the impact of the war 1939-45

Question 1

why was a crucial aspect for the regime in terms of rations

Answer 1

during WW1 shortage of foodstuff caused weariness and the Nazis were determined not the make the same mistakes as Kasier gov

Question 2

what did allocation of food depend on

Answer 2

age, occupation and race

manual labour recieved more rations and the jews recieved less

Question 3

how effective was rationing

Answer 3

at the start of the war germany was able to exploit occupied countries for food supplies
during the Nazi-soviet pact the USSR exported food
there was no major food shortages beteen 1939-41, shortage of coal, shoes and soap did cuse some discontent

Question 4

describe phase one of the war- blitzkreig sept 1939-june 41

Answer 4

Germany defeated Poland and won quick victories

celebration of victories.
hitler was presented as military genius
propaganda insisted that the war would be over soon

Question 5

describe phase 2 of the war- spreading war june-dec 1941

Answer 5

germany invades USSR but was halted by the red army
germany declares war on USA

SD reported that people feared that the war would go on forever
propaganda downplayed USSR success but letters home undermined this
increase in anti-sematic policies

Question 6

describe phase 3 of the war- turning of the tide jan 1942-43

Answer 6

germany loosing in the USSR due to winter

letters home and casualty figures show the reality to the civilians
starlingard was a huge shock because goebbels built up unrealistic expectation
hitler myth began to loose authenticity
there was patriotism and willingness to endure hardship

Question 7

descibe phase 4 of the war- ‘total war’ and defeat of germany feb 1943-may 45

Answer 7

feb goebbels declared ‘total war’
britain and france bombing germany
d-day landings
germany invaded and berin captured and germany surrender

no longer could hitler convincingly be played as a military genius
use of V1 and V2 temporarily lifts spirits
SD reports that people lost faith in their Fuhrer
goebbels greatest achievment the hitler myth crumbled away

Question 8

describe the opposition from elites over the war

Answer 8

some felt a moral conviction that the regime was wrong whilst other felt that Hitler was leading germany to destruction

Question 9

describe the opposition from workers over the war

Answer 9

sept 1939 decree on the conversion of the whole german economy into war footing in which wage resrictions and ban on holidays and bonus’ was issued. this caused discomfort which is demonstrated by increased absenteeism therefore the regime restored wages
total war measures 1943-44 holidays were banned and working week was increased to 60 hours, the regime issued disciplinary measures e.g. workers could be conscritped, extra food rationing as reward and fines for absenteeism
increased hours and pressure led to health deterioration

Question 10

describe the womens responsibility over the war 1939

Answer 10

by 1939 there was 6.4 million married women in employment, the need to increase weapons pressured women to be in the industry which caused tension between the nazi ideology and war economy

Question 11

describe the womens responsibility over the war 1940

Answer 11

however in 1940 hitler refused to allow women to work, he offered families with conscripted fathers benefits.

Question 12

describe womens responsibility over the war 1941

Answer 12

goering issued a decree that all female workers who had family allowance but didnt have children will register to work, as a result 130,000 women were sent to armament factories

Question 13

describe womens repsonsability over the war in 1943

Answer 13

the defeat at starlingrad made total mobilisation essential, a decree forced all women 17-45 to register for work. half a million extra women working in labour

Question 14

describe women responsability over the war in 1945

Answer 14

60% of the labour force was women
women were assigned to auxiliary roles in the army
during the final stages of the war women were being trained for combat

Question 15

how did the war affect the youth

Answer 15

HJ activities concentration on training boys to be soldiers. they were also sent to help harvest and to collect money for the winter aid program

1940 conscripted at 19
1941 18
1943 17
1945 16

1942 HJ had to complete a 3 week course if military training that was supervised by the SS

1942 HJ could be auxiliary units for naval and air defense

1943 special HJ divisions of boys 16-18, they saw action at the battle of normandy

Question 16

what was the decree for the mobilisation of war and when was it declared. however when did Germany actually meet full mobilisation and what did this mean for the war

Answer 16

decree for the conversion of the whole german economy into war footing 1939
1942
between 1940-41 german forces suffered from a lack of weapons and equipment, however this wasn’t a problem until the start of operation barbossa in 1941

Question 17

what were the reasons behind why Germany didn’t reach full mobilisation until 1942?

Answer 17

hitler didn’t think the war would begin in 1939 because he thought Britain and france would accept the invasion on Poland.
he thought the war would begin with operation barbossa
the Luftwaffe expansion wasn’t due until 1942

Question 18

why did german armaments suffer structural weaknesses

Answer 18

because instead of making standardised equipment, german made different types of weapons which were expensive and required skilled labour

Question 19

why was Goering ineffective as an economic leader?

Answer 19

lacked technical and economic knowledge to do his job effectively
he had poor relations with army leaders and laege companies and banks
his failings were masked in 1939 by german forces success but in 1941 his failures were revealed

Question 20

what did speer describe goering as

Answer 20

incompetent

Question 21

who was fritz todt and what is is significance

Answer 21

armament minister
in 1941 he complained about the shortage of vital equipment in Russia but hitler ignored him
Todt died 1942 and was replaced by speer. speer was given centralised control without interference from military and full cooperation from companies

Question 22

what did the radicalisation of production involve

Answer 22

coordinated allocation of labour, equipment and materials of armament factories
standardised products
shift working 24/7

Question 23

how much did production of tanks and aircraft increase by 1941-43

Answer 23

tanks 250%

aircraft 200%

Question 24

when did USA and Britain bomb germany

Answer 24

1942-45

Question 25

what impact did the bombing have on germany

Answer 25

targeted industrial and civilian morale
however speers achievements occurred despite this
it did have an impact on production because supply lines were damaged, factories had to be dispersed and worker morale was affected
the bombs resulted in 35% less tanks and 31% fewer aircrafts

Question 26

how was the situation of increased conscription and increased need for armament production

Answer 26

it was met using foreign labour and by using labour forces in the most efficient way

Question 27

how did the defeat at starlingrad 1943 effect the mobilisation of labour forces

Answer 27

drastic measures to increase labour supply
decree for the comprehensive deployment of men and women for reich defence task meaning all men 16-45 and women 17-45 had to register for work
a rigorous ‘combthrough’ exercise identified men to join the army

Question 28

from when were foreign workers recruited from occupied areas

Answer 28

june 1940-42

Question 29

how did the invasion of the USSR effect foreign labour

Answer 29

October 1941 hitler agreed that Russian prisioners could be used to slave labour

Question 30

whos Sauckel

Answer 30

established the general for labour allocation to organise control over procurement of foreign workers
he transported 2.8 million workers from western eurpose between 1942-45

Question 31

by 1944 how many foreign workers were there

Answer 31

7 million

Question 32

what were the conditions like for foreign workers

Answer 32

harsh, lower wages, poor living conditions and harsh disapline

Question 33

describe the Wannasee conference

Answer 33

20th april 1942, it was the key moment in the implementation of systematic murder
it was supposed to be Dec 1941 but was postponed by pearl harbour and soviet-counter defense
the meeting included 15 high ranking Nazis, excluding hitler and Himmler
heydrich led the meeting on receiving orders from goering to organise the ‘final solution’
the meeting determined the Jews fate, no longer were they set to vague destinations in Poland but specific camp areas. this was to coordinate and accelerate mass killings

Question 34

describe the responsibility of the holocaust?

Answer 34

internationalists- it is viewed that the holocaust was hitlers war against the Jews, without hitler it would’ve of happened
structuralist- the final solution involved more than one men, industrialised murder on such a large scale requires actions and decisions by many Nazi leaders. millions of ordinary germans were involved in persecution, deportation and killings. the regime had many overlapping rivals competing for hitlers approval. many people share responsibility

Question 35

after the defeat at starlingard 1943 what was goebbels response?

Answer 35

autum- ‘total war’ speech followed by huge anti-sematic propaganda

Question 36

after bomb raids and USSR winning what was the response

Answer 36

spring- anti-semantic propaganda

Question 37

after D-day what was the response

Answer 37

summer- speeches and articles on destruction of Jews

Question 38

after 1944 with inevitable defeat what was the repsonse

Answer 38

accelerated ‘final solution’

Question 39

what was the public opinion of concentration camps

Answer 39

some approved but some feared

Question 40

when did death camps come into operation and what was the first one and how many people died here?

Answer 40

1941, chelmo first established in poland, 145,000 died

Question 41

give some other examples of death camps other than Auschwitz and chelmo and there death number

Answer 41

majdanek, first a CC 1940 and then DC 1941, 200,000, 60% Jews
belzec labour camp turned death camps 1942 half a million Jews died here
sobibor and treblinka

Question 42

when did auschwitz become the main hub of killing? describe auschwitz

Answer 42

1943/44
auschwitz I active army base
auschwitz II arrival centre where gas chamber and crematoria was
auschwitz III industrial complex

Question 43

describe resistance to the holocaust

Answer 43

partisan fighters, deep in the forest and created sabotage. in general government Hans Frank

Question 44

what were the death marches?

Answer 44

from 1944 as german forces pulled back the regime carried out a frantic program of evacuation and forced marches.
camps were hurriedly closed down and inmates sent on long marches
the marches caused suffering and death, 250,000-400,000 died on these marches mostly women
marches were carrried out in winter and most people had no shoes. if they didnt keep up they were shot

Question 45

describe the events of 1945

Answer 45

the soviet forces libertated auschwitz Jan, the final solution was never completed
germany had surrendered and hitler had killed himseld

Question 46

when did soviet forces invade germany

Answer 46

nov 1944

Question 47

what were the 2 groups of resisting youth?

Answer 47

edelweiss pirates

swinging youth

Question 48

how did the edelweiss pirates resist

Answer 48

they were anti-hitler and tried to avoid conscription.
they ‘hated all disapline and thereby placed themseves in direct opposition of the community
they opposed the hitler youth by organising independent expeditions and singing banned sangs in the hitler youth
during the war there was increased clashes between the HJ and edelweiss prates

Question 49

how did the regime break up the resistance of the edelweiss pirates

Answer 49

the gestapo and HJ arrested and shaved the heads of the pirates and banished them to labour camps
in 7th dec 1942 28 groups were broken uo and nov 1944 leaders were hanged

Question 50

describe the swing youth as a resistance group

Answer 50

they were motivated by there desire to have a good time.
they directly opposed the regime by listening to american and british swing music
the nazi referred to swing music as negro music
they werent overtly political or attempting to overthrow the regime, but they did directly oppose the attitudes of the regime

Question 51

what was the resistant group for students called, how did they resist

Answer 51

white rose group
they were more political and was led by Hans and Sophie Schole, its main target was uneductated middle class
they believe in personal freedom, this led to them attacking the treatment of the Jews
they issued pamphlets and painted ‘Hitler mass murder’ slogans
they were eventually caught by the gestapo and executed

Question 52

describe the opposition of churches to the euthinasia program

Answer 52

bishop Galen, his protest influenced other christians to speak out which temporarily halted the program.
galen survived but 3 other priests were exeuted

Question 53

what religious group were the only ones to openly speak out about the treatment of the Jews?

Answer 53

protestants

Question 54

describe Bonhoeffer’s opposition

Answer 54

he opposed the regime since 1933 and called for a wider resistance to the treatment of the Jews
however he was banned from public speaking and therefore couldnt influence wider germany
bonhoeffer become involved with the elties in 1939, he had contacts abroad. however he was executed 1945

Question 55

why wasnt the communist resistance as effective

Answer 55

because the nazi-soviet pact undermined their opposition, the KPD struggled to justify the arrangment

the gestapo had considerable success in destroying underground cells. by 1942 22 cells had been destroyed

Question 56

what were the communiests main way of spreading idea

Answer 56

leaflets attacking the regime

Question 57

what was some of the reasons why the elites rebeled?

Answer 57

deep moral conviction that the regime was evil
acting out of patriotism and the belief that Hitler was leading germany to destruction
traditional conservatives who wanted to return to an authortarian non-nazi gov

Question 58

who was apart of the Kreisau circle and what was it

Answer 58

von moltke and bonhoeffer, they believed in personal freedom. however they were broken up by the gestapo in 1943

Question 59

when was the first plot to overthrow hitler

Answer 59

1938

Question 60

why did the elites decide their only option was to assasinate hitler

Answer 60

general beck and goerdeler tried to persuade senior army generals to arrest hitler. they also made contact with the british gov through bonhoeffer, hoping for a commitment to negotiate peace if hitler was removed.
none of these moves were effective so they decided their only option was to assasinate hitler

Question 61

when was the first assasination attempt planned and what did it involve

Answer 61

march 1943
a bomb was placed on hitlers plane but it failed to explode.
the plot wasnt discovered but bonhoeffer and members of the Kreisau circle were arrested april by the gestpo

Question 62

who and what did the assassination attempt of 1944 involve

Answer 62

von stauffemberg joined, he succeeded in planting a bomb in Hitler headquaters
plans were made for a military coup if Hitler was assassinated, a gov consisted of conservatives SPD nd non party members would tried to negotiate peace with allies
the bomb exploded but hitler escaped

Question 63

what happened as a result of the failed assassination in 1944

Answer 63

himmler was plaved in charge of rounding up conspirators. they arrested 7000 and executed 5746
beck commited suicide and von stauffemberg was shot

Question 64

what was germanys views on the assassination

Answer 64

many ordinary germans gave very little sympathy. the plotters were viewed as traitors