Unit 9 Flashcards
When did Georg Elser attempt to assassinate Hitler?
November 1939
When was France invaded? (Second world war)
May 1940
What order met opposition in Bavaria in April 1941?
The order to remove crucifixes from walls
Where did deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess fly in 1941?
Scotland
When did Operation Barbarossa begin?
June 1941
What was Operation Barbarossa the code name for?
The invasion of the Soviet Union
What did Bishop Von Galen publicly challenge in August 1941?
The T4 programme
When did Germany declare war on the USA (second world war)
11th December 1941
What occurred in the Christmas bonus of 1942?
Every citizen received extra rations, including an extra 200 Grammes of meat
When did clothing become scarce?
1941
When were permits introduced for furniture?
1st August 1942
When did household goods begin to be rationed?
20th January 1943
How did Georg Elser attempt to assassinate Hitler?
He exploded a bomb when Hitler made a speech commemorating the Munich Putsch. Bomb exploded but hitler wasn’t in room at the time
What was the elation over victory in France in 1940 replaced by?
Frustration as Britain refused to back down and submit to German rule
Why did morale take a further hit in May 1941?
Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland and returned empty handed
What did Goebbels appeal for on the 19th of December 1941
Winter clothes for troops
Why was the failure to win outright victory immediately in the east significant?
It led many to question Nazi ideology for the first time
When was Goebbels total war speech?
February 1943
What caused greater contempt at nazi rule?
Defeat in North Africa, Soviet Union, the Atlantic and Italy
What was an example of resistance that was reported to the party chancellory in March and April 1943?
The Fuhrer was prone to criticism and jokes, specifically many one liners that showed a distinct lack of respect for the once revered figure
What defeat clearly marked a turning point in war moral?
The defeat at Stalingrad
What were the two goals of the RAF and USAF bombing campaigns?
Destroying the German war industry
Undermining morale on the home front
How many Germans were killed by allied bombing?
305,000 killed, 780,000 were injured and nearly 2 million homes were destroyed
Which two bombing campaigns killed 80,000 civilians between them?
Dresden February 1945
Hamburg summer of 1943
What did the state attempt to provide bomb victims with,
Alternative accommodation and some financial compensation
What did goebbels call for in an attempt to stop the demoralisation caused by bombing attacks?
Ausharren (peserverance) which generated a spirit of heroic resistance
When did nazi propaganda become less effective?
When the reality of certain defeat dawned
What did the petitions over the removal of crucifixes cause Wagner to do?
He overturned his original order
What were Bavarians doing when then protested against the crucifix crisis?
They were defending their regional culture, not challenging the Fuhrer
What was the T4 programme?
The policy of killing asylum patients and the closure of local monasteries
What was opposition from the church motivated by?
An attempt to maintain independence and integrity within the system, not an objection to Nazism
Why was Dietrich Bonhoffer executed in April 1945?
He went against the official church policy and opposed the regime. Dissent was individual not institutional
What was the official policy of the churches?
Pragmatic cooperation
What was any communist opposition to the regime initially undermined by?
The nazi soviet pact which lasted from August 1939 to June 1941
Who set up communist resistance cells in factories?
Robert Uhrig
How many cells of opposition were in Berlin in the summer of 1941?
89
Who did the communist resistance unite under in 1942?
Wilhelm Knochel
What was the main weakness of the communist opposition?
It was vulnerable to Gestapo infiltration
What devastated the communist movement in 1943?
Knochel was arrested
What act of rebellion did a Jewish communist group commit in 1942?
They fire bombed an anti Russian exhibition in Berlin
What did both the Goerdeler and the Kreisau circle want?
The restoration of human rights
And end to the war
Restoration of the rule of law
Which conservative opposition group wanted a democratic Germany?
The Kreisau circle, they wanted the foundation of self governing local communities
How did the Goerdeler group want Germany to be ruled?
They rejected the idea of democracy in favour of an aristocratically governed society
What did Goerdeler want to see an end to?
State involvement in economic affairs
What did Moltke and Goerdeler disagree on?
Moltke wanted the emergence of a European Union
Goerdeler wanted Germany to retain its role as an independent European power
When was the Kreisau circle discovered by the Gestapo?
1944
Who did the Army swear allegiance to?
Hitler
When did opposition with the army begin to emerge?
1943
Why did generals begin opposing the regime?
Political interference of the SS had become intolerable
Generals from the Eastern Front shocked by atrocities committed against Jews
Growing belief Germany was losing the war
Why did operation flash fail in 1943?
The bomb on Hitlers plane failed to explode
Who emerged as a leading assassination plotter in 1944?
Count Von Stauffenburg
Who did the bomb plot of 1944 aim to replace Hitler with?
Beck as president, Carl Goerdeler as chancellor
Who switched sides when the bomb plot failed?
General Fromm. He arrested Stauffenburg and the other conspirators, killed them all to save himself
What happened in the army as a result of the bomb plot in 1944?
Hitler salute became compulsory
Himmler became commander in chief of the Home Army
Political officers were appointed to root out dissent
How many generals were executed as a result of the 1944 bomb plot?
22 out of 2000
What finally destroyed the myths of military invincibility and the stab in the back?
Total defeat in 1945
What did General Thomas lead at the ministry of war?
The economics section in charge of the armaments programme
Who was the chief rival of the ministry of war for administrative supremacy of the war economy?
The ministry of economics, led by Walter Funk and the Four Year Plan, led by Hermann Goring
When was the ministry of munitions created?
March 1940 under Fritz Todt
What was the main economic problem/strain for the Germans?
Until 1942, the German economy was not fully mobilised for war
Why were Blitzkrieg wars used by Germany?
They didn’t not place as great a demand on economic production
How much did output by head fall by in 1939-1940?
12.5%
What did military expenditure raise to in 1942?
17.2 billion reichmarks in 1939 to 55.9 billion reichmarks in 1942
When did the number of workers working in aircraft manufacturing double?
1939-1941
How many less workers were in the workforce in May 1940 than the year before?
3.5 million workers
How did Germany make up the shortfall of workers?
French prisoners of war (800,000 by October 1940) and other nationals. Total of 2 million foreign workers by end of 1940
How many workers were drafted in to the armed forces in 1941?
1.7 million
What did General Thomas call for in February 1941?
Use of more rational measures of production to increase efficiency
What did the Vichy government in France declare in September 1942?
Work compulsory for all men and women aged 18-65
What did Hitler issue on the 3rd of December 1941?
The Fuhrer order on the simplification and increased efficiency in armaments production– basically wanted Todt to rationalise
Who accepted responsibility for raising levels of production?
Industry
Who was Todts successor in February 1942?
Albert Speer
What gave Speer responsibility for all industrial output and raw materials?
The post of minister for armaments and production (September 1943)
What was speers main aim?
Introduce labour time and space saving measures thereby boosting production
When was the armaments commission set up?
1943 to standardise production and allow greater mass production
What was a benefit to the promotion of better use of floor space?
Production of the me109 plane went up from 180 a month in seven factories to 1,000 a month in 3 factories
What did the output per head rise by in armaments from 1939-1943?
It was 32% higher in 1943
How much less aluminium was used in guns after rationalisation took place?
93%
How much did the number of industrial workers increase by between 1942 and 1943?
11%
How much did the production of all weapons grow by between 1941 and 1943?
130%
Why was economic performance during the war not coherently organised?
Nazi state too chaotic, too many competing agencies and power blocks for any consistent policy to be formulated
What was goebbels appointed to after the bomb plot?
Reich plenipotentiary for total war
Why were foreigners not good workers for the Germans to use?
Their productivity was 60-80% lower than that of the German worker
What remained constant from Sweden during the war
The amount of iron ore imported
How much did the demand for steel exceed supply by in 1942?
30%
How many extra women entered the workforce between 1939 and 1944?
200,000
Why did hurler ideologically disagree with women working?
Role of women= kinder kuche kirche (children kitchen church)
How many more children were born in 1939 than 6 years earlier?
1 million
How many single women were employed at the start of the war?
88.7%
What did Ian Kershaw say was the trigger to the final solution?
Hitler agreeing to deport Jews 16th September 1941
What did nazi propaganda present the war with Russia as?
A racial war
How much iron ore did areas of Europe that contained labour camps produce by 1943?
6.7 million tonnes
What word did Hitler use in his speech on the 30th of January 1939 to describe what would happen to the Jews?
Vernichtung (annihilation)
What did S.S officers such as Oswald Pohl see a chance for with the number of Jews they had under nazi control?
Camps similar to Russian gulags
What was the role of the Einsatzgruppen?
Persecute Russian Jews. Killed 700,000 in 8 months
What did Goebbels demand in 1941?
Gauleiters should be allowed to deport Jews
What did Arthur Greiser call for in 1941?
Radical action towards Jews, eg extermination
When did gassing facilities begin production in Lublin for Jews who could not work?
16th September 1941
When did Germab Jews lose their citizenship?
April 1943
When were Jews ordered to wear a Star of David badge?
1st September 1941
When was the Wannsee conference?
20th January 1942
When is it clear that the basis decided to systematically annihilate Jews?
The Wannsee conference
How many concentration camps did Oswald Pohl have control over by 1942?
29 and 165 labour camps
How many Jews had been murdered by the time Aushwitz had been liberated in 1945?
Approximately 6 million
