8b. Second World War

The Second World War – the so-called ‘good war’ (note title of film in Module 5) – frequently poses a conundrum for peace activists and philosophical pacifists. Debates about the effectiveness of nonviolence often include the question: ‘How could anything but Allied military intervention have countered the powerful and violent force of Hitler and Nazism?’ Indeed, Hitler is often included in the main argument against nonviolent resistance. Military approaches to war – especially the First and Second World Wars – are viewed as responsible for the democracy and freedoms that Canadians live with today. Debate about this is good and the questions are ones I (Marlene, the course author) struggle with myself.

Can you recall hearing or participating in conversations around the necessity (or not) of those two global wars of the 20th century? Such debates become particularly animated around Remembrance Day on November 11 when Canadians commemorate lives lost during war.

What such debates often lack is knowledge and evidence of nonviolent action that opposed the violence of Nazism against the Jews and more generally countered the ideological and territorial war waged by Hitler and other fascist leaders of the time. Such thinking and action did exist, but it receives much less attention than the victories of battle. Let’s look at a few case studies.

Nonviolent resistance in Denmark, Netherlands, and Norway

During the Second World War, many northern European nations were under German occupation for periods of time. The majority of citizens in these countries objected to the goals and methods of the Nazis, but it was very dangerous to express that opposition. Yet, there was civil resistance to military occupation that was successful in stalling and minimizing the atrocities committed. The small country of Denmark is a good example.

Denmark

After completing the reading by Peter Kragh Hansen, “Danish War Resisters Under Nazi Occupation,” and viewing the film, were you surprised by this history? Had you ever heard about such courageous and nonviolent resistance to the Nazis? Most people have not.

Here are the key points/events regarding the Danish resistance movement:

• 1940, German military occupation of Denmark begins;
• Nazi government wants to: exploit the industry and agriculture of Denmark for the war effort; control key rail lines and sea ports; and eliminate the Jewish population;
• Danes are initially cooperative;
• 1943, German occupation becomes repressive;
• Freedom Council of Danes leads resistance movement; and
• Strategy was ‘deny, delay, diminish.’

What was meant by the last point?

The intent to ‘deny’ the authority of the occupation forces, to ‘delay’ the full implementation of Nazi plans, and to ‘diminish’ the negative impact on Denmark and the Jewish population, was manifested in specific tactics. 

I think you can find all of these on Gene Sharp’s list of 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action. The Danish resistance tactics included:

• bureaucratic procrastination;
• community singing;
• celebrations of Danish culture;
• leaf-letting (this means handing out leaflets);
• work stoppages and slowdowns;
• protection of Jews;
• sabotage of arms manufacturers and rail lines; and
• nonviolent ‘People’s Strike.’

You can see how the strategies of deny, delay, and diminish were evident in the ’10 Commandments for Danes’ written by a 17-year-old activist named Arne Sejr in response to the Nazi invasion of Denmark. Arne secretively put these commandments into the mailboxes of influential Danes.

Interestingly, the last commandment, which saw Danes smuggle over 7,000 Jews to Sweden, was resurrected in 2016 when Danish activists were seeking to aid asylum-seekers from Syria.²

A question that arises is whether tactics that include ‘sabotage’ or ‘destruction’ of property constitutes violence. And thus, could undermine the character of a peace movement.

Was this movement successful? The answer to this question depends on how you measure success. The Danish resistance didn’t end the war. But it did undermine Hitler’s ability to utilize the Danish economy to further Nazi objectives at a time when Germany’s own military power and other wartime resources were declining. The Danish resistance was effective in reducing the number of Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust.

Netherlands 

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In the Netherlands under Nazi occupation, a significant underground resistance movement arose. Because it was very dangerous to express outward opposition to the military forces in power, people used methods of communication that indicated resistance and solidarity. For example, orange carnations were worn as symbols of Dutch royalty who were in exile in England after 1940.

Dutch university students refused to sign oaths of loyalty to German occupation forces. And in February 1941, a two-day general strike was held in Amsterdam in reaction to repression of Jews. About 300,000 participants virtually shut the city down. It is estimated that 50-60,000 people were involved in underground activities, with the goal of saving Jews and undermining the power of the Nazis.

And here is a bit of trivia for you: Dutch Princess Juliana spent the war years in Canada, and in return for providing her a home in exile, the Netherlands gifts Canada with tulips every year – hence the annual tulip festival in Ottawa.

Norway

Norway presented other challenges, given that the fascist-oriented government of the day chose to collaborate with the German occupation. The government attempted to gain control of the schools and teachers’ union. However, the teachers, at great danger to themselves, refused to promote fascist education or join a new government-run union. Up to 10,000 of the country’s 12,000 teachers wrote letters of resistance to the president.

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Symbols, like flowers and paper clips, were very important in contexts when placards and posters – explicit messaging – may have been met with violence, imprisonment, and even death. But when masses of people recognized the shared symbol worn on the lapel of a coat, they knew that defiance to the regime was widespread and strong. Symbols of resistance also helped to sway opinions of those who were uncertain.

Those who were involved in the above resistance movements to German occupation didn’t necessarily begin with a moral commitment to nonviolent action. Rather, they felt that they must “do something” in the face of Nazi power and atrocities, and that nonviolent methods were the only strategies available to them.³

White Rose Movement and Rosenstrasse

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E+/Getty Images

Perhaps even more dangerous than resistance in the countries described above, were peace movements – nonviolent resistance – within Germany itself. But these did exist, at great risk to the people involved. For example, Conscientious Objectors to military service in Nazi forces were imprisoned and many executed by the Nazis. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a religious group that refused military service, were persecuted severely by the Nazis.

The White Rose movement was a group of students and professors at Munich University who expressed their opposition to the political and military platform of National Socialism (Nazism) with a subversive campaign spreading their anti-Nazi message. The symbol and name were used because it meant innocence and purity – qualities of youth but something that Germany had lost.

Although a small group, the White Rose had widespread influence in the form of graffiti and leaflets. The group produced the first leaflet in the fall of 1942, and the last of six in January 1943. As such, it was a short-lived movement. Each leaflet had a particular focus, but they together called on Germans to collectively undermine and overthrow what was called a “dictatorship of evil.” The leaflets were quite intellectual, drawing on the Bible and a range of thinkers and philosophers. The movement was committed to nonviolence as a tactic.

This is an excerpt from Leaflet #3, which outlined the importance of group action and the tactics that people could use to oppose the regime.

The leaflets also expressed horror at the killing of Jews (which Germans did know about well before the war was over) and called on people to resist this.

The leaflets were distributed at universities and public spaces. At the same time, graffiti was painted on buildings with messages such as ‘Freedom,’ ‘Down With Hitler,’ and ‘Hitler Mass Murderer.’ As you can imagine, this activity had to happen in secret and was very dangerous.

In some respects, spreading messages of 'peace' through leaflets reminds me of today's use of social media on the internet to communicate ideas.

Today the person most closely associated with the movement was Sophie Scholl, who joined her brother and other students calling for Germans to offer passive resistance to the Nazi regime. As a woman, she could move about more freely and was less likely to be watched and picked up by the SS – the elite Nazi military force.

Even so, on February 18, 1943, Sophie was distributing leaflets at the University, was seen and reported to the Nazi police. Along with three others, she was arrested, tried, and executed within just a week.

The White Rose was an intellectual peace movement that used nonviolent methods to undermine the regime.

Another small but powerful gesture of nonresistance in Germany during the war occurred on February 27, 1943, in Berlin. The Nazis were attempting to round up the remaining Jews in the city and held the men at a Jewish community building on Rosenstrasse (Rose Street). Many of these men were married to non-Jewish German women who, despite the danger, sang songs outside the building and chanted for the release of their husbands. As many as 1,000 women protested that day and for several weeks after, until their husbands were released.