5.3 The Home Front

Question 1

From what year did mass evacuations begin?

Answer 1

1942

Question 2

How many German children were evacuated as part of the Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) programme

Answer 2

2.5 million

Question 3

Where did the Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) stay while they were evacuated?

Answer 3

In one of 9,000 camps supervised by the Hitler Youth leaders and teachers

Question 4

When did the first rationing begin?

Answer 4

1939

Bread, meat, dairy products, and soap

Question 5

From November 1939, what was rationed?

Answer 5

Clothing

Question 6

Theft of food stamps resulted in what?

Answer 6

It was a criminal offence.

It typically resulted in forced labour

Question 7

What ‘unfamiliar’ foods were Germans encouraged to eat?

Answer 7

Aubergine, fennel and artichokes

Question 8

What was so rare it could be used like currency?

Answer 8

Tobacco

Question 9

In May 1942, the government cut rations to what?

Answer 9

Bread was restricted to about half a loaf per person a day

Meat to 40 grams a day

The black market expanded rapidly

Question 10

What was common in the last months of the war?

Answer 10

Starvation

Question 11

What did Hitler launch in June 1941?

Answer 11

Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the USSR)

Question 12

Why did Operation Barbarossa put Germany under great strain?

Answer 12

Over 2m soldiers are thought to have died

The Soviets destroyed everything as they retreated so the Germans could not use it

Temperatures dropped sharply in November leading to freezing conditions that the Germans were not used to

Question 13

When did Goebbels tell the German population that they were now involved in a ‘total war’?

Answer 13

February 1943 - people had to use everything they had to win the war

Question 14

In October 1941, which group of people would be transported to Germany for slave labour

Answer 14

Russian prisoners of war

Question 15

By 1944, how many prisoners were working for German industry?

Answer 15

Over 7 million

Question 16

From January 1943, who had to register as available for work?

Answer 16

Men aged 16-65

Women aged 17-45

Question 17

What happened to small businesses during the war?

Answer 17

If they were not essential, they were closed and employees taken for war work

There were still exemptions for married women

Question 18

In August 1944, what was banned?

Answer 18

Holidays for workers

Question 19

In August 1944, what was the working week increased to?

Answer 19

60 hours

Question 20

What was shut down to aid the ‘total war’?

Answer 20

Professional sports teams and places of entertainment

Cinemas stayed open as propaganda tools

Question 21

What was formed to protect Germany from invasion?

Answer 21

The Volkssturm (Home Guard) was formed to protect Germany from invasion. Boys as young as 12 were being forced to join by 1945.

Question 22

From August 140, what targets were bombed?

Answer 22

Industrial targets

Question 23

From 1942, what targets began to be bombed?

Answer 23

Civilian targets

Question 24

What were the results of the raids on Hamburg in the summer of 1943?

Answer 24

42,600 German civilians died and 1 million fled the city.

Question 25

What impact did the bombing have on morale?

Answer 25

It had a hugely negative impact on morale despite what propaganda said

Question 26

From 1944, what did the Allies begin to bomb?

Answer 26

Strategic targets like railway lines

Question 27

Allied raids on the Ruhr Valley in 1944 are thought to have reduced metal production by what?

Answer 27

40%

Question 28

The number of women working in industry actually dropped between 1939 and 1941. Why?

Answer 28

Hitler’s opposition to the idea

Question 29

From June 1941, what did Goering order women to do?

Answer 29

If they had no children and had been in employment, they should register for woek

Question 30

What did Hitler turn down in November 1943?

Answer 30

A request to raise the working age limit to 50 for women.

He agreed to this in 1945

Question 31

What percentage of Germany’s work force did women make up by the end of the war?

Answer 31

60%

Question 32

What were the psychological effects of being a woman in Germany?

Answer 32

Many women lived in constant fear that their husbands or son had been killed

Many were killed in air raids, made homeless and forced to leave their homes for safer areas

As the war came to an end, women also had to cope with the fear of the Soviet army.

Soviet soldiers raped millions of German women in East Prussia and Berlin

Tens of thousands died from these attacks or committed suicide to avoid the attacks