Transcript Failure and Defeat

Failure and Defeat
LO: Examine life in Germany
towards the end of the war.
1944-1945
• By 1944, The Allies
were pushing
German armies
back in the west
and in the east.
• Goebbels was put
in charge of total
war.
Age limit for
compulsory
labour for
women was
raised to fifty
All nonGermans
had to work
in armament
factories
Total War
All places of
entertainment
apart from
cinemas were
closed.
The ‘Volksturm’
was formed
Why do you think that cinemas were kept open?
How do you think these measures affected
morale?
Volkssturm
• All males aged 1660 who did not
already serve in
some military unit
• Very basic training
• Many sent directly
to front line
• Wore civilian
clothes with black
armbands
“Nation, Rise Up, and Let the Storm Break
Loose”
• The nation is ready for
anything. The Führer
has commanded, and
we will follow him.
• We do not want to fail
him. We believe firmly
and unshakably in
victory. We see it
before us, we need
only reach for it.
• “Now, people rise up
and let the storm
break loose”
What was Goebbel’s try to
do with this speech?
The Bombing of Dresden
• In 1941 the RAF
introduced a policy
of area bombing
where entire cities
and towns were
targeted.
• One tactic used by
the Royal Air Force
and the United
States Army Air
Force was the
creation of
firestorms.
On the 13th February 1945, 773 British
planes bombed Dresden. During the next
two days the Americans sent over 527
heavy bombers to follow up the attack.
Dresden was nearly totally destroyed. As a
result of the firestorm it was afterwards
impossible to count the number of victims.
Recent research suggest that 35,000 civilians
were killed. Some Germans claim it was
more than 100,000.
What effect do you think the bombing had on
the morale of the German people?
April 1945
As Allied and Russian troops advanced in
to Berlin, they met little resistance from
local people who were drained by the
war.
• The Nazi administration could not cope
with such destruction.
• Early 1945 – government in chaos.
• Ration cards not honoured.
• People scavenged for food.
• Anything could be bought on the Black
market.
• Later, as defeat loomed, you could buy a
six point star of David as worn by Jews.
Why would people want to buy a Jewish
star?
The Fall of Berlin - 1945
By April 24 the Soviet
army surrounded
Berlin.
Fighting street-tostreet and house-tohouse, Russian
troops blasted their
way towards Hitler's
chancellery in the
city's centre.
Many Germans burnt
Nazi flags,
breathed a sigh of
relief and
desperately tried to
prove that they had
opposed the Nazi
regime all along.
A Soviet soldier raises the Hammer &
Sickle above the Reichstag