Impact of WW2 on Germany - YK Flashcards
When was food rationing introduced?
August 1939
Name two ethnic groups whose rations were prioritised differently and how
Aryans prioritised over Jews
Name three food items that made up most of the diet
Bread, potatoes, and preserves
When did area bombing start?
1942
How many German cities were area bombed?
61 cities over 3 years
Give the number of people killed, wounded, and made homeless by area bombing
300-400K deaths, 800K wounded, 7.5 million homeless
Where did German refugees flee from and to at the start of the war?
From Western bordering regions (e.g. Saar) eastward, although many returned after a lack of immediate fighting with France
Where did area bombing create a refugee problem?
The Ruhr (industrial area), thousands of refugees
Why did civilians flee West in 1944-45?
To avoid the brutality of the invading Soviet army
How many people served in the army during the war and why was this a problem?
13.7 million, caused a shortage in workforce
How many slave labourers remained after the war and what happened to them?
8 million (from Eastern Europe), along with other ‘displaced persons’, became refugees in Germany
How many ethnic Germans became refugees and why?
11 million, expelled from countries surrounding Germany in the East
Who were the Edelweiss Pirates and what were two things they did?
Working class boys from West Germany (eg. Rhineland); sung anti-Nazi songs, attacked Hitler Youth
Who formed the White Rose and what was one achievement?
Hans and Sophie Scholl (Munich Uni students), published thousands of anti-Nazi leaflets
What did the “Swing Movement” do in opposition to the Nazis?
Drank alcohol and listened to jazz, which Nazis believed was degenerate and ‘Negro music’
What percentage of Sinti and Roma sent to concentration camps died?
85%
Between 1939 and 1941 over 100,000 Germans were secretly killed for what reason (often without family permission)?
Physical and mental disabilities
How many Polish Jews were put in camps or ghettos during the 1939 invasion, and how many died?
3 million, 600,000
During the invasion of the USSR in 1941, what method was used by the Einsatzengruppen (special SS units following the army) to execute Jews, communists, and Russian officials, how many were executed in this way, and why was this stopped?
Rounding up the persecuted, taking them to the edge of the village/town, having them dig mass graves, shooting them, and burying them; By end of 1941 1.2 million killed this way (including 1/2 million Jews); too expensive and time-consuming
When was the “Final Solution” decided on, how many camps were built for this, what was the largest (name and death toll), and how did it work?
January 1942, 6 camps built specifically for extermination, Aushwitz-Birkenau 2.5 million Jews; people arrived on trains, split up into working, sent to be worked to death, and not working group (mostly elderly, women, and children), sent for immediate execution in “showers” with Zyklon B (cyanide pellets)
Roughly how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust, what percentage of Polish Jews were killed, and what are three other groups who faced mass extermination?
6 million; 88%; gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses
Did Nazi pressure on churches increase or decrease, and why?
Increased early on in war but decreased in 1941 for popularity as service attendance increased and many churches denounced attacks on their freedom
Name one prominent anti-Nazi Christian Minister and an accomplishment of theirs against the Nazis
von Galen (Archbishop of Munster) ended euthanasia of mentally disabled in 1941; Dietrich Bonhoffer (Protestant confessional church pastor) linked to 1944 bomb plot and executed in 1945
When did Hitler survive a planted bomb, who planted it, and what were the consequences?
July 1944, Colonel Stauffenberg, the Colonel was executed along with 5,000 others in a crackdown on opposition
