How did People Respond to Nazi Rule? (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

Although some people violently opposed the Nazis when they invaded and conquered their countries, others welcomed them. Many were somewhere in between and did what they thought was best to help themselves and their families survive.

This was the case all across Europe, including France. Some people, such as Coco Chanel, accepted their new rulers and tried to make the situation work for them. Others, such as André Trocmé, could see what was happening to those targeted by the Nazis and tried to save their Jewish friends and neighbours.

How did people respond to Nazi rule?

• The responses of people to Nazi rule varied

  • Some people welcomed their new rulers and collaborated with them

  • Some people tried to kill the Nazis and risked their own lives in doing so

  • Many people just tried to get on with their lives as best as they could

Notable collaborators

• In Latvia, the Nazis found that many students and members of the Latvian Army were supportive of Nazi views

  • They set up the Arājs Kommando or Auxiliary Security Police to work alongside the SS

  • It is estimated that the Arājs Kommando murdered around 26,000 Latvian Jewish people

• In Croatia, a right-wing political group called the Ustaše worked with the Nazis and constructed their own concentration camps

  • Around 25,000 Jewish people were murdered by the Ustaše

• In Serbia, the nationalist Chetniks fought alongside the Nazis during their invasion of Yugoslavia

• In Belgium, the nationalist DeVlag movement helped recruit people for the Waffen SS

  • At one point in the war The DeVlag movement had over 50,000 members

Notable resistance movements

• The Bielski Partisans were formed by four brothers who had escaped from a Jewish ghetto in Poland

  • They lived and hid out in a forest from where they launched sabotage attacks on the Nazis

• Large numbers of small groups in France became known as the 'French Resistance'

  • They fought a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis

Occupation of France

• France was quickly defeated at the start of World War 2 and occupied by the Nazi armies

• The Nazis divided the country into two:

  • The 'occupied zone' in the north was directly run and controlled by the Nazis

  • The 'free zone' in the south became known as Vichy France

    • This region was run by Nazi collaborator and former First World War General, Philippe Pétain

• Many French people felt deeply humiliated by the defeat and occupation

  • In the occupied zone, they had to live under strict rules and endure hardships and shortages

  • They also had to look at the Nazi flags draped over public buildings

• When Germany began to experience a labour shortage

  • Hundreds of thousands of French men were deported to Germany to work as labourers

  • The Nazis ruthlessly and brutally crushed anyone who plotted against them and many were executed

Note: Please insert Vichy France Map here

How did people collaborate with the Nazis?

• Collaboration with the Nazis took many forms:

  • The Vichy government passed anti-Jewish laws and helped to arrest and deport French Jewish people

  • French companies and factories produced weapons and vehicles for Germany

  • Some French people even joined the Waffen SS

  • Others informed on neighbours or began romantic relationships with German soldiers

How did people accommodate the Nazis?

• Most people lived and worked alongside German soldiers who were stationed all across France

  • They served German soldiers in restaurants and shops

  • Others, such as civil servants and railway workers, became employed by the Nazis once France was occupied

  • Rules and regulations, such as carrying ID cards and obeying curfews, were mostly followed

  • By doing this, they were not actively supporting or helping the Nazis, but they were keeping themselves and their families safe

Coco Chanel

• Coco Chanel became a world-famous fashion designer in the 1930s

  • When the Nazis invaded, she decided to stay in Paris, though she had the chance to leave

  • She lived at the Hotel Ritz, where most of the important Nazi officers also stayed

  • She had a romantic affair with a German officer

  • She tried to have Jewish directors of her company removed using the Nazi anti-Jewish laws

• At the end of the war, many accused Chanel of collaborating with or even spying for the Nazis

  • She was questioned, but Winston Churchill was a personal friend and he intervened on her behalf

How did people resist the Nazis?

• French resistance against the Nazis took a variety of forms:

  • Military intelligence, such as troop numbers and defences, was gathered and passed to London using secret radios

  • Railways, bridges and factories were blown up or damaged

    • This aimed to disrupt the Nazi supplies and troop/armament movements

  • German soldiers were attacked in ambushes

• Other people helped those in danger, such as Jewish people or Allied airmen who had been shot down

  • The resistance provided them with false ID papers and helped them escape to Switzerland or Spain

• As the American and British armies approached, many resistance groups launched uprisings against the defending German forces

  • This helped speed up the liberation of France

André Trocmé

• Trocmé was a Protestant pastor

  • He lived in the south-eastern part of France, which came under the control of the Vichy government after the Nazi invasion

  • When the Vichy authorities started rounding up and deporting Jewish people in his area, he decided to act

  • Trocmé worked with the local population to help Jewish people hide

  • He provided them with false ID papers and helped them escape to Switzerland

• Trocmé was arrested in February 1943 after the authorities began suspecting him

  • He was released without charge due to a lack of evidence

  • In late 1943, Trocmé went into hiding and remained in hiding for the rest of the war

  • This was not before he had helped thousands of Jewish people avoid being sent to concentration camps and death camps