ABSTRACT

The origin of the German anti-Adolf Hitler resistance can be traced to the period during which National Socialism first emerged as an important factor in the German political scene. Opposition to Hitler began, then, not as an organized political movement but as the reaction of individuals with religious and moral convictions to the theories, and later to the practices, of National Socialism. As among intellectuals in general, opposition to Hitler within the ranks of the university professors was rather weak, refuting the belief that higher education alone provides sufficient protection against totalitarian ideas. The Storm Troopers marched to Ewald Von Kleist's estate, had him arrested by the auxiliary police, and made preparations to force him to fly the swastika flag from his mansion. Kleist was truly one of the few remaining knights "without fear and without reproach.".