Nazi germany

• Military expenditure rose dramatically
• In 1939-23% of goods produced in German factories were for the Military
• By 1941 this had risen to 47%
• By 1941 55% of the German workforce was war related work
• Inefficiency and a lack of central control limited innovation
• Albert Speer


  Made Minister for Armaments and War Production in February 1942
• Impact of Albert Speer

  1. Employed more women in factories

  2. Used concentration camp prisoners as workers

  3. Focused factories on a single product

  4. Increased production in Germany
• War economy led to food shortages and rationing was introduced
• German citizens spent much time queuing and the quality of food was reduced
• Women were never conscripted into factories because Nazi leadership disagreed over the role of women
• In 1939, 760,000 women worked in war industries mostly farming) and this had risen to 15 million by 1941
• From 1939, Women aged under 25 had to complete 6 months Labour service before they could get a full time job
• In September 1940, the child evacuation programme Kinderlandverschickung began and children under 14 were eligible for a 6 month stay in a rural area
• July Bomb Plot of 1944

  Assassination attempt on Hitler by unhappy army soldiers, almost successful
• Cardinal Galen

  Delivered three famous sermons criticising the Nazis in 1941, Priests who gave the sermons were killed but Galen was too high profile to kill
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Protestant pastor who publicly criticised the Nazis, joined the Abwehr (military intelligence) and helped Jews to escape to Switzerland, arrested and murdered by the SS
• White Rose Group

  Secretly distributed leaflets, all members of the group were executed
• Posie resistance increased during the War years
• Opposition was still only a minority of the population as the Nazi propaganda was highly effective and people were still living in fear of the Gestapo and the SS
• The Nazis moved to total war in 1943
• Impact of total war on the German People, 1943-1945

  • 3 million women between 17 and 45 were called up to work, only 1 million took up the call
  • Professional sport was ended
  • Magazines closed down
  • Non-essential businesses were closed
• In November 1943, the Allies attacked Berlin with 750 planes, 500,000 people were made homeless and 100,000 injured
• Nazi leaders

  • Became paranoid
  • Increased their use of terror against the German people
• Huge numbers of refugees from Soviet occupied areas put pressure on food and fuel supplies in Germany
• The July Bomb Plot


  Led to a surge in Hitler's popularity and a rise in executions
• 5,000 people were executed after the July Bomb Plot
• Bringing foreign workers to Germany

  1. Half a million workers were ordered to become soldiers

  2. By summer of 1944 7.6 million foreign workers had been brought to Germany to cover German jobs
• Volkssturm

  People's storm - a militia of old and young
• All males between 16 and 60 were forced to join the Volkssturm
• Volkssturm received just 4 days training and were ineffective
• By April 1945 all that remained of the Nazi Reich was Central Berlin
• Germans kept fighting
• Germany surrendered

  2 May 1945
• The Nazis occupied a number of countries across Europe. The occupation in the east was very different to the occupation in the west.
• Nazi occupation of Poland

  • Poland was to be 'Germanised' and any trace of Polish culture was to be removed
  • Schools and universities were shut down
  • Hundreds of thousands of Polish people were expelled and 500,000 'ethnic Germans' settled here
  • 1.9 million Non-Jewish Poles were killed and over 1.5 million were sent to labour camps
  • The Polish Decrees established rules for Poles working in Germany. Sexual relationships with Germans was banned and they earned a lower wage than Germans
  • From 1940 Polish Jews were concentrated in Ghettos. By the end of the war 3 million Polish Jews had been murdered
  • August 1944 the Poles staged an uprising in Warsaw that lasted 2 months. It was brutally crushed. The Warsaw ghetto was destroyed. 200,000 people were killed
• Nazi occupation of the Netherlands

  • The Dutch shared the same ethnic background as Germans and were treated very differently to the Poles
  • Initially accepted authority and at first complied with Nazi demands. In 1941 things began to change. Jewish men were rounded up for deportation. Some Dutch citizens went on strike in protest but the Nazis retaliated with violence
  • 1943-1944 the Nazis enforced intimidation and violence. In 1943 Jews were deported in huge numbers. 76% of Jewish population were deported
  • May 1943 all men between 18-35 were to become forced labourers. This spurred on many to resist. Illegal printing presses were established
  • 5th May 1945, Nazi occupation came to an end
• The Holocaust

  1. Persecution and emigration (1938-1939)

  2. Concentration in ghettos (1939-1941)

  3. Murder (1941-1945)

  4. Death by gas (1942-1945)
• The largest ghetto was in Warsaw. By March 1941 it had 445,000 Jewish inhabitants.
• 1 million people were killed between autumn and winter of 1941 by Mobile ting units or Einsatzgruppen who rounded up Jews and Communists to be shot.
• On 20th January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference Nazi officials agreed on plans of mass murder of all Jews, even from countries not occupied yet.