Nazi Germany - Experience of Occupied Europe

Question 1

When did Poland officials exist as a country

Answer 1

Since the end of the First World War

Before this it had been part of an area controlled by Germany

Question 2

What was the main aim the Nazis had when they invaded Poland

Answer 2

They needed more living space

To destroy any element of Polish control or culture

Their plane was to totally Germanise the country

Question 3

When did Poland cease to exist

Answer 3

October - 1939

Question 4

What happened form 1940 in Poland

Answer 4

Hundreds of thousands of native Polish citizens were expelled, and 500,000 ethnic Germans were settled in their homes and lands

Question 5

Where were many of the Poles moved too

Answer 5

General Government Region

Governed by Hans Frank, ex Nazi lawyer who introduced a rule of terror

Question 6

Around………..of the most talented people in Poland were arrested with many being tortured and executed

Answer 6

30,000

Question 7

How many non-Jewish citizens were killed din Poland and why

Answer 7

1.9 million, because the Nazis considered the Slavic Poles to be racially inferior

Question 8

What happened in May 1940

Answer 8

Polish decrees established that Poles working in Germany had to wear a P on their arm humiliating them and singalong them out as different

Question 9

How large was Poland’s population of Jews

Answer 9

Start of war - 3.5 million

By the end of the war the Nazis had murdered around 3 million

Question 10

The Nazis destruction of Poland and the brutality of their occupation led to the Polish people forming…………………………….

Answer 10

One of the largest and most complex resistance movements in the whole of Nazi occupied Europe

Question 11

Where did the Polish government escape to in 1939

Answer 11

London

Question 12

What happened in August 1944

Answer 12

Poles staged an uprising in Warsaw against the Nazis which lasted 2 months

In the ned, the uprising was brutally crushed by the Nazis.

Hitler ordered the complete destruction of Warsaw and it’s people. Patients in the city hospital were shot as they lay in their beds. In total 200,000 people were killed and Warsaw’s destroyed.

Question 13

When did German troops invade the Netherlands

Answer 13

10 May, 1940

Question 14

How did the Nazis attack the Netherlands

Answer 14

They heavily bombed Rotterdam, an important trading cry with a large dock. Over 800 people were killed and 25,000 homes destroyed as the Luftwaffe targeted civilian areas.

Question 15

Fearing similar destruction and loss of life, the Dutch government……………

Answer 15

Surrounded

Question 16

What happened to the Dutch royal family and government

Answer 16

Escaped to exile in the UK

Question 17

Why were the Dutch treated differently to the Poles

Answer 17

Shared the same ethnic backgrounds as Germans and were therefore treated very differently from the Slavs of the East

Question 18

How were jobs treated in the Netherlands by the Nazis

Answer 18

Civil servants were allowed to continue working if they chose too, however 30% of town mayors stepped dow. The Dutch education system was not changed as the Nazi leaders realised that there would be backlash if they tried interfere.

Question 19

The Dutch were know to respect………..and at first there was a general…………..with Nazi regulations

Answer 19

Authority

Compliance

Question 20

Give the first bit of resistance in the Netherlands

Answer 20

Celebrated Prince Bernhard’s birthday in 1940, by wearing Carnations for support of the royal family in exile

No-one was punished for the resistance

Question 21

When was the turning point of Nazi rule in the Netherlands

Answer 21

1941-1942
First jewish men (425) were rounded up for deportation

Dutch communists called for a strike in retaliation

Trams stopped working and strikers marched through the streets

The Germans abandoned their friendly attitude and shot at the strikers

9 were killed and hundreds arrested

Question 22

What happened in 1943 (Netherlands)

Answer 22

Germans abandoned their attempts to try and win over the Dutch and instead used intimidation and violence

The 140,000 Jews living therefore their main target

They began exporting them to extermination camps in huge numbers

In all 76% of jews were deported. This was partly due to Dutch compliance but also because of the difficulty in hiding people in a small densely populated country .

So many German men fighting on front lines, 300,000 Dutch ex-soldiers would be transported to Germany to work as forced labourers, not all turned up

Question 23

Give some Dutch resistance

Answer 23

Of the 170,000 men expected to report to duty and work in Germany, only 54,000 did so.

1944 - 300,000 men hiding
Many illegal print press created producing anti-Nazi leaflets which encouraged more people to rest forced labour.

1944- Dutch government ordered railway strikes - 30,000 rail workers went into hiding.

Coal and food were in short supply and living conditions worsened

Question 24

Who was André Trocmé

Answer 24

Protestant pastor who worked throughout the war to rescue jews from the horror of concentration camps

By the end of the war he’d saved over 5,000 Jews

Question 25

Give some resistance groups

Answer 25

French resistance
Published papers, carries out Guerrilla warfare and helped the Allies. In 1944, they became the French Interior Force which helped the Allies wish the Nazis out of France

Poles helped rescue 450,000 Jews from certain death . Aided by the Polish Underground state, they fed and hid Jews from the holocaust

Question 26

Give some people/groups who collaborated with Nazi rule

Answer 26

Coco Chanel - some suspect that she was a spy for Hitler but never been proven

Latvia - group made up of right wing students and soldiers who volunteered, they killed Jews and communists and aline killed half the population of jews in Latvia.