Impact of the War against Poland

Question 1

What was the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact + its impact?

Answer 1

• Nazi-Soviet Pact = an agreement that splits Poland in half, leads to WW2
• August 1939
• Poland = 17% Jewish population: by taking Poland, they inherit a very large ‘Jewish Problem’ (as opposed to their 1% Jewish ‘problem’ in Germany)

Question 2

Immediate impact of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact?

Answer 2

• One week after pact (1st September 1939) Nazis invade Poland = the start of WW2
• Inherit roughly 1.9mil Jews with invasion of Poland
• Up until this point Nazi policy had been emigration

Question 3

The Origins of the Final solution (Christopher Browining) key points:

Answer 3

• Poland in the years 1939-41 became a testing ground for Nazi racial policy (expulsion, ghettoisation and exploitation)
• Invasion of the USSR opened the door for immense radicalisation of anti-Jewish policies and marked the beginning of the Final Solution (death camps)
• Tried to solve their ‘Jewish Problem” through resettlement by sending Jews to areas far away from Germany like the ‘General Government’ ]
• In Poland the Nazis realised it was easier to murder undesireables than to find them homes