We want to celebrate the many forms of resistance that took place: armed resistance, espionage and sabotage yes but other forms too: those involved in the underground publications, the industrial action and public protests, and even everyday disobedience and defiance to Nazi and fascist occupation.
We celebrate in order to remember – to remind ourselves of the very worst that humanity can offer, but also the very best.
This project is possible because of the support of our members. If you’d like to join, please visit charity.hopenothate.org.uk and click the button on the front page.
The Heroes of the Resistance
By Nick Lowles and David Lawrence
75 YEARS AGO this month, World War II in Europe ended. After almost six years of fighting and the loss of many, many millions of lives, the Allies accepted the unconditional German surrender on 8 May 1945, and with it, the Nazi regime collapsed.
There had been many wars before, and there have been plenty of wars since, but there has not been a war in modern times that has been as destructive, murderous or widespread as WWII.
We celebrate in order to remember – to remind ourselves of the very worst that humanity can offer, but also the very best.
To mark the anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), HOPE not hate Charitable Trust (HnHCT) has produced Heroes of the Resistance to commemorate and celebrate all those who resisted Hitler’s Germany and their Axis allies.
Resistance to Nazism and fascism came in many different forms. Some, as has been glamourised in post-war films, came through armed resistance, espionage and sabotage. But there were many other forms of resistance too. There were the underground publications, the industrial action and public protests, and even everyday disobedience and defiance to Nazi and fascist occupation. There were the brave people who risked everything to hide and protect neighbours and strangers alike. And there were even those who resisted just by living and morally defying the Nazis, often in the most extreme circumstances imaginable.
Heroes of the Resistance celebrates all these forms of resistance. We celebrate in order to remember – to remind ourselves of the very worst that humanity can offer, but also the very best.
As we celebrate VE Day, we confine ourselves to the European battlefield in this publication. While WWII was obviously more extensive and, indeed, many more people died in Asia, we have focused on Europe and resistance to Nazism and fascism. Yet even here, the geographical scope is so huge that we have had to limit our coverage to the countries most influential to the course of the war, at the expense of others that were more peripheral.
Even at 160 pages, this magazine can only ever hope to provide a snapshot of the era and events. There are many hundreds more stories which undoubtedly deserve inclusion, but space simply does not permit. We apologise in advance for any obvious omissions but we hope that this magazine will spur your own research.
The central moral dilemmas of WWII are immensely complicated and are still fiercely debated to this day. Whilst of course we touch on these debates, the purpose of this project is to celebrate, and will try to focus on the good that was done by ordinary people, rather than just the bad.
For example, we are fully aware that Soviet security forces carried out murderous repression before, during and after the war but that does not negate from the unquestionably heroic resistance of the people of the Soviet Union during the war and the huge sacrifices they made. At the same time, we discuss the Allied war against fascism, whilst we are fully aware that many Western governments delayed action to alleviate, and even ignored, the persecution and suffering of Europe’s Jewish population for so long.
Finally, we are also acutely aware that much of the stridently patriotic language of the time sounds very anachronistic to the modern ear, but we live in different times, and it is hard for us to understand what the realities of war, occupation and persecution were like.
At a time when racism and nationalism are on the rise, and are only likely to increase as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, this magazine hopes to offer a timely reminder of what humans are capable of and what dangerous far-right ideologies can inspire. However, by commemorating those who opposed such Nazism and fascism during WWII, we are reminded that good can overcome evil.
We salute all those who stood up to Nazism and fascism during the desperate struggle of WWII, and promise to continue to fight for HOPE over hate.
