Download life like in Nazi Germany

What was life like in Nazi
Germany?
What was life in wartime Germany
1939-45?
The events of the war
• September 1939 outbreak of war
• Operation Barbarossa- on the 22nd June
1941, turning against their allies Russia.
Despite signing the Nazi-Soviet pact in
August 1939.
• By November 1941, Leningrad and Moscow
were under siege, and 3 million soviets
taken prisoner.
• Heavy snows brought Germans to a
standstill, unprepared for extreme
conditions. Strong resistance for the red
army, and Stalin uprooted 1,500 key
factories and moves them and their workers
east.
Stalingrad
• In June 1942 a massive offensive
to capture Stalingrad. Bitter street
fighting.
• Hitler ordered his men to fight, to
the death, on 31 January General
Von Paulus surrendered.
• Defeat a turning point, paved the
way for the red armies victory
across Eastern Europe.
Other Battles...
• North Africa-Allied troops
invade Sicily in July 1942. Rome
captured by the allies in June
1944.
• Western Front-British and
French troops invade France in
June 1944. Invade Germany by
March 1945.
• War in the East- Western
Russia liberated in July 1944,
by the end of this year all
Russia liberated.
Morale
• 1939-41= The years of Nazi Victories
Introduction of food/clothes rationing.
Limited casualties.
• 1941-43= The turn of the tide.
Final Solution/Speers reforms to mobilise
the war economy/More resistance-White
Rose Group Kreisau Group/Stalingrad.
• 1943-45 Total war and defeat
Allied bombing of Germany/Manufacture of
clothes ended/Stauffenberg
Plot/Auschwitz liberated/food only
available on black market/Dresden
bombing/Hitler suicide.
Morale
• Support for the war in 1939- as the
Nazi were careful about rationing,
and so this only seriously happened
in 1942. The rationing system in 1939
was fair and sufficient.
• 1942 shortages in soap, and
household goods had to be bought
with permits.
• Did not face the hardships seen in
the 1918-1919 war.
• Also early victories such as in Poland
in 1939.
• The fact that the war was not going
well in the East did effect morale,
and the defeat at Stalingrad was a
turning point.
Bombings
• Aimed at destroying the
German war industry and
morale.
• 305,000 Germans killed and
780,000 injured. Big bombings
at Dresden and Hamburg killed
many. Did lead to some
becoming demoralised.
• Goebbels kept promising they
would use a secret weapon to
turn the tide of the war, morale
dipped when clear this was not
going to happen.
Opposition
• Youth – White Rose Group
Edelweiss pirates
• Church- Cardinal Galen
• Conservatives- wanted to restore
human rights and freedoms and
democracy.
• Army-Worried about the
interference of the SS/shocked at
extermination policy/belief
Germany losing the war. Count Von
Stauffenberg- bomb attack July
1944.
War production
• Until 1942 the German economy
was not fully mobilised for war,
just a series of quick warsBLEIZRIEG.
• Arms industry production fell as a
result of conscription from 19391940 by 12.5%.
• Demands of war, resulted in a shift
in labour, investment and
priorities towards munitions.
• Labour issues- used labour from
occupied countries.
Speer and total war
• Albert Speer Minister for weapons
and munitions- Feb 1942.
• A campaign of total war was
launched in December 1941.
• He took central control of raw
materials, better processes to make
goods introduced, production lines
introduced, output rose per worker
by 60% from 1939-1944.
• Problems- lacked natural resources,
oil, coal, iron. Part of the reason why
needed to invade other countries.
Economy-Conclusion
• German economy did not
expand enough to meet the
demands of a total war.
• Conquest did not make up for
the shortfall in labour and raw
materials.
Jewish
• Never a plan to deal with
Jewish people, policy often
made in response to events.
• 1 September 1939= Curfew for
Jewish people and all radio sets
confiscated
• January 1940= All ration books
stamped with a J.
• 1st September 1941 all Jewish
people have to wear the star of
David badge.
• April 1943- Lost German
citizenship
Turning points
1) September 1939- invasion of Poland now
millions of Jewish people under German rule.
2) In January 1940 Jews used for slave labour and
moved to ghettos.
3) Summer 1940-Thinking about moving Jewish
people to Madagascar. Richard Heydrich
suggested this.
4) June 1941-Invasion of USSR, more Jewish people
under German control. Hitler authorised the SS
to murder the Jews. 700,000 killed by the
Einsatzgruppen across Russia.
5) Autumn 1941- Hitler dithered about the fates of
the Jews. Wanted to move Germans to Siberia.
6) December 1941- War against the USA.
Wansee Conference
• 20th January 1942- decide to
exterminate the Jews, and
extermination centres start to be
constructed. The final solution
• Next few months German Jews
deported to ghettos then to death
camps.
• In some camps Jewish labour was
employed, but the policy was to work
them until death.
• Auschwitz 1 million killed/Treblinka
800,000
Conclusion
• Hitler's role was more in authorising,
more than directing. He was also
decisive and indispensible.
• Complicity was huge with the army, and
the civil service willing to do the work of
the Fuhrer.
• Part of the pressure for a solution came
from below, as the Gauleiters did not
want their area to be a dumping ground
for the Jews.