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Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party (aka NSDAP or the Nazi Party), an anti-Semitic political party that established a totalitarian dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945. A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is For a detailed discussion of the English translation of Reich, see Reich. (ˈraɪk German ˈʁaɪç is a German Loanword cognate with the English Reign, Region, and Rich, but used most to designate Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. Officially, the state was called the Deutsches Reich (German Reich) and after 1943, Großdeutsches Reich (Greater German Reich). Deutsches Reich was the name for Germany from 1871 to 1945 in the German language.
The state was a major European power from the 1930s through the mid-1940s. Its historical significance lies mainly in its responsibility for starting World War II, and its commission of large-scale crimes against humanity, such as the persecution and mass-murder of Jews, minorities, and dissidents in the genocide known as the Holocaust. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The state introduced slave labour for those who were not deemed racially adequate to be German citizens. The state also permitted the deliberate destruction of civilian areas of cities during World War II, such as in London during the Battle of Britain; Rotterdam, during the invasion of the Netherlands; and Stalingrad during the Battle of Stalingrad. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The Battle of Britain (German ''Luftschlacht um England'' is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the summer and Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The Battle of Stalingrad is a commonly used name in English sources for several large operations by Germany and its allies and Soviet forces conducted with the The state came to an end in 1945, after the Allied Powers succeeded in seizing German-occupied territories in Europe and in occupying Germany itself. In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose [3]
In 1935, Germany was bounded on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Lithuania, Poland and Czechoslovakia; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe The Baltic Sea is a Brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N Latitude and from 20°E to 26°E Longitude. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands These borders changed after the state annexed Austria, the Sudetenland, Bohemia and Moravia and Memel, and after subsequent expansion during World War II. Sudetenland ( Czech and Polish: Sudety) is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of The " Czech lands " (České země is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Memel is a name mainly used by Germans and both for towns and rivers World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
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History
The Third Reich found its context in the wake of the loss of land, the heavy reparations, and the perceived national embarrassment imposed through the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I. Despite the lack of a German nation state prior to 1871 the History of Germany dates back to the era of the Germanic tribes. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Following civil unrest, the worldwide economic depression of the 1930s spurred by the stock market crash in the US, the counter-traditionalism of the Weimar period, and the rise of communism in Germany, many voters began turning their support towards the Nazi Party with its promises of strong government, civil peace, radical changes to economic policy, and restored national pride. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based The National Socialist party promised cultural renewal based on traditionalism, and it proposed military rearmament in opposition to the Treaty of Versailles; the National Socialist claimed that in the Treaty of Versailles and the liberal democracy of the Weimar Republic, Germany's national pride had been lost. The term "liberal" in "liberal democracy" does not imply that the government of such a democracy must follow the political ideology of [5]. The Nazis also endorsed the Dolchstoßlegende ("Stab in the back legend") which figured prominently in their propaganda as it did in propaganda of most other nationalist-leaning parties in Germany. The stab-in-the-back legend ( German:, literally "Dagger stab legend" refers to a social Myth theory popular in Germany in the period after
From 1925 to the 1930s, the German government devolved from a democracy to a de facto conservative-nationalist authoritarian state under President and war hero Paul von Hindenburg, who opposed the liberal democratic nature of the Weimar Republic and wanted to find a way to make Germany into an authoritarian state. Authoritarianism describes a Form of government characterized by an emphasis on the Authority of the State in a republic or union Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( known universally as Paul von Hindenburg ( ( October 2, 1847 &ndash August 2 The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 The natural ally of the foundation of an authoritarian state had been the German National People's Party (DNVP or "the Nationalists"), but increasingly, after 1929, more fanatic and younger-generation nationalists were attracted to the revolutionary nature of the National Socialist party, to challenge the rising support for communism as the German economy floundered. The German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei DNVP was a national-conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic By 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag. Hindenburg was reluctant to give any substantial power to Hitler, but worked out an alliance between the Nazis and the DNVP which would allow him to develop an authoritarian state. Hitler consistently demanded to be appointed chancellor in order for Hindenburg to receive any Nazi Party support of his administration.
On January 30, 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by Hindenburg after attempts by General Kurt von Schleicher to form a viable government failed (the Machtergreifung). Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Head of government of Germany is called Chancellor (Kanzler Machtergreifung ( is a German word meaning "seizure of power" Von Schleicher was hoping he could control Hitler by becoming vice chancellor and also keeping the Nazis a minority in the cabinet. Hindenburg was put under pressure by Hitler through his son Oskar von Hindenburg, as well as intrigue from former Chancellor Franz von Papen, leader of the Catholic Centre Party following his collection of participating financial interests and his own ambitions to combat communism. Generalleutnant Oskar von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( January 31, 1883 – February 12, 1960) was the politically powerful (29 October 1879 2 May 1969 was a German nobleman Catholic monarchist Politician, General Staff officer and Diplomat The German Centre Party ( Deutsche Zentrumspartei or merely Zentrum) was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich Even though the Nazis had gained the largest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, they had no majority of their own, and just a slim majority in parliament with their Papen-proposed Nationalist DNVP-NSDAP coalition. The Reichstag ( German for "Imperial Diet " was the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, This coalition ruled through accepted continuance of the Presidential decree, issued under Article 48 of the 1919 Weimar constitution. [4]
The National Socialist treatment of the Jews in the early months of 1933 marked the first step in a longer-term process of removing them from German society. [5] This plan was at the core of Adolf Hitler's "cultural revolution". Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately [6]
Consolidation of power
The new government installed a totalitarian dictatorship in a series of measures in quick succession (see Gleichschaltung for details). A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. Gleichschaltung, meaning "coordination" "making the same" "bringing into line" is a Nazi term for the process by which the
On the night of February 27, 1933 the Reichstag building was set on fire and Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found inside the building. Events 1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was subject to an arson attack and as a result seen as the pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany Council communism is a Far-left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s Marinus (Rinus van der Lubbe ( 13 January, 1909 – 10 January, 1934) was a Dutch council communist accused of and eventually He was arrested and charged with starting the blaze. The event had an immediate effect on thousands of anarchists, socialists and communists throughout the Reich, many of whom were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau was a Nazi German Concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions Factory near the The unnerved public worried that the fire had been a signal meant to initiate the communist revolution, and the Nazis found the event to be of immeasurable value in getting rid of potential insurgents. The event was quickly followed by the Reichstag Fire Decree, rescinding habeas corpus and other civil liberties. The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung is the common name of the Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State issued by German president Habeas corpus (ˈheɪbiəs ˈkɔɹpəs ( Latin: command that you have the body is the name of a legal action or Writ, through which a person can seek relief
The Enabling Act was passed in March 1933, with 444 votes, to the 94 of the remaining Social Democrats. The Enabling Act ( in German) was passed by the Reichstag ( Germany 's parliament on March 23, 1933 and signed The act gave the government (and thus effectively the Nazi Party) legislative powers and also authorized it to deviate from the provisions of the constitution for four years. In effect, Hitler had seized dictatorial powers.
Over the next year, the National Socialist ruthlessly eliminated all opposition. The Communists had already been banned before the passage of the Enabling Act. The Social Democrats (SPD), despite efforts to appease Hitler, were banned in June. In June and July, the Nationalists (DNVP), People's Party (DVP) and State Party (DStP) were forced to disband. The remaining Catholic Centre Party, at Papen's urging, disbanded itself on July 5, 1933 after guarantees over Catholic education and youth groups. Events 1295 - Scotland and France form an alliance the beginnings of the Auld Alliance, against England. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On July 14, 1933 Germany was officially declared a one-party state. Events 1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father Philip II of France. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Symbols of the Weimar Republic, including the black-red-gold flag (now the present-day flag of Germany), were abolished by the new regime which adopted both new and old imperial symbolism to represent the dual nature of the imperialist-Nazi regime of 1933. The flag of Germany is a Tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: Black, The old imperial black-white-red tricolour, almost completely abandoned during the Weimar Republic, was restored as one of Germany's two officially legal national flags. The other official national flag was the swastika flag of the Nazi party. The flag of Germany is a Tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: Black, It became the sole national flag in 1935. The national anthem continued to be "Deutschland über Alles" (also known as the "Deutschlandlied") except that the Nazis customarily used just the first verse and appended to it the "Horst Wessel Lied" accompanied by the so-called Hitler salute. Das Deutschlandlied ("The Song of Germany" also known as Das Lied der Deutschen, "The Song of the Germans" has been used wholly or partially as the Das Deutschlandlied ("The Song of Germany" also known as Das Lied der Deutschen, "The Song of the Germans" has been used wholly or partially as the The Horst-Wessel-Lied ("Horst Wessel Song" also known as Die Fahne hoch ("The flag on high" from its opening line was the anthem of the The Hitler salute (Hitlergruß also known in Germany during World War II as the Deutscher Gruß (literally German Greeting) or in English as the
Further consolidation of power was achieved on January 30, 1934 with the Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reichs (Act to rebuild the Reich). Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The act changed the highly decentralized federal Germany of the Weimar era into a centralized state. It disbanded state parliaments, transferring sovereign rights of the states to the Reich central government and put the state administrations under the control of the Reich administration. This process had actually begun soon after the passage of the Enabling Act, when all state governments were thrown out of office and replaced by Reich governors (German: Reichsstatthalter). The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The term Reichsstatthalter ("imperial lieutenant" was used twice for different offices in the imperial Hohenzollern dynasty's German Empire and the single-party Further laws ended any autonomy in local government. Mayors of cities and towns with fewer than 100,000 people were appointed by the governors, while the Interior Minister appointed the mayors of all cities larger than 100,000 people. In the case of Berlin and Hamburg (and after 1938, Vienna), Hitler reserved the right to personally appoint the mayors. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria.
In the spring of 1934 only the army remained independent from Nazi control. The German army had traditionally been separated from the government and somewhat of an entity of its own. The Nazi paramilitary SA expected top positions in the new power structure and wanted the regime to follow through its promise of enacting socialist legislation for Aryan Germans. The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers Wanting to preserve good relations with the army and the major industries who were weary of more political violence erupting from the SA, on the night of June 30, 1934, Hitler initiated the violent "Night of the Long Knives", a purge of the leadership ranks of Röhm's SA as well as hard-left Nazis (Strasserists), and other political enemies, carried out by another, more elitist, Nazi organization, the SS. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Night of the Long Knives (German) or " Operation Hummingbird " was a Purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July Strasserism refers to the strand of Nazism and Neo-Nazism that called for a more radical mass-action and worker-based form of fascism particularly hostile to The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the
At Hindenburg's death on August 2, 1934 the Nazi-controlled Reichstag merged the offices of Reichspräsident and Reichskanzler and reinstalled Hitler with the new title Führer und Reichskanzler. Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Until the death of Hindenburg, the army did not follow Hitler, partly because the paramilitary SA was much larger than the German Army (limited to 100,000 by the Treaty of Versailles) and because the leaders of the SA sought to merge the Army into itself and to launch the socialist "second revolution" to complement the nationalist revolution which had occurred with the ascendance of Hitler. The murder of Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, in the Night of the Long Knives, the death of Hindenburg, the merger of the SA into the Army and the promise of other expansions of the German military wrought friendlier relations between Hitler and the Army, resulting in a unanimous oath of allegiance by all soldiers to obey Hitler. Ernst Julius Röhm, (Munich November 28, 1887 – July 2, 1934) was a German military officer and later the commander and co-founder The Nazis proceeded to scrap their official alliance with the conservative nationalists and began to introduce Nazi ideology and Nazi symbolism into all major aspects of life in Germany. Schoolbooks were either rewritten or replaced, and schoolteachers who did not support Nazification of the curriculum were fired.
The inception of the Gestapo, police acting outside of any civil authority, highlighted the Nazis' intention to use powerful, coercive means to directly control German society. The ( contraction of ge heime Sta ats' po' lizei: "Secret State Police" was the official Secret police of Nazi Germany An army, estimated to be of about 100,000, spies and informants operated throughout Germany, reporting to Nazi officials the activities of any critics or dissenters. Most ordinary Germans, happy with the improving economy and better standard of living, remained obedient and quiet, but many political opponents, especially communists and Marxist or international socialists, were reported by omnipresent eavesdropping spies and put in prison camps where many were tortured and killed. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution It is estimated that tens of thousands of political victims died or disappeared in the first few years of Nazi rule.
World War II
Conquest of Europe
The "Danzig crisis" peaked in the months after Poland rejected Nazi Germany's initial offer regarding both the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor. Gdańsk ( Polish pronunciation; 'Danzig', Gduńsk Gedania Dantiscum is the City at the centre of the fourth-largest Metropolitan area in Poland The Free City of Danzig ( German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was an autonomous Baltic Sea port and Background Giving Poland access to the sea was one of the guarantees proposed by the United States President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen After a series of ultimatums, the Germans broke from diplomatic relations and shortly thereafter, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied This led to the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe when on 3 September 1939, the United Kingdom and France both declared war on Germany. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Phony War followed. The Phoney War, also called the Twilight War by Winston Churchill, der Sitzkrieg in German ("the sitting war" a On 9 April 1940 the Germans struck north against Denmark and Norway, in part to secure the safety of continuing iron ore supplies from Sweden through Norwegian coastal waters. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. British and French forces landed in Mid- and North Norway, only to be defeated in the ensuing Norwegian campaign. Central Norway (Midt-Norge ( Bokmål) Midt-Noreg ( Nynorsk) is an administrative division that includes the counties of Nord-Trøndelag, Sør-Trøndelag North Norway ( Norwegian: Nord-Norge ( Bokmål) or Nord-Noreg ( Nynorsk) is the geographical region of northern The Norwegian Campaign, lasting from 9 April to 10 June 1940, led to the first direct land confrontation between the military forces of the Allies In May, the Phony War ended when despite the protestations of many of his advisors, Hitler took a gamble and sent German forces into France and the Low Countries. The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt The Battle of France was an overwhelming German victory. In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries Later that year, Germany subjected the United Kingdom to heavy bombing during the Battle of Britain, and deliberately bombed civilian areas in London in response to a British bombing of Berlin. The Battle of Britain (German ''Luftschlacht um England'' is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the summer and This may have served two purposes, either as a precursor to Operation Sea Lion or it may have been an effort to dissuade the British populace from continuing to support the war. Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seelöwe was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during World War II, beginning in 1940 Regardless, the United Kingdom refused to capitulate and eventually Sea Lion was indefinitely postponed in favor of Operation Barbarossa. Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the Codename for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II
Barbarossa too was briefly postponed while Hitler's attention was diverted to save his failing Italian ally in North Africa and the Balkans. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan The Afrika Korps arrived in Libya in February of 1941. The German Afrikakorps ( German: Deutsches Afrikakorps DAK) was the original German blocking force (Sperrverband = Armored Blocking Force in Libya In what was to be one of many advances in the North African Campaign, the Germans took back much of what the Italians had so recently given up. During World War II, the North African Campaign, also known as the Desert War, took place in the North African desert from June 10, 1940 In April, the Germans then launched an invasion of Yugoslavia. This was followed by the Battle of Greece and the Battle of Crete. The Battle of Greece (also known as Operation Marita, Unternehmen Marita was a World War II battle that occurred on the Greek mainland and in southern Albania The Battle of Crete ( German Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta; Greek Μάχη της Κρήτης) was a battle during World War II But, by the time North Africa and the Balkans were subdued, February, March, April, and May were lost. Because of the diversions in North Africa and the Balkans, the Germans were not able to launch Barbarossa until late in June.
Before and after the German attempt to take Britain, Germany's navy, the Kriegsmarine, was raiding Allied convoys in the Atlantic Ocean which were sending Britain needed supplies from the United States, Canada, and British colonies. The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page British forces were forced to spread out to protect their convoys from submarine attacks by German U-Boats, as well as stopping surface raiders. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers The British successfully repelled a number of German surface raiding attempts during the war, the two most famous battles with surface raiders included one with the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and a British cruiser squadron in 1939, which set off a political controversy when the German ship attempted to take refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo, later being forced out and destroyed by her crew to avoid capture. Description Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland class cruiser. Montevideo (monteβi'ðeo is the largest city the capital and chief port of Uruguay. The other was in 1941 with the German battleship Bismarck, Germany's largest and most powerful warship that sunk Britain's largest warship, the battlecruiser Hood. Background Design of the ship started in the early 1930s following on from Germany's development of the ''Deutschland'' class cruisers and the ''Scharnhorst'' class History Construction Construction of Hood began at the John Brown & Company shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, on 1 September Bismarck was then pursued and sunk by British naval forces shortly afterward. Attacks by U-boats however, proved to be very successful and the most serious in damaging supply lines to Britain. Over time, the Allies developed improved defence tactics and new escorts that managed to reduce the numbers of merchant ships sunk. The German war machine managed to keep up with the steady losses of U-Boats because of their simple designs which allowed the U-Boats to be mass-produced and still remain a threat to the Allies throughout the war.
Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 and on the eve of the invasion, Hitler's former deputy, Rudolf Hess, attempted to negotiate terms of peace with the United Kingdom in an unofficial private meeting after crash-landing in Scotland. Rudolf Walter Richard Hess ( Heß in German) (26 April 1894 &ndash 17 August 1987 was a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, acting as Adolf Hitler These attempts failed and he was arrested.
By late 1941 Germany and her allies controlled almost all of mainland and Baltic Europe with the exception of neutral Switzerland, Sweden, Spain (debated whether it was an Axis ally), Portugal (debated), Liechtenstein, Andorra, Vatican City (arguably an Italian dependent state), and Monaco. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The Principality of Liechtenstein (Fürstentum Liechtenstein) is a tiny doubly landlocked Alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra ( Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small Landlocked country in western Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory For other uses see Monaco (disambiguation Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco ( French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque On the eastern front, the German Army was at the gates of Moscow and engaged in a long winter war with the Red Army. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Eventually the German army was forced out of Moscow, but held much of the Baltic territories spanning to the Black Sea. The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey
Nazi Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Pearl Harbor is a Harbor on the Island of O{{okina}}ahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. This allowed German submarines in the Atlantic to fight US convoys that had been supporting the United Kingdom and although Nazi hubris is often cited, Hitler presumably sought the further support of Japan. He was convinced of the United States' aggressive intentions following the leaking of Rainbow Five and hearing of the foreboding content of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor speech. During the 1920s and 1930s the United States military developed a number of Color-coded War Plans to outline potential U Before then, Germany had practiced its own policy of appeasement, taking drastic precautions in order to avoid the United States' entry into the war.
Persecution and extermination campaigns
The persecution of minorities and "undesirables" continued both in Germany and the occupied countries. From 1941 onward, Jews were required to wear a yellow badge in public and most were transferred to ghettos, where they remained isolated from the rest of the population. The yellow badge (or yellow patch) also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social legal or economic pressure In January 1942, at the Wannsee Conference and under the supervision of Reinhard Heydrich, who himself was commanded by Heinrich Himmler, a plan for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (Endlösung der Judenfrage) in Europe was designed. The Wannsee Conference was a Meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( 7 March 1904 &ndash 4 June 1942) was an SS - Obergruppenführer, chief Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. The Final Solution ( Die Endlösung) was Nazi Germany 's plan and execution of its systematic Genocide against European Jewry during World From then until the end of the war some six million Jews and many others, including homosexuals, Slavs, and political prisoners, were systematically killed. In addition, more than ten million people were put into forced labour. This genocide is called the Holocaust in English and the Shoah in Hebrew. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Thousands were shipped daily to extermination camps (Vernichtungslager, sometimes called "death factories") and concentration camps (Konzentrationslager, KZ), some of which were originally detention centers but later converted into death camps for the purpose of killing their inmates. Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial
Parallel to the Holocaust, the Nazis conducted a ruthless program of conquest and exploitation over the captured Soviet and Polish territories and their populations as part of their Generalplan Ost. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Generalplan Ost ( GPO) was a secret Nazi plan of Genocide and Ethnic cleansing to be realised in the territories occupied According to estimates, 20 million Soviet civilians, three million non-Jewish Poles, and seven million Red Army soldiers died because of the Nazis in what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The term Great Patriotic War (Великая Отечественная война Velikaya Otechestvennaya Vojna) is used in Russia and some other The Nazis' plan was to extend German Lebensraum ("living space") eastward, a foreseen consequence of the war in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, said by the Nazis to have been waged in order "to defend Western Civilization against Bolshevism of subhumans". ( German for " habitat " or literally "living space" served as a major motivation for Nazi Germany 's territorial aggression The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction It is estimated that at least 51 milion Slavic people were to be removed from Central and Eastern Europe in the event of Nazi victory[1]. Because of the many atrocities suffered under Stalin, the Nazi message was interpreted by many to be legitimate in parts of Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Many Ukrainians, Balts, and other nationalities fought, or at least expected to fight, on the side of the Germans. The Baltic states (Balti riigid Baltijas valstis Baltijos valstybės or Baltic countries are three countries in Northern Europe, all members of the Many nations that fullfiled racist classifications of Nazi Regime the enlisted in the infamous and numerous Schutzstaffel (SS) divisions. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the
Allied advances
As the Soviet war economy recovered despite the loss of industrial territory to the German occupiers, the Red Army put up a strong front against the German army. By 1943 the Soviets had defeated the Germans at Stalingrad and began the push westward, winning the tank battle at Kursk-Orel in July. History KurskOld2jpg|thumb|200px|Pre-1917 view of Kursk]] Archaeology indicates that the site of Kursk was settled in the fifth or fourth century B
From 1942 on the Western Allies stepped up bombing raids and began plans to land on German-occupied territory. A great controversy concerning Allied tactics, were the Allied bombings of German cities, which resulted in the complete destruction of the cities of Cologne and Dresden as well as others. Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German These bombings resulted in numerous civilian casualties and severe hardship for the survivors living amid the destroyed infrastructure. The invasion of Italy as well as the collapse of the Fascist regime there, caused German forces to be spread thin to fight the two fronts. The German Army was pushed back to the borders of Poland by February 1944, following the great success of Operation Bagration. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Operation Bagration (Oперация Багратион Operatsiya Bagration) was the Codename for the Soviet 1944 Belorussian Strategic The Allies opened a Western Front in June 1944 at Normandy, a year and a half after the Soviets turned the tide on the Eastern Front. Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of northwest Europe during World War II by Allied forces With a three front campaign, depleting oil and supply lines, and constant bombing by the Allies, German occupied territory was slowly taken by the Allies. As the Red army neared East Prussia, German civilians began to flee from East Prussia, West Prussia and Silesia en masse westward, fearing persecution by Soviet soldiers. East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part West Prussia ( Prusy Zachodnie was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773&ndash1824 and 1878&ndash1918 which was created out of the earlier Polish Etymology One theory claims that the name Silesia is derived from the Silingi, who were most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic people Though there were atrocities committed by the western allies, many Germans believed that they would be safer under occupation by the Western Allied forces, than under the Soviet forces, of whom both real and propaganda-told stories of atrocities terrified the German populations of Soviet occupation.
Millions of German soldiers would die over the course of World War II, with current highest estimates at 5. 5 million. The corpses of German soldiers became so commonplace that they stopped generating any emotion whatsoever and became an inextricable part of the European landscape, and were often improperly buried or not at all. Hungry pigs often devoured the remains of German soldiers, such as near the Maas-Waal canal in 1944, where men of the 82nd Airborne were powerless to stop the swarms of hogs feasting on dead German soldiers. [7]
By early 1945 Soviet forces surrounded Berlin, American and British forces had taken most of western Germany and Soviet troops moving westward met Allied troops moving eastward at Torgau at the Elbe on April 26, 1945 (Cohen). Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar With Berlin under siege, Hitler and other key members of the Nazi regime were forced to live in the armoured underground Führerbunker while the upper terrain of Berlin was constantly shelled by the Red Army. The Führerbunker ( German, literally meaning "shelter for the leader" or "the Führer's shelter" is a common name for a complex of subterranean rooms
In the underground bunker Hitler grew increasingly isolated and detached from reality and increasingly exhibited signs of mental illness as he would burst into violent rages and temper tantrums when he was informed of the dire situation facing Berlin and the remaining German armed forces there. Mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as In one such rage at a meeting with military commanders it was claimed that Hitler began to consider committing suicide should Germany fail to win the war. Berlin was eventually surrounded and outward communications between Berlin and the rest of Germany were cut off. Despite evident total defeat, Hitler refused to relinquish his power or surrender.
With no communications coming out of Berlin, Hermann Göring sent an ultimatum to Berlin that he would take over the Nazi regime in April if his ultimatum was not responded to, in which case Hitler would have been deemed to be incapacitated as leader. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Upon receiving the message, Hitler angrily ordered Göring's immediate arrest, and had a plane deliver the message to Göring in Bavaria. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 Later, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in northern Germany began communicating with the western Allies about negotiating peace. was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Hitler once again reacted violently to Himmler's attempts to seek peace and ordered both his arrest and execution.
With no intent by Hitler to surrender, intense street fighting continued in the war-torn ruins of Berlin between remnant German army forces, Hitler Youth, and the Waffen-SS against the Red Army. For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth ( German:, The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" This battle was known as the Battle of Berlin. For the bombing campaign on Berlin by the RAF from November 1943 to March 1944 see Battle of Berlin (air. The German forces by this time were severely depleted, large numbers of German children and the elderly were forced into conscription by the Nazis to fight against the Red Army in the remaining pockets of territory not controlled by the Red Army in Berlin.
Capitulation of German forces
On April 30, 1945, as the Battle for Berlin raged and the city was being overrun by Soviet forces, Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker. Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar The generally accepted cause of the death of Adolf Hitler on Monday 30 April 1945 is Suicide by gunshot and Cyanide poisoning Two days later, on May 2, 1945, German General Helmuth Weidling unconditionally surrendered Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov. Events 1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling ( 2 November 1891 &ndash 17 November 1955) was an officer in the German Army ( Wehrmacht Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Чуйко́в ( February 12 1900 - March 18 1982) was a Lieutenant general
Hitler was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as Reich President and Dr. Karl Dönitz (ˈdøːnɪts) (16 September 1891 &ndash 24 December 1980 was a German naval Commander who served Joseph Goebbels as Reich Chancellor. Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public No one was to replace Hitler as the Führer, which Hitler abolished in his will. The last will and testament of Adolf Hitler was dictated by Hitler to his secretary Traudl Junge in his Berlin Führerbunker on April 29 However, Goebbels committed suicide in the Fuhrerbunker a day after assuming office. The caretaker government Dönitz established near the Danish border unsuccessfully sought a separate peace with the Western Allies. The Flensburg government was the short-lived administration that attempted to rule Germany during most of May 1945 at the very end of World War II. On 4 May–8 May 1945 the remaining German armed forces throughout Europe surrendered unconditionally (German Instrument of Surrender, 1945). Events 1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV Events 589 - Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo 1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar The German Instrument of Surrender was the Legal instrument by which the High Command of the German Armed Forces surrendered simultaneously to the Supreme This was the end of Nazi Germany. The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender took place in late April and early May 1945
With the creation of the Allied Control Council on July 5, 1945, the four Allied powers "assume[d] supreme authority with respect to Germany" (Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany, US Department of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series, No. The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority, known in German as the Alliierter Kontrollrat, also referred to as the Four Powers (German Events 1295 - Scotland and France form an alliance the beginnings of the Auld Alliance, against England. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar 1520).
The end of the Third Reich
The Potsdam Conference in August 1945 created arrangements and outline for new government for the post-war Germany as well as war reparations and resettlement. The effects of World War II had far-reaching implications for the international community German Nazism and the acts of the Nazi German state profoundly affected many countries communities and peoples before during and after World War II. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after The expulsion of Germans after World War II was the Forced migration and Ethnic cleansing of German nationals ( Reichsdeutsche) and ethnic The Level of Industry plans for Germany were the effected Allied plans to lower and control German industrial potential after World War II. The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, Germany, from July 16, War reparations refer to the monetary compensation intended to cover damage or injury during a war All German annexations in Europe after 1937, such as the Sudetenland, were reversed, and in addition Germany's eastern border was shifted westwards to the Oder-Neisse line, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to her 1937 border. Sudetenland ( Czech and Polish: Sudety) is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of The Oder-Neisse line (Granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej Oder-Neiße-Grenze was drawn in the aftermath of World War II as the eastern border of Germany and The territories east of the new border comprised East Prussia, Silesia, West Prussia, two-thirds of Pomerania and parts of Brandenburg. East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part Etymology One theory claims that the name Silesia is derived from the Silingi, who were most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic people West Prussia ( Prusy Zachodnie was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773&ndash1824 and 1878&ndash1918 which was created out of the earlier Polish Brandenburg ( Lower Sorbian: Bramborska; Upper Sorbian: Braniborska) is one of the sixteen states of Germany. Much of these areas were agricultural, with the exception of Upper Silesia, which was the second-largest center of German heavy industry. Upper Silesia (Horní Slezsko Oberschlesien Latin: Silesia Superior; Górny Śląsk Silesian: Gůrny Ślůnsk) is the southeastern part Heavy industry does not have a single fixed meaning as compared to Light industry. Many smaller and large cities such as Stettin, Königsberg, Breslau, Elbing, Danzig were cleansed of their population and taken from Germany as well. Königsberg (Karaliaučius Low German: Königsbarg; Królewiec see also other names) was until 1946 the name of Kaliningrad. Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia Gdańsk ( Polish pronunciation; 'Danzig', Gduńsk Gedania Dantiscum is the City at the centre of the fourth-largest Metropolitan area in Poland
France took control of a large part of Germany's remaining coal deposits. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Saar or Saar Area or Saar Protectorate or Saar Region was a French-German borderland territory twice temporarily made a protectorate Virtually all Germans in Central Europe outside of the new eastern borders of Germany and Austria were subsequently, over a period of several years, expelled, affecting about 17 million ethnic Germans. Central Europe is the Region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Most casualty estimates of this expulsion range between one to two million dead. The French, US and British occupation zones later became West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany), while the Soviet zone became the communist East Germany (the German Democratic Republic, excluding sections of Berlin). West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state
The initial repressive occupation policy in Germany by the Western Allies was reversed after a few years when the Cold War made the Germans important as allies against communism. The Morgenthau Plan was a plan for the occupation of Germany after World War II that advocated measures intended to remove Germany's ability to wage war The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers during the Second World War. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the West Germany recovered economically by the 1960s, being called the economic miracle (German term Wirtschaftswunder), mainly due to the currency reform of 1948 which replaced the Reichsmark with the Deutsche Mark as legal tender, halting rampant inflation, but also to a minor degree helped by economic aid (in the form of loans) through the Marshall Plan which was extended to also include West Germany. The term ( German for "economic miracle" describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria Monetary Reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying Money and financing the economy than the current system For a detailed discussion of the English translation of Reich, see Reich. The Marshall Plan (from its enactment officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger West German recovery was upheld thanks to fiscal policy and intense labour, eventually leading to labour shortages. (native pronunciation /ˈɡastˌʔaːbaɪtɐ/ is German for "guest worker" (or "guest workers" - the plural is the same as the singular
Allied dismantling of West German industry was finally halted in 1951, and in 1952 West Germany joined the European Coal and Steel Community. The Level of Industry plans for Germany were the effected Allied plans to lower and control German industrial potential after World War II. The European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC) was a six-nation International organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and creating In 1955 the military occupation of West Germany was ended. The Allied High Commission (in German "Alliierte Hohe Kommission" "AHK" was established by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, East Germany recovered at a slower pace under communism until 1990, due to reparations paid to the Soviet Union and the effects of the centrally planned economy. Germany regained full sovereignty in 1991. The Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany, (or the Two Plus Four Agreement) was negotiated in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany
After the war, surviving Nazi leaders were put on trial by an Allied tribunal at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after A minority were sentenced to death and executed, but a number were jailed and then released by the mid-1950s due to poor health and old age, with the notable exception of Rudolf Hess, who died in Spandau Prison in 1987 while in permanent solitary confinement. Rudolf Walter Richard Hess ( Heß in German) (26 April 1894 &ndash 17 August 1987 was a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, acting as Adolf Hitler Spandau Prison was a Prison situated in the borough of Spandau in western Berlin, constructed in 1876 and demolished in In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, some renewed efforts were made in West Germany to take those who were directly responsible for "crimes against humanity" to court (e. g. , Auschwitz trials). This is about the trial held in Poland See Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials for the German Auschwitz trials However, many of the less prominent leaders continued to live well into the 1980s and 1990s.
The victorious Allies outlawed the Nazi Party, its subsidiary organizations, and most symbols and emblems (including the swastika in most manifestations) throughout Germany and Austria; this prohibition remains in force to the present day. The end of Nazi Germany also saw the rise of unpopularity of related aggressive nationalism in Germany such as Pan-Germanism and the Völkisch movement which had previously been significant political ideas in Germany and in Europe prior to the Second World War, those that remain are largely at present, fringe movements. Pan-Germanism (Pangermanismus or Alldeutsche Bewegung was a political movement of the 19th century aiming for unity of the German -speaking peoples of Europe The völkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement with a romantic focus on Folklore and the "organic" In all non-fascist European countries legal purges were established to punish the members of the former Nazi and Fascist parties. Even there, however, some of the former leaders found ways to accommodate themselves under the new circumstances.
Nuremberg Trials
The response to numerous crimes discovered to be committed by Nazi Germany, fostered a revival in both the western and eastern blocs of internationalism resulting in the creation of the United Nations (UN). The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security One of the UN's first objectives was establishing a series of war crimes tribunals to convict Nazi officials, called the Nuremberg Trials, named after where the trials were held, in the Nazis' former political stronghold of Nuremberg, Bavaria. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 The first major and most well-known Nuremberg trial was officially called the Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). This trial involved twenty-four key Nazi officials including Hermann Göring, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer, Karl Dönitz, Hans Frank, and Julius Streicher. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 &ndash 16 October 1946 was a senior Nazi official during World War II. Rudolf Walter Richard Hess ( Heß in German) (26 April 1894 &ndash 17 August 1987 was a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, acting as Adolf Hitler Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, commonly known as Albert Speer ( 19 March 1905 - 1 September 1981 was an Architect, author and for part of World Karl Dönitz (ˈdøːnɪts) (16 September 1891 &ndash 24 December 1980 was a German naval Commander who served Hans Michael Frank ( May 23 1900 &ndash October 16 1946) was a German Lawyer who worked for the Nazi party Julius Streicher ( February 12, 1885 &ndash October 16, 1946) was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. The trial found many of the accused to be guilty and twelve were sentenced to death by hanging. A few officials managed to avoid being executed, including Göring, who committed suicide by ingesting a cyanide tablet before he could be hanged; Hess, a formerly close confidant to Hitler, was sentenced to life in prison and stayed in Spandau prison until his death in 1987; Speer, the state architect and later armaments minister, served twenty years despite his use of slave labour in projects; Konstantin von Neurath, a Third Reich cabinet minister who was in office prior to the Nazi regime; and another minister who also served in the pre-Nazi government, economist Hjalmar Schacht. A cyanide is any Chemical compound that contains the cyano group (C≡N which consists of a Carbon Atom triple-bonded to a Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath (2 February 1873 – 14 August 1956 was a German diplomat, Foreign Minister of Germany (1932-1938 and Reichsprotektor Dr Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970 was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President
Some accused the Nuremberg Trials to be a form of "victor's justice", in that no similar action was taken to punish the war crimes and crimes against humanity of the victors, i. The label " victor's justice " (in German,) to a situation in which they believe that a victorious nation is applying different rules to judge what is right In Public international law, a crime against humanity is an act of Persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people and is the highest level of e. those of the Soviet Union, France, Great Britain and the United States during World War II. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands The United States of America —commonly referred to as the World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
Geography
Administrative regions
In addition to Weimar-era Germany proper, the Reich came to include, in the years leading up to the war, areas with ethnic German populations such as Austria, the Sudetenland, and the territory of Memel. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 (ˈraɪk German ˈʁaɪç is a German Loanword cognate with the English Reign, Region, and Rich, but used most to designate This article is about the German diaspora See Germans for the German ethnicity in general Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Sudetenland ( Czech and Polish: Sudety) is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of The Klaipėda Region (Klaipėdos kraštas or Memel Territory (Memelland or Memelgebiet Territoire de Memel was defined by the Treaty of Versailles Regions acquired after the outbreak of conflict include Eupen-et-Malmédy, Alsace-Lorraine, Danzig and territories of Poland. Eupen is a Municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège, 15 km from the German border ( Aachen) from the Dutch Malmedy is a Municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. Alsace-Lorraine (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen generally Elsass - Lothringen) was a territorial entity created by the German Empire in 1871 The Free City of Danzig ( German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was an autonomous Baltic Sea port and The Second Polish Republic or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II. In addition, from 1939 to 1945, the Reich ruled Bohemia and Moravia as a protectorate, subjugated and annexed prior to the start of the world war. The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren Protektorát Čechy a Morava was the majority ethnic-Czech Protectorate which Although under German control and administration, the protectorate had its own currency. The koruna, known as the Protectorate crown (in Czech: Protektorátní koruna) was the Currency of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Regions and protectorates
Czech Silesia was incorporated into the province of Silesia during the same period. Czech Silesia (České Slezsko is one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region The Province of Silesia (Provinz Schlesien Prowincja Śląsk was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919 the territory had been conquered from In 1942 Luxembourg was directly annexed into Germany. Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by Central Poland and Polish Galicia were run by a protectorate government, called the General Government. The Second Polish Republic or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II. The General Government (Generalgouvernement refers to a part of the territories of Poland (and Ostrava Czechoslovakia under German Military occupation Eventually, the Polish people were supposed to be "removed" and Poland itself populated with 5 million Germans. The Polish people, or Poles, (Polacy) are a Western Slavic Ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. By late 1943, Germany not only seized Bolzano-Bozen(South Tyrol) and Istria, which had been part of Austria-Hungary before 1919, but also seized Venice from its erstwhile ally Italy after it capitulated to the Allies. The Province of Bolzano-Bozen (Provincia autonoma di Bolzano Autonome Provinz Bozen Ladin: Provinzia This article is about a geographical region bordering the Adriatic Sea Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest
The states composing Germany were restricted in sovereignty by the Nazi regime and replaced in their political rights by Gaue; districts were led by representatives called Gauleiter who were completely loyal to the central government. A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party) or the head of a Gau or of a In the majority of cases that Gauleiter was responsible in personal union for the Reichsgau too. A personal union is the combination by which two different States are governed by the same Monarch, while their boundaries their laws and their interests remain distinct A Reichsgau (plural Reichsgaue) was an administrative sub-division created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and These administrative changes dismantled the regional political hegemony, which had been held by Prussia over German affairs since 1871. Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state However, the title of the Prime Minister of Prussia used by Hermann Göring from 1933 to 1945, and other titles, still remained in use. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member
Idea of the Greater Germany
Outside of what was directly annexed into Germany were the regional territories created in occupied lands. In many areas, occupied territories called Reichskommissariat were set up. In the occupied Soviet Union territories, these included the Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Reichskommissariat Ostland was the German name for the Nazi civil administration of part of the occupied Eastern territories of the Third Reich, occupied The Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Ukraine Reich Commission was the civil administration of much of German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern In northern Europe, there was the Reichskommissariat Niederlande (Netherlands) and Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Norway) which were designed to foster German colonization. After being occupied by Nazi Germany, the Netherlands became a Reichskommissariat, which was basically an occupation authority and a colony of Germany Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Norway Reich Commission was a colony and occupation authority of Nazi Germany of German-occupied Norway in World War II In 1944, a Reichskommissariat was founded in Belgium and northern France, previously known as the Military Administration of Belgium and North France, where travel restrictions were enforced in order to foster German colonization. The Military Administration in Belgium and North France ( Militärverwaltung in Belgien und Nordfrankreich) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany
The Reich's borders had changed de facto well before its military defeat in May 1945, as parts of the German population fled westward from the advancing Red Army and the Western Allies pressed eastward from France. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The Western Allies were the democracies and their colonial peoples within the broader coalition of Allies during World War II. By the end of the war, a small strip of land stretching from Austria to Bohemia and Moravia — as well as a few other isolated regions — was the only area not under Allied control. Upon its defeat, some have claimed that the Reich was in a state of debellation. Debellatio (also debellation) ( Late Latin "Defeating or the act of conquering or subduing" literally " warring (the enemy Occupation zones were set up and administrated by France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The prewar German lands east of the Oder-Neisse line and Stettin and its surrounding area - nearly 25% of pre-war Germany - were set under Polish and Soviet administration but factually sundered from Germany for annexation by Poland and the Soviet Union. The Oder-Neisse line (Granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej Oder-Neiße-Grenze was drawn in the aftermath of World War II as the eastern border of Germany and The former eastern territories of Germany (ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete describes collectively those Provinces or Regions east of the current eastern The millions of Germans remaining in the areas were by the Allies expelled over a period of several years. The expulsion of Germans after World War II was the Forced migration and Ethnic cleansing of German nationals ( Reichsdeutsche) and ethnic These territorial changes resulted in the complete dissolution of Prussia as a German territorial component. Prussia was identified as a region neither of Poland nor of the Soviet Union (Kaliningrad Oblast). Kaliningrad Oblast (Калинингра́дская о́бласть Kaliningradskaya oblast; informally called Yantarny kray (ru Янта́рный край meaning By signing the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (1990), Germany finally renounced any claims to territories lost during the Second World War. The Treaty of Warsaw (Warschauer Vertrag was a treaty between West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany - the FRG and the People's Republic of Poland The Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany, (or the Two Plus Four Agreement) was negotiated in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany
Economy
- See also: Forced labour in Germany during World War II, Hunger Plan, and Economics_of_fascism#Political_economy_of_Nazi_Germany
When the Nazis came to power the most pressing issue was an unemployment rate of close to 30%[8]. The economic policies of the Third Reich were in the beginning the brainchildren of Hjalmar Schacht, who assumed office as president of the central bank under Hitler in 1933, and became finance minister in the following year[8]. Dr Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970 was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President Schacht was one of the few finance ministers to take advantage of the freedom provided by the end of the gold standard to keep interest rates low and government budget deficits high, with massive public works funded by large budget deficits[8]. The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common media of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set fixed quantities of Gold The consequence was an extremely rapid decline in unemployment--the most rapid decline in unemployment in any country during the Great Depression[8]. Eventually this Keynesian economic policy was supplemented by the boost to demand provided by rearmament and swelling military spending. In Economics Keynesian economics (ˈkeɪnziən also Keynesianism and Keynesian Theory) is based on the ideas of twentieth-century British economist
Hjalmar Schacht was finally replaced in 1937 by Hitler's lieutenant Hermann Goering when he resigned. Dr Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970 was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President Goering introduced the four year plan whose main aim was to make Germany self-sufficient to fight a war within four years. [8] Under Goering imports were slashed. Wages and prices were controlled--under penalty of being sent to the concentration camp. Dividends were restricted to six percent on book capital. And strategic goals to be reached at all costs (much like Soviet planning) were declared: the construction of synthetic rubber plants, more steel plants, automatic textile factories. [8]
While the strict state intervention into the economy, and the massive rearmament policy, almost led to full employment during the 1930s (statistics didn't include non-citizens or women), real wages in Germany dropped by roughly 25% between 1933 and 1938. [9] Trade unions were abolished, as well as collective bargaining and the right to strike. [10] The right to quit also disappeared: Labour books were introduced in 1935, and required the consent of the previous employer in order to be hired for another job. [10] In place of ordinary profit incentive to guide investment, investment was guided through regulation to accord with needs of the State. Government financing eventually came to dominate the investment process, which the proportion of private securities issued falling from over half of the total in 1933 and 1934 to approximately 10 percent in 1935-1938. Heavy taxes on profits limited self-financing of firms. The largest firms were mostly exempt from taxes on profits, however government control of these were extensive enough to leave "only the shell of private ownership. " [11]
Another part of the new German economy was massive rearmament, with the goal being to expand the 100,000-strong German Army into a force of millions. The Four-Year Plan was discussed in the controversial Hossbach Memorandum, which provides the "minutes" from one of Hitler's briefings. For a high school academic guidance plan see 4-year plan. The Four Year Plan was a series of Economic reforms created by the Nazi The Hossbach Memorandum was the summary of a meeting on November 5 1937 between German dictator Adolf Hitler and his military and foreign policy leadership
Nevertheless, the war came and although the Four-Year Plan technically expired in 1940, Hermann Göring had built up a power base in the "Office of the Four-Year Plan" that effectively controlled all German economic and production matters by this point in time. In 1942 the growing burdens of the war and the death of Todt saw the economy move to a full war economy under Albert Speer. War economy is the term used to describe the contingencies undertaken by the modern State to mobilise its Economy for War production. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, commonly known as Albert Speer ( 19 March 1905 - 1 September 1981 was an Architect, author and for part of World
Politics
Through staffing of most government positions with Nazi Party members, by 1935 the German national government and the Nazi Party had become virtually one and the same. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately By 1938, through the policy of Gleichschaltung, local and state governments lost all legislative power and answered administratively to Nazi Party leaders, known as Gauleiters, who governed Gaue and Reichsgaue. Gleichschaltung, meaning "coordination" "making the same" "bringing into line" is a Nazi term for the process by which the A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party) or the head of a Gau or of a A Reichsgau (plural Reichsgaue) was an administrative sub-division created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and
Government
Nazi Germany was made up of various competing power structures, all trying to gain favor with the Führer, or Hitler. Thus much of the laws were forgotten and instead replaced with interpretations of what Hitler wanted (however many times they would be supported by new law. ) Any government member could take one of Hitler's comments and turn it into a new law, of which Hitler would casually either approve or disapprove when he finally heard about it. This became known as "working towards the Führer", as the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of individuals each trying to gain more power and influence over the Führer. This often made government very convoluted and divided, especially with Hitler's vague policy of creating a multitude of often very similar posts. The process allowed more unscrupulous and ambitious Nazis to get away with implementing the more radical and extreme elements of Hitler's ideology, such as anti-Semitism, and in doing so win political favor. Protected by Goebbels' extremely effective propaganda machine, which portrayed the government as a dedicated, dutiful and efficient outfit, the dog-eat-dog competition and chaotic legislation was allowed to escalate out of control. Historical opinion is divided between "intentionalists", who believe that Hitler created this system as the only means of ensuring both the total loyalty and dedication of his supporters and the complete impossibility of a conspiracy; and "structuralists", who believe that the system evolved by itself and was a serious limitation on Hitler's supposedly totalitarian power.
Cabinet and national authorities
- Office of the Reich Chancellery (Hans Lammers)
- Office of the Party Chancellery (Martin Bormann)
- Office of the Presidential Chancellery (Otto Meissner)
- Privy Cabinet Council (Konstantin von Neurath)
- Chancellery of the Führer (Philip Bouhler)
Reich offices
- Office of the Four-Year Plan (Hermann Göring)
- Office of the Reich Master Forester (Hermann Göring)
- Office of the Inspector for Highways
- Office of the President of the Reich Bank
- Reich Youth Office
- Reich Treasury Office
- General Inspector of the Reich Capital
- Office of the Councillor for the Capital of the Movement (Munich, Bavaria)
Reich ministries
- Reich Foreign Ministry (Joachim von Ribbentrop)
- Reich Interior Ministry (Wilhelm Frick, Heinrich Himmler)
- Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Joseph Goebbels)
- Reich Ministry of Aviation (Hermann Göring)
- Reich Ministry of Finance (Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk)
- Reich Ministry of Justice (Otto Thierack)
- Reich Economics Ministry (Walther Funk)
- Reich Ministry for Nutrition and Agriculture (Richard Walther Darré)
- Reich Labour Ministry (Franz Seldte)
- Reich Ministry for Science, Education, and Public Instruction (Bernhard Rust)
- Reich Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs (Hanns Kerrl)
- Reich Transportation Ministry (Julius Dorpmüller)
- Reich Postal Ministry (Wilhelm Ohnesorge)
- Reich Ministry for Weapons, Munitions, and Armament (Fritz Todt, Albert Speer)
- Reich Ministers without Portfolio (Konstantin von Neurath, Hans Frank, Hjalmar Schacht, Arthur Seyss-Inquart)
State ideology
National Socialism (aka Nazism) had some of the key ideological elements of fascism which originally developed in Italy under Benito Mussolini, however the Nazis never officially declared themselves fascists. The Reich Chancellery ( German Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the German Chancellor Dr Jur Hans Heinrich Lammers (27 May 1879 4 January 1962 was a prominent Nazi and head of the Reich Chancellery. Party Chancellery ( Parteikanzlei) was the name of the office that replaced that of Deputy Führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945 Otto Meißner (born 13 March 1880 in Bischweiler (today Bischwiller) in Alsace - died 27 May 1953 in Munich) was head of the Office of the Reich President Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath (2 February 1873 – 14 August 1956 was a German diplomat, Foreign Minister of Germany (1932-1938 and Reichsprotektor Philipp Bouhler ( 11 September 1899 - 19 May 1945) was a Nazi German government official SS-Obergruppenführer head of the Führer's For a high school academic guidance plan see 4-year plan. The Four Year Plan was a series of Economic reforms created by the Nazi Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946 was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945 Dr Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 16 October 1946 was a prominent Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Johann Ludwig (Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, (22 August 1887 4 March 1977 was a German jurist and senior government official The Reich Ministry of Justice (Reichsministerium der Justiz was a Ministry of Germany during the Weimar Republic and subsequently the Nazi period. Otto Georg Thierack (19 April 1889 22 November 1946 was a Nazi Jurist and Politician. Walther Emanuel Funk (18 August 1890 - 31 May 1960 was a prominent Nazi official Richard Walther Darré (born Ricardo Walther Oscar Darré, 14 July 1895 - 5 September 1953 was an SS - Obergruppenführer and one of the leading Franz Seldte (29 June 1882 1 April 1947 was a cofounder of the German paramilitary organization Stahlhelm Bund der Frontsoldaten, a Nazi politician and Dr Bernhard Rust (30 September 1883 — 8 May 1945 was Minister of Science Education and National Culture ( Reichserziehungsminister) in Nazi Germany. Hanns Kerrl (11 December 1887 - 12 December 1941 was a German Nazi Politician. Julius Heinrich Dorpmueller (24 July 1869 in Elberfeld - 5 July 1945 in Malente) was General manager of Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft from Karl Wilhelm Ohnesorge (8 June 1872 - 1 February 1962 was a German Politician in the Third Reich who sat in Hitler 's cabinet. Fritz Todt (4 September 1891 – 8 February 1942 was a German engineer and senior Nazi figure the founder of Organisation Todt. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, commonly known as Albert Speer ( 19 March 1905 - 1 September 1981 was an Architect, author and for part of World Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath (2 February 1873 – 14 August 1956 was a German diplomat, Foreign Minister of Germany (1932-1938 and Reichsprotektor Hans Michael Frank ( May 23 1900 &ndash October 16 1946) was a German Lawyer who worked for the Nazi party Dr Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970 was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President Arthur Seyss-Inquart (in German Seyß-Inquart, born Arthur Zajtich (22 July 1892 - 16 October 1946 was a prominent lawyer and later Nazi official in pre- Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Both ideologies involved the political use of militarism, nationalism, anti-communism and paramilitary forces, and both intended to create a dictatorial state. Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. The Nazis, however, were far more racially-oriented than the fascists in Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Nazis were also intent on creating a completely totalitarian state, unlike Italian fascists who while promoting a totalitarian state, allowed a larger degree of private liberties for their citizens. Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private These differences allowed the Italian monarchy to continue to exist and have some official powers. The House of Savoy (Casa Savoia was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region However the Nazis copied much of their symbolism from the Fascists in Italy, such as copying the Roman salute as the Nazi salute, use of mass rallies, both made use of uniformed paramilitaries devoted to the party (the SA in Germany and the Blackshirts in Italy), both Hitler and Mussolini were called the "Leader" (Führer in German, Duce in Italian), both were anti-Communist, both wanted an ideologically-driven state, and both advocated a middle-way between capitalism and communism, commonly known as corporatism. The Roman salute is a gesture in which the arm is held out forward straight with palm down Historically corporatism (corporativismo refers to a political or Economic system in which power is held by civic assemblies that represent Economic The party itself rejected that it was fascist as they claimed that National Socialism was unique ideology to Germany. Many analysts claim that National Socialism is a racially-oriented version of fascism.
The totalitarian nature of the Nazi party was one of its principal tenets. The Nazis contended that all the great achievements in the past of the German nation and its people were associated with the ideals of National Socialism, even before the ideology officially existed. Propaganda accredited the consolidation of Nazi ideals and successes of the regime to the regime's Führer ("Leader"), Adolf Hitler, who was portrayed as the genius behind the Nazi party's success and Germany's saviour. Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people
To secure their ability to create a totalitarian state, the Nazi party's paramilitary force, the Sturmabteilung (SA) or "Storm Unit" used acts of violence against leftists, democrats, Jews, and other opposition or minority groups. The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers The SA's violence created a climate of fear in cities, with people anxious over punishment, or even death, if they displayed opposition to the Nazis. The SA also helped attract large numbers of alienated and unemployed youth to the party.
The "German problem", as it is often referred to in English scholarship, focuses on the issue of administration of Germanic regions in Northern and Central Europe, an important theme throughout German history. [12] The "logic" of keeping Germany small worked in the favor of its principal economic rivals, and had been a driving force in the recreation of a Polish state. The goal was to create numerous counterweights in order to "balance out Germany's power".
The Nazis endorsed the concept of Großdeutschland, or Greater Germany, and believed that the incorporation of the Germanic people into one nation was a vital step towards their national success. Großdeutschland ( German for "Greater Germany" or "Large Germany" is a term referring to the concept of one German Nation-state The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic It was the Nazis' passionate support of the Volk concept of Greater Germany that led to Germany's expansion, that gave legitimacy and the support needed for the Third Reich to proceed to conquer long-lost territories with overwhelmingly non-German population like former Prussian gains in Poland that it lost to Russia in the 1800s, or to acquire territories with German population like parts of Austria. See also Folk (disambiguation, Volk (disambiguation Folk is one of the Germanic roots that mean "(of the people" or "our The German concept of Lebensraum (living space) or more specifically its need for an expanding German population was also claimed by the Nazi regime for territorial expansion. ( German for " habitat " or literally "living space" served as a major motivation for Nazi Germany 's territorial aggression
Two important issues were administration of the Polish corridor and Danzig's incorporation into the Reich. Background Giving Poland access to the sea was one of the guarantees proposed by the United States President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Gdańsk ( Polish pronunciation; 'Danzig', Gduńsk Gedania Dantiscum is the City at the centre of the fourth-largest Metropolitan area in Poland As a further extension of racial policy, the Lebensraum program pertained to similar interests; the Nazis determined that Eastern Europe would be settled with ethnic Germans, and the Slavic population who met the Nazi racial standard would be absorbed into the Reich. Those not fitting the racial standard were to be used as cheap labour force or deported eastward. [13]
Racialism and racism were important aspects of society within the Third Reich. Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations Racialism entails a belief in the existence and significance of racial categories but not necessarily in a List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that The Nazis combined anti-Semitism with anti-Communist ideology, regarding the leftist-internationalist movement — as well as international market capitalism — as the work of "Conspiratorial Jewry". Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and They referred to this so-called movement with terminology such as the "Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of subhumans. "[14] This platform manifested itself in the displacement, internment, and systematic extermination of an estimated 11 million to 12 million people in the midst of World War II, roughly half of them being Jews targeted in what is historically remembered as the Holocaust (Shoah), 3 million ethnic Poles,and another 100,000-1,000,000 being Roma, who were murdered in the Porajmos. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The Polish people, or Poles, (Polacy) are a Western Slavic Ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins The Porajmos (also Porrajmos) literally Devouring, is a term considered to be coined by the Romani people to describe attempts by the regime in Other victims of Nazi persecution included communists, various political opponents, social outcasts, homosexuals, religious dissidents such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, the Confessing Church and Freemasons. After World War I, in the period known as the Weimar Republic, gay men in Germany, especially in Berlin, enjoyed more freedom and acceptance See also Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses endured intense persecution under the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945 Christadelphians (from the Greek for Brothers of Christ / Christ's Brethren: Christou Adelphoi; cf The Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche was a Christian Resistance movement in Nazi Germany.
Foreign relations
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay war reparations and frustrated the German economy. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It also forbade the construction of aircraft, submarines, and large battleships and forced Germany to give up territory. Furthermore, Germany was not allowed to have any political union with German-populated Austria or the newly-formed Free City of Danzig. The Free City of Danzig ( German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was an autonomous Baltic Sea port and
From 1933 onward, Hitler and the Nazi regime performed a number of political maneuvers in order to restore German power on an international level, all in violation of the Versailles Treaty. As Germany's agenda became increasingly revisionist, opposition grew. However, the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement between Great Britain and Germany, allowing Germany to resume formerly-illegal naval construction, was seen by both sides as an important overture of peace given a shipbuilding rivalry of the past. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA of June 18 1935 was a Bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and the German ''Reich''
That same year Germany endorsed a plebiscite in German-populated Saar, which resulted in it returning to Germany in 1935, after being held by France as a protectorate since 1919. In 1936, with no British or French forces remaining in the Rhineland (which was to be permanently demilitarized of German forces), Germany defied the Versailles Treaty by sending military forces into the Rhineland. The Rhineland ( Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany.
From 1936 onward, Germany steadily proceeded on an interventionist foreign policy approach, beginning by supporting the fascist nationalist forces of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War against the republican forces which were supported by the Soviet Union. Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 German aircraft took part in attacks on Spanish republican forces as well as the infamous bombing of civilians in the Basque town of Guernica in 1937. The Basque Country ( Basque Euskadi, Spanish País Vasco) is an autonomous community in northern Spain.
Although Germany's relations with Italy improved with creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis, tensions remained high because the Nazis wanted Austria to be incorporated into Germany. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries Italy was opposed to this, as were France and Britain. In 1938, an Austrian-led Nazi coup took place in Austria and Germany sent in its troops, annexing the country. Italy and Britain no longer had common interests and, as Germany had stopped supporting the German speaking population under Italy's control in Bolzano-Bozen(South Tyrol), Italy began to gravitate towards Germany.
Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in September 1938 came about during talks with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in which Hitler, backed by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, demanded that the German territories be ceded. Sudetenland ( Czech and Polish: Sudety) is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 &ndash 9 November 1940 was a British Conservative Politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Chamberlain and Hitler came to an agreement when Hitler signed a piece of paper which said that with the annexation of the Sudetenland, Germany would proceed with no further territorial aims. Chamberlain took this to be a success in that it avoided a potential war with Germany. However, the Nazis helped to promote Slovakian dissention and declaring that the country was no more, seized control of the Czech part.
For quite some time, Germany had engaged in informal negotiations with Poland regarding the issue of territorial revision, but after the Munich Agreement and the reacquisition of Memel, the Nazis became increasingly vocal. Poland refused to allow the annexation of the Free City of Danzig. The Free City of Danzig ( German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was an autonomous Baltic Sea port and
Germany and the Soviet Union began talks over planning an invasion of Poland. In August 1939, the Molotov Pact was signed and Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Poland along a mutually-agreed set boundary. The invasion was put into effect on September 1, 1939. Last-minute Polish-German diplomatic proceedings failed, and Germany invaded Poland as scheduled. Germany alleged that Polish operatives had attacked German positions, but the result was the outbreak of World War II, as Allied forces refused to accept Germany's claims on Poland and blamed Germany for the conflict. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
From 1939 to 1940, the so-called "Phony War" occurred, as German forces made no further advances but instead, both the Axis and Allies engaged in a propaganda campaign. However in early 1940, Germany began to concern that the British intended to stop trade between Sweden and Germany by bringing Norway into an alliance against Germany, with Norway in Allied hands, the Allies would be dangerously close to German territory. In response, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway ending the Phony War. After sweeping through the Low Countries and occupying northern France, Germany allowed French nationalist and war hero Philippe Petain to form a fascist regime in southern France known as the "French State" but more commonly referred to as Vichy France named after its capital in Vichy. Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951 generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain ( Maréchal Pétain) Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 Vichy ( Occitan: Vichèi) is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France.
In 1941 Germany's invasion of Yugoslavia resulted in that state's splintering. See also Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia ( Serbo-Croatian In spite of Hitler's earlier view of inferiority of all Slavs, he supported Mussolini's agenda of creating a fascist puppet state of Croatia, called the Independent State of Croatia. Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between The Independent State of Croatia ( Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH was a Puppet state of the Axis powers. Croatia was led by the extreme nationalist Ante Pavelić a long-time Croatian exile in Rome, whose Ustashe movement formed a government in modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the vice president of the National assembly of the State of Slovenes Croats and Serbs see Ante Pavelić (1869 Ante Pavelić ( July For the militiamen of the Military Frontier, see Uskoci The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement ( Croatian: Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Latin script: Bosna i Hercegovina, Cyrillic script: Босна и Херцеговина is a country on the Balkan The Ustashe were allowed to persecute Serbs, while Germany contributed to that goal in German-occupied Serbia.
From 1941 to the end of the war, Germany engaged in war with the Soviet Union in its attempt to create the Nazi colonial goal of Lebensraum "living space" for German citizens. ( German for " habitat " or literally "living space" served as a major motivation for Nazi Germany 's territorial aggression The German occupation authorities set up occupation and colonial authorities called Reichskommissariats such as Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Reichskommissariat Ostland was the German name for the Nazi civil administration of part of the occupied Eastern territories of the Third Reich, occupied The Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Ukraine Reich Commission was the civil administration of much of German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern The Slavic populations were to be destroyed along with Jews there to make way for German colonists.
As the fortunes of war changed, Germany was forced to occupy Italy when Mussolini was thrown out as Prime Minister by Italy's king in 1943. German forces rescued Mussolini and instructed him to establish a fascist regime in Italy called the Italian Social Republic. The Italian Social Republic ( Italian: Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) was a Puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the This was the last major foreign policy delivered. The remainder of the war saw the decline of German power and desperate attempts by Nazi officials such as Heinrich Himmler to negotiate a peace with the western Allies against the wishes of Hitler. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS.
Law
Most of the judicial structures and legal codes of the Weimar Republic remained in use during the Third Reich, but significant changes within the judicial codes occurred, as well as significant changes in court rulings. The Reichstag ( German for "Imperial Diet " was the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, The Reichsrat was one of the two legislative bodies in Germany under the Weimar constitution, the other one being the Reichstag. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 The Nazi party was the only legal political party in Germany, all other political parties were banned. Most human rights of the constitution of the Weimar Republic were disabled by several Reichsgesetze (Reich's laws). Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled Several minorities such as the Jews, opposition politicians and prisoners of war were deprived of most of their rights and responsibilities. The Plan to pass a Volksstrafgesetzbuch (people's code of criminal justice) arose soon after 1933, but didn't come into reality until the end of WWII.
As a new type of court, the Volksgerichtshof (people's court) was established in 1934, only dealing with cases of political importance. The People's Court (Volksgerichtshof was a court established in 1934 by German Dictator Adolf Hitler, who had been dissatisfied with the outcome of the From 1934 to September 1944, a total of 5,375 death sentences were spoken by the court. Not included in this numbers are the death sentences from July 20, 1944 until April 1945, which are estimated at 2,000. Its most prominent jurist was Roland Freisler, who headed the court from August 1942 to February 1945. Early life In contrast to most of the Nazi leadership not much beyond basic details is known about Freisler
Military
The military of the Third Reich - the Wehrmacht - was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 with Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force) and a military organization Waffen-SS (National Guard), which was, de facto, a fourth branch of the Wehrmacht. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" For the military meaning see Armed forces. For the Soviet sports society see Armed Forces (sports society Armed Forces Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 [15] The German Army furthered concepts pioneered during the First World War, combining Ground and Air Force assets into combined arms teams. The German Army (Deutsches Heer heɐ) is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Coupled with traditional war fighting methods such as encirclements and the "battle of annihilation", the German military managed many lightning quick victories in the first year of the Second World War, prompting foreign journalists to create a new word for what they witnessed: Blitzkrieg. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1935 until 1945 is believed to approach 18. 2 million. [16]
Racial policy
The effects of Nazi social policy in Germany was divided between those considered to be "Aryan" and those considered "non-Aryan", Jewish, or part of other minority groups. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The racial policy of Nazi Germany refers to the policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the so-called " Aryan race " and For "Aryan" Germans, a number of social policies put through by the regime to benefit them were advanced for the time, including state opposition to the use of tobacco, an end to official stigmatization toward Aryan children who were born from parents outside of marriage, as well as giving financial assistance to Aryan German families who bore children. [17]
The Nazi Party pursued its racial and social policies through persecution and killing of those considered social undesirables or "enemies of the Reich".
Especially targeted were minority groups such as Jews, Romani (also known as Gypsies), Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, [18] people with mental or physical disabilities and homosexuals. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Porajmos (also Porrajmos) literally Devouring, is a term considered to be coined by the Romani people to describe attempts by the regime in See also Jehovah's Witnesses and governments Throughout the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, their beliefs doctrines and practices have engendered Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany 's race-based social policies that placed the improvement of the race through Eugenics at the center of their After World War I, in the period known as the Weimar Republic, gay men in Germany, especially in Berlin, enjoyed more freedom and acceptance
In the 1930s, plans to isolate and eventually eliminate Jews completely in Germany began with the construction of ghettos, concentration camps, and labour camps which began with the 1933 construction of the Dachau concentration camp, which Heinrich Himmler officially described as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners. Dachau was a Nazi German Concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions Factory near the Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. A political prisoner is someone held in Prison or otherwise detained perhaps under House arrest, for his or her involvement in political activity "[19]
In the years following the Nazi rise to power, many Jews were encouraged to leave the country and did so. By the time the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935, Jews were stripped of their German citizenship and denied government employment. The Nuremberg Laws ( German: Nürnberger Gesetze) of 1935 were denaturalization laws passed in Nazi Germany. Most Jews employed by Germans lost their jobs at this time, which were being taken by unemployed Germans. Notably, the Nazi government attempted to send 17,000 German Jews of Polish descent back to Poland, a decision which led to the assassination of Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German Jew living in France. Ernst Eduard vom Rath ( June 3, 1909 &ndash November 9, 1938) was a German Diplomat. Herschel Feibel Grynszpan (sometimes spelled in the German form Grünspan, as Grunspahn, or in English as Greenspan) (born March This provided the pretext for a pogrom the Nazi Party incited against the Jews on November 9, 1938, which specifically targeted Jewish businesses. A pogrom is a form of Riot directed against a particular group whether ethnic religious or other and characterized by destruction of their Homes Businesses Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The event was called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass, literally "Crystal Night"); the euphemism was used because the numerous broken windows made the streets look as if covered with crystals. Kristallnacht ( literally "Crystal night" or the Night of Broken Glass was a Pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9–10 1938 A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener or in the case of doublespeak By September 1939 more than 200,000 Jews had left Germany, with the Nazi government seizing any property they left behind.
The Nazis also undertook programs targeting "weak" or "unfit" people, such as the T-4 Euthanasia Program, killing tens of thousands of disabled and sick Germans in an effort to "maintain the purity of the German Master race" (German: Herrenvolk) as described by Nazi propagandists. Action T4 (Aktion T4 was a program in Nazi Germany spanning October 1939 until August 1941 during which physicians killed 70273 peoplespecified in Hitler's The master race ( German: die Herrenrasse) is a concept in Nazi Ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic The master race ( German: die Herrenrasse) is a concept in Nazi Ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic Nazi propaganda is the term that describes the psychologically powerful Propaganda within Nazi Germany, much of which was centered around Jews consistently The techniques of mass killing developed in these efforts would later be used in the Holocaust. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Under a law passed in 1933, the Nazi regime carried out the compulsory sterilization of over 400,000 individuals labeled as having hereditary defects, ranging from mental illness to alcoholism. Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. Mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions
Another component of the Nazi programme of creating racial purity was the Lebensborn, or "Fountain of Life" programme founded in 1936. Lebensborn ( Fount of Life, in Old German) was a Nazi organization set up by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, which provided The programme was aimed at encouraging German soldiers — mainly SS — to reproduce. This included offering SS families support services (including the adoption of racially pure children into suitable SS families) and accommodating racially-valuable women, pregnant with mainly SS men's children, in care homes in Germany and throughout Occupied Europe. Lebensborn also expanded to encompass the placing of racially pure children forcibly seized from occupied countries — such as Poland — with German families.
At the outset of World War II, the German authority in the General Government in occupied Poland ordered that all Jews face compulsory labour and that those who were physically incapable such as women and children were to be confined to ghettos. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The General Government (Generalgouvernement refers to a part of the territories of Poland (and Ostrava Czechoslovakia under German Military occupation [20]
To the Nazis a number of ideas appeared on how to answer the "Jewish Question". One method was a mass forced deportation of Jews. Adolf Eichmann suggested that Jews be forced to emigrate to Palestine. Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. [21] Franz Rademacher made the proposal that Jews be deported to Madagascar; this proposal was supported by Himmler and was discussed by Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini but was later dismissed as impractical in 1942. Franz Rademacher (1906-1973 was an official in the Nazi government of the Third Reich during World War II, known for initiating [21] The idea of continuing deportations to occupied Poland was rejected by the governor, Hans Frank, of the General Government of occupied Poland as Frank refused to accept any more deportations of Jews to the territory which already had large numbers of Jews. Hans Michael Frank ( May 23 1900 &ndash October 16 1946) was a German Lawyer who worked for the Nazi party The General Government (Generalgouvernement refers to a part of the territories of Poland (and Ostrava Czechoslovakia under German Military occupation [21] In 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, Nazi officials decided to eliminate the Jews altogether, as discussed the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". The Wannsee Conference was a Meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on The Final Solution ( Die Endlösung) was Nazi Germany 's plan and execution of its systematic Genocide against European Jewry during World Concentration camps like Auschwitz were converted and used gas chambers to kill as many Jews as possible. "Auschwitz" redirects here For the town see Oświęcim Auschwitz-Birkenau () was the largest of Nazi Germany By 1945, a number of concentration camps had been liberated by Allied forces and they found the survivors to be severely malnourished. The Allies also found evidence that the Nazis were profiteering from the mass murder of Jews not only by confiscating their property and personal valuables but also by extracting gold fillings from the bodies of some Jews held in concentration camps.
Social Policy
Education
Education under the Nazi regime focused on racial biology, population policy, culture, geography and especially physical fitness. [22] Anti-Semitic policy led to the expulsion of Jewish teachers and professors and officials from the education system. [23] All university professors were required to be a member of the National Socialist Association of University Lecturers in order to be able to be employed as professors. [24]
Social Welfare
Recent research by academics such as Götz Aly has emphasized the role of the extensive Nazi social welfare programs that focused on providing employment for German citizens and insuring a minimal living standard for German citizens. Götz Aly (born May 3 1947 in Heidelberg, Germany) is a German Journalist, Historian and Social scientist "Social welfare" redirects here For other uses see Welfare A social welfare provision refers to any program which seeks to provide Heavily focused on was the idea of a national German community. To aid the fostering of a feeling of community, the German people's labour and entertainment experiences — from festivals, to vacation trips and traveling cinemas — were all made a part of the "Strength through Joy" (Kraft durch Freude, KdF) program. Kraft durch Freude ( KdF, literally "Strength through Joy" was a large state-controlled Leisure organization in the Third Reich, a part of the Also crucial to the building of loyalty and comradeship was the implementation of the National Labour Service and the Hitler Youth Organization, with compulsory membership. For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth ( German:, In addition to this, a number of architectural projects were undertaken. KdF created the KdF-wagen, later known as the Volkswagen (People's Car), which was designed to be a cheap, inexpensive automobile that every German citizen would be able to afford. The KdF wagon also was created in the idea that it could be converted to a military vehicle for war. Another national project undertaken, was the construction of the Autobahn, made it the first freeway system in the world. (German ˈaʊtoːbaːn plural Autobahnen; English /ˈɔːtəʊbɑːn/ is the German word for a major high- Speed Road restricted to motor
Health
According to the research of Robert N. Proctor for his book "The Nazi War on cancer"[25][26], Nazi Germany had arguably the most powerful anti-tobacco movement in the world. Nazi Germany initiated a strong anti-tobacco movement and led the first public anti- Smoking campaign in Modern history. Anti-tobacco research received a strong backing from the government, and German scientists proved that cigarette smoke could cause cancer. German pioneering research on experimental epidemiology lead to the 1939 paper by Franz H. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the Health and Illness of populations and serves as the foundation and Logic of interventions made in the Müller, and the 1943 paper by Eberhard Schairer and Erich Schöniger which convincingly demonstrated that tobacco smoking was a main culprit in lung cancer. Lung cancer is a Disease of uncontrolled Cell growth in tissues of the Lung. The government urged German doctors to counsel patients against tobacco use.
German research on the dangers of tobacco was silenced after the war, and the dangers of tobacco had to be rediscovered by American and English scientists in the early 1950s, with a medical consensus arising in the early 1960s. German scientists also proved that asbestos was a health hazard, and in 1943 — as the first nation in the world to offer such a benefit — Germany recognized the diseases caused by asbestos, e. Asbestos is a group of Minerals with long thin fibrous Crystals The word "asbestos" (῾ἀσβεστος is derived from a Greek adjective g. , lung cancer, as occupational illnesses eligible for compensation. The German asbestos-cancer research was later used by American lawyers doing battle against the Johns-Manville Corporation. Johns-Manville is an American corporation based in Denver Colorado[http //www
As part of the general public-health campaign in Nazi Germany, water supplies were cleaned up, lead and mercury were removed from consumer products, and women were urged to undergo regular screenings for breast cancer. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Mercury (ˈmɜrkjʊri also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum, is a Chemical element with the symbol Hg ( Latinized hydrargyrum Breast cancer is a Cancer that starts in the cells of the Breast in women and men [25][26]
Women's rights
The Nazis opposed women's emancipation and opposed the feminist movement, claiming that it was Jewish-led and was bad for both women and men. Emancipation is a term used to describe various efforts to obtain Political rights or equality, often for a specifically Disenfranchised group or more Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate The Nazi regime advocated a patriarchial society in which German women would recognize the "world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home. Patriarchy is the structuring of Society on the basis of Family units where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of hence authority over " [27] Hitler claimed that women taking vital jobs away from men during the Great Depression was economically bad for families in that women were paid only 66 percent of what men earned. [27] This being said, Hitler never considered endorsing the idea of raising women's wages to avoid such a scenario again, but instead called for women to stay at home. Simultaneously with calling for women to leave work outside the home, the regime called for women to be actively supportive of the state regarding women's affairs. In 1933, Hitler appointed Gertrud Scholtz-Klink as the Reich Women's Leader, who instructed women that their primary role in society was to bear children and that women should be subservient to men, once saying "the mission of woman is to minister in the home and in her profession to the needs of life from the first to last moment of man's existence. Gertrud Scholtz-Klink ( February 9, 1902 - March 24, 1999; nee Treusch) was a fervent National Socialist German Workers Party "[27]. The expectation even applied to Aryan women married to Jewish men—a necessary ingredient in the 1943 Rosenstrasse protest in which 1800 German women (joined by 4200 relatives) obliged the Nazi state to release their Jewish husbands. The Rosenstrasse protest was a nonviolent protest in Rosenstrasse ("Rose street" in Berlin in February and March 1943 carried out by the
The Nazi regime discouraged women from seeking higher education in secondary schools, universities and colleges. [28] The number of women allowed to enroll in universities dropped drastically under the Nazi regime, which shrank from approximately 128,000 women being enrolled in 1933 to 51,000 in 1938. [29] Female enrollment in secondary schools dropped from 437,000 in 1926 to 205,000 in 1937. [30] However with the requirement of men to be enlisted into the German armed forces during the war, women made up half of the enrollment in the education system by 1944. [31]
Organizations were made for the indoctrination of Nazi values to German women. Such organizations included the Jungmädel (Young Girls) section of the Hitler Youth for girls from the age 10 to 14, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM, German Girl's League) for young women from 14 to 18. The Jungmädelbund (literally "Young Girl's League" was the section of the Hitler Youth for girls between the ages of 10 and 14 The League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel or BDM was the only female youth organization in Nazi Germany. Nonetheless, one reason for Allied success in the war was that Germany never fully mobilized with regard to women while the nations arrayed against Germany not only recruited women into the military services[32] but also unhesitatingly accepted women into the civilian workforce, particularly militarily critical jobs (such as heavy truck/lorry driver, shipfitter) previously held by men. Only late in the war, after many German municipalities were already bombed into rubble, did Germany begin training women and girls in how to operate anti-aircraft cannon located in their own neighborhoods.
On the issue of sexual affairs regarding women, the Nazis differed greatly from the restrictive stances on women's role in society. The Nazi regime promoted a liberal code of conduct as regards sexual matters, and were sympathetic to women bearing children out of wedlock. [17] The collapse of 19th century morals in Germany accelerated during the Third Reich, partly due to the Nazis, and partly due to the effects of the war. [17] Promiscuity increased greatly as the war progressed, with unmarried soldiers often involved intimately with several women simultaneously. [17] Married women were often involved in multiple affairs simultaneously, with soldiers, civilians or slave labourers. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another [17] "Some farm wives in Württemberg had already begun using sex as a commodity, employing carnal favours as a means of getting a full day's work from foreign labourers. Württemberg, formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in Swabia, a region in southwestern Germany. " [17]. Marriage or sexual relations between a person considered “Aryan” and one that was not were classified as Rassenschande and forbidden under penalty(people found guilty could face concentration camp, while non-Aryans death penalty).
Despite the somewhat official restrictions, some women forged highly visible, as well as officially praised, achievements. Examples are aviatrix Hanna Reitsch and film director Leni Riefenstahl. Hanna Reitsch ( 29 March 1912 &ndash 24 August 1979) was a German Aviatrix who was once Adolf Hitler 's Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl ( August 22 1902 – September 8 2003) was a German Film director
An example of the almost cynical Nazi difference between doctrine and practice is that, whilst sexual relationships among campers was explicitly forbidden, boys' and girls' camps of the Hitlerjugend associations were needlessly placed close together as if to make it happen. Pregnancy (including disruptive repercussions on established marriages) often resulted when fetching members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel were assigned to duties which juxtaposed them with easily tempted men. [33]
Environmentalism
In 1935 the regime enacted the "Reich Nature Protection Act". While not a purely Nazi piece of legislation since parts of its influences pre-dated the Nazi rise to power, it nevertheless reflected Nazi ideology. The concept of the Dauerwald (best translated as the "perpetual forest") which included concepts such as forest management and protection was promoted and efforts were also made to curb air-pollution. [34][35]
In practice, the enacted laws and policies met resistance from various ministries that sought to undermine them, and from the priority that the war-effort took to environmental protection. Environmentalism was in the end often sacrificed for the sake of other goals of the state.
Animal protection policy
In 1933 the regime enacted a stringent animal-protection law. There was widespread support for animal welfare in Nazi Germany and the Nazis took several measures to ensure protection of animals [36][37]
Culture
The regime sought to restore traditional values in German culture. The art and culture that came to define the Weimar Republic years was repressed. The visual arts were strictly monitored and traditional, focusing on exemplifying Germanic themes, racial purity, militarism, heroism, power, strength, and obedience. List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or A hero (from Greek grc ἥρως hērōs) in Greek mythology and Folklore, was originally a Demigod, the offspring of a mortal and Modern abstract art and avant-garde art was removed from museums and put on special display as "degenerate art", where it was to be ridiculed. Abstract art uses a Visual language of form color and line to create a composition which exists independently of visual references to the world Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard Degenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi In one notable example, on March 31, 1937, huge crowds stood in line to view a special display of "degenerate art" in Munich. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Art forms considered to be degenerate included Dada, Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Impressionism, New Objectivity, and Surrealism. For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Cubism was a 20th century Avant-garde Art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an Emotional effect it is a subjective art form Les Fauves ( French for The Wild Beasts) were a short-lived and loose grouping of early Impressionism was a 19th-century Art movement that began as a loose association of Paris -based Artists exhibiting their art publicly in the 1860s The New Objectivity, or Neue Sachlichkeit (new dispassion was an art movement that arose in Germany in the early 1920s as an outgrowth of and in opposition to Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Literature written by Jewish, other non-Aryans, or authors opposed to the Nazis was destroyed by the regime. The most infamous destruction of literature was the book burnings by German students in 1933.
Despite the official attempt to forge a pure Germanic culture, one major area of the arts, architecture, under Hitler's personal guidance, was neoclassical, a style based on architecture of ancient Rome. Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century both as a reaction against the Rococo The Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external Greek architecture for their own purposes which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new [38] This style stood out in stark contrast and opposition to newer, more liberal, and more popular architecture styles of the time such as Art Deco. Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial Various Roman buildings were examined by state architect Albert Speer for architectural designs for state buildings. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, commonly known as Albert Speer ( 19 March 1905 - 1 September 1981 was an Architect, author and for part of World Speer constructed huge and imposing structures such as in the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg and the new Reich Chancellery building in Berlin. The Reich Chancellery ( German Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the German Chancellor Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. One design that was pursued, but never built, was a gigantic version of the Pantheon in Rome, called the Volkshalle to be the semi-religious centre of Nazism in a renamed Berlin called Germania, which was to be the "world capital" (Welthauptstadt). The Pantheon ( Latin Pantheon, from Greek Πάνθειον Pantheon, meaning "Temple of all the gods" is a building in Rome Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 The Volkshalle (People's Hall also called Große Halle (Great Hall or Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Fame was a huge monumental building planned but never built by Welthauptstadt ("World Capital" Germania was the name Adolf Hitler gave to the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin, part of Also to be constructed was a Triumphal arch several times larger than that found in Paris, which was also based upon a classical styling. A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental Archway, in theory built to celebrate a victory in war actually used to celebrate a ruler Many of the designs for Germania were impractical to construct because of their size and the marshy soil underneath Berlin; materials that were to be used for construction were diverted to the war effort.
Cinema and media
The majority of German films from the National Socialist period were intended principally as works of entertainment. Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the very beginnings of the medium at the end of the 19th century The List of German films of 1933-1945 are divided into this timeframe to reflect the period of Nazi Germany, between the time that Hitler rose to power Nazism created an elaborate system of propaganda, which made use of the new technologies of the 20th century including cinema. Panorama was a German quarterly color Newsreel produced from 1944 until the end of World War 2. The import of foreign films was legally restricted after 1936 and the German industry, which was effectively nationalised in 1937, had to make up for the missing foreign films (above all American productions). Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government Entertainment also became increasingly important in the later years of World War II when the cinema provided a distraction from Allied bombing and a string of German defeats. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In both 1943 and 1944 cinema admissions in Germany exceeded a billion,[39] and the biggest box office hits of the war years were Die große Liebe (1942) and Wunschkonzert (1941), which both combine elements of the musical, wartime romance and patriotic propaganda, Frauen sind doch bessere Diplomaten (1941), a comic musical which was one of the earliest German films in colour, and Wiener Blut (1942), the adaptation of a Johann Strauß comic operetta. A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for Admission to a venue Wunschkonzert ("Request Concert" is a German propaganda Drama film by Eduard von Borsody made in 1940 which after The musical film is a Film genre in which several Songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative Johann Strauss II (also known as Johann Strauss the Younger, Johann Strauss Jr Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter The importance of the cinema as a tool of the state, both for its propaganda value and its ability to keep the populace entertained, can be seen in the filming history of Veit Harlan's Kolberg (1945), the most expensive film of the era, for the shooting of which tens of thousands of soldiers were diverted from their military positions to appear as extras. Veit Harlan ( September 22 1899, Berlin - April 13 1964, Capri Italy) was a German Film director Kolberg is a 1945 German Propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. [40]
Despite the emigration of many film-makers and the political restrictions, the German film industry was not without technical and aesthetic innovations, the introduction of Agfacolor film production being a notable example. The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking i Agfacolor is a series of color photographic products produced by Agfa of Germany Technical and aesthetic achievement could also be turned to the specific ends of the Greater German Reich, most spectacularly in the work of Leni Riefenstahl. Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl ( August 22 1902 – September 8 2003) was a German Film director Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1935), documenting the Nuremberg Rally (1934), and Olympia (1938), documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, pioneered techniques of camera movement and editing that have influenced many later films. Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens is a propagandistic Documentary film by the German filmmaker The Nuremberg Rally (officially Reichsparteitag, meaning national party convention was the annual rally of the NSDAP (Nazi Party in the years 1923 to 1938 in Olympia is a 1938 film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, an International Multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin Both films, particularly Triumph of the Will, remain highly controversial, as their aesthetic merit is inseparable from their propagandizing of Nationalsocialism ideals. [41]
Religion
Sports
Two major displays of Nazi German art and culture were at the 1936 Summer Olympics and at the German pavilion at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, an International Multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life was held in 1937 in Paris The 1936 Olympics was meant to display to the world the Aryan superiority of Germany to other nations. German athletes were carefully chosen not only for strength but for Aryan appearance. However, one common belief of Hitler snubbing African-American athlete Jesse Owens has recently been discovered to be technically incorrect — it was African-American athlete Cornelius Cooper Johnson who was believed to have been snubbed by Hitler, who left the medal ceremonies after awarding a German and a Finn medals. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens ( September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete Cornelius Cooper Johnson (August 28 1913 &ndash February 15 1946 was an African-American athlete in the High jump. Hitler claimed it was not a snub, but that he had official business to attend to which caused him to depart. On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens recounted:
"When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany. " He also stated: "Hitler didn't snub me — it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram. "
Hitler was criticized for this and the Olympic committee officials insisted that he greet each and every medalist. Hitler did not attend any of the medal presentations which followed, including the one after Jesse Owens won his four medals. [42][43]
See also
Further reading
- See also: List of Adolf Hitler books
- William Sheridan Allen. Despite the lack of a German nation state prior to 1871 the History of Germany dates back to the era of the Germanic tribes. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 This is a list of words terms concepts and Slogans that were specifically used in Nazi Germany. The Open Directory Project ( ODP) also known as dmoz (from directory The ( German: "link-up" also known as the, was the 1938 Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi The German Resistance refers to those individuals and groups in Nazi Germany who opposed the regime of Adolf Hitler between 1933 and 1945 Sino-German cooperation from 1911 to 1941 refers to the cooperation between China and Germany New Order ( Neuordnung) is the name used to denote the political economic and social system which the Nazis hoped to establish in Europe in the 1930s and The Art of the Third Reich, the officially approved art produced in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 was characterized by a style of Romantic realism based on Nazi architecture was an architectural plan and integral part of the Nazi party 's plans to create a Cultural and This article deals with songs that were written for the NSDAP. The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika sa स्वस्तिक Hindu IS CORRECT if 'ि' is positioned incorrectly see -->) is Awards and Decorations of Nazi Germany were military political and civilian decorations which were bestowed between 1923 and 1945 by the Nazi Party and later the state of The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. William Sheridan Allen was born in Evanston Illinois, and studied at the universities of Michigan, Connecticut, and Minnesota, and in Germany The Nazi Seizure of Power : the Experience Of A Single German Town, 1922–1945 by New York ; Toronto: F. Watts, 1984. ISBN 0-531-09935-0.
- Gisela Bock "Racism and Sexism in Nazi Germany: Motherhood, Compulsory Sterilization, and the State" from When Biology Became Destiny: Women in Weimar and Nazi Germany edited by Renate Bridenthal, Atina Grossmann, and Marion Kaplan, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1984. Gisela Bock ( February 8, 1942 - is a German Feminist Historian.
- Karl Dietrich Bracher. Karl Dietrich Bracher (born 13 March 1922) is a German political scientist and historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany The German Dictatorship; The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism; New York, Praeger 1970.
- Michael Burleigh. The Third Reich: A New History, 2002. ISBN 0-8090-9326-X. Standard scholarly history, 1918–1945.
- Martin Broszat. Martin Broszat ( August 14, 1926 – October 14, 1989) was a West German Historian. German National Socialism, 1919–1945 translated from the German by Kurt Rosenbaum and Inge Pauli Boehm, Santa Barbara, Calif. : Clio Press, 1966.
- Martin Broszat. Martin Broszat ( August 14, 1926 – October 14, 1989) was a West German Historian. The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development Of The Internal Structure Of The Third Reich. Translated by John W. Hiden. London: Longman, 1981. ISBN 0-582-49200-9.
- Richard J. Evans. Professor Richard Evans (born 1947 is a British Historian of Germany. The Coming of the Third Reich. ISBN 0-14-100975-6, standard scholarly history to 1933
- Richard J. Evans. Professor Richard Evans (born 1947 is a British Historian of Germany. The Third Reich in Power 2005 ISBN 1-59420-074-2. the latest and most scholarly history
- Richard Grunberger. Richard Grunberger ( March 7 1924 - February 15 2005) was a British historian best known for his book A Social History of the A Social History of the Third Reich 1974 ISBN 0-14-013675-4.
- Klaus Hildebrand. Klaus Hildebrand (born 1941 Bielefeld, Germany) is a German conservative Historian whose area of expertise is 19th-20th German The Third Reich London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1984 ISBN 0-04-943033-5.
- Andreas Hillgruber Germany and the two World Wars, Cambridge, Mass. Andreas Fritz Hillgruber (January 18 1925 - May 8 1989 was a conservative West German Historian. : Harvard University Press, 1981 ISBN 0-674-35321-8.
- Heinz Höhne. Heinz Höhne (also Hoehne is a German journalist who specializes in Nazi and intelligence History. The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. Translated by Richard Barry. London: Penguin Books, 1971.
- David Irving. David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938 is a British writer specializing in the Military history of World War II. Hitler's War. London: Focal Point Publications. ISBN 1-872197-10-8.
- Ian Kershaw. Sir Ian Kershaw (born April 29 1943 in Oldham, Lancashire, England) is a British Historian, noted for his The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, 4th ed. London: Arnold, 2000. ISBN 0-340-76028-1
- Claudia Koonz. Claudia Ann Koonz is an American Feminist historian of Nazi Germany. Mothers In The Fatherland: Women, the Family, and Nazi Politics. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987. ISBN 0-312-54933-4.
- Claudia Koonz. Claudia Ann Koonz is an American Feminist historian of Nazi Germany. The Nazi Conscience. Cambridge, Mass. : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
- Guido Knopp. Guido Knopp (born January 29, 1948, in Treysa, Hesse) is a German journalist author and Historian. Hitler's Henchmen. 1998. Sutton Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-7509-3781-5.
- Christian Leitz, ed. The Third Reich: The Essential Readings. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. ISBN 0-631-20700-7.
- Richard Overy & Timothy Mason "Debate: Germany, “Domestic Crisis” and War in 1939" pages 200-240 from Past and Present, Number 122, February 1989. Richard Overy (born 1947 is British historian who has Published extensively on the History of World War II and the Third Reich. Timothy Wright Mason ( March 2 1940 &ndash March 5 1990) was a British Marxist historian of Nazi Germany.
- Eric Michaud, The Cult of Art in Nazi Germany, translated by Janet Lloyd, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-804-74327-4.
- Hans Mommsen. Hans Mommsen (born November 5, 1930) is a Left-wing German historian and twin brother of Wolfgang Mommsen. From Weimar to Auschwitz Princeton, N. J. : Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-691-03198-3.
- Roger Moorhouse. Roger Moorhouse (born 1968 is a British historian and author Though born in Stockport, Cheshire he was raised in Hertfordshire and was educated at Berkhamsted School Killing Hitler. London: Jonathan Cape, 2006. ISBN 0-224-07121-1.
- Detlev Peukert. Detlev Peukert (1950-May 17 1990 was a Left-wing German Historian, noted for his studies of the relationship between what he called the "spirit of science" Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in Everyday Life. London: Batsford, 1987. ISBN 0-7134-5217-X.
- Hans Rothfels. Hans Rothfels ( April 12, 1891 - June 22, 1976) was a conservative German - American nationalist The German Opposition to Hitler: An Assessment Longwood Pr Ltd: London 1948, 1961, 1963, 1970 ISBN 0-85496-119-4.
- William L. Shirer. William Lawrence Shirer ( February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and historian The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Journalist William L Shirer was the first definitive history of Nazi Germany in English. ISBN 0-671-72868-7
- David Schoenbaum Hitler’s Social Revolution; Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939, Garden City, N. David Schoenbaum (born 1935, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American Social scientist and Historian. Y. Doubleday, 1966.
- The Nazi Elite edited by Ronald Smelser and Rainer Zitelmann, translated by Mary Fischer, New York : New York University Press, 1993, ISBN 0814779506. Rainer Zitelmann (born 1957 in Frankfurt) is a German historian journalist and management consultant
- Henry Ashby Turner. Henry Ashby Turner Jr (born 1932 is an American Historian of Germany. German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-19-503492-9.
- Alfred Sohn-Rethel. Alfred Sohn-Rethel ( January 4, 1899 – April 6, 1990) was a Marxist Economist and Philosopher especially interested Economy and Class Structure of German Fascism. London, CSE Bks, 1978. ISBN 0-906336-00-7
- Sir John Wheeler-Bennett. Sir John Wheeler Wheeler-Bennett, GCVO, CMG, OBE, FBA, FRSL was a conservative English Historian The Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918–1945, Palgrave Macmillan: London: 1953, 1964, 2005 ISBN 1-4039-1812-0.
- Christian Zenter and Friedemann Bedurftig. The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich is a two-volume text edited by Christian Zenter and Friedemann Bedurftig. Munich: Sudwest Verlag GmbH & co. KG.
Notes and references
- ^ Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office), Statistisches Jahrbuch 2006 für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, p. 34.
- ^ Germany — Country Study
- ^ Keegan, John (1989), The Second World War, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand: Hutchinson.
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 100-104. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 441.
- ^ Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 441.
- ^ Schrijvers, Peter (2001). The Crash of Ruin: American Combat Soldiers in Europe during World War II. NYU Press, pp. 83-86. ISBN 0814798071.
- ^ a b c d e f http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Purge15.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
- ^ econ161.berkeley.edu. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
- ^ a b Nazis and Soviets
- ^ Peter Temin (November 1991), Economic History Review, New Series 44, No. 4: 573-593
- ^ Bischof, Günter, “The Historical Roots of a Special Relationship: Austro-German Relations Between Hegemony and Equality”. In Unequal Partners, ed. Harald von Riekhoff and Hanspeter Neuhold. San Francisco: Westview Press, 1993
- ^ Hitler's Plan, Dac.neu.edu
- ^ ess.uwe.ac.uk
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht Die Deutsche Wehrmacht
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht#Numbers The numbers of the Wehrmacht
- ^ a b c d e f Perry Biddiscombe "Dangerous Liaisons: The Anti-Fraternization Movement in the US Occupation Zones of Germany and Austria, 1945-1948", Journal of Social History 34. 3 (2001) 611-647
- ^ United States Holocaust Memorial Museumushmm.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
- ^ http://www.mazal.org/archive/DACHPHO/Dach02.htm Translation: "The Munich Chief of Police, Himmler, has issued the following press announcement: On Wednesday the first concentration camp is to be opened in Dachau with an accommodation for 5000 persons. All Communists and—where necessary—Reichsbanner and Social Democratic functionaries who endanger state security are to be concentrated here, as in the long run it is not possible to keep individual functionaries in the state prisons without overburdening these prisons, and on the other hand these people cannot be released because attempts have shown that they persist in their efforts to agitate and organize as soon as they are released. "
- ^ Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 111.
- ^ a b c Kershaw, Ian. 2000, 4th edition. The Nazi Dictatorship; Problems & Perspectives of Interpretation. P. 111.
- ^ Pauley, Bruce F. Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century. 2nd Edition. 2003. Wheeling, Illinois, USA: Harlan Davidson Inc. Pp. 118.
- ^ Pauley, 2003. Pp. 118
- ^ Pauley, 2003. Pp. 119.
- ^ a b Nazi Medicine and Public Health Policy Robert N. Proctor, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies.
- ^ a b Review of "The Nazi War on Cancer" Canadian Journal of History, Aug 2001 by Ian Dowbiggin
- ^ a b c spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
- ^ Pauley, 2003. Pp. 119
- ^ Pauley, 2003. Pp. 119.
- ^ Pauley, 2003. Pp. 119.
- ^ Pauley, 2003. Pp. 119.
- ^ A stunning example of women's contribution to the Allies' fully mobilized war effort was the Soviet Union's use of women snipers. Observing the steady grip and focus characteristic of many women, the Soviet Red Army was particularly successful in appointing women as snipers. Women Soviet volunteers to serve as snipers far outran the 1000 available slots, meaning that only the sharpest female shooters were chosen. Many Soviet women snipers killed scores or even hundreds of Wehrmacht troops. Sniping is dangerous duty, and only about one-fourth of the women Soviet snipers survived the war. See the English Wikipedia article on Snipers of the Soviet Union. Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts
- ^ For a more elaborate discussion, see William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Touchstone Edition) (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), ISBN 0-671-72868-7, section titled "Education in the Third Reich" (pp. William Lawrence Shirer ( February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and historian The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Journalist William L Shirer was the first definitive history of Nazi Germany in English. 248-256), esp. pp. 254-256. The following quotation from p. 254 typifies the Shirer narrative:
I listened to women leaders of the B. D. M. —they were invariably of the plainer type and usually unmarried—lecture their young charges on the moral and patriotic duty of bearing children for Hitler's Reich—within wedlock if possible, but without it if necessary.
- ^ JONATHAN OLSEN "How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich (review)" Technology and Culture - Volume 48, Number 1, January 2007, pp. 207-208
- ^ Review of Franz-Josef Brueggemeier, Marc Cioc, and Thomas Zeller, eds, "How Green Were the Nazis?: Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich" Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, H-Environment, H-Net Reviews, October, 2006.
- ^ Hartmut M. Hanauske-Abel, Not a slippery slope or sudden subversion: German medicine and National Socialism in 1933, BMJ 1996; p. 1453-1463 (7 December)
- ^ kaltio.fi. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
- ^ Scobie, Alexander. Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-271-00691-9. Pp. 92.
- ^ Kinobesuche in Deutschland 1925 bis 2004 Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft e. V
- ^ Cinema of Germany#1933-1945 Film industry in the Third Reich
- ^ Cinema of Germany#1933-1945 Film industry in the Third Reich
- ^ Hyde Flippo, The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Hitler and Jesse Owens German Myth 10 from German. Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the very beginnings of the medium at the end of the 19th century Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the very beginnings of the medium at the end of the 19th century about. com
- ^ Rick Shenkman, Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens and the Olympics Myth of 1936 February 13, 2002 from History News Network (article excerpted from Rick Shenkman's Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History. Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st ed edition (November 1988) ISBN 0688065805). Ironically, it was US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who declined to invite Owens to the White House or to congratulate him in any way. See "Getting to Know the Racial Views of Our Past Presidents: What about FDR?" Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 38 (2002-2003, Winter), 44-46.
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