Étienne Godinot

Translation : Claudia McKenny Engström18.03.2015

Series « Towards a nonviolent civil defence »

Diaporamas 2

Historical examples of civil non -armed resistance

to a military assault

Diaporamas 2

Historical examples of civil non-armed resistance to a military assault

Contents

- During the Second World War- In Czechoslovakia 21-28th August 1968

*

For information, other specific slides deal with- Nonviolent fights against communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe- Nonviolent resistance against dictatorships, political coup and terrorism

Diaporamas 2

Historical examples of civil non-armed resistance to a military assault

Non-armed civil resistance in Europe

during the Second World War

Nonviolence towards Hitler * ?

It is often objected to partisans of nonviolence that “if the French people had been conscientious objectors during the Second World War, France would still be occupied by Hitler’s soldiers!”

1. But if all French had refused to collaborate with the Nazis by organising a nonviolent resistance and disobeying the orders given by the Vichy government, Hitler wouldn’t have been able to impose his will on France.

Photo below : the Righteous are those who took the greatest risks to protect Jews during the Second World War

*on the basis of Jean-Marie Muller in Le devoir de désobéissance (The duty to disobey).

Nonviolence towards Hitler ?

2. And what would have happened in 1939 if the German people had all been conscientious objectors towards Hitler ?

Nazism was possible because German culture at the time had not produced the anti-bodies that would have made it immune to the violent ideology incarnated in Nazi propaganda.Germans at the time were overly obedient.

Photos : - Hitler in Nurnberg, 1938- The National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (NSDAP),Nazi symbol.

Non-armed civil resistance in Europe

during the Second World War

The reference in the matter is a book written by Jacques Sémelin, Facing Hitler Unarmed – Civil Resistance in Europe 1939-1945 (Ed. Payots, 1989).

Jacques Sémelin, born in 1951, is psychologist, historian and political theorist. He teaches as the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and is research director at the CNRS-CERI (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales).

Civil resistance in Germany

The Nazi regime survived because, in its majority, the German people did not know how to resist to Hitler, who acceded power according to law, and did not have, as was said during the Nurnberg Trials, “the courage to disobey” the Führer.

However, resistance did exist. The first concentration camps were destined to incarcerate German dissidents.

Nonetheless, and even if they were significant, resistance initiatives were unsufficient to change the course of History.

Photos: the Shoah (in Hebrew = disaster); the “final solution” implemented by thousands of obedient actors, rested on tight organisation and division of tasks.

Civil resistance in GermanySome examples :

- Franz Jägerstätter, Austrian farmer, refused to join the German army and fight for the 3rd Reich. He was imprisoned in Linz and Berlin before being executed by decapitation in August 1943, after decision by military tribunal.

- The Weisse Rose (White Rose) movement distributed between 1942 and 1943 thousands of flyers denouncing the criminal Nazi ideology and the Shoah in Poland. These flyers were sent by post or distributed in big cities and in the University of Munich. 16 members of the movement were executed or died in concentration camps.

Photos : Franz Jägerstätter (born 1907) The book by Inge Scholl (born 1917).

Cf. See also the « Photograpical chart of nonviolenc e » on the IRNC website.

The resistance of the Catholic Church in Germany

On 9th March 1941, Konrad von Preysing, Archbishop of Berlin, criticised during a sermon the program of euthanasia inflicted to mental patients and incurables.

On 3rd August 1941, Clemens August von Galen, Bishop of Münster, denounced during a sermon, the “assassination of the mentally alienated”. Hs sermon was diffused across the country.

Bormann requested Von Galen’s physical elimination, but Goebbels, fearing Westphalian population would be lost for the rest of the war, refused.On 24th August, the programme was stopped.

Photos : Konrad von Preysing

Clemens August Von Galen

A much too timid resistance

“I believe that if the bishops had chosen to stand together publically, on a decided day and during their preaches, they could have stopped much of what we know from happening. That did not happen, and it cannot be forgiven.” Konrad Adenauer (photo above), in a letter to Bernhard Custodis, minister in Bonn and deposed by the Nazis, 23 February 1946.

Dietrich Boenhoeffer (photo below) publically denounced the worshiping grounding the Nazi regime on the day Hitler acceded power in January 1933. He was one of the founders of the Confessing Church which opposed the majoritarian trends in favour of an alliance with the Nazis, or neutrality towards them. He was hanged on 9th April 1945.

If mass resistance had stood up to Hitler…

Between 27th February and 5th March 1943 in Berlin, when 6000 Jews were being arrested, their “Aryan” wives (not Jewish) protested in front of the Rosenstrasse building where they were being held. On 6th March, the Jews were released.

These few examples allow us to believe that if an important resistance had stood up against Hitler in Germany, History would have followed quite a different direction. If it is useless to try and rewrite history, it is important to draw the consequences.

“The Weimar Republic fell not because there were too many Nazis, but because there were too few democrats”. Richard von Weiszäcker, President of German Republic.

- Poster for the film Rosenstrasse, by Margarethe von Trotta (2003)- Thomas Mann (1875-1955), writer, Nobel Prize for literature in 1929, exiled in Switzerland in 1933. Anti-Nazi, he lost his German nationality under Hitler rule.

« Civil resistance »

According to Jacques Sémelin, civil resistance can be defined as “the spontaneous fighting process of civil society, using non-armed means, either via the mobilisation of its main institutions, or via the population directly, or thanks to both simultaneously”.

This concept is more neutral and appropriate than the one of nonviolent action, which should rather be used when referring explicitly to a nonviolent philosophy or strategy.

Photos : - A citizen of Prague pointing the “Heil Hitler” to soviet tanks in August 1968- The People Power of the population in Manila, Philippines, 1968.

Why show examples of civil resistance in Europe during Nazi rule ?

- This period is actually richer than one can think in acts of civil resistance

- Our western mentality can connect with those historical events

- The circumstances are those of exterior agression

- This exterior attack was committed by a totalitarian regime deprived of any ethical sense

The handicaps of non-armed civil resistance in 1939-1945

- Contrary to a nonviolent civil defence, which would have been prepared and organised long ahead, civil resistance in this case was completely improvised.

- The efforts of allied powers and main movements of resistance where orientated at deploying an armed strategy

- Civil resistance appeared in traumatised societies, wounded and demoralised , whose governments had lost the war

- The extent of collaboration, namely in France, limited the action of a minority resistance

Photos : - Louis Darquier du Pellepoix (1975-1955), General Secretary for Jewish Issues under Vichy government- Maurice Papon (1910-2007), Police Secretary General at the Préfecture de Gironde in 1942-1945, was found guilty of crimes against humanity for the role he played during the deportation.

Forms of civil resistance

Non-armed civil resistance can be :

- at the service of an armed fight : food, assistance, information, logistics, etc. The maquis’s efficiency highly depends on the local population’s support;

- combined with armed resistance (ex : strike supporting urban guerrilla or conventional war),

- independent, with its own dynamics, spontaneously and pragmatically, but without referring to an elaborate nonviolent strategy.

Photos : - the Lorraine Cross and Jean Moulin, symbols of French resistance during the Second World War- Sabotage of a railroad

Civil resistance in Norway

On 12th December 1940, the judges of the Supreme Court resigned, thus signing the illegitimacy of the new regime.

In March-April 1942, Lutheran bishops and ministers broke all links they had with the government and renounced their wages, as act of denunciation of the regime.

The civil disobedience of 8 000 to 10 000 Norwegian teachers in 1942 stopped the pro-Nazi regime led by Vidkun Quisling (photo), leader of the Nasjonal Samlingparty, and its ideology from infiltrating education.

La résistance civile en Europe du Nord

- In 1941, almost the whole population of Denmark wears the Jewish star in solidarity with the Danish Jewish community. In 1943, it protects Jews against arrest: 477 out of 7000 are arrested. The others are transferred by fishermen to Sweden, neutral country.

- In Finland, the population and authorities openly take the side of the Jews. None are deported.

Photos : - The Yellow Star Nazis forced Jews to wear. The first of this type of measure was decided by canon 68 of the 4th Council of Latran in 1215, which gathered on the request of Pope Innocent III, and forced Jews to wear distinct clothing…- Europe under Nazi domination.

Resistance against Jews’ arrest in Europe

In 1943, whereas the Bulgarian government is openly pro-Nazi, Bulgarians (MPs, associations, the Orthodox Church) demonstrate against the project to throw out 20 000 out of the 50000 Jews living in Bulgaria and well integrated. The government must renounce the project and they are released little by little. On 25th August 1944, all anti-Semite texts are revoked.

In Belgium, the Comité de Défense des Juifs (Committee for Defence of the Jews) helps 25 000 Jews escape the genocide.

Photos : - Bolgan Filov (1883-1945), Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1940-1943 and pro-Nazi- Post-stamp bearing the effigy of Kiril de Plovdiv. In 1943, he threatened to launch a civil disobedience campaign during which he would personally stop deportation trains by lying down on the rail tracks if the operational plans were executed.

Sectorial resistance in Europe

- Doctor’s resistance in the Netherlands: to not have to become a member of the Nazi Professional Chamber, and following the call by clandestine organisation Contact Medical, they gave up their doctor’s title and practiced illegally.

- In Poland, an underground society created groups for clandestine education, the Komplety, or secret universities (Warsaw, Poznan, Krakow). 100 000 students from all ages up until university benefited from this clandestine education.

Photos : - The snake of Asclepius, symbol of Medicine- Clandestine education in Warsaw ghetto

Symbolic demonstrations

- 28th October 1939 : commemorative demonstrations of citizens in occupied Prague

- 29th June 1940 : the population of the Netherlands demonstrates its attachment to Prince Bernard, exiled in London

- 11th November 1940 : demonstrations in Belgian big cities

- 3rd August 1942 : Norwegian population wears flowers as sign of loyalty to exiled King Haakon and his government exiled in London

- 1st May 1942, 14th July 1942 and 1943 : mass demonstrations in France at the call of the Général de Gaulle on the BBC.

Photos : - Prague demonstration on 28th October 1939- The flowers worn as symbol of support to Prince Bernard in Holland and King Haakon in Norway.

Civil resistance in France : the protection of Jews

Whereas, on 16-17th July 1942 at the Vel d’Hiv, 4500 French policemen arrested for deportation towards concentration camps 12 884 Jews,

7 policemen of the Foreigners Service of Central Police Station in Nancy, warned 350 Jews of their imminent arrest on 18th July 1942. More than 90 % were saved.

Policemen in resistance were not arrested by the Nazis. The most plausible explanation is that it would have advertised disobedience initiatives.

Photos :- The Vel d’Hiv- The book written by Jean-Marie Muller on the policemen’s resistance in

Nancy.

Protecting the Jews in France

Thousands of Jews were also protected :

- by the protestant community in Chambon-sur-Lignon (Haute-Loire), animated by André and Magda Trocmé (photo)

- by the Imam of the Great Mosk in Paris, Si Kaddour Benghabrit (middle photo)

- by the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux, Aristide de Souza Mendes (photo below), etc.

The demonstration of French Bishops* in August 1942 and the emotion of public opinion, reported by Renseignements Généraux (Political Information Services), helped slow down the arrests.

* Bishops Gerlier in Lyon, Delay in Marseille, Rémond in Nice, Chassaigne in Tulle, etc. and especially Saliège in Toulouse.

Civil Resistance in France : the protection of Jews

In occupied France, 75 % of Jews have escaped extermination, whereas in Belgium they are only 55 % and in the Netherlands 20 %.

The proportion of French Jews saved from the holocaust is approximatively 90 %.

Jacques Sémelin paints a contrasted picture of France at that time : a plural and changing society where denunciation coexists with help, where anti-Semitism does not hinder small gestures of solidarity.

Photos : -The book by - and the author himself, Jacques Sémelin

Civil resistance in France

- Strikes in the Mines of Nord-Pas-de-Calais from 27th May to 10th June 1941: they denounced the working conditions imposed by the occupying power but were also highly patriotic.

- Resistance to forced labour in Germany, established by the law of 16th February 1943 Service du Travail Obligatoire - STO): dissidents joined the maquis or left the department or obtained fake identity cards from accomplice civil servants.

Photos : - Minors in the North under Wehrmacht supervision- STO propaganda

Civil resistance in administration

-The “Infiltration of Public Administration” (NAP) by French resistance did the latter a number of services. The idea was to encourage civil servants to work without collaborating, in other words, to obtain support and information.

- Danish police refused to arrest Jews in 1943: Nazi police forces had to come from Germany specially to that effect.

- Brussels Court of Appeal strikes on 12th December 1942, supported by the Bar Council.

Photos :- Claude Bourdet (1909-1996) created in 1942 and developed the NAP network in order to support the resistance: Prefects, Police, food supplies, Electricity, Postal services, Railroads.- Albert Chambon (1909-2002), chief of the Super-NAP network active at the highest levels of administrative.- Brussels’ Court

A few lessons from civil resistance during the Second World War

The principal factors of vulnerability of mass civil resistance are - collaboration,- social division,- repression.

1. State collaboration is a decisive factor of citizens’ collaboration (for example, the French law on labour in Germany (STO) and makes civil resistance more difficult (ex. : files handed over to Germany by intelligence services and mining companies to break up the strike in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 1941).

Photos : - Pierre Laval (1883-1945), main instigator of French State collaboration with Nazi regime- French Milice (Militia), paramilitary and political organisation created by Vichy government in January 1943 to fight against the Resistance, and directed by Joseph Darnand.

Civil resistance factors of vulnerability

The political terror exercised by a totalitarian regime only functions when it is supported by the individuals of the terrorised society themselves.

Ex. : the Militia in France, the Oustachis in Croatia, the Sonderkommandos, prisoners of concentration camps forced to take part in the murderous process.

No power can obtain the population’s obedience only thanks to sanctioning. For individuals to accept to obey, they need to be rewarded.Mass resistance in Poland was due to the absence of risk of being on one side or another, of being part of the resistance or not.

Photos: - Illustration of a Sonderkommando- Ante Pavelic (1889-1959) and symbol of the Oustachis

Necessary cohesion to face the aggressor

2. The capacity for civil resistance of a population highly depends on its social cohesion .

Norway, where civil resistance was high, was also a country where most workers belonged to trade unions;The Dutch clandestine organisation Contact Medical gathered most practitioners in the country.

A society in which cohesion is weak, divided, in which communities are mishandled will be more prone to repression.The more a society tends to cohesion, the less it will let grow collaborating elements and the more it can resist to repression.

Photos : Two resisting church men : - Eivind Berggrav, primate of the Lutheran Church in Norway - Joseph-Ernest Van Roey, primate of the Catholic Church in Belgium.

Civil resistance’s weakening factors

A system of shortage planned by the occupant creates division :- by feeding jealousy and competition between individuals;- by generating collaboration for economic motives, corruption and black markets;- by obliging the population to spend a lot of time and energy in order to survive rather than resist.

Hence the necessity, in civil defence strategies, to reach maximal food or energy autonomy of populations.

Photos : - Ration card- Citroën Traction Avant car with gasifier.

Making repression unjustifiable

Agressor

Victims Publicopinion

3. Repression counts three actors : the persecutor (or aggressor), his victims and public opinion.

Repression against those who resist unarmed appals, outrages public opinion even more than against those who resist weapon in hand. It isn’t as easy to justify such repression with a “they deserved it”.

Public opinion Mobilisation against the repression of innocent victims inevitably destroys the political unity of the aggressor.

Photo : The massacre of 80 inhabitants in the Saulx Valley (Meuse, here Robert-Espagne) perpetrated by Wehrmacht soldiers (not SS, as in Oradour-sur-Glane) on 29th August 1944, was the result of FTP maquis resistance who sprayed with bullets and changed the course of Nazi convoy.

Repression : the testimony of a historian

Basil Liddell hart, one of the greatest military historians of the 20th Century, was able to interrogate, during their captivity in the UK, German generals who had commanded troupes in Europe, on the different forms of resistance.

He writes: “The Generals’ declarations revealed the efficiency of nonviolent resistance (…). According to their own declarations, they were incapable of tackling them. They were experts in violence, and had been trained to meet adversaries who used violent methods..

../..

Basil Liddell Hart testimony

But other forms of resistance disconcerted them, and even more so since the means used were subtle and secret. They felt relieved when resistance became violent and when guerrilla actions came to support nonviolent methods.Indeed, it was easier for them to apply severe measures of repression against both forms of resistance at the same time”(1).

(1) Adam Roberts, “Lessons from Resistance Movements”, in The strategy of civilian defence, Ed. Faber and Faber , London, 1967, p 205

Photo : Sir Basil Liddell Hart

Resistances

In the different European countries, there was not only “National resistance”, but also social or professional resistance. Total Mobilisation of civil society is only the product of an articulation and coordination of various sectorial resistances.

Resistance evolves with time and changes according to events, it builds itself : it was first spontaneous, then organised itself and finally, unified.

Photos : - Guy Moquêt, communist activist shot at the age of 17 in the Chateaubriand camp- Raymond and Lucie Aubrac, members of the network Libération-Sud- The Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxemburg, resistance activist.

Lessons from civil resistance during the Second World War (II)

- An important factor encouraging resistance was the choice of military or political figures incarnating the legitimate power, be they in exile or clandestine.

- Reconquering the minds was a constant objective of resistance : via flyers, posters, clandestine newspapers, radios broadcasting from abroad (London, Moscow, Alger), etc.

Photos : three figures of French resistance:- The Général de Gaulle’s call on 18th June 1940- General Jacques Pâris de Bolladière (1907-1986), co-founder in 1974 of the Movement for a Nonviolent Alternative (MAN)- Germaine Tillon (1907-2008), ethnologist, she fought her whole life against all forms of oppression.

The 3 efficient ways of civil resistance

1) Direct efficiency : the occupying authority is forced to stop this or that of its projects. Indeed, the effects of resistance can be measured : number of Jews saved, defiant to STO, decrease in coal production, etc.

2) Indirect efficiency : increase of clandestine press, mobilisation of new segments of the population, increasing number of members of the resistance, etc.

3) Dissuasive efficiency : mass civil resistance dissuades the aggressor from reaching his goal.

The 3 efficient ways of mass civil resistance

The efficiency of mass civil resistance mainly depends on :

- the organisation or not of resistance actions,

- the state of mind of the population, in favour or not of the resistance,

- the enforcement of legitimate power, favourable or not to the resistance.

Photo : French Assemblée Nationale

The 4 levels of efficiency of mass civil resistance

0 - Members of the resistance are not organised, they have against them public opinion and political power.

1 - Resistance is organised, but has against it public opinion and political power.

2 - Resistance is organised, it has the support of public opinion but political power is still hostile to it.

3 - Resistance organisations, public opinion and political power act together in non-cooperation with the aggressor.

• Photos : - Maréchal Philippe Pétain : the choice of collaboration- King Christian X of Denmark : the choice of non-collaboration.

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