German Resistance to the Nazis

During the early days of the rise of the National Socialists to power, there were three characteristics of the regime: 1) a commitment to national tradition to make Germans identify with the state and its power; 2) the joining of tradition with the promise of a new order, of an historic breakthrough, and of a national revival and renewal; and 3) terror directed at enemies and at the populace at large in order to convince the people that compliance was the only way to avoid further trouble. Hitler established his absolute dictatorship within the first few weeks: "He did so by that diabolical simultaneity of reassuring the old elites and silencing or terrorizing most would-be opponents" (Stern, 1987: p. 167). In 1933, Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to sign emergency decrees that in essence ended all civic rights that had been granted by the Weimar Constitution, and this would become the "legal" basis for the terror that was now unleashed. At first, this was directed at opponents of the regime, notably the Communists. The entire nation