Holocaust History

Lesson 2: Legalizing Hate

Why Didn't More People Protest?

Assignment: Read Chapter 2, "Triumph of the Will", Holocaust Chronicle.

As seen in the timeline from Lesson 1, there had been a long history of Anti-Semitism in Europe. When we ask ourselves, "How could the Holocaust have happened?" we must first recognize the groundwork laid by laws, myths, and attitudes toward the Jews.

It is also wrong to assume that all Germans agreed with Hitler and the Nazi party. One memorable group is the White Rose. This group of university students protested Anti-Semitic laws and actions. They distributed leaflets in Munich until their capture and execution.

Another group was that of the Confessing Church. Two of its most famous members were Pastor Martin Niemoller who was imprisoned in concentration camps during the war. Niemoller is the author of the famous passage with which we opened this lesson. Another was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a renowned theologian, who was hanged in the Flossenburg Concentration Camp on 9 April 1945.

Yet, the percentage of those who resisted the Nazis and later rescuers was extremely small. Why? Why didn't more German people protest against Nazi rule in the 1930s? Why did the German people allow the Nazi dictatorship to establish itself, remove individual rights and freedoms, and persecute sections of society?

We must put ourselves in the difficult position of "bystander" in German society in the 1930s. As human beings we naturally gravitate toward the "rescuer" or "resister." Instead we must consider the reactions of people who were not directly affected by restrictive legislation. An understanding of people's inaction in the face of mounting persecution of other members of society should help us focus our own priorities about civil liberties.

Why was this persecution of the Jews allowed to develop? Many people didn't speak out against the Nazis because they were satisfied with other policies and achievements--that other considerations were held to be more important than the defense of democracy. One major factor inhibiting protest was, of course, fear of the Gestapo and the concentration camps. The Nazi promises of prosperity, stability, and greatness were seductive.

What were the consequences of the First World War for Germany? Take a moment to review pg. 21 of Holocaust Chronicle, specifically the section on the Versailles Treaty. The situation was bleak for the majority of Germans.

• The Kaiser has abdicated and left Germany
• A power vacuum has been created as there is no established form of government Millions of German workers have been killed or seriously injured during the war
• Germany has become an international pariah
• Germany is subject to an imposed peace settlement

This reality means that political instability is constant. There are uprisings against the fledging republic even before it is properly formed. The war has devastated the economy and further problems occur as a result of the Peace settlement. Millions of soldiers have returned home to find no jobs available.

The Versailles Treaty demanded a Terms of the Peace which massively reduced Germany's military capability. One of the most damaging was the imposition of the "War Guilt" clause. Reparations fixed at a very high level, demanding generations pay off the debt.

This lead to a growing anger between 1919 and 1924. Anger is directed at the government for signing the Treaty of Versailles. Desperate economic problems increase as all profit is sent directly to the Allies as reparations pay-outs. Germany suffers a valueless currency as economic crisis leads to hyper-inflation. Rise of extremist groups attempting to wrestle power from the de-stabilized government (Freikorps, Spartacists etc.).

There is no trust in a stable government and there is animosity towards it from its inception. The rest of the world refuses to accept Germany.

Germany is in a desperate situation. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles cripple the economy and prevent German recovery after the war. This in turn leads to the new, Weimar, government being unable to restore pre-war conditions. Animosity towards those who signed the treaty grows and many German people look for people to blame for the crisis, leading to theories of "the stab in the back." The new government, already under fire, fails in it’s duty to provide security, prosperity and comfort given the conditions that it has inherited.

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