Opposition to the Nazi Regime
You might think everyone in Nazi Germany just went along with Hitler, but that's definitely not true! There was actually loads of resistance happening across different parts of society.
The Catholic and Protestant Churches fought back in some pretty clever ways. The Pope himself criticised Hitler in a famous speech called 'With Burning Anxiety' in 1937, which was read out in Catholic churches across Germany. When the Nazis tried removing crucifixes from schools, the Catholic Church successfully campaigned to get them back. Protestant churches set up the Confessional Church to spread anti-Nazi messages and resist Hitler's attempts to control religion.
Young people weren't all brainwashed either. Groups like the Edelweiss Pirates would literally beat up Hitler Youth members, whilst the Swing Youth rebelled by listening to banned music and wearing clothes the Nazis hated. By 1939, 2 million young Germans still refused to join the Hitler Youth - that's massive!
Even top military leaders got worried about Hitler's plans. During something called Beck's Conspiracy in 1938, they actually plotted to remove Hitler from power if Germany went to war over Czechoslovakia. Underground political groups like Neu Beginnen kept operating in secret, and by 1939 there were over 300,000 political prisoners - showing just how many people were willing to risk everything to oppose the Nazis.
Key Point: The fact that 35-40% of voters had supported Communist and Socialist parties in elections before 1933 meant millions of Germans were already opposed to Nazi ideas from the start.
