WI: German Resistance movement in WW2

Wallet

Banned
Most of the European nations occupied by Nazi Germany had organized resistance movements. Norway, Italy, Polish underground, Yugoslav partisans, and most famously the French Resistance.

Although in most countries they were mostly loosely connected groups, they did have some organization and did work together. The French movement liberated Paris before the Allies came and the Yugoslav actually liberated their whole country, preventing post war domanition from the Soviet Union.

In most cases they got aid, intel, supplies, and arms from the British and US.

BUT

There were no movement of notice in Germany. Sure, a few groups here and there, but most only helped Jews escape or hid them. There was no serious armed movement that tried to assist the allies or overthrow Hitler. One reason for this was per war the nazis killed anyone that could have organized a resistance.

What if there was an organized German resistance movement in WWII? One that helped the allies and started liberating cities once the allies crossed over into Germany.

Could they find out about the holocaust and try to stop it by attacking camps and blowing up trains?

Would Hitler be forced to keep troops in Germany, making it easier for the allies?

Could they be part of the new post war German government?

How would Stalin view them? And what happens to the resistance fighters in East Germany
 
1. Society was purged before the war and during the war of 'resistance'.

2. The Army was purged of 'resistance' in 1944.

3. You want people to try to rise up and over throw their government you have to do better then division and deindustrialization as policies. You want ordinary people that aren't fearless to stick out their neck they usually need incentive.
 

Wendigo

Banned
One reason for this was per war the nazis killed anyone that could have organized a resistance.
You just explained why a German resistance movement was highly unlikely.

Any resistance movement capable of causing serious trouble in the Reich already had its members/potential members in prison, executed, or being worked to death in Dachau, Bergen Belsen, Mauthausen, and other camps. Anyone who was left would be too scared to actually do anything about their opposition beside wait for the war to end.

The Reich was damn good at rooting out internal "troublemakers."

Another reason is that even in 1944 and 1945, the Nazi Party and the Nazi government had support from a significant amount if not the majority of Germans. The July 20 plotters themselves acknowledged that killing Hitler wouldn't have any popular backing among the civilian population.
 
Last edited:
If there was space in Germany for an organized and armed resistance movement, then Hitler wouldn't have been secure enough to provoke a foreign war.
 
We're pretty much into ASB-territory but maybe have the allies throw money at the various German socialist groups in exile in London? From the very little I've read, the Sopade (the Social Democrat Party in exile) had a pretty good spy network?
 
I think what you would need is Allied pushback with the Sudeten crisis sufficient to knock Hitler down a notch but not enough for the Coup to be launched. Say he gets it, but has to pay a heavy cost to Rump Czechoslovakia and can't militarize the Sudetenland.

The terms end up being harsh enough that Hitler's not seen as invincible anymore or of having perfect judgement and insight. Therefore, the Army refuses to fully submit to Hitler's whims and insists that it willl win the war. While the loyalty oath is a factor, Hitler's position is not impregnable. Ironically then, because the generals would not go for Sickle Cut, it's entirely possible the generals' initially stronger position gets undermined by a stagnant 1940 Western Front.
 
Prior to 1939 (indeed it could be argued 1942), Hitler is very popular with the average German. Within a few years in the 1930s Hitler gave Germany its pride back in that he recovered almost all of the lost territories from the First World War, put people to work in the midst of the Depression and stabilized a currency that was hyper inflated. His popularity will go down as news starts to leak out on the Holocaust and especially as his armies are defeated. Up to this point I don't think that any group could gain a following that was anti-Hitler in Germany. People do not revolt when they are happy.
 
There was no serious armed movement that tried to assist the allies or overthrow Hitler. One reason for this was per war the nazis killed anyone that could have organized a resistance.

There was a serious movement that tried to overthrow Hitler (by killing him, followed by a coup d'état). The Schwarz Kapelle had at least for plots to kill HItler, and attempted a coup when they thought they had killed him.

However - the chief reason there was no armed resistance to the government of Germany in Germany is that it was the government of Germany. People don't fight their own country. Especially when the country is at war with ferocious external enemies.
 
Top