Describe propaganda in the first half of
the war (4)
Describe propaganda in the first half of
the war (4)
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•
•
•
Led by Josef Goebbels
Used posters/cinema/radio and newspapers
Showed German victories through blitzkrieg
Raised morale for the war
Describe the economic policy in the
first half of the war (4)
Describe the economic policy in the
first half of the war (4)
• Due to victories in Europe there was little
rationing as supplies were taken from other
countries
• 2/5 Germans had a better diet due to rationing
• The policy of autarky (self-sufficiency) meant that
Germany were prepared for war and shortages
were avoided
• In the early years of war women were not asked
to work
• The community took part in the war effort e.g.
the Hitler Youth collected metal and clothing
Describe life in Germany in the first
half of the war (4)
Describe life in Germany in the first
half of the war (4)
• There were few shortages and little rationing
(2/5 Germans had a better diet)
• Lots of propaganda through Josef Goebbels
• Little Allied bombings. Children who were
evacuated were brought back
• High moral through victories
Describe total war (4)
Describe total war (4)
• February 1943 Goebbel’s introduced the policy of
“Total War”
• Albert Speer was appointed “Reich Minister for
Armaments and Production”
• Everyone had to contribute to the war effort e.g.
all factories had to produced something which
contributed to war and all small firms were
closed with workers being moved to bigger and
more efficient factories
• Foreign workers (from German won territories
were brought in to cover labour shortages)
Describe economic policy in the
second half of the war (4)
Describe economic policy in the
second half of the war (4)
• February 1943 Goebbel’s introduced the policy of “Total War”
• Albert Speer was appointed “Reich Minister for Armaments and
Production”
• Everyone had to contribute to the war effort e.g. all factories had to
produced something which contributed to war and all small firms
were closed with workers being moved to bigger and more
efficient factories
• Foreign workers (from German won territories were brought in to
cover labour shortages)
• Rationing – was increased and the black market was thriving
• 1943 women between 17-45 were told they had to work but many
didn’t want to and by 1944 only 41.5% of women were working
Describe propaganda after 1943 (4)
Describe propaganda after 1943 (4)
• Cinema/radio/posters showed the Allies as
barbarians destroying German cities with
heavy bombings
• The propaganda promised German citizens
that victory would be theirs in the long run
• Germans were encouraged to contribute to
“Total War” and urged people to save fuel and
work harder
Describe the effects of Allied bombings
after 1943 (4)
Describe the effects of Allied bombings
after 1943 (4)
• 25% of homes were destroyed
• In 1942 heavy Allied bombings of German
cities started to destroy the morale of
Germans and disrupt war production
• By the end of the war 3.5 civilians had been
killed
• German cities like Berlin, Dresden and
Hamburg were destroyed and many were
homeless
Describe how the Germans were
defeated in 1945 (4)
Describe how the Germans were
defeated in 1945 (4)
• The Allies were pushing the Germans back after DDay
in 1944
• The Germans were losing on the Eastern Front (Soviet
Union)
• 16 April 1945 the Russians entered Berlin and despite
the Hitler Youth and Volksturm/homeguard (old
men/injured men who weren’t fighting in the army)
the Germans were defeated
• Hitler committed suicide on 31 April 1945 and
Goebbels committed suicide on 1 May. Donitz who
was left in charge surrendered on 7 May 1945
Describe the Volksturm (4)
Describe the Volksturm (4)
• Men too old to fight or injured
• Hitler Youth
• Mad up the home guard to protect Germany
from entering troops
• Ill equipped and untrained
Describe the Edelweiss Pirates (4)
Describe the Edelweiss Pirates (4)
• Symbol was the Edelweiss flower and they
wore checked shirts
• They would go on hikes and camping and beat
up Hitler Youth patrols examples were the
Navajos and the Roving Dudes
• They also sheltered German army deserters
and in 1944 12 members of the Cologne
Pirates were publically hanged for murdering
the Head of the Gestapo
Describe the Swing Youth (4)
Describe the Swing Youth (4)
• Upper middle class youths who met in bars
and listened to banned music like Jazz
• The Nazis closed the bars where they met and
arrested leaders sending them to
concentration camps
Describe the White Rose Group (4)
Describe the White Rose Group (4)
• Set up by Hans and Sophie Scholl and
Professor Kurt Huber at Munich University
• They delivered 6 anti-Nazi leaflets
• The White Rose was a symbol of their belief in
justice
• They were eventually tortured and executed
Describe Operation Valkyrie (4)
Describe Operation Valkyrie (4)
• Colonel Von Stauffenburg set up Operation
Valkyrie in May 1944 with Ludwig Beck and Karl
Goerdeler
• He wanted to leave a briefcase with a bomb at a
military conference in East Germany on 20 July
1945 to kill Hitler
• Someone moved the briefcase and Hitler was
unharmed
• 5746 people were executed as punishment for
the plot
Describe opposition from the church
during the war (4)
Describe opposition from the church
during the war (4)
Martin Niemoller
• Pastor in the Protestant Church
• 1934 set up the Confessional Church to rival the National Reich Church
• He was arrested and held at Sachsenhusen Concentration Camp but survived the
war
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Helped Niemoller set up the Confessional Church in 1934
• Spoke out openly against the Nazis
• Joined the Abwehr (a group trying to overthrow Hitler)
• Helped set up Operation 7 (helped Jews to escape to Switzerland)
• 1942 was arrested and sent to Flossenburg Concentration Camp where he was
executed in 1945
Von Galen
• Catholic Bishop who openly spoke against the Nazis in his sermons
• He became known as the “Lion of Munster” and was too popular to be punished
• He was arrested after the July Bomb Plot but was released in 1945
Describe the use of ghettos (4)
Describe the use of ghettos (4)
• Jewish people were moved to Ghettos (the
biggest was in Warsaw Poland)
• Walls were built to keep Jews inside where
they were starved and worked to death
Describe the einsatzgruppen (4)
Describe the einsatzgruppen (4)
• Special murder squads (part of the SS)
• Followed the German army into the Soviet
Union, rounded up Jews, made them dig their
own graves and murdered them
• By 1943 2 million Russians had been killed by
the Einsatzgruppen
Describe the Final Solution (4)
Describe the Final Solution (4)
• 1942 leading Nazis met at Wannsee to work out the
details of the “Final Solution” (the extermination of the
Jewish race)
• Death camps were created at Belzec, Auschwitz and
Treblinka where crematoria and gas chambers were
built
• The first death camp was Belzec in 1943
• All Jews were transported to these camps and those
not fit to work would be gassed using Carbon
Monoxide and Zyklon B
• 1945 up to 6 million Jews were killed and 500,000
other groups were massacred
Describe denazification (4)
Describe denazification (4)
• Denazification of Germany decided at Yalta (Feb) and Potsdam
(July) in 1945
• The Nazis removed all traces of the Nazis from Germany by Creating
the Allied Control Council who:
• Banned the German army uniform
• Made the Nazi Party illegal
• All Nazi literature was banned (30,000 books were banned)
• Special courts were set up to see how involved Nazi Party members
had been in the regime.
• The process of denazification was different in each of the 4 zones of
Germany and the Soviets tended to deal with the Germans more
harshly
• Nuremberg Trials November 1944-October 1945
Describe the Nuremberg Trials (4)
Describe the Nuremberg Trials (4)
• Nuremburg Trials 21 November 1945-1
October 1946
• 200 Nazi war criminals were tried and 142
were found guilty
• 24 were given the death penalty, 20 were
sentenced to life and 35 were found not guilty
• 4 defendants committed suicide during the
trials
Explain how the Nazis used
propaganda in WW2
Explain how the Nazis used
propaganda in WW2
• Radio, cinema and newspapers led by Josef
Goebbels showed German victories and the
Allies as savages
• Kept morale high
• Kept support for the war high
• Usage increased after 1943
Explain how the Nazis controlled the
economy after 1943
Explain how the Nazis controlled the
economy after 1943
• February 1943 Goebbel’s introduced the policy of “Total War”
- Albert Speer was appointed “Reich Minister for Armaments and
Production”
- Everyone had to contribute to the war effort e.g. all factories had to
produced something which contributed to war and all small firms were
closed with workers being moved to bigger and more efficient
factories
- Foreign workers (from German won territories were brought in to
cover labour shortages)
• Rationing – was increased and the black market was thriving
• 1943 women between 17-45 were told they had to work but many
didn’t want to and by 1944 only 41.5% of women were working
Explain how the youth opposed the
Nazis in the war
Explain how the youth opposed the
Nazis in the war
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•
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Edelweiss Pirates
Symbol was the Edelweiss flower and they wore checked shirts
They would go on hikes and camping and beat up Hitler Youth patrols examples
were the Navajos and the Roving Dudes
They also sheltered German army deserters and in 1944 12 members of the
Cologne Pirates were publically hanged for murdering the Head of the Gestapo
Swing Groups
Upper middle class youths who met in bars and listened to banned music like Jazz
The Nazis closed the bars where they met and arrested leaders sending them to
concentration camps
The White Rose Group
Set up by Hans and Sophie Scholl and Professor Kurt Huber at Munich University
They delivered 6 anti-Nazi leaflets
The White Rose was a symbol of their belief in justice
They were eventually tortured and executed
Explain how the military opposed the
Nazis in the war
Explain how the military opposed the
Nazis in the war
• July Bomb Plot
 Colonel Von Stauffenburg set up Operation Valkyrie in May
1944 with Ludwig Beck and Karl Goerdeler
 He wanted to leave a briefcase with a bomb at a military
conference in East Germany on 20 July 1945 to kill Hitler
 Someone moved the briefcase and Hitler was unharmed
 5746 people were executed as punishment for the plot
• Ludwig Beck and Karl Goerdeler tried to kill Hitler twice
before
• Kreisau Circle wanted to overthrow the Government
Explain how the church opposed the
Nazis in the war
Explain how the church opposed the
Nazis in the war
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Martin Niemoller
Pastor in the Protestant Church
1934 set up the Confessional Church to rival the National Reich Church
He was arrested and held at Sachsenhusen Concentration Camp but survived the
war
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Helped Niemoller set up the Confessional Church in 1934
Spoke out openly against the Nazis
Joined the Abwehr (a group trying to overthrow Hitler)
Helped set up Operation 7 (helped Jews to escape to Switzerland)
1942 was arrested and sent to Flossenburg Concentration Camp where he was
executed in 1945
Von Galen
Catholic Bishop who openly spoke against the Nazis in his sermons
He became known as the “Lion of Munster” and was too popular to be punished
He was arrested after the July Bomb Plot but was released in 1945
Explain why Germany lost the war
Explain why Germany lost the war
• Heavy Allied bombings
• The Allies had better resources
• The invasion of Russia meant that Hitler was
fighting on two fronts (borders)
• German treatment of people in occupied
countries led to resistance and protest giving the
Allies help
• The war at sea was a failure for Germany
• Hitler meddled in military affairs e.g. wouldn’t let
his troops retreat from Stalingrad
Explain how the Jews were persecuted
during the war
Explain how the Jews were persecuted
during the war
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1939 Ghettos
Jewish people were moved to Ghettos (the biggest was in Warsaw Poland)
Walls were built to keep Jews inside where they were starved and worked to death
1941 The Einsatzgruppen
Special murder squads (part of the SS)
Followed the German army into the Soviet Union, rounded up Jews, made them
dig their own graves and murdered them
By 1943 2 million Russians had been killed by the Einsatzgruppen
1942 The Final Solution
1942 leading Nazis met at Wannsee to work out the details of the “Final Solution”
(the extermination of the Jewish race)
Death camps were created at Belzec, Auschwitz and Treblinka where crematoria
and gas chambers were built
The first death camp was Belzec in 1943
All Jews were transported to these camps and those not fit to work would be
gassed using Carbon Monoxide and Zyklon B
1945 up to 6 million Jews were killed and 500,000 other groups were massacred
Explain how the Allies rid Germany of
Nazism between 1945-47
Explain how the Allies rid Germany of
Nazism between 1945-47
• Denazification of Germany decided at Yalta (Feb) and Potsdam
(July) in 1945
• The Nazis removed all traces of the Nazis from Germany by Creating
the Allied Control Council who:
- Banned the German army uniform
- Made the Nazi Party illegal
• All Nazi literature was banned (30,000 books were banned)
• Special courts were set up to see how involved Nazi Party members
had been in the regime.
• The process of denazification was different in each of the 4 zones of
Germany and the Soviets tended to deal with the Germans more
harshly
• Nuremberg trials
How important was propaganda
during the war
How important was propaganda
during the war
• Radio, cinema and newspapers led by Josef
Goebbels showed German victories and the Allies
as savages
• Kept morale high
• Kept support for the war high
• Usage increased after 1943
Conclusion: helped to win hearts of minds of
German people
How important were allied bombings
to Germany’s defeat during the war
How important were allied bombings
to Germany’s defeat during the war
• In 1942 heavy Allied bombings of German cities
started to destroy the morale of Germans and
disrupt war production
• By the end of the war 3.5 civilians had been killed
• German cities like Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg
were destroyed and many were homeless (25% of
homes destroyed)
Conclusion: Very important as Germany could no
longer function and support for the war was
decreasing
How important was opposition during
the war
How important was opposition during
the war
• Young people
• Military
• Church
Conclusion: Although they were removed by the
Nazis they were sign that the Nazis were losing
control
How important was denazification to
the Allies
How important was denazification to
the Allies
• Allied Control Council removed Nazism from
Germany
• Nuremberg Trials
• Spilt in 4 zones (decided at Yalta and Potsdam)
Conclusion: The Allies had to rid Germany of Nazis
due tot the indoctrination of dictatorial regime
Was the military the main opposition
to the Nazis during the war (12)
Was the military the main opposition
to the Nazis during the war (12)
YES: July Bomb Plot/Operation Valkyrie
No:
Youth
- White Rose Group
- Swing Youth
- Edelweiss Pirates
Religion
- Martin Niemoller
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Von Galen
CONCLUSION
Was life on the homefront during the
war one of hardship? (12)
Was life on the home front during the
war one of hardship? (12)
YES
1939-42
- Germany was winning
- Propaganda meant morale was high for the war
- There were few bombings or evacuation
- Little rationing (2/5 Germans had a better diet)
NO
- Propaganda got worse
- Bombings increased (25% of houses were destroyed)
- Rationing increased
- Total War was increased