Historical Context
The Nazi Party
- The Nazi Party is the name given to the National Socialist German Workers' Party by the English.
- It existed between 1919 and 1945 and it was led by Adolf Hitler, who was appointed Chancellor by Paul Von Hindenburg, who was president then.
- The word Nazi is German and comes from 'Nationalsozialis'.
- Before the Nazis adopted it as their symbol, the Swastika was a good luck symbol.
- It implemented the ideologies of German racial superiority, promoting territorial expansion, blaming the Jews for the ills of Germany and calling for their removal from the German society.
- The Nazis had to accept the "Fuehrer Principle"
- Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, summarized the Fuehrer Principle as, “Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler. Whatever he does is necessary. Whatever he does is successful. Clearly the Führer has divine blessing.”
- They started numbering their membership cards at 500 instead of 1 to make themselves look larger.
- In 1921 Hitler formed his own private army called Sturm Abteilung (Storm Section). The SA (also known as stormtroopers or brownshirts) were instructed to disrupt the meetings of political opponents and to protect Hitler from revenge attacks.
- All other political parties were banned under Nazi control.
Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf
- Mein Kampf, "My Struggle" is an autobiography by Adolf Hitler.
- Hitler was convicted of treason before WWII, but served less than a year of his five year sentence.
- He wrote it while in prison.
- The first volume of Mein Kampf, subtitled “Eine Abrechnung” or “A Reckoning,” was written mostly during Hitler’s stay in Landsberg.
- It ultimately consisted of 12 chapters when it was published in July 1925.
- This first volume covered Hitler’s childhood through the initial development of the Nazi Party.
- Hitler also frequently wrote against the political scourges of Communism, which he purported was directly linked to the Jews, whom he believed were attempting to take over the world.
- Hitler also wrote that the present German government and its democracy was failing the German people and that his plan to remove the German parliament and instate the Nazi Party as the leadership would save Germany from future ruin.
- Volume two of Mein Kampf, subtitled “Die Nationalsozialistische Bewegung,” or “The National Socialist Movement,” consisted of 15 chapters and was published in December 1926.
- This volume was intended to cover how the Nazi Party was founded; however, it was more of a rambling discourse of Hitler’s political ideology.
Persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust
- The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated by the Allied powers.
- The term "Holocaust," originally from the Greek word "holokauston" which means "sacrifice by fire."
- Jews were forced out of their homes and moved into smaller apartments, often shared with other families.
- When the Nazis decided to kill the remaining Jews in a ghetto, they would "liquidate" a ghetto by boarding the last Jews in the ghetto on trains.
- It is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jews.
- The Nazis killed approximately two-thirds of all Jews living in Europe.
- An estimated 1.1 million children were murdered in the Holocaust.
- On April 1, 1933, the Nazis instigated their first action against German Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish-run businesses.
- After World War II started in 1939, the Nazis began ordering Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing so that Jews could be easily recognized and targeted.
- Although many people refer to all Nazi camps as "concentration camps," there were actually a number of different kinds of camps, including concentration camps, extermination camps, labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, and transit camps.
Daily Life of the German People During the War
- Almost every German family had in the course of the war, a son, brother, father, husband or fiancé at the front.
- Gradually, at the beginning of the war forced rationing was introduced.
- Fat, meat, butter, milk, cheese, sugar and jam were from 1 September 1939, only against ration cards available, bread and eggs came from 25 September.
- Mid-October 1939 has been introduced for people not wearing uniform rationing textiles by means of a valid for a year "empire dresses map".
- The warrant was 100 points, which were billed on the purchase of textiles. A pair of stockings "cost" 4 points, 25 points, a sweater, a woman's costume 45 points.
- Jews, however, also experienced in the reference system of food and textiles strong discrimination and public humiliation, compared to non-Jewish population, Jews were allotted for their ration cards for them in certain stores significantly less calories.
- Medical care for Jews existed only in rudimentary form. Gradually, they were prohibited from owning radio and telephone equipment, vehicles or keeping of pets.
- Although would have been almost fully occupied stadiums ideal targets of Allied bombers, hundreds of thousands of people a week went in search of leisure and diversion to football games, even if they were relocated because of the danger of air raids and often scheduled on short notice.
- For purposes of propaganda , however, little of the football served as propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels after a 2:3 defeat of the German national team against Sweden in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
- Instead, popular movie stars of the time as Hans Albers , Heinz Ruehmann , Willy Birgel , Hans Moser and Marika Rokk, the people distracted from their worries.
The Hitler Youth
- Children were massively affected by World War Two. Nearly two million children were evacuated from their homes at the start of World War Two; children had to endure rationing, gas mask lessons, living with strangers etc.
- Children accounted for one in ten of the deaths during the Blitz of London from 1940 to 1941.
- The Hitler Youth was a logical extension of Hitler's belief that the future of Nazi Germany was its children.
- The Hitler Youth was seen as being as important to a child as school was.
- By 1933 its membership stood at 100,000.
- After Hitler came to power, all other youth movements were abolished and as a result the Hitler Youth grew quickly. In 1936, the figure stood at 4 million members.
- In 1936, it became all but compulsory to join the Hitler Youth.
- Youths could avoid doing any active service if they paid their subscription but this became all but impossible after 1939.
- The Hitler Youth catered for 10 to 18 year olds. There were separate organisations for boys and girls.
- The task of the boys section was to prepare the boys for military service. For girls, the organization prepared them for motherhood.
- To the outside world, the Hitler Youth seemed to personify German discipline. In fact, this image was far from accurate. School teachers complained that boys and girls were so tired from attending evening meetings of the Hitler Youth, that they could barely stay awake the next day at school.
Effects of Military Air Strikes
- In any air strike, there is a risk of injuring, killing, or destroying non-combatants, allies or non-military buildings. This is called collateral damage.
- Estimated 353,000 German civilians were killed by American and British forces.
- Strategic bombing by non-atomic means did not win the war for the Allies, nor did it succeed in breaking the will to resist of the German (and Japanese) people.
- Albert Speer said it created "a second front in the air." Speer succeeded in increasing the output of armaments right up to mid-1944 in spite of the bombing.
- The war against the British and American bombers demanded enormous amounts of resources: antiaircraft guns, day and night fighters, radars, searchlights, manpower, ammunition, and fuel.
- On the Allied side, strategic bombing diverted material resources, equipment (such as radar) aircraft, and manpower away from the Battle of the Atlantic and Allied armies. As a result, German army groups in Russia, Italy, and France rarely saw friendly aircraft and constantly ran short of tanks, trucks, and anti-tank weapons.
- Some victims of the atomic bomb were vaporized instantly, many survivors were horribly disfigured, and death from radiation was uncertain—it might not claim its victims for days, weeks, months, or even years.
- Can cause cancer.
- Chromosomes are present in constant numbers in the nuclei of cells, and can be seen as visible entities during cell division. The count in humans is a constant 46. Chromosome aberrations were first noted in exposed survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1960.
- English children in London were sent away to escape the bombing.
Culture, Education, and Art in Germany in WWII
- Enforcing a Nazi curriculum on schools depended on the teachers delivering it. All teachers had to be vetted by local Nazi officials. Any teacher considered disloyal was sacked.
- Jews were banned from schools.
- Nazi plunder refers to art theft and other items stolen as a result of the organized looting of European countries during the time of the Third Reich by agents acting on behalf of the ruling Nazi Party of Germany. Plundering occurred from 1933 until the end of World War II, particularly by military units known as the Kunstschutz, although most plunder was acquired during the war.
- Fitness tests were mandatory; those who didn't pass were expelled.
- Celebrated Hitler's Birthday, April 20.
- Celebrated Hitler coming to power, January 30.
- Jewish art was burned.
- Geography taught pupils about the land Germany had taken away from her in 1919 and the need for Germany to have living space
- The curriculum required that the principles of shooting be studied; military aviation science; bridge building and the impact of poisonous gasses.
- Girls had a different curriculum in some regards as they studied domestic science and eugenics - both of which were to prepare young girls to be the perfect mother and wife. In Eugenics, girls were taught about the characteristics to look out for in a perfect husband and father.