Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

Plotting Hitler’s Death, by Joachim Fest. 1996

Various Motives, Many of Them Utilitarian, For What Little German Opposition There Was to Hitler. Some German Christians Feared the Wrath of God on Germany

This scholarly work provides a history of German opposition to Hitler. I focus on a few long-term relevant issues:

NAZISM WAS LEFT WING, NOT RIGHT WING

Author Joachim Fest analyzes the Nazi movement and its appeal, commenting: “The Nazi brand of socialism was particularly attractive because of its appeal to nationalism. This, and virtually only this, was what concealed the real nature of the Nazi revolution, encouraging the mistaken but widespread view, at the time and later, that National Socialism was essentially a conservative movement. In reality, it was egalitarian and destructive of traditional structures.” (p. 19). Well said!

A FEW SECOND THOUGHTS ON GERMAN CRUELTIES

Although there was some opposition to Hitler before WWII, it was the beginning of this war that spawned a noticeable increase of opposition to Hitler. German units murdered many thousands of Poles, and socially-valuable Poles (e. g. clergy and aristocracy) were deliberately targeted (p. 114). As a result of this, some Germans expressed opposition, whether on moral grounds or out of concern that it would bring shame to Germany. One of these Germans was General Helmuth Stieff. (p. 250).

JULY 1944: DUBIOUSLY SIGNIFICANT EVEN WERE IT SUCCESSFUL

Consider Claus von Stauffenberg. Joachim Fest provides considerable detail on the July 20, 1944 failed assassination attempt on Hitler. He contends that, even had Hitler been killed, it is doubtful if the pro-Hitler German authorities could have been driven out of power. (p. 289).

SOME GERMAN CHRISTIANS FEARED THE WRATH OF GOD UPON GERMANY

Some of the anti-Hitler plotters had religious motives, which went well beyond better-known ones such as Pastor Martin Niemoeller. For instance, after news of the failure of the July 20, 1944 attempt on Hitler became known, Henning von Tresckow fled, and went out to commit suicide out of fear that he would be captured and tortured into divulging the identities of other conspirators. He thought of how God spared Sodom because 10 righteous inhabitants were found, and hoped, in like manner, that God would see him as a righteous German and stay His hand from destroying Germany. (p. 290).

Conspirator Carl Goerdeler, while sitting in prison awaiting his execution, compared himself to the Psalmist quarreling with God, complaining about the “indifference of God”, the triumph of evil, etc. (p. 323).

COLLECTIVE RETRIBUTION

Even distant relatives of the anti-Hitler conspirators were punished in some way. This was explicitly modeled after the ancient Teutonic concept of collective guilt (sippenhaft), where an entire family or clan was punished for the actions of one of its members. (pp. 303-304). Interestingly, the Allies, during and after the war, scorned the anti-Hitler plotters, seeing them as little more than opportunists and traitors.

AN IMPORTANT 1939 COMBAT LOSS TO THE GERMANS

The work concludes with an extensive biography of the leading personages who opposed Hitler or were in some way related to this trend. For instance, Baron Werner von Fritsch (1880-1939), who was revolted by the Night of the Long Knives, but never expressed opposition to Hitler, was killed in combat, near Warsaw, during the 1939 German-Soviet war against Poland.