Frontsheet 6

Question 1

Causes for high popularity before the war

Answer 1

Political stability

Economic growth

Successful foreign policy

Propaganda

Creation of Volksgemeinschaft

Question 2

Negative impacts on moral

Answer 2

Rationing

Demands of supporting
wartime economy

Allied bombing

Armed forces casualties

Question 3

Public mood

Answer 3

Likely reluctant loyalty
not enthusiasm
like start WW1

Maintaining morale crucial

Question 3

Aims during the war

Answer 3

Develop resources
needed to win

Continue creation of Nazified state
↳loyalty to regime & war effort

Maintain morale & support for war/Nazis

Question 4

Policy affecting elites & business owners

Answer 4

Central control of
armaments production
from 1942

War prisoners as slave labour
& 2.8M foreign labourers (1942-45)
& forced labour of Jews/other prisoners

Question 5

Effect of policy on morale
Elites/business owners

Answer 5

Most still live comfortable lives

Some (eg. von Molkte) concerned Hitler
destroy Germany/uncomfortable w/ brutality of policy
Others supported

Question 6

Policy affecting workers

Answer 6

Decree for the Mobilisation of the Whole German Economy onto a War Footing
Sept 1939
reduced wages & banned overtime payments
restored Oct 1939

Total war measures introduced 1942-44
eg. 60-hr week, no holidays/overtime payments
more rations allocated
to most productive workers

Absenteeism increasingly punished harshly
eg. conscription

Workers expected to make sacrifices for Volksgemeinschaft

Question 7

Effect of policy on morale
Workers

Answer 7

Total war reduced health & welfare

Wage reduction/banned overtime payments
led to increased absenteeism/discontent
forced restoration Oct 1939

Question 8

Policy affecting women

Answer 8

By 1940 250,000 conscripted into war work
June 1941 all childless had to register to work
increased workforce 130,000

Hitler reluctant to employ women
before 1941 only conscripted
women already in work
June 1941decree by Goebbels
exempt married women who’d never worked
By 1943 Speer convinced to end reluctance
& most women conscripted

After Stalingrad 1943
all women 17-45 had to register to work

By 1945 made up 60% labour force

1943-45 increasingly involved
Auxiliary Corps
inc. radio operators & anti-aircraft operators

Final months of war
trained for combat roles in women’s battalion

Question 9

Effect of policy on moral
Women

Answer 9

Suffered hardship at home
eg. loss of family & queuing for vital food

NS-F taught how to cope
in wartime conditions

Middle/upper class women
who’d never worked
largely managed avoid factory work

Question 10

Policy affecting youth

Answer 10

Conscription fell from
19 (1940) -> 16 (1943)

Conscription to Home Guard
introduced Sept 1944 for all 16-60
by 1945 inc. some girls

Evacuated from cities after 1940

Recruited to help harvest
600,000 boys & 1.4M girls 1942

HJ took part 3 week army training

Youth division of SS (16-18 yr olds)
fought in France 1944

Question 11

Effect of policy on morale
Youth

Answer 11

Many indoctrinated to believe in Nazi ideals

some increasingly questioned regime

Question 12

Rationing

Answer 12

Introduced Aug 1939
most restricted to 500g meat & 1 egg per week
1941 after invasion of Russia
reduced to 400g meat

Clothes rationed Nov 1939
after panic buying

Manual workers given more to aid production

Jews given less
& banned from buying certain food
eg. chocolate

Special allotment given to
pregnant & nursing women

Occasional shortage of coal/soap/shoes

Question 13

Effect of rationing on moral

Answer 13

To keep up morale
initial ratios relatively generous 1939-41
used food from occupied countries

Supply unpredictable after invasion of Russia
many suffered malnutrition by 1945

Question 14

Aims of four year plan

Answer 14

Achieve full autarky & ready for war by 1940

Economy not prepared for war 1939

Question 15

Economy problems 1939-41

Answer 15

Shortage of materials

Shortage of labour

Slowness of full mobilisation

Need to maintain morale

Armed forced demand for specialist equipment

Goering’s leadership

Question 16

Mobilisation of the economy (decree)

Answer 16

Sept 2 1939
Decree for the Mobilisation of the Whole German Economy onto a War Footing

Full mobilisation not achieved until 1942

Question 17

Shortage of weapons & equipment

Answer 17

Before 1942 forces suffered shortages
didn’t hamper advances of army
in Poland/Norway/Holland/Belgium/France
due to Blitzkrieg tactics

By 1941 attack reached Mediterranean
& Operation Barbarossa launched
army stretched thin
& supply problems began to hinder war effort

Question 18

Cause for supply problems 1939-41

Answer 18

4 yr plan didn’t anticipate conflict pre-1941
↳planned expansion Luftwaffe complete 1942
& build up navy by 1944-45
↳development ersatz goods not complete

Armament production had structural weaknesses
↳diff branches demanded diff high quality specialised equipment - expensive & required. high skilled labourers
↳many firms not structured to achieve military demand
↳standardisation imposible - diff versions weapons
↳proportion labour force producing armaments increasing
21% (Sept 1939) -> 55% (Jan 1941)

Goering lacked technical/economic knowledge to do job effectively

Question 18

Albert Speer

Answer 18

Appointed Armaments Minister 1942

Question 19

The Central Planning Agency

Answer 19

Speer created
centralised armaments production

Put arms manufacturers directly under his control

Brought industrialists into
ministry for munitions
relied on their expertise over military

Combined small firms
making specialist equipment

Question 20

Speer’s production miracle

Answer 20

1941-43 aircraft production increased 200%
& tanks 250%

Construction times fell dramatically
U-boat 16 weeks not 42 weeks

Arms manufacturing costs declined
better able to impose max prices
on arms manufactures

Efficiency advisors appointed to all major firms
shown how to reduce waste of
valuable commodities eg. steel

Reduction in type of vehicles made
151 types of lorries (1939) -> 23 (1942)

Question 21

Impact of allied bombing

Answer 21

1942-45 targeted cities & small towns
eg. Hamburg & Berlin

Aimed to damage factories/economy/weaken citizen morale
410,000 killed

Supply lines/factories damages
overall production increased 1942-44
by 1945 production falling
35% fewer tanks
31% fewer aircrafts
41% fewer lorries produced

Question 22

Steps to solve labour problem before 1942

Answer 22

Non-essential workers released for military service

No. workers making consumer goods
reduced significantly
relocated to armaments

Full scale mobilisation/conscription
not implemented for 2 yrs
worries about morale
suggests society not fully nazified

Question 23

Labour shortages
USSR counterattack

Answer 23

Brought labour shortages to a head
threatened supply of vital materials

Gauleiters tried to keep labourers in own areas
frustrated Fritz Todt’s attempts
to take labour away from civilian work

Stalingrad defeat led to more drastic measures

Jan 13 1943
Decree for the Comprehensive Deployment of Men and Women for Reich Defence Tasks
↳All men 16-65 & women 17-45
had to register to work - goes against ideology
↳Non-essential businesses closed
& workers transferred
↳Identify all remaining men for military service

Question 24

Use of foreign labour

Answer 24

June 1940 - Spring 1942
guest workers (voluntary)
recruited from Western Europe

Oct 1941
Hitler agreed Russia PoW used as slave labour

March 1942
Hitler established
Plenipotentiary General for Labour Allocation
led by Fritz Sauckel - organised foreign labour

1942-45 Sauckel forced transfer of
2.8M workers from East

By 1944
7M foreign workers in Germany
& 7M working in other countries

All large companies used foreign labour
eg. IG Farben

By 1944 est. 1/4 labour force foreign labourers

Question 25

Conditions for foreign labourers

Answer 25

Guest workers from Europe
same wage/living conditions as German workers

Eastern Europeans
low wage (approx. half)
harsh icing conditions
severe discipline

PoW/[camp] inmates
used as slave labour
not paid
lived on starvation rations
eg. Mittelbau Dora

Question 26

Opposition
Working class youth

Answer 26

Edelweiss Pirates
mainly active in Rhineland/Ruhr regions
14-18 yr olds

Anti-HJ & rejected its militaristic culture
tried to avoid conscription

1944 linked to underground groups
helped army deserters/escaped PoW/[camp] inmates

Obtained supplies by attacking military depots
caused chaos w/ bombing/destruction

Group crushed
many arrested & sent to labour camps

Leaders arrested
1944 leaders of Cologne Group publicly hanged

Question 27

Opposition
Middle class youth

Answer 27

‘Swing’ youth groups
less political - wanted to have good time
↳listened to American jazz/wore English style clothes
↳operated in major cities
↳listening to ‘negro music’ as defined by Nazis put them in opposition to regime
↳regime wanted leaders sent [camp] for 2-3 yrs

‘White rose’ group
based in Munich
more political
↳led by Hans & Sophie Scholl
↳influenced by Catholic theology
↳promoted individual freedom/personal responsibility of mortality
↳attacked treatment Jews/minorities
↳distributed pamphlets 1942-43
↳1943 became bolder - painted slogans eg. ‘Hitler: Mass Murderer’ on buildings
↳leaders caught by Gestapo & executed

Question 28

Opposition
Catholic Church

Answer 28

Individual churchmen raised concern

Bishop Galen condemned
euthanasia programme
in sermon 1940
led to temporary halt

Archbishop Frings of Cologne
spoke out against killing of PoW

Galen not persecuted
but many who spoke out were

Question 29

Opposition
Protestant Church

Answer 29

Protestant Confessional Church of Prussia
only Christian body
to publicly protest treatment of Jews

Dietrich Bonhoeffer outspoken critic of regime
called for wider resistance
banned from publicly speaking 1940
∴speeches not reach wider audience
arrested by Gestapo 1943 & executed 1945

Question 30

Opposition
Communist

Answer 30

Weakened by Gestapo 1930s

1939 Nazi-Soviet pact
undermined resistance
as KPD struggle to justify this agreement

Invasion of USSR
galvanised opposition

KPD had 89 underground cells
operating in Berlin
& others in Hamburg/elsewhere
Gestapo destroyed
22 Berlin cells destroyed by 1943

Spread ideas though leafleting

Movement lost momentum
& had no realistic chance of gaining support

Question 31

Opposition
Elites

Answer 31

Kreisau was home of
Count von Moltke
Prussian Junker

1940 formed secret group
inc. lawyers/SPD politicians/churchmen (inc. Bonhoeffer)

All believed in personal freedom
& individual responsibility

Did not believe in violent resistance

Held 3 meetings 1942-43
before broken up by Gestapo

Von Moltke arrested by Gestapo Jan 1944
& executed Jan 1945

Question 32

Opposition
Army

Answer 32

Gen. Beck & 2 others
involved in plot against Hitler 1938
↳Discussed acts against regime
& trying to persuade
senior gen. to arrest Hitler
↳had links to Bonhoeffer of Kreisau Circle
↳contacted British gov hoping for
commitment to negotiate peace
if Hitler removed
↳no efforts worked
↳by 1943 group decided only alternative assassination

Question 33

Opposition
Assassination

Answer 33

Bomb placed on Hitler’s plane
Mar 1943
failed to explode
plot not discovered
but arrest of Bonhoeffer/members Kreisau
Apr 1943
warning Gestapo getting close

1943 conspiracy joined by
Col. von Stauffenberg
bomb planted in Hitler’s
East Prussian HQ July 1944
known as July Bomb Plot
Exploded - Hitler escape w/ minor injuries

Plans made for military coup
codenamed Operation Valkyrie
planned take over Berlin after assassination
if successful - establish provisional gov
then try negotiating for peace
coup not materialise
↳confusion among conspirators
failed to seize control of radio stations
↳Hitler broadcasted to prove still alive
Himmler placed in control
rounding up conspirators
7000 arrested & 5746 executed
army virtually placed under SS control

Plots gained little popular support
plotters vilified as traitors
Beck committed suicide
Stauffenberg shot

Question 34

Wannsee Conference

Answer 34

Jan 1942
15 high ranking officials
from Nazi party attended

Hitler & Himmler not attend
Heydrich led conference

Question 35

Wannsee Conference
Decisions

Answer 35

Heydrich received orders from Goering
to organise preparations
for a ‘final solution’ to ‘Jewish problem’
↳some believe Heydrich acting on unofficial orders from Hitler

Heydrich told ultimate aim
to exterminate 11M European Jews

All European Jews brought to Poland
those fit enough would work
& other would be exterminated

Question 36

Wannsee Conference
Significance

Answer 36

Heydrich convened to inform
& secure support from gov ministers

Discussed implementation of policy already decided

Eichmann became responsible for planning
& implementing ‘final solution’

Zyklon B (provided by IG Farben)
used for mass killing

Operation largely kept secret

Turning point
institutional planned approach
to mass extermination

Question 37

Extermination camps

Answer 37

6 camps purpose built
Auschwitz (largest - capacity kill 20,000 a day)
Treblinka
Chelmno
Belzec
Sobibor
Majdanek

Other camps adapted
eg. Bergen-Belsen & Buchenwald

1942 all had railway platforms/gas chambers/adjacent crematoria
except Chelmno
↳killing done via mobile vans

Question 38

Propaganda during ‘final solution’

Answer 38

Goebbels intensified
propaganda war
against Jews after each defeat

Question 39

Cause for acceleration of mass killings

Answer 39

Think they’ll lose war so want to finish ideology plan?

Convinced their right
to stop would be admission they’re wrong?

By summer 1944
clearly faced inevitable defeat
escalated ‘final solution’
rather than abandon

Only in Nov 1944
attempted to destroy evidence of
crematoria at Auschwitz
soviet troops advanced into Poland

1942-44 over 2.5M Jews died in Auschwitz

Question 40

Death marches

Answer 40

From autumn 1944
regime carried out frantic evacuation

Some camps shut down
& prisoners forced to march
long distances westward

Hundreds died of malnutrition/illness/effect of cold weather
Many shot by guards

Estimated 250,000 - 400,000 died on marches

Question 41

End of war

Answer 41

Jan 1945 Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz
following months American troops
liberated Dachau & Buchenwald

By May 1945 Hitler was dead
Germany had surrendered

Full horrors revealed
Over 6M Jews killed total
Over 7M non-Jews killed