Sebastian Haffner was one of the people who did not like the Hitler’s regime. He fled Germany to England in 1938. However, Haffner did not create any significant resistance against the Nazi regime. By the time he was leaving Germany, Haffner was leaving with a Jewish woman who was expecting her child. His relationship with the Jewish lady made him a potential target for persecution by the Hitler regime. Fascist regimes always identify an enemy or scapegoats as a unifying cause. The Nazi regime recognised the Jewish as enemies and the regime was out to eliminate them from the society. During the time, Nazism had removed any distinctions between private life and politics. Therefore, by relating to a Jewish, Haffner could be branded as an enemy of the regime. Many German citizens were brainwashed and were willing to denounce other citizens, including the non-Jewish, who did not share the regime’s ideologies.
Besides, Fascist regimes are characterised by powerful nationalism. The Nazi regime deliberately set up its systems to suppress any forms of individualism. When he went to the Nazi camp where the young Nazis who sought public service positions were sent, he found extensive cultivation of comradeship. He narrates that the Nazi regime established the system deliberately to ensure that individuals had no room for expressing divergent opinions. Hitler used these camps to cultivate his ideologies on the young people such that none could deviate from the norm.
Just like any other Fascist regime, the Nazi regime ignored human rights. There was no respect for human rights as perceived opponents were tortured, unlawfully detained or killed. The regime, through the propaganda minister, persuaded the then president to declare a state of emergency. This was to give excessive powers to the military. They suspended the provisions of the constitution and they violated human rights. They could arrest perceived opponents and detain them without cause. Hitler’s regime also used terror to intimidate opponents. He established paramilitary groups such as the Strom Troopers to terrorise opponents as well as protecting the Nazi leaders. The auxiliary policemen were given the power to kill or beat the perceived opponents. The regime also established detention camps where they held perceived political opponents without trial.
The paramilitary group members went from door to door to look for enemies such as the socialists, trade union leaders and communists, among other Hitler’s opponents. They were either killed or detained unlawfully in several detention camps. Haffner was shocked by the violence and sought refuge in a law library where the rule of law was still intact. Suddenly, the SA agents entered the building to evict Jewish judges, lawyers as well as their trainees. One of the agents directly went to the table where Haffner was working and asked if he was an Aryan. Haffner did not hesitate to and responded that he is one. Had he answered otherwise, he would have been arrested and probably killed and detained in the Nazi’s camps.
Haffner narration of his experiences during Hitler’s regime shows how difficult it was to resist the regime. Although he hated the regime, he could not express any opposing views to survive in the Nazi regime. Individuals had no power and could not establish any significant rebellion against the regime. Furthermore, any resistance would annoy not only the regime but also the society since German citizens had cultivated the ideologies of the regime. The citizens went to the extent of killing fellow citizens, even Germans they perceived to be opposing the Hitler’s regime.
Bibliography
Haffner, Sebastian. Defying Hitler. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012.
