitler Youth and therefore issued a major onslaught. 7th December 1942 739 Pirates placed into "re-education camp" to instil conformity towards Nazism.

A far more callous punishment was given to the leaders in October 1944, who were publicly hanged. This therefore highlights the fact that the Edelweiss pirates were a more effective threat and their repression was comparatively a lot more hostile.The "White Rose" are the group consisting of brother and sister Sophie and Hans Schmorrel, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf and Kurt Huber, were students at Munich University, who were primarily motivated by the lack of freedom. Their aim was for a post - Nazi Germany that would be based on "freedom of speech, freedom of confession", i. e. Religion.

From the summer 1942 to February 1943 they produced six pamphlets, and aspired to influence "educated" Germans with an alternative Government all of which stressed Hitler's regime as evil and corrupt and were delivered in the dead of night.However, it was not long before the Gestapo found out about the leaflets and began to search for the producers. In an attempt to try and repress the resistance, a blunt and insulting speech was given to the University students, after which the Gestapo arrested any of the students who were caught booing. This led to the first significant anti Nazi demonstration in Munich since 1933.

This controversial behaviour led to severe scrutiny of the University students.Nevertheless, the group made what turned out to be their last pamphlet, which Hans and Sophie issued early on the morning of February 18th. In doing so they were arrested by the Gestapo, within the next ten days the other members of the group were also arrested. Both Sophie and Hans were interrogated for 20 hours in which they confessed. When Sophie, Hans and Christoph arrived at the "people's court" there were clear signs of severe beatings and all three were sentenced to die by guillotine immediately; a sentence, the other members of the group had to face.Although the White Rose were a group the were no military threat to the Nazis they were making a difference in their University and the Totalitarian regime they lived in did not allow opposition in any form.

Consequently, as their opposition was so strong their repression had to be equivalent, thus, leading to their death. It was not only the youth that opposed Hitler; there was also resistance from the religious groups who had problems with the totalitarian regime Hitler had imposed. Groups such as the Protestant church that had initially joined from the original 28 to one "Reich" church in 1933.They then elected Nazi state as their new "Reich Bishop" and expelled all "non-Aryan" Pastors. Although some Protestants went along with this new church, some hated it, such as Reverend Martin Niemoller who established the "Confessing Church", in September 1933. Niemoller protested that the foundation of the church should be God and not the Nazis and in May 1936 the church sent a memorandum to Hitler denouncing the "de-Christianity of German life" The Nazis responded to this by placing the 6000 Pastors of the Confessing Church under close surveillance.

00 of those were arrested by the Gestapo and incarcerated in concentration camps where they remained until the end of the war.It is most likely that the lives of these Pastors were saved mainly because their resistance was challenging, but not completely antagonistic. The division in the different types of Protestantism meant the strength of their opposition was weaker than it could have been and it appears that the Nazis had taken that into consideration. The strength of the Catholic opposition had a far greater potential in comparison to the Protestant church, as they had a stronger united force.Although the Catholic Church had signed the Concordat, the Nazis freely broke agreements, however, it seemed the way to ensure that Catholicism could still be practiced safely.

However there was a certain amount of safety they would be given as the Headquarters were outside Germany in Rome and therefore outside of Hitler's immediate power, for that time. Opposition was more commonly found from the priests and the local Parish members, rather than from the church hierarchy.During 1936 they successfully fought against the Nazis to keep crucifixes in the church and in March 1937 the Pope gave his speech entitled "With Burning Anxiety" (source 4). In this the Pope accused the Nazis of "idolatry", however, it is still strongly believed that the Pope did not really create an effective threat, just an opinion. The strength and oppositional potential of the Catholic Church was shown by the fact that the Gestapo incarcerated 400 Catholic Priests into Dachau Concentration Camp alone.

However, opposition from the church would have been a difficult situation for both parties.Hitler could use his close relations between Mussolini in Italy, to threat the Papal territories. On the other hand, the Catholic Church was prevalent and therefore a difficult religion to control. This delicate balance of power is likely to be the reason why there was not as an extreme repression, such as numerous deaths, for example. In contrast to this type of repression was that of the Jehovah's Witness. Due to their religious convictions, they refused to pick up any weapons, join the army or have anything to do with the Nazi's.

In these cases the SS arrested whole families of Jehovah Witnesses and an astounding one third of Jehovah's Witnesses were murdered in Concentration Camps. In this case it appears that the effectiveness of their resistance did not match their repression, especially as they posed no military threat and only opposed the Nazis on the grounds of being passifists. However, as the Jehovah's Witness was a minority religion, their murders would have been less opposed, making it more straightforward for the Nazi's. As well as youth and religious opposition there was also political opposition notably, from the Communist (KPD) and Socialist party (SPD).Hitler had banned both parties in the "Legal revolution" of 1933, it was consequently necessary for the parties to lead underground resistance.

The KPD were the first party to experience the full potency of Nazi terror. All KPD activities were declared illegal and the SS launched brutal raids on working class suburbs in major German cities, seizing all propaganda material, in an attempt to demoralise and deter them from mounting resistance. In addition, pro-communist newspapers were closed down and thousands of Communists were put into concentration camps.The KPD had expected vicious repression, but not to this extent.

In an attempt to save themselves the leaders of the KPD fled to Prague, Paris and finally Moscow after 1941. They were forced to change from the 360,000 mass party into a clandestine underground organisation. The most important underground activity was the distribution of anti-nazi literature, with newspapers such as Red Flag and the production of over one million leaflets in two years. Repression for these crimes was extremely fierce, From1933 to 1939, 150,000 Communists were detained in Nazi Concentration Camps and a further 30,000, were executed.The main reason for their rigorous repression against the KPD was because they had the potential of joining the Socialist Party. Combined it was very feasible that they could even overthrow the Nazis.

Due to this the Socialist Party also faced harsh repression, they disbanded into exile to Prague, Paris and eventually London, where they continued a sophisticated exiled leadership. One of the groups, The Red Shock Troop had gained 3,000 members, mainly University students; by the end of 1933 they had created a newspaper of the same name and were suggesting that the Nazis were to be overthrown by a workers' revolution.In December of that year, the leaders were arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in concentration camps. The other exiled SPD leaders supplied SPD's Berlin Regional committee who took part in a number of resistance activities, including circulating the Socialist Action newspaper.

In January 1935, the Gestapo arrested the leaders of the committee and in 1938 SPD Leadership concluded that underground resistance was too dangerous and trying to overthrow the totalitarian regime seemed futile. Remaining activists concentrated on collecting German public opinion.As well as these two major Political parties, there were other smaller offspring's of the party, such as, The Red Orchestra (A spy network that passed on Military information and who were eventually discovered and put on trial and executed), The Uhrig group (who made it their mission to defend the Soviet Union at all costs, 200 members were arrested by the Gestapo and their 100 active members were executed) and The Baum Group (thirty pro-Communists, all of whom were Jewish, their most daring act was breaking into anti Soviet exhibition, organised by the Ministry of Propaganda and set fire to the exhibitions, when rounded up by the Gestapo they were subjected to appalling torture before being killed, in addition 500 Berlin based Jews who had no contact with the group were arrested and executed). In these cases the Baum Group, had suffered a far more harsh repression in comparison to the others.

It is probable that the reason for this is the fact that they were Jewish, according to the Nazis a "crime" in itself. For all of the previous mentioned parties it seemed obvious that "the key to any chance of success was the army" (source 5). There had been an increase in the negative attitude towards Hitler and some had become disillusioned with the regime and convinced Hitler should be overthrown. One of which was Colonel Stauffenberg. When he learnt of the assassination plan organised by Beck from the Beck-Geordeler group, he keenly joined. They then went on to recruit a significant number of young officers including the famous Field Marshal Rommel, "the Desert Fox".

Stauffenburg took the responsibility of the attempt on Hitler's life. After two aborted attempts, the 20 July 1944 was chosen. At 12. 30p. m Stauffenburg was to leave a bomb with a 30minute fuse under a table as near to Hitler as possible.

He then left and boarded a plane bound for Berlin; sure that Hitler had been killed he told the rest of the group that the mission had been successful. Stauffenburg and his leading four accomplices were placed under arrest and executed by a quick assembling firing squad. In a further act of reprisal against the coup, all the members of the Stauffenburg family, even distant members, were arrested and many of them executed.Most of the leading German aristocratic families who had helped Hitler gain power were killed in an orgy of Nazi murders.

The remaining figures involved in the bomb plot were promptly arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the "People's Court" where they were humiliated by the judge before being sentenced to death, a death that took place in the most horrific manner, on meat hooks, suspended by piano wire. The exact number of the convicted and executed is not quite known, but as many as 5,000 were executed or murdered as a result of the failed bomb plot. It appears that the most effective attempt to rid Germany of Hitler, was matched by the most atrocious and severe repression of them all.In conclusion, there appears to be a constant relation to the severity of the opposition to the severity of the repression, in that, most of the time the strength of the repression was an indication of the strength of the effectiveness of the groups, as seen with the Swing and Jazz youth resistance and the Army opposition. However, due to the Nazi regime's strict policy there were some cases that were quite contrary to this and their repression did not indicate the strength of their opposition such as the Jewish, Baum Group.

Nonetheless, it also remains constant that opposition to Hitler was an uphill struggle and was not tolerated at any level, by anyone.