Frontsheet 6 Flashcards
Causes for high popularity before the war
Political stability
Economic growth
Successful foreign policy
Propaganda
Creation of Volksgemeinschaft
Negative impacts on moral
Rationing
Demands of supporting
wartime economy
Allied bombing
Armed forces casualties
Public mood
Likely reluctant loyalty
not enthusiasm
like start WW1
Maintaining morale crucial
Aims during the war
Develop resources
needed to win
Continue creation of Nazified state
↳loyalty to regime & war effort
Maintain morale & support for war/Nazis
Policy affecting elites & business owners
Central control of
armaments production
from 1942
War prisoners as slave labour
& 2.8M foreign labourers (1942-45)
& forced labour of Jews/other prisoners
Effect of policy on morale
Elites/business owners
Most still live comfortable lives
Some (eg. von Molkte) concerned Hitler
destroy Germany/uncomfortable w/ brutality of policy
Others supported
Policy affecting workers
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
Effect of policy on morale
Workers
Total war reduced health & welfare
Wage reduction/banned overtime payments
led to increased absenteeism/discontent
forced restoration Oct 1939
Policy affecting women
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
Effect of policy on moral
Women
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
Policy affecting youth
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
Effect of policy on morale
Youth
Many indoctrinated to believe in Nazi ideals
some increasingly questioned regime
Rationing
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
Effect of rationing on moral
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
Aims of four year plan
Achieve full autarky & ready for war by 1940
Economy not prepared for war 1939
Economy problems 1939-41
Shortage of materials
Shortage of labour
Slowness of full mobilisation
Need to maintain morale
Armed forced demand for specialist equipment
Goering’s leadership
Mobilisation of the economy (decree)
Sept 2 1939
Decree for the Mobilisation of the Whole German Economy onto a War Footing
Full mobilisation not achieved until 1942
Shortage of weapons & equipment
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
Cause for supply problems 1939-41
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
Albert Speer
Appointed Armaments Minister 1942
The Central Planning Agency
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
Speer’s production miracle
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)
Impact of allied bombing
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
Steps to solve labour problem before 1942
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
Labour shortages
USSR counterattack
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
Use of foreign labour
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
Conditions for foreign labourers
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
Opposition
Working class youth
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
Opposition
Middle class youth
‘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
Opposition
Catholic Church
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
Opposition
Protestant Church
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
Opposition
Communist
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
Opposition
Elites
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
Opposition
Army
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
Opposition
Assassination
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
Wannsee Conference
Jan 1942
15 high ranking officials
from Nazi party attended
Hitler & Himmler not attend
Heydrich led conference
Wannsee Conference
Decisions
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
Wannsee Conference
Significance
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
Extermination camps
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
Propaganda during ‘final solution’
Goebbels intensified
propaganda war
against Jews after each defeat
Cause for acceleration of mass killings
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
Death marches
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
End of war
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
