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Nein! Standing up to Hitler

Nein! Standing up to Hitler

MoleBath

LE
Kit Reviewer
Book Reviewer
MoleBath submitted a new resource:

Nein! Standing up to Hitler - Canaris and the opposition to Hitler

At a time when all German acts of cruelty or barbarity in the Second World War are attributed to “The Nazis” ,rather than saying anything beastly about the Germans , it is refreshing to open a book that carefully analyses the opposition to Hitler. Much of what occurred was in secrecy but Ashdown has carefully unpicked the history with a good G2 eye for detail. The opposition started well before the Second World War and continued throughout the war ,even after the failed Valkyrie plot.

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The only Germans I knew who went through Ww2 were annoyed by the trend of fellow Germans claiming to have opposed Hitler. When Fest wrote his book about his resistance, my German acquaintance found his claims lacking in credibility.
Guderian makes the point well in 'Panzer Leader' - grumbling behind closed doors was not opposition. Those who were overtly opposed to AH met a swift end. The active opponents were not sufficiently well prepared, or committed, to their plans. Guderian (again, but he is clear and convincing on the point) wrote that the July plotters didn't even command a company of men who knew of, and supported, their plans. And there was no evidence that the Allies would, in the event of AH's death, not have insisted upon Germany's unconditional surrender.
I tend to think that the 'Opposition to AH' books are more about Germans - and those here who believe the claims of widespread or at least serious opposition to AH - feeling better about themselves, than about truth. I mention this not to oppose Ashdown's ideas but because, if left unchecked, the sheer number of books on this theme will impact the way the issue is seen.
 
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I don't know whether Paddy has this in his book, but Canaris early showed that he was a clever and resourceful fellow. When SMS Dresden was finally cornered at Juan Fernandez following her escape from the Battle of the Falkland Islands, it was Lt Canaris, fluent in English, who was sent to 'negotiate' with the Captain of HMS Glasgow while his shipmates rigged scuttling charges. Interned in Chile (which had a sizeable German community) he managed to escape and, more particularly, make his way back to Germany, no mean feat.
 
Thanks for all the interest , I still find Canaris an enigma (no pun) and interesting to see he was executed at the closing hour of the war ,so he nearly pulled it off.
The intelligence world has always been shades of grey and half truths
 
The catch with most pf those 'opposed' to Hitler seems to me to be that their motivation was that Hitler was losing the war for them, not that the Nazi regime was utterly, indefensibly evil. Rommel, who some simpletons seem to think was a decent chap, used his considerable military skills to further the dream of a thousand-year Nazi night. (Mrs S' bezzie school friend married Rommel's godson, an eerie acquaintanceship for me).
 

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