Germany 5: WW2 Flashcards
1
Q
Jews
Ghettos
A
- Ghettoisation - Jews moved to Ghettos (“Jewish quarters”)
- Warsaw ghetto with 3.5m wall and barbed wire
- 1941-42 average of 4,000 Jews a month died in Warsaw from starvation
- July 1942, 250k Jews transported to Eastern Poland camps in “Final Solution”
2
Q
Jews
Death Squads
A
- June 1941 Nazi invasion of USSR
- Einsatzgruppen followed the front and killed jews
- They murdered 1.2m civilians in USSR by 1943
3
Q
Jews
Final solution
A
- January 1942 Wannsee Conference decided to implement
- Over next 4 years - 6m Jews and 5m non-jews killed
- Camps in 2 groups:
1. Fit to work - worked and some experimented on
2. Unfit to work - Killed immediately, 2k at a time in “showers”
4
Q
Jews
Secrecy and Propaganda
A
- Films showed “resettlement” as a positive thing
- Stopped germans and other jews from protesting
- Eventual uprising at Warsaw lasted a month, 56k jews arrested
- Nazis destroyed evidence of crimes at end of WW2
- Rudolph Hoess (commandent of Auschwitz) hung in 1947
5
Q
Jews
Reinhard Heydrich
A
- SS General in 1941 and organiser of Einsatzgruppen
- Established first Jewish Ghetto
- Chosen to lead Final Solution at Wansee conference
- Killed by Czech hit squad in 1942, Nazi response killed 1k Czechs
6
Q
HF
Evacuation
A
- Bombing very common after 1942
- 2.5mil children sent to countryside in “KLV” programme
- Stayed in 9,000 camps run by HY leaders and teachers
7
Q
HF
Rationing
A
- Began August 1939
- By November clothes were rationed
- Women allowed 1.5 cigarettes a day
- May 1942 government cut rations
- Bread restricted to half a loaf a day, meat 40g per day
8
Q
Total War
Invasion of USSR
A
- June 1941 Hitler began Op Barbarossa
- 2 mil Germans died
- Failure put Germany under strain
- February 1943 Goebbels ordered “total war” (everything used for war effort)
9
Q
Total War
Wartime Employment
A
- October 1941 Hitler said Russian POWs could be used as slave labour
- 1944 7mil POWs working for German industry
- January 1943 all men 16-65 and women 17-45 had to work
10
Q
HF
Allied Bombing
A
- August 1940 industrial areas bombed
- 1942 Civilians targeted
- 1943 Hammburg raid killed 42.6k and 1m fled the city
- Ruhr Valley raids in 1944 reduced production by 40%
11
Q
HF
Women
A
- Less women working in 1939 than 1929 due to Nazi policy
- June 1941 all women with no job or kids had to work
- 1943 “total war” meant all women 17-45 had to work
- End of war women made up 60% of labour force
- Millions of East German women killed, raped, and commited suicide due to invasion from Soviets
12
Q
Opposition
1944 July Bomb Plot
A
- Ludiwg Beck led
- Colonel von Stauffenburg planted a bomb in conference room
- Killed 4 but only injured Hitler
- Beck and von Stauffenburg shot
- 7,000 arrested and 6,000 executed
13
Q
Opposition
Catholic opposition
A
- Bishop Clemens von Galen the “Lion of Munster” protested mercy killings
- Nazis forced to stop temporarily due to his influence
- Described as “only effective protester in the Third Reich” as he managed to stop a policy
14
Q
Opposition
Protestant opposition
A
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer led anti-Nazi confessional church
- 1940 college closed and he was banned from preaching
- Joined an underground preaching circle
- 1943 arrested and hung in 1945
15
Q
Opposition
Communist party
A
- All political parties banned in 1933
- Pre-1936 spread anti-Nazi propaganda
- Post-1936 so dangerous they used word of mouth only
- 100 underground cells across Germany
16
Q
Opposition
White Rose group
A
- 1941 by the Scholl siblings at Uni of Munich
- The group “strived for renewal of mortally wounded german spirits”
- Published anti-Nazi leaflets
- Siblings killed in 1943
17
Q
Opposition
Edelweiss Pirates
A
- Group of 14-18 year olds
- Members dressed “abnormally” and listened to jazz
- Attacked HY patrols, smashed government offices, supplied adult resistance with explosives
- 1944, Bartnell Schink executed for planning to blow up Gestapo base in cologne
18
Q
End of Third Reich
A
- 1m civilians died of starvation and cold in 1945
- Germany close to defeat
- 30th April Hitler shot himself
- Admiral Doenitz took control of Germany and surrendered to the allies on the 7th May 1945
