Historical Context
The Nazi Party
- The Nazi Party is the name give to the National Socialist German Workers' Party by the English
- Party existed between 1919 to 1945 in Germany
- Adolf Hitler was the last leader of the group
- In 1923 Hitler and his followers staged the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich
- Came into power in 1933 and pressed the ideologies of Germans racial superiority
- Hitler was in prison for most of 1924 for trying to take control of the Bavarian state government
- membership grew from 25,000 in 1925 to 180,000 in 1929
- July 14, 1933 Hitler's government declared the Nazi Party to be the only political party in Germany
- On the death of Hindenburg in 1934 Hitler took the title of leader
- At the beginning of world war ll the party fought to dominate Europe
Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf
- Born in Austria April 25, 1889
- Accepted into the German army August of 1914 (even though he was still an Austrian citizen)
- Replaced Drexler as NSDAP party chairman in 1921
- In 1934 Hitler became the leader of Germany
- Hitler promoted anit-smoking campaigns across Germany
- Hitler was a vegetarian
- Hitler was named Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1938
- On April 29, 1945 Hitler married his girlfriend, Eva Braunn
- They both committed suicide the day after the wedding on April 30, 1945
- Their bodies were carried to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were burned
Persecution of the Jews and The Holocaust
- In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the disabled for persecution
- Nazis used the term, "the final solution" to refer to their plan to kill the Jews
- estimated 11 million people were killed in the holocaust
- 6 million of them were Jews
- after World War ll started the Nazis made the Jews wear a yellow Star of David so that they could be easily spotted
- From 1933 to 1938 most of the prisoners, in the concentration camps, were political prisoners
- Nazi doctors conducted medical experiments on prisoners without their permission
- Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination camp built
- It is estimated that 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz
- The prisoners in concentration camps were forced to do harsh physical labor and given very little food
Daily Life of the German People During the War
- People worked in factories to make weapons and ammunition for the army
- woman suffered food shortages at home because they sent most of the food to the soldiers at war
- Women began to do the work while the men were out at war
- Instead of Germans doing most of the work they brought in people from foreign countries that they had captured
- Nursing units were taught all the way down in kindergarten
- People had to be ready in case of a nuclear attack
- All the able bodied men were out at war so the women had to take care of the home and earn the money for the family on her own
- Children had to help their mother in any way that they could
- They listened to many speeches given to them by their leader, Hitler
- Other than preparing for war people went about their normal lives
The Hitler Youth
- created in the 1920s
- By 1933 they had 100,000 members
- the age for the group was 10 to 18 years old
- Hitler abolished all other youth groups in 1936 so his grew to about 4 million members
- the kids had "military athletics" which were marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defense, use of dugouts, how to get under barbed wire, and pistol shooting
- The Hitler Youth was not just boys. There was a separate group of girls that joined
- The Hitler movement was overseen by Balder Von Shirach
- Many other countries seem to see the Hitler Youth as German discipline
- Teacher complained about students being tired in class from staying up late at Youth meetings
- After about 75% did not attend meetings in 1938 the authorities tightened up attendance and made it mandatory
Effects of Military Air Strikes
- German air forces were designed for a largely tactical role
- Germany was very dependent on their air forces
- The fear of being attacked by the German air force Britain and France were persuaded into appeasement
- The German air force was terrifying to other countries
- The air forces did not share their aircraft blueprints with its allies until late in the war
- The Luftwaffe was the name of German Air Force
- Their one success was destroying an airbase at Poltava air base and Ukraine during the Allied Operation Frantic, which housed 43 new B-17 bombers and a million tons of aviation fuel
- Germany's allies had air forces as well but there was very little communication between them
- The Luftwaffe ran out of fuel in 1944 due to oil campaign of world war II
- The Luftwaffe lacked bomber forces
Culture, Education and Art in Germany in WWII
- They celebrated holidays such as 30 Jan Hitlers take powers, Easter, and Hitler's birthday (April 20)
- Education was so valuable to the Nazis that they took control of they education system
- They taught the same subjects but the material in them was much different
- They taught kids that the reason Germany lost WWI was because of disloyal Jews
- Jews were not allowed to attend school in Germany
- If a boy did not pass a physical fitness test he could be expelled and girls were taught that it was their job to become mothers and raise kids, when they grow up
- Hitler failed as an artist so he stole many modern art, in that time
- The Nazis stole a lot of art everywhere they went
- The Nazis had storage units for all their looted merchandise in Paris and in their base headquarters in Munich
- They burned a lot of art in massive quantities