Chapter 5: Germany and the occupied territories during WWII Flashcards
What was the ‘Total War’ idea?
German minister of propaganda, Goebbles, touring damaged cities to embrace the idea to devote everything they had to achieve victory
What was the changing role of women at the start of WWII?
As more men were required to fight in the war, proportion of women workers increased drastically and by 1943 all women aged between 17 and 45 had to sign up for jobs supporting the war effort
What were the effects of allied bombing on Germany?
It greatly increased citizen hardship, and left 800’000 civilians dead, 3’000’000 houses destroyed and 7’500’000 homeless
What were ghettos?
Jewish people being resettled into the poorest areas of towns and cities: the conditions were terrible including inadequate food supplies and constant exposure to widespread diseases
What were Nazi death squads?
Made up of SS and police, they would take responsibility against newly captured areas (essentially just murder of Jews) and in 1942, Hitler began his final genocide against Jews
What was the Nazi ‘Final solution’?
In 1942, Nazi leaders decided forcing Jewish people out of the country was not enough to deal with the huge number of Jews in the country so the Nazis began building extermination camps designed to kill large numbers of people as quickly as possible
What were the Edelweiss pirates and what did they do?
A Nazi resistance group made up of working class teenagers. They attacked Hitler youth members, posted anti-Nazi pamphlets and helped hide German from the German army
What was the White Rose Group and what did they do?
A group at Munich university who were very critical of the loss of freedom for ordinary Germans. They showed people the horrors of the war on the Eastern front and the appalling treatment of Jewish people
What was the July bomb plot (1944)?
A group of officers meeting together planning to kill Hitler by placing a bomb in Hitler’s headquarters and overthrow the Nazi government. The assassination attempt failed as Hitler was only injured and the attempted overthrow was thwarted by soldiers still loyal to Hitler
