3.Social and economic effect on civilians in Germany

Question 1

3 main economic issues?

Answer 1

rationing
women
total war

Question 2

Economic Effect:

what was placed to ensure starvation did not occue?

Answer 2

Nazi leadership plans

Question 3

Economic Effect:

when was ration cards for food issued?

Answer 3

August 1939

Question 4

Economic Effect:

what was rationed?

Answer 4

points system for clothing. Fruit and veg. not rationed, meat ration reduced as war continued.

Question 5

Economic Effect:

what did the black market allow for?

Answer 5

the wealthy to eat well

Question 6

Economic Effect:

what was rationing like towards end of war?

Answer 6

difficulties in finding food although never critical

Question 7

Economic Effect:

how many women worked in workforce and by when?

Answer 7

14.8 million by 1939

Question 8

Economic Effect:

women transferred from?

Answer 8

from consumer sectors to war industries

Question 9

Economic Effect:

what did army call for?

Answer 9

compulsory labour service for women which was denied by Nazi leadership

Question 10

Economic Effect:

1942 female workforce statistics?

Answer 10

52% German labour force was female, need for female labour increased

Question 11

Economic Effect:

what did Hitler sign for women workforce and when?

Answer 11

.13th Jan 1943

Hitler signed a decree requiring women aged 17-45 to register for war work (not strictly enforced).

Question 12

Economic Effect:

why was Hitler against women working though?

Answer 12

as it could inflict harm upon their psychic and emotional life

Question 13

Economic Effect:

how many did Wehrmacht employ women as secretaries, cooks and cleaners?

Answer 13

160 000

Question 14

Economic Effect:

what role did women have 1943 onwards?

Answer 14

air raid warning personnel, search light operators and anti aircraft auxiliaries. (Reich Labour Service)

Question 15

Economic Effect:

what does Overy state about women?

Answer 15

“Women in Germany played a major part in keeping the war effort going…”

Question 16

Economic Effect:

what happened to policy in all areas with total war?

Answer 16

economic, levels of repression, and propaganda became more extreme – links between communism and Jews were emphasized and war atrocities by the Russians were spread through German media.

Question 17

Economic Effect:

albert speer’s effect on economy?

Answer 17

introduced mass production and rationalisation which made production more efficient, improved working conditions, use of slaves

Question 18

Economic Effect:

what does Overy state about total war?

Answer 18

“…the shift to mass production, though far from universal, brought an instant increase in efficiency….”

Question 19

Social Effect:

3 main points

Answer 19

evacuations
allied bombing of germany
repression and opposition

Question 20

Social Effect:

what was similar to Britain?

Answer 20

parents urged to evacuate their children from major cities

Question 21

Social Effect:

how many evacuated by summer of 1943?

Answer 21

approx. 300 000 children sent away

Question 22

Social Effect:

what was set up by Hitler Youth?

Answer 22

Specially established camps were set up to look after the children and educate them in Nazi Indoctrination.

Question 23

Social Effect:
why did class differences emerge?

Answer 23

as working class families could not afford to move away together, rather their children were sent far away

Question 24

Social Effect:

what does Michael Burleigh state about evacuation effect?

Answer 24

the war led to compelte breakdown of family structures “the progressive redefinition of the family”, with men at war, children located in rural areas and women relocated elsewhere

Question 25

Social Effect:

effect of allied bombing/attack on Hamburg?

Answer 25

between 30000-40000 dead, over 500000 homeless and over 20 hospitals and churches and 50% of the city had been destroyed

Question 26

Social Effect:

similar attack occured at?

Answer 26

in Dresden (Feb 1945) and Berlin (April/May 1945(

Question 27

Social Effect:

what did economic activity had to be dispersed from due to bombing?

Answer 27

dispersed from major cities or placed under ground

Question 28

Social Effect:

impact of bombing?

Answer 28

oil supplies became critically low, chemical production decreased significantly and the railway system was disrupted

Question 29

Social Effect:

impact of bombing on people?

Answer 29

By the end of the war almost 12 million people were homeless and 4 million homes had been destroyed by allied bombing attacks. Ruined houses patched up/homeless camped among the rubble

Question 30

Social Effect:

how many dead/injured due to bombing?

Answer 30

305 000 Germans killed and 800 000 injured

Question 31

Social Effect:

what contentious issue about effect of Allied bombing?

Answer 31

on civilian morale and German war effort – allied hope bombing cause morale to crumble and encourage opposition to Nazi regime but didn’t happen due to their extensive control.

Question 32

Social Effect:

what does Overy suggest about Allied bombing of Germany impact?

Answer 32

o however, post war surveys of German morale showed that “91% of Germans believed that bombing was the hardest thing for civilians to endure in the war.”
o Hence, different views are presented in this.

Question 33

Social Effect:

what was Nazi Germany (repression and opposition)

Answer 33

was a police terror state; opposition resulted in visits from the Gestapo or time in the concentration camps

Question 34

Social Effect:

what was introduced to coordinate all polish forces to improve efficiency?

Answer 34

‘The Reich Central Security Office’ (September 1939)

Question 35

Social Effect:

what gave regime the power to arrest and detain people without trial and deny doing so?

Answer 35

‘The Night and Fog Decree’ (September 1941)

Question 36

Social Effect:

what happened by 1945 due to police state of germany?

Answer 36

714000 Germans were in concentration camps for political crimes, between 1933 and 1945 an estimated 3 million Germans spent some time in the camps

Question 37

Social Effect:

what disappeared as Gestapo and SS were free to act?

Answer 37

Judicial procedure disappeared

Question 38

Social Effect:

what does Martin Broszat state about how legal process disappeared/no justice?

Answer 38

Martin Broszat: “…undertook on his behalf the sell-out of the legal system..” – with appointment of Georg Thierack to Justice Department