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The War economy and Total War (Opposition (Communist (Failed due to (They…
The War economy and Total War
The racial war
Impact of Nazi racial policy in Poland
Hitler was set on a harsh racial struggle which had serious consequences for the Poles and the 3 million jews
The advancement of the ruthless SS Einsatzgruppen where tasked with rounding up and killing of jews in the local areas. About 16,000 Poles were killed in mass shootings
Polish Jews
Violent persecution of jews started immediately
The Army encouraged to humiliate and bully the jews
1939-42 the Nazi leadership started to pursue idea of Ghettoisation
Ghettos were established in cities ie. Lodz, Warsaw and Lublin
Food was reduced dramatically and as a result deaths were caused of malnutrition
Due to cramped living conditions diseases, such as typhus, spread like wildfire
In the first two years 500,000 jews died
The Final Solution
The actual plans for the final solution is unclear plus there was no written order form Hitler to kill the Jews
The first use of Zyklon B took place in Auschwitz
The Wannsee Conference
This conference was seen as a turnign point for the Final Solution
The meeting lasted 90 minutes where they outlined the grim details of the plan to gas to death Europe's 11 million Jews
The meeting's purpose was to discuss the clarification of German law, securing the agreement of various agencies of the police, finance, labour and transport (railways)
All those who attended Wannsee understood that the purpose of their gathering was to put Hitler's wishes to effect
Opposition
Communist
They were a political movement inspired by the work of Karl Marx
They were effective via the Red Orchestra as they managed to inform the Allies of troop movements and tank designs
Failed due to
They took orders from Moscow which was far away and didn't couldn't visually see what was going on
They had to go underground since the party was banned and therefore had no public informers unlike the Gestapo
Christians
Made up of Catholics and Protestants and they were heavily harassed by the Nazis
They were effective because of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer = helped Jews emigrate
Clemes Von Calen = delivered three powerful speeches condemning euthanasia and the Nazi party
Alfred Delp = he was apart of the Staffunburg plot
Failed because their main aim was to keep land and money
The White Rose Group
They were a radical youth group led by Hans and Sophie Scholl
They were effective as they managed to get their message to many major cities in Germany. Although they didn't last long they did get their message out
Failed due to
Poorly equiped
Didn't protect their identities
The Kreisau Circle
It was formed up of Aristocrats and Army Officers. They believed that Hitler was a threat to Germany and the removal of Hitler and the destruction of the Nazi Party was the only solution
They were effective as it showed the world that not everyone believed in Hitler's ideology due to the varied backgrounds of the circle it shows the that the opposition did not come from one section of society.
They failed due to the fact the Stauffenberg failed and Hitler survived and the SS hunted down the all the members of the circle
Total War 1942-1945
Speer, a technocrat and a close friend of Hitler managed to change a whole range of things to improve production
Employing more women in the arms factories
Making more effective use of forced labour
Preventing skilled workers from being lost to military conscription
Ammunition production increased by 97%
Tank production rose by 25%
Total arms production rose by 59%
Foreign Labour
It became a growing element of the German workforce by 1944
By 1944 6.5 million foreign workers, made up of 25% of the whole work force
Economy
Expansion
Hitler wanted to avoid the situation that Germany wanted was in after WW1 so he set out a number of War economy decress
Greman military expenditure doubled between 1939 and 1941 however Britain trebled its expenditure int he same time
Limitations of economic mobilistaion
Actual results were disappointingly low
Many major projects wouldn't be complete till 1942-3 which caused pressure as a premature war was immanent
Poor coordination within the economy with leading Nazi figures fighting politically
Affects of Allied bombing
Resulted in industrial destruction and breakdown in communications
The use of blanket bombing was condemned by some on moral grounds and its effectiveness
Speer's production figures prove that the strategy had failed to break the German War economy
Consequences of WW2
Population displacement
12 million expellees
10 million displaced people
11 million of German soldiers were taken POW
7.7 million where released by the West
3.3 million in the USSR were held captives until 1950s
Urban destruction + shortages of food/ fuel
20% of housing destroyed
30% of houses damaged
There became a crisis of malnutrition
Economic Dislocation
Infrastructure was destroyed
The state had massive debts
Problems of inflation rose
Black market trade increased