Hannah Arendt on Political Resistance in Berlin
Attaining power, the Nazis forced their policies of 'uniformity.' This made things personal.
Whether they organized as political movement, a religious group, or just a bunch of friends (like Onkel Emil), Berlin’s most effective resistance fighters worked democratically/collectively, as opposed to the top-down leadership of their oppressors.
Among those struggling in the movement after 1927 (when she was 21) was Hannah Arendt. In the early days, when she was a teenager, Arendt and her friends did not take the Nationalists seriously — and even made fun of them.
In a 1964 interview, Arendt (1906-1975) was asked whether she and other Jews were surprised when the Nazis took power in 1933. Not at all, she said — and called it a “curious misunderstanding” that German Jews were “shocked” by Hitler only after he and his National Socialist Party forced one-party rule upon the population. The German-American philosopher went on to say that, up until 1933, the Nazis’ actions were understood to be political and not personal.
“My god — if you please — we didn’t need Hitler’s taking power (Machtergreifung) to know that the Nazis were our (political) enemies!” she said. “That was clear to anyone who wasn’t an idiot for at least four years beforehand!”