AbstractsHistory

This thesis is broadly concerned with how individuals within German society, the German Resistance to Hitler and the German military reacted to persecution of Jews in Germany before the start of the Second World War and also to reports of German atrocities within German-controlled areas of Europe during the conflict. The specific focus of this study is an examination of the personal sentiments contained in the writings of Carl Goerdeler, Ulrich von Hassell and Helmuth von Moltke and the recorded reactions to the various and intensifying stages of Nazi persecution of Jews within German-controlled territory. These particular individuals were chosen, as a significant portion of their writings, in the form of diary entries, letters and memoranda have been published and offer a glimpse of personal sentiments and thoughts unaltered by the censors of the Nazi regime. In addition, this study examines the reactions of two German officers, Johannes Blaskowitz and Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff, to German atrocities committed in German-occupied Eastern Europe. Their reactions to and courageous protests against Nazi crimes are also a significant part of the overall context of German reactions to Nazi crimes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)