From............. The Rise of Fascism

By- FL Carsten

Pub. by U. of CA Press, Berkeley and LA 1967

ISBN 0-520-04643-9

page 157 ................. GLEICHSCHALTUNG

Even earlier, the books of all authors obnoxious to the regime - whether Jewish, or left-wing, or simply 'decadent' - were burnt by crowds of enthusiastic students. The lectures of Jewish and left-wing professors were made impossible by well organized disturbances. The universities and the civil service were purged by a law "for the restitution of a professional civil service." Jewish students were excluded from the examinations. Jewish doctors, lawyers, etc., were in many cases prevented from carrying on their professions. A boycott of all Jewish shops was proclaimed by Streicher on a nation-wide scale on 1 April 1933.

All clubs and associations, however non-political their purpose, were brought under National Socialist control and their by-laws reframed according to the "leadership principle."

The opposition did not dare to raise its head. People opposed to the regime could only meet clandestinely and in small groups, and even then they risked immediate arrest and a period in a concentration camp. The tales of horror about what happened inside these camps which soon spread were one of the most effective weapons of the dictatorship. Many thousands of opponents of the regime were simply too frightened to do anything. But many thousands of others continued to work for the Communist and Social Democratic parties in spite of all intimidation and persecution; most of them were soon arrested or had to flee the country. After a few years there existed only minute remnants of the proud German working-class movement.

Opposition also continued in a different field. Certain sections of the Protestant churches continued to resist all attempts of the "German Christians" backed by the government to "coordinate" the Church and to bring its teaching and doctrine into line with the principles outlined in "Mein Kampf."

This was the only field in which a vigorous and semi-legal resistance continued throughout the years of the Third Reich, in spite of the persecution of many Protestant clergymen.

All opponents of National Socialism were ruthlessly dealt with by the Gestapo, which soon became a very efficient police force, feared throughout the country.

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END pg 157 QUOTE