I'm curious what we know about people who, at great risk to themselves, fought against their neighbors and country in Nazi Germany in the 1940s. Are there any common traits or circumstances that bind these people together? For example, did they tend to know more Jews on average? Were they often socially outcast in some way? Were they rich, or were they poor? Educated? Religious?
I'm primarily interested in those who might normally fit in, probably meeting a lot of normal German stereotypes. Obviously a Jew would be more likely to resist because they often didn't have a choice.
I’ll be talking here about the resistance in Luxembourg:
In terms of age, resistance is largely done by the youth, both among men and females, here there’s agreement among historians.
47,26% of male resistance members are in the age category of 26 and under. 65,65% fall into the age category of 31 and under.
Among females, the results are slightly different. 30,79% of females fall into the age category of 26 and under, 44,29% fall into the category of 31 and under.
Among men, the 16-20-year olds show up as the largest category of resistance members, while the largest female age group is 31 – 35 years. Many of the leaders of various resistance groups where young men between the ages of 19 to 30.
Schools turned out to be the main areas where resistance formed and connected with each other and it was the youth who started with the first resistance acts. In August 1940, after the occupation by German troops in May 1940, the youth began carrying patriotic broaches as a sign of protest. When the National Monument to remember the volunteers of WW1 was demolished by the German troops in October 1940, it was the youth who protested. Similar, during the big strike movement in August 1942, students participated in force to protest the conscription of Luxembourgish youths to the Wehrmacht.
In terms of economic status, it is not easy to give a definitive answer. Historian Lucien Blau used a list of resistance members that he analysed. Many resistance members weren’t categorised as they were students, so they ended up bundled together in a giant category of “Others” or “No-Profession”. Many others specified their current profession after the war. Still, a large part of the resistance members ended up working in public office as civil servants and teachers (36.68%). Showcasing that they had an education and visited university during and after the war. Thus, this solidifies the role of the youth in the resistance. However, Claude Wey argues that the workers and farmers were much more numerous. Sadly, as far as I know, there’s no definitive analysis that takes into account all of the available data.
Another big category was the “military”, so police, customs agents, and members of the volunteer company (The military at the time). They might have joined the resistance due to swearing oaths of allegiance to the government therefore feeling more patriotic or because they were some of the first to be really integrated into the German Wehrmacht and administration. This meant they had to resist earlier than the rest of the population to the attempts of the Germans to take control.
To conclude, the resistance in Luxembourg was mostly done by the youth, an intellectual youth able to organise and spread in schools. This youth then ended up being part of the middle class in Luxembourg.
Obviously, there’s regional and ideological differences across the different resistance groups: Resistance Groups based in more agricultural, traditionally thinking areas didn’t involve many females. On the other hand, females were much more active in resistance organisations based in more urban and worker class areas. Some of the bigger resistance groups had localised fiefs across the country with some socio-economic classes more represented than others.
Yet, this above analysis is solely based on a list of active members of resistance groups and doesn’t count all those who did passive resistance on a day to day basis or all those who weren’t on the analysed list.
Blau, Lucien, La Résistance Au Grand-Duché De Luxembourg (1940-1945). Sociologie, Idéologies Et Programmes. Metz: [s.n.] 1984
Dostert, Paul, Luxemburg Zwischen Selbstbehauptung Und Nationaler Selbstaufgabe. Die Deutsche Besatzungspolitik Und Die Volksdeutsche Bewegung 1940-1945, Luxembourg, 1985.
Musée D'histoire De La Ville, ... Et Wor Alles Net Esou Einfach. Questions Sur Le Luxembourg Et La Deuxième Guerre Mondiale : Contributions Historiques Accompagnant L'exposition : Fragen an Die Geschichte Luxemburgs Im Zweiten Weltkrieg : Ein Lesebuch Zur Ausstellung, Luxembourg, 2002.