D: The Fall of the Third Reich
- Created by: BeccaEK
- Created on: 02-05-15 10:23
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- The Fall of the Third Reich
- Outbreak of war 1939
- Caught Hitler by suprise
- He had been planning for war in 1941/2
- German economy nowhere near full production
- Only achieved autumn + winter of 1944
- Only when Operation Barbarossa failed did Nazis begin to reorganise economy
- Production lagged behind rearmament
- It had been focused around infrastructure
- Many German companies unwilling to change
- Hitler was disinterested in economic planning
- Most decisions made by Hitler
- Banned regular cabinet meetings + forbade ministers to meet unofficially
- 1942 - Central Planning Board controlled supply of new materials
- New mass production methods
- Shortage of labour but proposals to conscript women = unpopular
- Not until Jan 1943 Himmler announced all men 16-65 + women 17-45 must register for war work
- Caught Hitler by suprise
- Changes in role of Nazi party and **
- With outbreak of war, Nazis no longer considered themselves bound by decency
- Could afford to ignore foreign opinion
- ** used slave labour
- Allowed them to control 150 companies by 1940
- Nazis responsible for morale + well-being of civillians
- 1941 - Hitler ordered attack on christianity
- It was incompatible with with National Socialism
- In Poland, many priests murdered
- From 1943 - Party officials responsible for officer selection + army training
- 1942-44 - rations maintained at reasonable level but still 10% below minimum required
- Evacuation intensified in 1943
- 9 million children, women + elderly moved from cities
- With outbreak of war, Nazis no longer considered themselves bound by decency
- Opposition to Nazis
- Few Germans openly opposed Nazis
- Churches had beliefs opposing Nazi ideology
- Priests supported Nazi opposition to communism
- Confessional church careful to avoid open conflict
- Did condemn extermination policy in 1943
- Other German Protestants prepared to co-operate with Nazis
- They still retained their independance
- Catholic church tolerated Nazis
- Swing groups widespread late 1930s
- White Rose Movement
- Idealisticlly Christin
- Distributed leaflets in Munich 1942-43
- Leaders arrested, tried + shot Feb 1943
- SPD smuggled literature into the country
- KPD set up underground so never completely eliminated
- Kreisau Circle
- Radical group who envisaged European parliament with European elections
- More interested in planning for idealistic new order after hostilities than opposing Nazi
- Opposition in army
- Twice planned to kill Hitler but failed both times
- Operation Valkyrie organised by Stauffenberg
- Persecution of Jews + development of idea of holocaust
- By end of 1939 Jews in Germany were forced into ghettos
- Labelled untermenschen
- Occupation of Poland provided space for Jews
- First ghettos here
- Followed by concentration camps
- First ghettos here
- Holocaust = only logical conclusion of Nazi policies since 1933
- Hitler was a real driving force and wanted the 'final solution'
- By end of 1939 Jews in Germany were forced into ghettos
- Why was Germany defeated?
- German forces hopelessly overstretched after invasion of Soviet Union in 1941
- Declaration of war on USA tipped balance completely against them
- Roosevelt concentrated US efforts in Europe as 1st stage in victory
- Germany would never match production in USA
- Always short of essential war materials
- After withdrawal of U**R they had little oil or food
- Hitler didn't allow effective research into weaponary
- Never developed a heavy bomber
- New weapons sometimes ineffective
- Outbreak of war 1939
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