topic three: 1939-1945 what was the impact of the war ?

What impact did the war have on nazi policy ?

Women exhorted to help war effort but only in 1942 were women of 17-45 told to register for work

Restrictions on ecuation dropped as great demand for well educated workers

1941 couples found cohabiting after their marriage had been banned were sent to concentration camps

Lembensborn programme extended encouragement of births outside marriage, something different

What was radicalisation of policy ?

Lebensborn programme

1941 couples found cohabiting after marriage had been banned were sent to concentration camps

What was reversal of policy ?

Restrictions dropped in university

Women encouraged to work

What impact did the Nazis actually have on births ?

These policies were advocated by the Catholic Churches as they wanted a lot of children

What was the impact on racial policy (radicalisation) ?

Einsatzgruppen - special task forces of security police that operated behind German lines in occupied territory. Main task was to shoot hostile elements (jews) - murder thousands of civilians Germans placed under curfew

Euthanasia programme begins

1941 June - half a million Jews shot

July decision taken to embark on final solution act mass deportation to east begins

1942 jan - mass gassing of Jews at Chelmnocamps

1942 jan - Wannsee conference plans final solution beginning of systematic round up of all Jews under German control

1943 - expansion of extermination camp system Heydrich - final solution

What the traditional view on the origins of the holocaust ?

Focuses on antisemitism, none of the measures taken against Jews were original, ghettos, yellow star, banned marriage - all mediaeval church law

But yet ?

By the 20th century this merged with Nazi ideology and more morderneised methods to produce mass murder

What is the modernist view on the origins of the holocaust ?

Focuses on the polycractic structure of the 3rd reich

Insane logic of German bureaucracy, bureaucrats like Eichmann were part of a nazi machinery that just needed a push

Final solution was the last stage in a programme of economic rationality

What did the intentionalists believe about the role of hitler ?

Holocaust happened bc hitler intended it to be- we can see this in his early speeches and mien Kamf

What did the structuralists believe the role of hitler was ?

See Hitler as not being in charge, no document has been founf linking the holocaust with Hitler

What do the majority of historians think ?

See Hitler as being a big influence, even if no direct order was given

What happened between 1938-39 ?

6000 German children were gassed for congenital deformities

By 1939 how many gypsies had himmler deported ?

30,000

How many homosexuals were sent to concentration Camps ?

50,000

What problems did the German economy face when the war broke out ?

4 year plan had failed to meet its target - Germany wasn’t ready

It wasn’t the war Hitler had expected - thought would go to war with USSR until mid 1940s (signed a non-aggression pact in 1939) but went to war in 1941

Consumer demand declining by more than 20% between 1939-1941

Why was this the case ?

Dominance of the army - kept demanding lastest technological equipment therefore this caused a collapse of production - only increased from 8000 in 1939 to 11000 in 1941 while Britain had rebelled to 20,000

No central agency of economic affairs - Speer, army,finance minister, 4 year plans, economic minister - polycrastic syststem of gov

What did Speer do ?

Introduced a policy of rationalisation, set up a central planning committee which would by pass the other organisations

Was it successful ?

Tank production increased by 25%, ammunition production increased 97%, total arms production increased 60%

Yet what happened ?

The allied bombing campaign which began in 1945 damaged germanys was productions

What did Albert Speer do ?

Complete rationalisation of German war economy in order to increase quality of weapons produced from the same recourses

What did he want to increase ?

German weapons production by over 300% whilst the quantity of resourced man power and raw materials increased very little

What did he do in March 1942 ?

Central planning which allocated and distributed raw materials

What did Speer insist on ?

Military personnel should be excluded from supervising German factories

Who did Speer recruits ?

Industrialists and engineers

What did he do to factories ?

Reorganised to improve productivity levels and to establish systems of distribution

What was Hitler’s economic policy aims in the period from 1933 to 1945 ?

Restore Germany to full employment, rebuild German military power, priority of territorial expansion, important for Germany to be self sufficient and geared for war

How did hitler reduce unemployment ?

By 1634 2.3 million but 0.2 million by 1938, public works schemes, hitlers great achievement, industrial production rose by a staggering 60% and GNP rose by 40%, some people were paid very little and introduction of compulsory labour service in 1935 introduced further control over workers, many of the public works schemes schemes were already underway under Weimar, public investment which did most to aid the recovery increased public spending stimulated demand and increased national income

What did hitler do to rearm Germany for war ?

Initial stages of rearmament created serious problems for economy and revealed structural weaknesses that had been hidden in early years, 1935-36 German farmer failure to produce enough food meant that imports were needed, 1936 German economy unable to meet demands

What did hitler do for the four year plan ?

Increased production in aluminium and explosives industries, production levels fell short in key commodities of rubber and oil and never reach levels demanded by armed forced, plan stopped further increased reliance on imports, start of war still needed 1/3 of its raw materials from abroad, social discontent - shortages in food consumer goods and labour shortages forced wages up

How did Hitler gear the economy towards total war ?

Economy was well short of being mobilised bc Hitler didn’t want war until 1945 so his policies were doomed to fail, introduced food rationing at an early stage, German economy not ready for total war when USSR was invaded, appointment of Speer did see improvement as there was 97% increase in ammunition production, tank production rose by 25% and arms by 59%, Germany never achieved a total war economy

What happened at Dresden ?

Feb 1945, 772 heavy bombers, destroyed more than 1600 acres, killed 22,700 to 25,000 people

Why did the British bomb Dresden ?

7th largest city, displaces soldiers and refugees, industrial and administruve centre, show the Russians what bomber command could do

What happened at Hamburg ?

July 1945, 37000 civilians died, 61% of the housing stock was destroyed, 3000 aircraft’s were employed, industrial losses were severe, 183 large factories were destroyed and 4118 smaller factories were destroyed, hit by air raids another 69 times

What happened in Berlin ?

363 air raids during ww2, by may 1945, 17 million people (40% of population) had fled

What was the impact of the allied bombing campaigns ?

Morale, propaganda played an important role, unlike ww1 people were aware of the set back therefore ca,Paige’s were used to rally Germans and encourage them to work harden, creation of the volksturm - peoples army

Yet what happened ?

Like Britain, the Germans developed a blitz spirit, a shared suffering brought people closers and increased resentment against the enemy. This helps to explain why Germans carried on fighting till the end

When was rationing introduced ?

Earlier on in the war, later increased when bombing campaign began

What was an example of this ?

Hot water for 2 hours a day

What needed this by 1943 ?

Demands for total war

What happened by 1945 ?

Rationing cards were useless - cigarettes were the de-facto currency

What did Goebbels do ?

Made a famous speech in Berlin where he called for total war

What was total war ?

Everything was geared towards war eg reversal of female work policy and Speers policy of rationalisation (centeral planning committe )

Who revisited to the nazis ?

Army officers, civil servants, religious people, students, journalists, teachers, socialists, actors

Who were the army officers ?

General Ludwig Beck

Who were the students ?

Sophie scholl

What types of resistance was there ?

Organising chiefs of staff to threaten resignation of Hitlers radical approach, involvement of bomb plotting, sending British gov details on Germany military plans, spreading anti- Hitler messages, critiquing nazism, militarism and communism, joining opposition groups like white rose, distributing anti - government phamplets, married Jews, being a part of the resistance

What problems did they face ?

Lack of support, timings off, imprisonment betrayed by a police spy, arrested at meeting

Why did Germany loose the Second World War ?

Hitlers strategic bungling, germanys lack of preparedness for war, Italy was an ineffective ally, failure to defeat the USSR, allied strength, failure of the economy

Why did Hitler’s strategic bungling lead Germany to lose the war ?

Always believed a war on two fronts should be avoided, Germany failed to secure either British neutrality or a Britain surrender in 1940/41 before attacking USSR - foundation of defeat were laid

Why did Germany’s lack of preparedness for war lead Germany to lose the war ?

Didn’t fully exploits its available resources and manpower

Why did Italy as an ineffective ally lead Germany to lose the war ?

Weakness in Bankanst N.America proved costly since it diverted German forces away from main Europe fronts

Why did failure to defeat the USSR lead Germany to lose the war ?

USSR could maintain the eastern front by relying on its gerographcial size and sacrificing its huge manpower

Why did allied strength lead Germany to lose the war ?

Britain still free to act as a launch pad for western front and also could strike the heart of Germany by means of aerial bombing, many allied air raids which meant Germany couldn’t fully benefit from its peak industry in production in summer 1944

What did the US do in this time ?

Set massive support to allies especially to USSR which received 13,000 tanks and 15,000 planes, Russia had a vast resources of raw materials like oil and man power

Why did failure of the economy lead Germany to lose the war ?

German economy not really ready for long war in 1939, short of labour, deeply in debt, foreign currencies almost completely used up in 1939 - debt of 42 billion reichsmark

What happened to nazi leadership in 1945?

Much of them were dead (Hitler, Himmler and Goebbles) and remaining were arrested, Eichman and Borman escaped

Therefore what happened ?

No gov running Germany

How was Germany divided in 1945 ?

4 areas - soviet,British, American, french, berlin was also zonely divided

What happened to population displacement ?

Huge, 7 million foreigners living in the country, mostly prisoners of war

How many Jews came back to Germany ?

100,000

What happened in the east ?

Many flew from the east as don’t want to be under soviet control

What happened to urban destruction in 1945 ?

20% germanys housing was completely destroyed by 1945

30% housing was badly destroyed by 1945

What happened in food and fuel shortages/economic dislocation in 1945?

Average 900 cal a day, water supplies destroyed, gas supplies destroyed

What did the soviets do in 1945 in Germany ?

Average women raped 12 times in cities occupied by soviets, increase in population, dismantling German factories (1400) and took them back to Moscow, robbery

What was the grand alliance ?

USSR, US and Britain, Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill were brought together for the simple necessity of finishing the war

Why was it not a strong alliance ?

Ideological differences during the war they attended a swerves of conferences

What were the casualties ?

British soldiers 175,000

USSR soldiers 10,000,000

Soviet citizens 27,000,000

British citizens 200,000

What was the Atlantic Charter 1941 ?

1st meeting between US and UK, aim - eliminate nazism, agree to establish a new world order - peace and democracy for all

What was the Tehran 1943 ?

First meeting of the grand alliance, now discussed the final phase of the war, it revealed beginning of mistrust between them

How had the situation in Yalta change in feb 1945 ?

Power of Britain in decline, soviet army had advanced into Germany, soviet ‘liberation’ of Eastern Europe war not viewed favourably by the other

What was the agreement in yalta in feb 1945 ?

Liberated people were to have democractic gov USSR to fight against Japan in the east, USSR was to keep eastern Poland, Germany was to be divided into 4 zones

How did the britain change in Potsdam July 1945 ?

Churchill antagonistic towards Stalin and feared the spread of communism, Churchill replaced in 1943 by labour leader Atlee - priority was to rebuild Britain

How did the US change in Potsdam July 1945 ?

Roosevelt dveveolpoed a relationship with Stalin but he was replaced with Truman - inexperienced

How did the USSR change in Potsdam July 1945 ?

Needed reparations to rebuild his country and was against the division of Germany - he wanted access to the Ruhr in the west (industrial part)

What happened in Potsdam ?

Agreement to implement 4D’s, agreed to the zones of occupation, German/polish border Oder-Neisse line, reparations - soviets demanded $20 billion - figure US rejected as they learnt lesson from Versailles

What were the 4D’s ?

Demilitarisation, democratisation, decentralisation, denazification

Therefore what happened ?

They agreed to take reparations from each of their zones and the USSR would receive ¼ of reparations from the west in return for agricultural goods, this was gouging to cause issues later on

Even though Germany had collapsed what happened ?

The vacuum was quickly filled with international rivalry between the superpowers

What was this over ?

Ideology - communism capitalism and democracy

Security - power of the red army vs US with the A bomb

Economy - US desire to maintain world trade vs USSR need to recover losses from the war thefrore the Cold War began

What was the aim of democratisation ?

To replace the nazi system of gov - a totalitarian state, there was a clear difference in how this was achieved

What did Walter Ulbricht (leader of KPD) do in the soviet zone ?

Flew back to berlin

What did Stalin tell them ?

To make it democratic but keep everything in control

What did SMAD do ?

Order the formation of political parties

What new parties emerged ?

KPD, SPD - forcibly merged in 1946 to become SED, LDPD merged liberal parties, CDU - merged Christian parties

Why was SED’s formation controversial ?

SMAD arrested many SPD members

What happened in the west in relation to the party merger ?

72% SPD members voted against it so SMAD banned the vote in the east

What was the outcome of the first election in the east in 1946 ?

48% voted for SED, 27% voted CDU and 21% voted LDPD

What did the Soviets fail to do ?

Gain majority they wanted

What did SMAD do ?

Regularly purge the SED and forced it to conform to soviet policies

What was SMADs aim ?

To force all parties to form an anti-fascist coalition to prevent the rise of nazism in the future

What was forced on parties in important matters ?

Co-operation even though they were independent

What happened by 1948 ?

The SED proclaimed itself a Marxist Lenist party committed to democratic centralism in other words a Stalinist party

What happened in the western zone ?

Only allowed democractic parties

What parties were there ?

SPD - no merger

KPD - banned

CDU - Christian democrats

FDP - liberals

Multitude of smaller parties

What happened due to demilitarisation ?

German armed forced were disbanded even with the formation of the two states in 1949, neither were allowed an army, least controversial

What happened in the Nuremberg trials as a result of denazification ?

Only 24 leading nazis sentenced to death

What was the US directive ?

Remove former nazis from participating in society

What was there ?

Mass internments in former concentration camps - sachsenhousen became a soviet prisoner of war camp

Yet what happened ?

The policy became impractical

What did the US begin to do in relation to denazification in the western zone ?

We’re quite zealons, wanted to purge nazis in society yet they didn’t want to destroy the capitalist structure