Widerstand

de:Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus Widerstand is the name given to the resistance movements in Nazi Germany.

From 1938 to 1945, there were 17 assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler by the German Resistance.

The last assassination attempt against Hitler, called the July 20 Plot, resulted in the capture and executions of more than 4,800 known or suspected opponents of his regime, effectively destroying the resistance movement.

Quotes

"We must not make the mistake of thinking that all those who eat the bread of dictatorship are evil from the first; but they must necessarily become evil....The curse of a system of terror is that there is no turning back; neither in the large realm of policies nor the 'smaller' realm of everyday human relationships is it possible for men to retrace their steps." - Hans Bernd Gisevius

"A soldier's obedience finds its limits where his knowledge, his conscience and his responsibility forbid to obey orders." - Colonel general Ludwig Beck, Chief of general's staff of the German army (1932-1938).

"We took this challenge before our lord and our conscience, and it must be done, because this man, Hitler, he is the ultimate evil." - Colonel Claus Schenk count von Stauffenberg

"The assassination must be attempted at all costs. Even if it should not succeed, an attempt to seize power in Berlin must be made. What matters now is no longer the practical purpose of the coup, but to prove to the world and for the records of history that the men of the resistance dared to take the decisive step. Compared to this objective, nothing else is of consequence." - Major-General Henning von Tresckow

Groups & plots

• Halder's conspiracy
• Operation Spark
• Kreisau Circle
• July 20 Plot
• Red Orchestra
• White Rose
• Georg Elser

People

• Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
• General Hans Oster
• Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
• Hans von Dohnanyi
• Colonel Freiher von Loringhoven
• Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Joseph Mueller
• Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben
• Hans Bernd Gisevius
• General Henning von Treskow
• Fabian von Schlabrendorff
• General Fritz Thiele
• General Fellgiebel
• Ulrich von Hassel
• Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg
• Hans and Sophie Scholl
• Alex Schmorell
• Father Alfred Delp
• Peter York Count von Wartenburg
• Adam von Trott zu Solz
• General Helmuth Stieff
• Georg Elser

See also

• List of members of the July 20 plot
• The Swing Movement in Nazi Germany

Literature

• Hans Mommsen; Angus McGeoch: Alternatives to Hitler : German resistance under the Third Reich. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 0691116938

External links

• German conspiracy to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime (http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Conspiracy.htm)
• A list of 226 German conspirators - short biographical profiles for 70 of them (http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Resistance.htm)
• The story of the German resistance to Hitler (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1148/july.html)
• The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler (http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/julyplot.html)
• Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (A film on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life) (http://www.pbs.org/opb/bonhoeffer/film/characters.html)

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