History 309 – CONTEMPORARY EUROPE – October 19, 2005  

Notes on RESISTANCE DURING WORLD WAR II

 

I.                   What was the “Resistance”?

a.       Some openly COLLABORATED with Nazi Germany (Vidkun Quisling)

b.      Most simply tried to survive

c.       A handful openly resisted

d.      The “Resistance” opposed Nazi Germany

e.       Not as government officials or soldiers, but

f.        AS PRIVATE CITIZENS

g.       Who INDIVIDUALLY & SPONTANEOUSLY decided to resist

h.       Who then sometimes were able to form secret groups of resisters

i.         J.P Sartre:  “The Republic of Silence”  

 

II.                Kinds of Resistance

a.       Non-Conformity – the German “Swing Kids”

b.      Moral Resistance – the German “White Rose” (Sophie Scholl)

c.       Intellectual resistance – France’s Combat (Albert Camus)

d.      Sabotage – the Danish rescue of the Jews

e.       Assassination – the Czech assassination of Heydrich

f.        Spying – Polish reports of the Holocaust

g.       Open attacks – the French “maquis” v. the German Army in 1944

 

III.             Three examples of Resistance

a.       POLAND:

1.      Jewish-Poles and Christian Poles

2.      an “Underground” nation

3.      1943: The Warsaw Ghetto

4.      1944: The Warsaw Uprising

b.      GERMANY

1.     July 20^th 1944 Plot (Claus von Stauffenberg)

c.       FRANCE

1.      Defeat & Occupation

2.      VICHY France & Pétain

3.      DeGaulle & “Free France”

4.     Le Chambon sur Lignon  

IV.              Costs

a.       Jean Moulin

b.      The White Rose

c.       Lidice (Czechoslovakia)

 

V.                 Why the Resistance matters

a.       Military contribution to Nazi defeat

b.      Keep alive POLITICAL ideals of democracy, human rights

c.       Keep alive MORAL ideals of conscience, freedom, responsible choice

d.      MODEL: spontaneous, individual, morally-inspired, defense of freedom and resistance to oppression 

e.  DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

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Modified by:  H.  Kamerling