Nazi Germany Revision War and its impact on life in Germany, 1939 - 1947
You must remember 4 sections!
19391949:
The war goes well for Germany!
19411943:
The tide turns
194344:
Total War
1945:
Defeat
1939-1941 • First 2 years of the war went UNBELIEVABLY WELL FOR GERMANY
Army swept through Europe with very little resistance
1939-1941 • Goring introduced the Four Year Plan – rearmamet/ self-sufficiency • Rationing introduced for food and clothes • Some things difficult to find e.g. tobacco • As Germany conquered other countries riches like furs, stockings could be brought on the Black Market (most went to high ranking Nazis though) • Foreign labour used in German factories • Goring introduced the Four Year Plan -
1941-1943 The Tide Turns • June 1941 – Hitler invades Russia. Massive gamble! • Hoped for quick victory but got the opposite • Germany got bogged down in a 4-year battle for survival that tore the heart out of the army • War started to go badly for Germans • Propaganda was increased!
Propaganda during the war • • • •
Goebbels stepped up pr opa ga nda campaign Spent thousands on propaganda to try and raise morale Cinemas showed films of German victories Tried to hide the fact that the war was going badly for Germany. • Made propaganda films e.g. Kolberg to show how great German army was. • Xmas 1942 – extra food rations given out to improve morale.
1943-1944 Total War • • • • • • • •
1943 – Clear that Germans were losing TOTAL WAR All non-essential businesses shut Professional sport ended Clothes rationing stopped Concentration Camps – Jews worked to their deaths First air raids Shortage of doctors
IMPACT OFBOMBINGRAIDS • • • • •
After 1942 – more frequent air raids Not enough doctors Many German evacuated to countryside Berlin and Dresden nearly destroyed By end of war, almost as many German civilians killed as soldiers.
1944-1945 Failure and Defeat • By 1944, German army being pushed back from East and West • Goebbels in charge of TOTAL WAR • All non-German workers had to go into armament factories • Age limit for compulsory labour for women raised to 50 • Volksturrm formed
• Women dur i ng the Wa r – Remember Nazi policy towards women? KKK! Encouraged women to stay at home and have children. Many women sacked from their jobs.
• War highlighted the contr a di cti on in Nazi policy • Women expected to wor k for war effort and stay at home and have children too! • 1943 – 3 million women called up to work. Only about 1 million took jobs. Many pretended to be ill, others deliberately got pregnant. • Women had had years of pr opa ga nda encouraging them to stay at home so it was difficult for the Nazis to get them to work now!
Volkssturm (People’s Home Guard) • “Last round up of the old, the lame, the children and the idiots.” • All men aged 16-60 who weren’t in army had to join • Given uniforms • Marched through Berlin with borrowed weapons
How much opposition to the Nazis was there during the war? Chur ches Martin Niemoller (sent to concentration camp for criticising Nazis) Dietrich Bonhoeffer Von Galen Critics of Nazis
Young people
Edel wei ss Pi r a tes Young girls and boys. Anti-Hitler Youth Someeven sheltered army deserters and attacked Nazi officials
Remember – very difficult to oppose Nazis because of the Gestapo and SS.
Swi ng Ki ds As war turned against G ermany – resistance became Middle-class youths Opposi ti on Danced/ listened to swing music more T o Ncommon. a zi s
and Jazz, which was banned under Nazis Often friends with Jews.
M i l i ta r y – J ul y Bomb Pl ot
Whi te Rose Gr oup Students from Munich Led by Hans and Sophie Scholl Arrested by Gestapo for giving out antiNazi leaflets Tortured and hanged
July Bomb Plot - 1944 • Several leading Germans in mi l i ta r y tried to kill Hitler during a conference • Blamed him for war going badly • Cl a us von Sta uffenber g carried bomb in briefcase • Hitler injured but survived • Leaders of plot executed • Deaths filmed and shown to other senior members of Nazi Party
Jews after 1939 • 1939 – Ghettos
1941 – Ei nsa tzgr uppen
•
Germany invaded Russia - treatment of Jews got worse SSsoldiers – sent to murder all Jews they could lay their hands on End of 1941 over 500,000 Called Ei nsa tzgr uppen – or ‘special action squads)
• •
When Germany invaded Poland another 3 million Jews came under Nazi control. War made it impossible to remove Jews by emigration Jews herded into ghettos in eastern Poland
1942 – Wa nsee 1941 - Li qui da ti on
of the
Confer ence. – Decided on the Fi na l sol uti on
ghettos
(mass murder of Jews)
Jews taken to concentr a ti on
Ga s Cha mber s/D ea th Ca mps eg Auschwi tz
ca mps
Describe Germany at end of war Nazi administration could not cope with the destruction of Germany
1945 – Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide
Government plans in chaos Ration cards no longer honoured – people relied on black market for food
•Russians reached Berlin first •German defenders - mainly old people or members of the Hitler Youth - stood little chance against more than a million Red Army troops •Russians seized Berlin – raped hundreds of women.
8 May 1945 – war ended Berlin destroyed Millions dead The war was over. But at an appalling cost in human lives and after years of unimaginable suffering
The Nuremburg Trials • 24 senior Nazis put on trial for CONSPIRACY to commit crimes, CRIMESAGAINST PEACE, WARCRIMESand CRIMESAGAINST HUMANITY
Al ber t Speer – tried to show himself as ‘decent Nazi’ Goer i ng – stayed loyal to Hitler until end. Sentenced to death
H ess – flew to England and crashed plane in field! Imprisoned there and stood trial in 1945 Life-imprisonment
Cooperated with authorities 20 year sentence
What is denazification?
• an Allied plan to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, and politics of any remnants of the Nazi regime. • I nfor ma ti on Contr ol D i vi si on of - USA army took control of German newspapers, radio stations, cinemas, magazines etc
• Us zone: • Every adult had to fill out a form, called a Fragebogen, detailing his or her past • The courts relied on statements from other people regarding the accused's involvement in National Socialism. • By early 1947, the Allies held 90,000 Nazis in detention; another 1,900,000 were forbidden to work as anything but manual labourers
• In the end the denazification program was recognized as "counterproductive witch hunt" and a failure by US authorities, and they abandoned and even reversed the program in 1951