I find it absolutely incredible the number of groups that opposed the Nazi Party during their rise to power in the 1930s and during the Second World War of the 1940s. Protests were especially strong in the German capital, where Hitler failed to capture a third of the votes in any single election. Berlin at War touches upon a few prominent examples of resistance against Nazism.
Herbert Baum, a Siemens engineer, led one such resistance group. His group attempted to burn a Soviet exhibition that showcased all of the negative things that occurred in the life of a Soviet person. Baum also printed and distributed anti-Nazi flyers. He hoped that these actions would spark a revolution in Berlin. In the end, Baum and his fellows were arrested and wound up dying from torture or execution.
Robert Uhrig and Josef Römer were two leaders of another communist resistance group in Berlin. Their main weapon was a monthly Information Service pamphlet that hoped to inoculate them against Nazi propaganda. Both men were arrested by the Gestapo and were eventually guillotined to death.
The final resistance group I will mention was actually the most important to the entire story. Operation Valkyrie was a plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler that evidently failed. However, it did leave a serious mark because four of Hitler’s closest party members would die as a result of the bomb explosion. Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg was the creator of this plan. He hoped to bring about the demise of the Nazi Party by taking out its leader. After the explosion of the bomb, Stauffenberg hoped to seize temporary control of key points in Berlin to dislodge the Nazis from power. As can be seen in the film Valkyrie, the Operation was not successful, as were many other forms of resistance.
These three examples highlight the failed efforts of those who opposed the Nazi Party. The Nazis had a firm grip over all facets of life, from food to the police force. They controlled the execution of the laws and anyone seen breaking the law would be punished, whether it is being sent to a concentration or labor camp or being sent straight to death. However, in the Third Reich, many people did not resist and chose to live “normal” lives.