Germany during ww2

• Blitzkrieg


  Method that brought lots of victories for Nazi Germany in the early war years
• At first the war had very little impact on people living in Nazi Germany
• Supplies increased as the Nazis took over other countries and sent raw materials and luxuries back to Germany
• Rationing


  Introduced in 1939 to control supplies, 2 out of 5 Germans followed a healthier diet than before the war
• Although the Nazis believed a woman's place was in the home, women were needed in industry. By 1939 6.2 million women were working, but the Nazis had to conscript women into the workforce in 1943
• Goebbels made effective use of propaganda during the war
• Germany was defeated at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union


  This was a turning point in the war for Germany
• From 1942, Germans began to experience bombing raids on their major cities, such as Dresden, from British and American bombers. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed. By the end of the war 3.5 million civilians had been killed
• As a result of the bombing raids, there were food shortages and rationing increased
• Albert Speer


  Became Reich Minister for Armaments and Production in 1943, took direct control of the war economy, civilian goods stopped being produced and all factories began to produce items needed for the war effort, production increased e.g. munitions output increased by 60% between 1939 and 1944
• In 1944, all workers had to go into armaments production. Women went back to work; their children were in day care. People had to work longer and longer hours
• Volkssturm


  The People's Home Guard, a people's army made up of Hitler Youth and men who were not fit enough for the national army, which would defend German cities if they were attacked by the allies. They lacked experience, were poorly trained with few weapons and were never a serious fighting force
• Ghettos


  Sections of cities with walls built around them where Jews were rounded up and not allowed to leave, with terrible conditions leading to thousands of deaths from cold, hunger and disease
• Einsatzgruppen


  Special murder squads that followed the advancing German armies and rounded up all the Jews, taking them to the outskirts of villages where they were forced to dig their own graves before being shot
• Final Solution


  A decision taken by senior Nazis in 1941 to seek a permanent solution to the 'Jewish problem', leading to the construction of death camps in Poland where millions of Jews were killed
• By the time the camps were liberated at the end of the war, 6 million Jews had been worked to death, gassed or shot
• Edelweiss Pirates


  A working class movement who beat up the Hitler Youth, refused to join the Hitler Youth and instead met up in mixed groups to mock the Hitler Youth. They were publicly hanged by the Gestapo
• Swing Youth


  A middle class movement who listened to jazz music and went clubbing, which the Nazis saw as a threat and closed down the bars they were known to attend
• White Rose movement


  Started by students Hans and Sophie Scholl and Professor Kurt Huber at Munich University, they spread anti-Nazi leaflets and urged Germans not to support WW2. They were reported to the Gestapo and hanged
• Confessional Church


  A Protestant church set up that was anti-Nazi
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller


  Protestant pastors who spoke out against the Nazis, Bonhoeffer was also involved in sabotage work and was arrested and died in a concentration camp, Niemoller was arrested and sent to a concentration camp but survived
• Von Galen


  A Protestant pastor who gave a number of sermons attacking Nazi policies, he was arrested in 1944 and died in 1946
• July Bomb Plot


  An assassination attempt organised by army officers in 1944 to kill Hitler, which failed and led to the execution of 5,746 people
• By the end of 1944 the German army had been pushed back out of the Soviet Union (Russia)
• During 1945 the Soviet army continued to advance and liberated the countries Germany had once occupied e.g. Hungary and Austria
• The Soviet army began to attack Berlin on 16 April 1945 with around 1.5 million soldiers, and by April 24th Berlin was surrounded, with only around 100,000 men left to defend it
• On the 30th April Hitler committed suicide in his bunker, after killing his wife Eva Braun and his dog
• On the 1st May, Goebbels committed suicide with his wife after killing his children
• On the 8th May Germany surrendered
• Yalta Conference


  The allied leaders met in February 1945 to discuss what to do with Germany after the war, deciding to divide Germany and Berlin into 4 zones, and to hunt down and try Nazi war criminals
• Potsdam Conference


  The allies agreed in July 1945 to divide Germany into 4 zones, demilitarise Germany, re-establish democracy, and ban the Nazi party
• Nuremberg Trials


  The allies put the leading members of the Nazi Party on trial as war criminals, accusing them of conspiring to wage war, commit crimes against peace, commit crimes against humanity (including genocide), and commit war crimes. Almost 200 Nazis were tried, with 142 found guilty
• Denazification


  The allies' policy of removing traces of the Nazi regime from German society, culture, press, economy, education and politics, including banning the Nazi Party, banning Nazi literature, renaming German streets, and controlling the media