Opposition to Nazism

The Youth

Katie and Annabelle

The Groups

There were many groups within the youth that opposed Hitler and Nazism which include:White Rose MovementEdelweiss PiratesThe Jazz and Swing Youth

• Helmuth Hubener Group

I want a brutal, domineering, fearless cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its eyes. That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication. That is how I will create the New Order.Adolph Hitler

Hitler's power may lay us low,And keep us locked in chains,But we will smash the chains one day,We'll be free again.We've got the fists and we can fight,We've got the knives and we'll get them out.We want freedom, don't we boys?Song of the Edelweiss Pirates     (Peukert, p. 158)

The White Rose resistance

The White Rose was a non-violent resistance group consisting of a Philosophy professor and a number of his

students from the University of Munich. The group anonymously distributed leaflets as a part of their campaign opposing Nazism and Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship, lasting from

June 1942 until February 1943.

The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo, convicted and executed by beheading in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany to the

UK, and in July 1943 edited copies were dropped over Germany by Allied planes.

Sophie & Hans Scholl

Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans Scholl were core members of the White Rose non-violent resistance movement.

Their campaign was discovered on 18th February 1943, the Scholls brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the university where they hurriedly dropped stacks of

copies in the empty corridors. Leaving before the class break, the Scholls noticed that some copies remained in the suitcase and decided it would be a pity not to

distribute them. Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air. This spontaneous action was observed by the custodian . The police were called and Hans and Sophie were taken into Gestapo custody. The other active members were soon arrested, and the group and everyone associated with them were

brought in for interrogation.

In the People's Court on February 21, 1943, Scholl was recorded as saying "Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just do not dare express themselves as we did." Scholl's and

her brother's defiance, in the face of terrifying consequences, gained them enormous admiration among their contemporary supporters and the post-war

German public to the present.

The Edelweiss Pirates

Become a rebel group in the late 1930sGenerally the members were 12-18year old boysThey had no distinctive political ideology but wanted freedomThey wore dark short trousers, checked shirts, windcheaters,

white jumper, socks and scarf, and an edelweiss metal badge – but very few girls wore the windcheaters, white jumper and socksThis made them easily identifiable by the Gestapo

Many had long hair for the timeThey were connected to other youth gangs who also wore

checked shirts with either an edelweiss or skull badge:Raving DudesNavagios

They seem to have grown spontaneously and most had never joined the Hitler Youth or had left it

The Hitler Youth was almost the main target

The Edelweiss Pirates

They would graffiti ‘Eternal War on the Hitler Youth’ to show their opposition

They operated in small groups around townDuring wartime they went on camping trips despite the

strict travel lawsThey would sing funny parodies of the Hitler Youth songsSay ‘dirty jokes’ about the Hitler Youth

Wartime saw a grow in their subversive activitiesPitch battles with the Hitler Youth beganAnti-Nazi slogans: ‘down with Hitler – we want freedom,’ ‘medals for

murder’ and ‘down with Nazi brutality’ became commonplaceThey posted anti-Nazi leaflets dropped by the AlliesThey shielded deserters and joined resistance fights – the

Communists in particular

In the End

The local police saw them as childish pranks but in wartime it was seen as opposition

The leaders were under constant surveillance

7th December 1942 saw the arrest of 739 Pirates and sent to ‘re-education’ camps

By October 1944, the SS made a decree on ‘combating of youth gangs’ and more were arrested

Then in November 1944, the leaders were publicly hanged as a deterrent

Known as ‘rebels without a cause’

Jazz/Swing Youth British and American music wasn’t actually

illegal but was seen as anti-Nazism because it conflicted with the idea of an Aryan Race They often had open associations with the

Jewish Youth Defined by ‘Lottern’ meaning sleaziness

because of the Jitterbug dance which was seen as a ‘threat to public decency’ The Hitler Youth would spy on the group and

report the ‘overtly sexual nature of dancing’ Mainly middle class and not really involved in

political activity But as they listened to Jazz they would have

understood English and be subjected to allied propaganda and believed to be extremely important in spreading it

Swing clubs were tolerated until 1940 but after 500 youths attended a gathering in Hamburg, Jazz went underground

By 2/1/42, Himmler said that ringleaders of the swing movement was to be sent to concentration camps with beatings and forced labour

The Helmuth Hubener Group

In some ways, they were the antithesis of the Swing Kids

All were members of the church of Latter Day Saints

They defied the Nazi regime by distributing leaflets to expose the lies and deceit of Nazi propagandaE.g. illegal transcriptions of BBC

broadcasts Helmuth Huebener was 17 when he

was sentenced to deathby guillotine on 27 October, 1942

Karl, Rudolf and Gerhardt were imprisoned and sent to forced labour camps in Russian and Poland.

Helmuth Hübener, Rudolf Wobbe (left) and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe

Conclusion

It is interesting to note how many of the groups actually link with each other and possibly knew each other

Yet the groups never formed one major force before the Gestapo captured, killed or imprisoned the members

For example, the Jazz/Swing Youth had associations with the Jewish youth who were often in some sort of rebel group

the problem was often that the groups were quite small such as the Helmuth Hubener Group, thus ineffective

Final Summary

All in all, youth resistance was not effective, a handful of students would never have been a serious threat to the Nazi state. Accounts suggest, that at

the time university students continued their studies as usual, citizens mentioned nothing, many regarding the movement as anti-national. In fact, after the executions, students celebrated their deaths. Even though their input is now seen as brave, at the time it was just a group of kids making

another insignificant attempt to challenge Germany and its new found ideals.