Did the everyday German citizen fearfully cower under the Nazi regime, or were they willing participants in its horrors? This crucial question invites us to delve into a more complex and morally fraught understanding of the Third Reich.
From Total Control to Nuanced Reality
For decades after WWII, Nazi Germany was seen as the textbook totalitarian state. The idea was simple: unrelenting terror crushed dissent, concentration camps loomed as a constant threat, and everyone was forced to fall in line.
But history, as it always does, proved more complicated. In the late 1960s, historians started shifting their focus. Instead of solely examining top-down totalitarian control, they unearthed stories of everyday life in Germany. This bottom-up approach painted a new picture. People did resist Nazi intrusion when it threatened things dear to them. Suddenly, the Third Reich seemed chaotic rather than perfectly orchestrated. It turns out that beneath the facade of terror, a degree of individual choice and agency remained.
This more nuanced view raises uncomfortable questions. If Germans could resist on some issues, then their widespread compliance on the truly horrific matters becomes even more troubling. Issues of guilt and responsibility loom large. Did Germans willingly embrace the atrocities of the Third Reich, or were they primarily victims of an oppressive system?
This question continues to demand scrutiny. Historians are constantly unearthing new evidence, refining their interpretations. While a clear-cut answer might be impossible, the ongoing search for understanding is crucial as we strive to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.
Deviance and dissent
Canadian historian Robert Gellately’s analysis of the Gestapo caused a groundbreaking shift in our understanding of Nazi Germany. It challenged the notion that the Gestapo was an all-seeing, ubiquitous force of terror. Instead, Gellately revealed an understaffed secret police that primarily relied on denunciations and tip-offs from ordinary citizens. This fostered a society of “self-surveillance” where citizens themselves monitored behavior for conformity.
Other historians, such as Gerhard Paul and Klaus-Michael Mallmann, further demystified the Gestapo. They emphasized that its personnel were often career policemen who had started their work under the previous Weimar Republic. This challenges the popular image of Gestapo officers as sadistic Nazis driven by ideology alone.
Gellately’s argument extends further: he suggests that many Germans actually supported the regime, evidenced by their voting patterns and by their willingness to snitch on non-conformists. He argues that rather than living in absolute fear, most Germans knew about and even approved of the use of concentration camps. This understanding has been echoed by American historian Eric Johnson. His studies suggest that, under the Nazi regime, the population predominantly self-regulated.
Johnson and his collaborator Karl-Heinz Reuband surveyed older Germans and controversially claimed that Hitler and his movement were so popular that intimidation was rarely needed. This paints a chilling picture where, for most Germans, state repression was hardly necessary, used only against hated minorities. This disturbingly suggests that mainstream Germans were complicit in a “dictatorship by consent.”
While these views sparked a paradigm shift and rest on extensive research, some historians find them too sweeping. Examining Johnson and Reuband’s survey, their findings are undeniable. Yet, the respondents were primarily young people under the Nazis – a group especially vulnerable to indoctrination.
Millions of adults under Nazi rule came of age before its rise to power and likely had stronger convictions. Germany’s history shows us that millions voted for Social Democratic or Communist parties even as late as 1932. And even in the less-than-free 1933 election, the Nazis didn’t manage an outright majority.
The work of historians like Gellately and Johnson has irrevocably transformed out understanding of Nazi Germany. It challenges simple narratives of brutal terror and passive victims. Yet, the discussion continues on whether their conclusions based on local evidence can truly account for how a complex society operated under such an oppressive regime.
Nazi Elections: More Than Just Fake Numbers
We often hear that the Nazi elections and polls hit ridiculous approval ratings – 95 to 99% support for Hitler. But those numbers are a sham. The Nazis used threats and violence to make sure everyone voted the “right” way. Stormtroopers stared people down as they handed them ballots already marked “yes”. Even the voting booths meant to be private had signs meant to shame voters into compliance.
Anyone who opposed the Nazis was arrested, and their marked ballots were used to find others who might not be loyal. These weren’t subtle threats; these were people beaten badly or thrown into insane asylums just for a vote! There were even more “yes” votes than people in some places! Yet, some historians call this “proof” that the people backed the Nazis. That’s hard to believe, considering no one was truly allowed a choice.
Sure, some Germans probably would’ve voted in favor of Hitler in a truly free election, especially when it came to making Germany strong again. But, it’s hard to prove since any opposition was silenced. A lot of Germans interviewed later said they liked the Nazis because they fixed the economy, not because of foreign policy wins. That might be because, by the 1990s, those wins felt less impressive or maybe even shameful.
Some try to make the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, seem less scary by saying they mainly just dealt with complaints from the public. But that ignores just how brutally they got those complaints – they tortured and sometimes even killed suspects! Some say these denunciations weren’t that important, that people mostly just went about their lives. That might be true in small towns, but the point is the Gestapo was there, ready to go after anyone who stepped out of line. It wasn’t the people policing each other, it was the Gestapo policing them all.
How the Nazis Controlled Ordinary Germans
The Gestapo, the infamous secret police, were a terrifying force in Nazi Germany. But they weren’t the only tool for controlling people. Spies and informants were everywhere. It could be your mailman, a local Nazi leader, a kid in the Hitler Youth – anyone watching for the slightest sign of stepping out of line.
Think of the Block Warden as the neighborhood busybody, but with Nazi power. They’d make sure your flag was out on Hitler’s birthday, but they were also listening for any gossip that might be anti-Nazi. By 1935, there were 200,000 of them snooping around. Pretty much every German was part of some Nazi group or another, which meant being closely watched all the time.
Sure, surveys might show people weren’t living in direct fear of the Gestapo. But that doesn’t mean they felt free. Concentration camps were a constant reminder of what could happen. Plus, there were plenty of other ways to punish people– losing your job, being forced into labor, and countless daily restrictions.
Imagine saying something negative about the government and going to jail. It was the reality in Nazi Germany. Violent crackdowns in the early days made most people too afraid to speak up. The threat of violence was always there, even if it wasn’t always used. It’s important to remember this when we think about if the Nazis actually won people over, or just kept them terrified.
