Economic effects and the end of the Nazis

• Operation Barbarossa


  The invasion of the Soviet Union
• Total War


  The German economy being geared towards the war effort
• Rationing


  1. Food rations set up in 1939

  2. Clothes, soap, fuel and petrol rationed after war began

  3. Shortages noticeable in winter 1941-1942
• As the German Army conquered new countries, they would send their loot (stolen goods) back home
• This led to a black market (system of illegal trade) for luxury goods
• The German people still sent 1.5 million fur coats and 67 million woollen garments to German soldiers
• Four-Year Plan


  Created in 1936 with the aim of improving Germany's autarky (self-sufficiency) in farming, armaments, and other key industries
• Goring, who was in charge of the plan did not succeed
• In 1941, the Army was experiencing shortages in armaments and weapons
• Albert Speer


  Became Germany's Minister of Armaments in 1942
• Total War


  1. All businesses dedicated to the war effort, otherwise closed

  2. Workers transferred to war work

  3. Leisure establishments shut down, only cinemas open for propaganda films

  4. Services such as postal service stopped
• Operation Barbarossa


  Turning point in German fortune
• Between March 1942 and May 1945, Great Britain and the US bombed major German cities to cause maximum civilian casualties
• 70% of Dresden was destroyed
• 500,000 civilians were killed and 750,000 Germans were wounded in the bombing raids
• The bombing destroyed over 1 million homes, leaving over 7 million people homeless
• The bombing also targeted supply lines and factories, damaging the war effort by stopping armaments being sent to the front line
• Post-Barbarossa rationing


  1. Rationing increased for German civilians between 1942-1945

  2. Shortages increased, rations reduced

  3. Clothing rations completely stopped

  4. By 1945, rationing system completely null, people used black market
• After the war, Germany returned to a completely free market and no rationing very quickly
• Shortage of labour


  1. Workers in European occupied countries sent to Germany to work

  2. Prisoners of war forced to work in concentration camps

  3. Men 16-65 and women 17-45 forced to work or fight in 1943

  4. Only 1 million of 3 million women called to work came

  5. Children from Hitler Youth helped on farms by 1945
• Aside from the refugees being driven out by the Nazi's racial policies, German refugees who had become homeless during the bombings of Dresden and Berlin moved to other parts of Germany
• In July 1944, millions of refugees came from countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia in fear of the Red Army from the Soviet Union
• By January 1945 the Russians had invaded Germany and millions fled to the Western cities, placing more pressure on cities already strained by bomb raids
• The End of the Nazis


  1. Allied powers invaded Germany in 1945

  2. Hitler married Eva Braun in secret on 29th April 1945

  3. Hitler poisoned his wife and committed suicide on 30th April 1945

  4. Hitler's body cremated so Allies could not publicly destroy it

  5. Germany surrendered to Allies on 7th May 1945
• By 1945, the Allied powers had invaded Germany. From then on, the collapse of the Third Reich was inevitable. Hitler was nowhere to be seen and all morale was lost
• Millions of Germans fled their homes as refugees to escape death, but 2 million died from exhaustion or starvation