Transcript By the end of this lesson* Understand how the lives of civilians were

Wartime Germany revision
By the end of this lesson…
Understand how the lives of civilians were affected
by the war.
Understand what opposition there was to the Nazis
during wartime from both civilians and the military.
To understand how Germany was defeated and how
it was punished.
Germans received seven food ration cards, colour coded
for different foods. Extra rations were given to workers
in heavy industries such as mining; to expectant or
nursing mothers; sick people; vegetarians and donors of
blood or breast-milk
Rationing
As a result of rationing, two out of five Germans ate better than before the war.
The first year of the war went well for Germany.
As Germany conquered other countries, food as
well as huge stocks of luxury goods such as
dresses, stockings, furs and perfumes were
imported from those countries. People could buy
these on the black market if they had money, but
most of the goods went to loyal or high ranking
Nazis.
Diet became increasingly monotonous –
vegetable and black rye bread, with small
amounts of meat, butter and a single egg each
week. Bread was usually sold when it was one
day old so that it took more chewing and people
ate less. Adults received no milk ration although
children received a generous one.
Other commodities,
such as clothing, also
became more difficult
to obtain as
production was geared
increasingly towards
the requirements of
the war effort. As early
as 1941, 40% of all
textile output and 44%
of all manufactured
clothing was
earmarked for use by
the armed forces.
Strict rationing came into force at the
start of the war, and between 1939
and 1941 German workers were
considerably less well fed than their
British counterparts. Consumption
declined by 25% compared with only
12% in Britain.
Hot water was permitted on only two days per
week. Soap was also rationed. Toilet paper was
not available. Tobacco was difficult to find. Many
people were so desperate for it that tobacco
became a kind of substitute for money
Propaganda
Goebbels claimed that between December
1941 and January 1942 Germans gave 1.5
million furs and 67 million woollen garments
to help clothe the German army in Russia.
Other campaigns urged people to save fuel,
work harder and even try to avoid tooth decay.
Extra food rations were given out at Christmas
1942 to help keep up morale.
The civilian population within the Reich
remained relatively sheltered from enemy
action until 1942. In that year, the British and
American airforces abandoned their policy of
avoiding areas of heavy civilian population.
There is much evidence to suggest that Nazi propaganda has been so effective that public
confidence in Hitler’s leadership remained high, even when Germany was on the verge of
defeat.
Air Raids
By 1942 the raids were more frequent and more intense.
At the same time the number of doctors available to treat
victims was going down.
As the air-raids worsened many Germans left the cities
and were evacuated to villages or rural towns. In the
cities the air raids became increasingly ferocious.
The first in a series of “thousand bomber raids” was
launched against Cologne in May 1942, and in August of
the following year another such raid killed 40,000
civilians in Hamburg.
From mid-1944, Germany’s enemies enjoyed almost total
aerial superiority, and the vulnerability of German towns
to devastating aerial attack became even greater.
The final official statistics for the damage caused to
Germany by aerial bombardment alone are staggering. In
the years immediately after the war, the Federal
Statistical Office in Wiesbaden established that 593,000
German civilians had been killed by this means, and that
3,370,000 buildings had been destroyed, including
600,000 in Berlin alone.
As the war intensified there was even more
demand for women workers, but as the casualties
mounted there was even more pressure to
increase the birth rate.
Rationing, bombing and absent husbands made life
very difficult for mothers.
When the war began to go badly in 1943 the Nazis
tried to mobilise all women except those with
young children. Three million women aged 17-45
were called to work, yet only about one million
took jobs. Many tried to escape the call up – some
pretended to be ill, others deliberately got
pregnant.
An extract from a History textbook.
All single and married women up to the age of 35
who do not already have four children should
produce four racially pure German men. Whether
these men are married is of no significance. Every
family that already has four children must set the
husband free for this action.
A new marriage law planned in 1943, but which
never came into effect.
A German propaganda poster of 1943 with the
words: ‘One Battle, One Will, One Goal:
Victory at any price. It features a female
worker.
WOMEN
By 1944 Germany’s armed forces were heavily
stretched and in September Hitler gave orders
for the creation of the Volkssturm. This was a
type of Home Guard, intended to defend
Germany’s cities from Allied invasion. It was made
up of men and boys.
An extract from a History textbook.
VOLKSSTURM
AlI was never a soldier so I hadn’t a clue about
anything. After three hours of instruction from a
holder of the Iron Cross, we were ‘ready for
action’ to use a bazooka. Our platoon had twenty
three members and for these twenty three we got
given twelve weapons. I didn’t get one and didn’t
make any effort to. I didn’t understand how they
worked.
An elderly member of the Volkssturm recalls his
involvement.
A German propaganda poster of 1944.
By 1943 it was clear that the war was not going
to go Germany’s way. The Government began
preparations for “Total War” with every part of
German society geared to the war effort,
producing arms, growing food, caring for the
sick or fighting. Anything that did not
contribute to the war effort was eliminated.
Despite Allied bombing, the last years of
the war saw a significant improvement in
industrial production and an increase in
military expenditure.
Between 1939 and 1944, only 200,000 extra
women entered the workforce despite the
chronic lack of labour. In 1939, the number
of women in employment was 14,6 million,
a figure which actually declined to 14.2
million in 1941 and peaked at 14.9 million in
1944.
Albert Speer was appointed as Reich
Minister for Armaments and
Production in September 1943. This
post gave Speer responsibility for all
industrial output and raw materials.
Total
War
Even with the move towards
“Total War”, the subsequent
campaign to encourage women to
work from January 1943 had little
effect with only 400,000 extra
women being recruited by the
end of the war.
GHETTOS
The treatment of Jews during the
war years
EINZATSGRUPPEN
FINAL SOLUTION
Of the countries which Hitler
invaded by 1940, Poland had the
highest population of Jewish
people. For years, Hitler had been
waging a non-stop war of
persecution against the Jewish
people in Germany. With the
invasion of Poland, Hitler took the
opportunity to round up all the
Jewish people and place them into
ghettos or send them to
concentration camps.
Originally seen as a
short term ‘solution’.
As time went by
conditions in the
ghetto became
appalling.
GHETTOS
The main problems were overcrowding (with
an average of seven people per room,) hunger
(people were given 250 calories of food a day)
and inactivity.
Although the Nazis established the
ghettos, they were normally run by a
Jewish Council or Judenrat who were
responsible for keeping order. They
established soup kitchens, and were
permitted to run four primary schools,
which also ran adult classes on a Sunday.
Culture was also an important part of
ghetto life; people could attend lectures,
concerts, theatres and art exhibitions.
By 21 September 1939, an order had been issued that
Jews were to be concentrated in separate areas within
cities (ghettos). This 'short-term' measure to contain
and control Jews son developed into a long-term policy
towards the Jews.
Plans to isolate the Jewish population of
Warsaw came into being immediately after
Poland was invaded. The Jewish people
made up over 30% of the Warsaw population
and were rounded up and placed into an
area only 2.4% of the city’s size. During
November a huge wall was built around the
ghetto to physically segregate the Jewish
people from the rest of Warsaw. Over the
next two years, thousands of Jews from
other Polish cities were sent to the Ghetto.
By 1940 there were already 450,000 people
living in an area only 1.6 square miles in size
surrounded by high walls, barbed wire and
guarded by Nazi military. In the space of
three years this number dropped to 37,000.
Every day, people died in their hundreds
from diseases such as typhoid, starvation
and malnutrition.
Children were
particularly
vulnerable in the
ghetto.
Thousands died
of starvation.
These were mobile killing
squads made up of SS
officers who went directly
into Jewish communities
and killed them rather than
taking them to Ghettos or
camps.
Their focus was killing any
racial or political enemies of
the Nazis so Gypies,
Russians, and the mentally
and physically disabled.
EINZATSGRUPPEN
Shooting was the most
common method of
execution but by 1941 it
had been noted that this
was having serious
psychological problems so
they began to use ‘gas vans’.
In total the Einzatsgruppen
killed nearly two million.
As more and more Jews were under Nazi
control, Hitler and leading Nazis wanted
an answer to deal with the Jewish
‘problem’. In the Summer of 1941, a ‘final
solution’ was decided – to exterminate
the Jews in death camps.
Hitler’s hatred and demand for a pure
master race were the reasons behind this.
In January 1942, leading Nazis met at
Wannsee in Berlin. Death camps were to
be built in Poland, far away from Germany,
where Jews would work until death. By the
Summer of 1943, Jews from all over
Europe were being sent to these camps.
FINAL SOLUTION
The most infamous of the death camps
were Auschwitz-Birkenau where as many as
2 million may have been murdered; Sobibor
where about 250,000 were murdered;
Treblinka where 725,000 may have been
murdered; Chelmno where 600,000 were
murdered; Belzec where 600,000 were
murdered and Majdanek where 235,000
were murdered. Another camp was found
in north-west Poland at Stutthof where
67,000 were murdered. All of these camps
were in Poland with four of them near the
Russian border (Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor
and Treblinka) while Auschwitz-Birkenau
was in the south-west of Poland while
Chelmno was in central west Poland.
Edelweiss Pirates
White Rose Group
Youth group, refused to join
Hitler Youth. They went on
marches, handed out Allied
propaganda and harrassed
Hitler Youth groups. NOT
EFFECTIVE RESISTANCE AS ON
A SMALL SCALE!
Set up in 1941 by Sophie and
Hans Scholl. Issued six different
pamphlets to persuade people
of the evils of the Nazis.
NOT VERY EFFECTIVE
OPPOSITION!
Civilian
Opposition
Protestant Opposition
Martin Niemoller and
Dietrich Bonhoeffer both
key leaders of the
Confessional Church.
Both spoke out
frequently against the
Nazis. 2/3 Germans were
Protestants.
Swing Groups
Listened to Jazz music met
in bars and night clubs and
occasionally sheltered
enemies of the state.
NOT A BIG THREAT TO NAZI
RULE!
Catholic Opposition
Bishop von Galen was
head of the Catholic
church in Germany.
Initially did not oppose
the Nazis but spoke
out against Gestapo
and use of Euthanasia.
Became known as the
lion of Munster.
REASONABLE THREAT!
White Rose Group
The White Rose, was formed by students at the University of Munich in
1941.
Used passive resisitance, publishling leaflets calling for democracy and
social justice.
Edelweiss Pirates
If of
theyouths
Youthwho
andopposed
Religious
opposition
groups
Nazi
rule, specifically Hitler Youth.
had allacross
worked
together
theyoften
could
havelocalised names like
Common
western
Germany
having
‘Navajos’.formed a successful, effective
Wentopposition
on hikes and
trips,
listened they
to Jazz music. During wartime
tocamping
the Nazis,
however
they were
have
spread
pro British anti Nazi propaganda.
didbelieved
not andtoso
were
ineffective.
Martin Niemoller
Leading Protestant pastor, preached that God not man should be obeyed.
Arrested
and sent
to concentration
camp.
Military
opposition
was most
serious
Cardinal von Galen
due
to their
organisation,
training,
Catholic
leader
in Germany
who protested
against use of euthanasia on
and or
methods
of opposition.
thoseposition
with physical
mental disabilities.
Military opposition
Many in military wanted an end to the war as tit was becoming evident
that German would inevitably lose. Also some did not agree with the
human rights abuses conducted by the Nazi regime. In the July Bomb Plot
a group led by Colonel von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler
and end the war. This failed and led to a crack down on the military.
As the Soviet Army advanced into Berlin Adolf Hitler was based in his bunker underneath the Reich
Chancellery building. Bomb proof and with its own air recycling plant, the complex had been built without a
proper communication system.
Hitler finally accepted that defeat was close at hand. At around midnight on 28th April Hitler rewarded his
long term partner, Eva Braun.
After the wedding, Hitler wrote his final instructions, blaming the start of the war on the British and the
Jews. He named Admiral Donitz as his successor to lead Germany after his death.
On 30th April, Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot, his wife Eva, committed suicide with him by
swallowing cyanide capsules.
After their bodies were found by Goebbels at 3.30pm, their bodies were taken into the garden. In
accordance with Hitler’s wishes the bodies were taken out to the garden, drenched in petrol and set alight.
(Hitler did not want his body to be displayed after his death)
On 1st May Jossef Goebbels poisoned his six young children and then committed suicide with his wife.
The burned remains of the two bodies were found by Soviet troops on 4th May and taken away for forensic
testing to confirm their identities.
After the deaths in the bunker, Admiral Donitz tries to negotiate with President Eisenhower to try to
ensure that most of their troops would surrender to the western allies rather than the Soviet Union.
Eisenhower rejects Donitz’ terms, insisting on surrender on all fronts and threatened to resume air raids
on Berlin.
Dontiz accepted Eisenhower’s terms and had his second in command sign the document at 2.41 am on 7
May, 1945. This document meant the Germans had to cease military operations by 11.01 that night.
Name
Bormann,
Martin
Dönitz, Karl
Frank, Hans
Information
Nazi Party Secretary after Hess
fled Nazi Germany. Not at the trial
and sentenced in his absence.
Led Germany's Navy and succeeded
Hitler on the death of the Führer.
Ruled occupied Poland.
Frick, Wilhelm Hitler's Minister of the Interior.
Göering,
Hermann
Commander of the Luftwaffe and
various departments in the SS.
Sentence
Tried and
hanged.
10 years in
prison.
Tried and
hanged.
Tried and
hanged.
Tried and
committed
suicide before
execution.
Hitler's deputy before he left
Life in prison.
Germany
Highest ranking member of SS to
survive the war. Involved with the
Tried and
Kaltenbrunner,
Einzatsgruppen units in Russia and
hanged.
Ernst
security in Germany itself. Not
charged with Indictment 2.
Senior Nazi industrialist;
Committed
commanded the German Labour
Ley, Robert
suicide before
Front. Committed suicide before his
his verdict.
verdict.
Von Papen,
Had served as German chancellor
Acquitted
Franz
prior to Hitler
Ribbentrop, Nazi Germany's Minister of Foreign
Tried and
Joachim
Affairs
hanged.
Nazi racial ideologist and Protector
Rosenburg,
Tried and
of the eastern Occupied
Alfred
hanged.
Territories.
Schirach,
Head of the Hitler Youth and later
20 years in
Baldur von
in charge of Vienna.
prison
Seysss-Inquart,
In charge of Holland
Death
Arthur
20 years in
Speer, Albert Minister of Armaments.
prison
Hess, Rudolf
Table showing the fate of Senior Nazis at the
Nuremburg trials.
The Allies agreed to put on trial leading members
of Nazi Germany as war criminals. Twenty two
senior ranking Nazis were tried at Nuremberg, a
place chose because of its association with the
development of the Nazi Party. The defendants
were accused of conspiring to wage war, commit
crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and
commit war crimes such as abuse and murder of
prisoners.
The trials began on 21st November 1945 and ended
on 1st October 1946 and over 200 Nazis were tried,
with 146 being found guilty of at least one of the
above crimes.
An extract from a GCSE textbook.
A photograph of some of
the defendants in the
Nuremburg trials.
When the Allies agreed to
divide and occupy Germany at
the Potsdam conference in
1945, the idea was that
although each country would
take responsibility of a
specific section of the
country, they would rule
together through the Allied
Control Council. This did not
last and soon the Western
zones joined together forming
a West German union, with
the Soviet Zone soon after
creating the German
Democratic Republic in the
East.
The renaming of a German
street in 1916.
Denazification was the Allies' policy of
removing traces of the Nazi regime form
German society, culture, press, economy,
judiciary, and politics. The Allies not only
had to punish and remove senior Nazis, but
wanted to make sure that Nazism was
removed from everyday life. By 1947 the
Allies held 90,000 Nazis in detention and
almost 2 million were forbidden to work as
anything other than manual labourers.
• 30th August 1945: The wearing of the uniform of the German Army is prohibited.
•10th October 1945: The Nazi Party was dissolved and its revival made illegal.
•1st December 1945: All German military units dissolved.
•12th January 1946: All those who held a significant position in the Nazi Party or were a member of
the Party before 1937 (the year when membership became compulsory for German citizens) and
removed from public office.
•13th May 1946: Confiscation of all media that could contribute to Nazism of militarism. A list is
drawn up of over 30,000 book titles ranging from school books to poetry which were banned.
A list of the measures passed by the Allied Control Council.