How could nonviolence have defeated Hitler?
Early warning systems and nonviolent conflict prevention are needed to stop dictatorships before they happen. Nonviolence has been successfully used to oppose and overthrow totalitarian and aggressive regimes, as the examples given in Question 1 above show. The Versailles Treaty, imposed upon Germany by the winners of World War I, humiliated and hurt Germany economically. Hitler manipulated the German peoples’ sense of being wronged and used violence and the military to come into power. Inside Germany, Germans like Sophie and Hans Scholl, organizers of the White Rose movement, nonviolently resisted Hitler. Nonviolence was successfully used by individuals, towns and whole countries during World War II. Outside Germany, for example, the townspeople of Le Chambon, France, saved an estimated 5,000 Jews from Nazi persecutors by their determined nonviolent resistance. Organized non-cooperation by the people of Norway and Denmark made their countries ungovernable despite Nazi control.
