German citizens options to legally express disagreement with Nazi regime

[Sid Guttridge]

After Hitler came to power, there was no opportunity to change the system through popular vote, but it was possible to dissent to some degree. For example, although it became compulsory for all male youths to join the Hitler Youth, not all did so.

Theoretically, regular elections should have been held, which would have allowed the ultimate expression of disagreement - regime change. However, from 1933 onwards there was no practical way to change regime. Opposition parliamentarians, especially Communist, were quickly expelled and others co-opted. No further elections followed. The only free and fair plebiscite was that conducted by the League of Nations in the Saarland:

http://forum.axishistory.com/search.php ... this+it%3F

Those for Austria and the Sudetenland were rigged, probably unnecessarily. The populations of no other region absorbed into the Reich were consulted.

For a view of how blatantly the Austrian plebiscite was rigged, look at the ballot paper illustrated on:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... A#p1646820

The Sudetenland ballot paper was similarly structured:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_el ... chluss.jpg

Cheers,

Sid.

[T Rex]

Reality is that majority of population liked and follow Hitler way of struggle for German people.

[Gorque]

Reality is that majority of population liked and follow Hitler way of struggle for German people.

Could you elaborate with a wee bit more detail on the above?

[pugsville]

the nazi regime was one without any regard for legality. any legal expression of dissent would be meant with extra-legal means of repression.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi TRex,

You write, "Reality is that majority of population liked and follow Hitler way of struggle for German people."

Perhaps, but how would we know this for a fact if the Nazis failed to consult the German population through open elections throughout their 12 year rule?

Why were they running scared of free and open expressions of public political opinion (no elections, rigged plebiscites, etc.) if they were so confident of this majority support?

The reality is that the Nazis never won a majority in any open elections before 1933 and didn't hold any elections after 1933.

Cheers,

Sid.

[sarahgoodson]

The reality is that the Nazis never won a majority in any open elections before 1933 and didn't hold any elections after 1933.

The latter part is incorrect, the Nazis held elections on November 1933, March 1936 and April 1938.

[Gorque]

The reality is that the Nazis never won a majority in any open elections before 1933 and didn't hold any elections after 1933.

The latter part is incorrect, the Nazis held elections on November 1933, March 1936 and April 1938.

Unfortunately, there were no other political parties, or labor unions either, to oppose them as they had all been outlawed on 14 July '33 (2 May '33 regarding the labor unions).

[sarahgoodson]

@Gorque

I already knew that but it doesn't change the fact that the Nazis did hold elections after 1933.

[Gorque]

I already knew that but it doesn't change the fact that the Nazis did hold elections after 1933.

Sure it does as the elections can by no means be considered either fair of free of controversy.

[sarahgoodson]

@Gorque

Not quite. It's one thing saying there were no elections after the Nazis came to power in 1933 and one thing saying that there were elections but that they were censored and controlled by the Nazis.

[PeterE]

Hi everybody,

an very interesting thread - I don´t know if this qualifies as a "legally disagreement" but I once read about an analysis of German wartime death notices for soldiers. In the early stages of WW2 - when the prospects for German victory still looked good - the standard phrase was "für Führer, Volk and Vaterland". But as the war went on, mentioning the Führer became less frequent. For example (in some of the papers) - in the summer of 1940, 50 percent of the soldiers had given their life for the Führer. But two years later, in the fall of 1942, perhaps only 7-12 percent had the word "Führer" in the text.

I´m sorry to say I don´t know exactly who made the analysis. I have read about it in a Danish book about WW2. But I think that you can find more in Ian Kershaw´s book "The Hitler Myth: Image and Reality in the Third Reich".

Have a nice weekend,

Peter

[Jill]

After Hitler came to power, there was no opportunity to change the system through popular vote, but it was possible to dissent to some degree. For example, although it became compulsory for all male youths to join the Hitler Youth, not all did so.

Theoretically, regular elections should have been held, which would have allowed the ultimate expression of disagreement - regime change. However, from 1933 onwards there was no practical way to change regime. Opposition parliamentarians, especially Communist, were quickly expelled and others co-opted. No further elections followed. The only free and fair plebiscite was that conducted by the League of Nations in the Saarland:

http://forum.axishistory.com/search.php ... this+it%3F

Those for Austria and the Sudetenland were rigged, probably unnecessarily. The populations of no other region absorbed into the Reich were consulted.

For a view of how blatantly the Austrian plebiscite was rigged, look at the ballot paper illustrated on:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... A#p1646820

The Sudetenland ballot paper was similarly structured:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_el ... chluss.jpg

Cheers,

Sid.

After Hitler came to power, there was no opportunity to change the system through popular vote, but it was possible to dissent to some degree. For example, although it became compulsory for all male youths to join the Hitler Youth, not all did so.

Theoretically, regular elections should have been held, which would have allowed the ultimate expression of disagreement - regime change. However, from 1933 onwards there was no practical way to change regime. Opposition parliamentarians, especially Communist, were quickly expelled and others co-opted. No further elections followed. The only free and fair plebiscite was that conducted by the League of Nations in the Saarland:

http://forum.axishistory.com/search.php ... this+it%3F

Those for Austria and the Sudetenland were rigged, probably unnecessarily. The populations of no other region absorbed into the Reich were consulted.

For a view of how blatantly the Austrian plebiscite was rigged, look at the ballot paper illustrated on:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... A#p1646820

The Sudetenland ballot paper was similarly structured:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_el ... chluss.jpg

Cheers,

Sid.

Sid, are you quite sure that the Saarland plebiscite was fair and not rigged? I am doing some research into my grandfather Major Hennessy who commanded the police at those elections. There is mention that it was known that Hennessy was “of common ground” with the chief Nazi agitator, a beautiful woman, Countess Dolly Von Roedern.... and that later at the festivities Hitler congratulated him personally on the great job he’d done. Hmmm. I wonder if he wasn’t paid to look the other way when the Nazi thugs were intimidating everyone at the polls ? What do you think?

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Jill,

Interesting.

However, I think Dolly would have needed to put herself around a lot more than that to have been a key factor in swinging the Saarland plebiscite the Nazis' way. They took 90% of the vote. She would have had to find "common ground" with about 225,000 people to have made the difference!

And why wouldn't Hitler have ".....congratulated him personally on the great job he’d done"? He had got the result he wanted without French intervention.

The Nazis certainly used all leverage available, but unlike the later plebiscites they did not conduct the actual vote, which seems to have been free and fair in Saarland. They even soft pedalled their intimidatory tactics as the vote approached for fear of justifying a pre-emptive French intervention.

In all honesty, I don't think the result was ever really in doubt.

Please keep us informed if you find out more.

Cheers,

Sid