There is a lot of mixed evidence, which supports different points of view. And what exactly can we consider opposition? If people disagreed with the Nazi policies, yet still followed them, their disagreement did not have any impact whatsoever. Is that real opposition then? "What opposition there was seems to have been most significant in private life with groups of like-minded workers meeting secretly in order to keep alive their hopes for a better future." I believe that it there was definitely a lot of dissatisfaction, however, it was suppressed by various terror and thus cannot be called direct opposition to the Nazi regime.
P.S. Nazi regime was not all black. We've seen that it brought some good changes about, therefore people could not have opposed its every policy.I am sure that people did not oppose a better welfare system or promotion of family values. When, through different methods, mass opposition became pretty much impossible, it all came down to individual choices that people made everyday (being an activist or simply go with the flow just to get through the day). And whilst those choices hardly affected the course of history, they were the only ways of expressing the dissatisfaction with the regime.
According to Source 17.14, various dissident behavior happened during 1933-45. For example listening to foreign radio cases were about 20. Moreover, Source 17.15 stated 'At the national level there were also some victories against Nazi social control and policy'. Also source 17.16 stated, 'The persecution of hundreds of thousands of Germans by th Hitler regime serves to illustrate that the dissent and nonconformity must have been widespread'. By looking at those sources, it is possible to assume that there was large number of opposition to the Nazi regime.
It must be taken into account, that the number of people involved in resistance is not proportionate to the popularity of the type of resistance. "Resistance" in this sense, must be defined. The textbook sees resistance as anything which the government forbids. For example, Individual youth groups which wrote and distributed fliers and regularly left anti-nazi graffiti in public places - this type of resistance could be seen everywhere, every day.
Individual families opposing the Nazi regime often resisted welfare policies, "Refusing to contribute to the Winterhilfe collection".
According to A. Leber, there were huge amounts of resistance to the regime, "It is believed that between 1933 and 1945, 3 million were confined for political crimes; 800,000 were sentenced for active resistance; and 32,600 were executed of these, 12,000 had been convicted of high treason" (Leber, xiv). Clearly, on top of all of the "passive" resistance, where people would speak out indirectly (see p.319) such as Graffiti, accessing foreign media and refusing to contribute to social programs, a considerable part of the population was detained. In 1933, Germany had an estimated population of 66 million, which means that more than 6% of the population was detained (~4 million). Conclusively, considering the passive, as well as active detained number of resistors, there was notable resistance to the Nazi regime.
From the sheer number of attempts and the resultant actions. (5000) people were aressted for the last bomb plot it seems that there was significant opposition but they lacked power and reasources (and LUCK) and thats why they didnt succed in eliminating Hitler
It must be taken into account, that the number of people involved in resistance is not proportionate to the popularity of the type of resistance. "Resistance" in this sense, must be defined. The textbook sees resistance as anything which the government forbids. For example, Individual youth groups which wrote and distributed fliers and regularly left anti-nazi graffiti in public places - this type of resistance could be seen everywhere, every day.
Individual families opposing the Nazi regime often resisted welfare policies, "Refusing to contribute to the Winterhilfe collection".
According to A. Leber, there were huge amounts of resistance to the regime, "It is believed that between 1933 and 1945, 3 million were confined for political crimes; 800,000 were sentenced for active resistance; and 32,600 were executed of these, 12,000 had been convicted of high treason" (Leber, xiv). Clearly, on top of all of the "passive" resistance, where people would speak out indirectly (see p.319) such as Graffiti, accessing foreign media and refusing to contribute to social programs, a considerable part of the population was detained. In 1933, Germany had an estimated population of 66 million, which means that more than 6% of the population was detained (~4 million). Conclusively, considering the passive, as well as active detained number of resistors, there was notable resistance to the Nazi regime.
From the sheer number of attempts and the resultant actions. (5000) people were aressted for the last bomb plot it seems that there was significant opposition but they lacked power and reasources (and LUCK) and thats why they didnt succed in eliminating Hitler
There was opposition coming from many different fronts, like Church, army, workers, opposition parties, etc. The extent of opposition wasn't great and it was not too successful either, as many groups did not have significant power against the Nazi regime as well as lacking organization. "During the third Reich there were some plans to overthrow the government, most notably in the army, but generally opposition took the form of non-co-operation rather than resistance" (321). In addition, according to the textbook, Hitler's successful policies made it difficult for the oppositional activities to take place. The most important part of opposition that could ave really harmed the Nazi regime would be the assassination attempts, however, as most of them were unsuccessful the Nazi regime was secure, since all other type of opposition was not extensive and did not have a major impact on the regime.
If "Resistance" can be summed up as the people or groups who oppose to Hitler and his policies then it can be clearly seen that there was "resistance", however the base of the opposition wasn't large enough to make a difference or leave an impact. Also, anyone who wanted to oppose the regime was "taken care of" by the officials, which suggests that the Nazis had their opposition under control.
From the evidence given in the section "How much opposition was there to the Nazi regime?" it seems as if there are mixed evaluations and the sources state little bits and parts that are all important in answering this question. Source 17.3 states: We cannot change politics; we must do our duty silently. Source 17.6 states: 1) Emigrate. 2) Resign, write alternative books for the future. 3) Stay and publicly defy the headmaster, and be sent to prison. 4) [which he adopts] I am trying to through the teaching of geography to do everything in my power to give the boys knowledge and I hope later on, judgement, so that when, as they grow older, the Nazi fever dies down and it again becomes possible to offer some opposition they may be prepared. If we look at what all the sources state together, then there actually was a resistance towards the Nazi's.
The amount of opposition towards the Nazi's was great enough. The most important groups that would strengthen the Nazi government opposed them. Groups such as Churches, Youth, Army, Judiciary system, the Workers, Opposition Elites and the Traditional Elites all opposed them in one way or another. There were also youth groups called the "White Rose" consisting from University students that released opposition posters, drawed graffiti's and encouraged others to follow them were very influential and the Nazi's went as far as executing them for what they had done. In all, there was great number of opposition from different important society groups.
