ABSTRACT
Recent research on how Germans related to the Hitler regime has sustained that the popularly held picture of the “consensus dictatorship” as monolithic does not reflect reality. In contrast to the traditional emphasis on the party terror from above, social and cultural historians have been examining the changing patterns involved in voluntary cooperation with the regime from below. Studies of everyday interactions between the regime and the population have indicated that a complex admixture of complicity and reluctance existed. Supporting research on resistance has also pointed out the persistence of some Catholic and Socialist protests against the regime and has isolated subtle shifts in the quality of popular support. 1 While keeping in mind the theological principles and pastoral guidelines that were formulated to help shape their decisions, Catholics had to discern how they could adapt or resist.
