The Second The Second World WarWorld WarHistory of Germany History of Germany

Lecture 12Lecture 12

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. The Road to War: German The Road to War: German Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939

2.2. The Lessons of the Great The Lessons of the Great WarWar

3.3. German Warfare on the German Warfare on the Eastern FrontEastern Front

4.4. Total War and SocietyTotal War and Society

5.5. ConclusionConclusion

German Foreign Policy 1933-1937German Foreign Policy 1933-1937Oct. 1933Oct. 1933 Germany leaves League of Nation and Disarmament ConferenceGermany leaves League of Nation and Disarmament Conference

Jan. 1934Jan. 1934 Non-Aggression Pact with PolandNon-Aggression Pact with Poland

Jan. 1934Jan. 1934 The Saar votes to return to GermanyThe Saar votes to return to Germany

March. 1935March. 1935 Hitler announces conscriptionHitler announces conscription

April 1935April 1935 Stresa conference, Britain, France, and Italy protest against Stresa conference, Britain, France, and Italy protest against German infringement of VersaillesGerman infringement of Versailles

June 1935June 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement on an enlarged German NavyAnglo-German Naval Agreement on an enlarged German Navy

Oct. 1935Oct. 1935 Italy invades AbyssiniaItaly invades Abyssinia

January 1936January 1936 Mussolini ends Italian guarantee of Austrian independenceMussolini ends Italian guarantee of Austrian independence

March 1936March 1936 German troops reoccupy the demilitarised RhinelandGerman troops reoccupy the demilitarised Rhineland

July 1936July 1936 Germany sends military to help the nationalist rebels in SpainGermany sends military to help the nationalist rebels in Spain

Nov. 1936Nov. 1936 Axis Rome – Berlin announced; Anti-Comintern Pact with JapanAxis Rome – Berlin announced; Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan

Nov. 1937Nov. 1937 Italy joins Anti-Comintern PactItaly joins Anti-Comintern Pact

March 1938March 1938 Invasion of Austria (Anschluss)Invasion of Austria (Anschluss)

Sept. 1938Sept. 1938 Munich conference of Germany, Italy, France, BritainMunich conference of Germany, Italy, France, Britain

German Foreign Policy 1938-1939German Foreign Policy 1938-1939

Oct. 1938Oct. 1938 Germany takes SudetenlandGermany takes Sudetenland, Teschen to Poland, Teschen to Poland

March 1939March 1939 Germany occupies CzechoslovakiaGermany occupies Czechoslovakia

March 1939March 1939 Germany occupies MemelGermany occupies Memel

March 1939March 1939 Britain and France guarantee PolandBritain and France guarantee Poland

Hinton, Weimar & Nazi Germany, p. 404

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. The Road to War: German The Road to War: German Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939

2.2. The Lessons of the Great The Lessons of the Great WarWar

3.3. German Warfare on the German Warfare on the Eastern FrontEastern Front

4.4. Total War and SocietyTotal War and Society

5.5. ConclusionConclusion

Avoid a two-front warAvoid a two-front war23 August 193923 August 1939 Nazi Soviet Non-Aggression TreatyNazi Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty

Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. Behind him are Ribbentrop and Stalin.

Text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Article I. Both High Contracting Parties obligate themselves to desist from any act of violence, any aggressive action, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other Powers.

Article II. Should one of the High Contracting Parties become the object of belligerent action by a third Power, the other High Contracting Party shall in no manner lend its support to this third Power. …

Secret Additional Protocol. Article I. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R. In this connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area is recognized by each party. Article II. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narev, Vistula and San. The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable the maintenance of an independent Polish States and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of further political developments. In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means of a friendly agreement. Article III. With regard to Southeastern Europe attention is called by the Soviet side to its interest in Bessarabia. The German side declares its complete political disinterestedness in these areas. Article IV. This protocol shall be treated by both parties as strictly secret.

Moscow, August 23, 1939.

For the Government of the German Reich v. Ribbentrop Plenipotentiary of the Government of the U.S.S.R. V. Molotov

Blitzkrieg strategyBlitzkrieg strategy

The ‘Blitz’

     THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST

MICHAEL - 15 NOVEMBER 1940

Prevent the collapse of the Prevent the collapse of the Home FrontHome Front

Food and consumptionFood and consumption Leisure and entertainmentLeisure and entertainment Forced labour by Jews and inmates of Forced labour by Jews and inmates of

concentration camps, Slavs, prisoners concentration camps, Slavs, prisoners of war, of war, OstarbeiterOstarbeiter

Exploitation of occupied territoriesExploitation of occupied territories Intimidation and TerrorIntimidation and Terror Intensification of propaganda and Intensification of propaganda and

Führer cultFührer cult

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. The Road to War: German The Road to War: German Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939

2.2. The Lessons of the Great The Lessons of the Great WarWar

3.3. German Warfare on the German Warfare on the Eastern FrontEastern Front

4.4. Total War and SocietyTotal War and Society

5.5. ConclusionConclusion

“The acquisition of new soil for the settlement of the excess population possesses an infinite number of advantages, particularly if we turn

from the present to the future…

If land was desired in Europe, it could be obtained by and large only at the expense of

Russia…

Germany will either be a world power or there will be no Germany...“

Hitler, Mein Kampf 1925

17 October 1941, Hitler Monologue, Führer Headquarters, in Madajczyk, Generalny, pp. 69-70. “The [eastern] region must lose the character of the Asiatic steppe, it must be Europeanized!  … The two or three million people we need [for this program] can be found quicker than we think.  We will take them from Germany, the Scandinavian lands, Western Europe, and America.  Chances are that I will not live to see this, but in twenty years twenty million people will inhabit this territory.  In three hundred years we will have a blossoming parkland of extraordinary beauty! As for the people indigenous to the area, we will be sure to select those [of importance].  We will remove the destructive Jews entirely. … We will not enter Russian cities, they must die out completely. There is only one task: Germanisation through the introduction of Germans [to the area] and to treat the original inhabitants like Indians. … I feel myself to be the executor of the will of History.  What people think of me at present is all of no consequence.  Never have I heard a German who has bread to eat express concern that the ground where the grain was grown had to be conquered by the sword.  We eat Canadian wheat and never think of the Indians.”

“The Führer told me that the implementation of German policy In Poland is a matter for the men who are in charge of the General Government to deal with themselves. He put it this way: We must liquidate those people whom we have discovered

from the leadership of Poland; all those who follow in their footsteps must be arrested and then got rid of after an appropriate period.”

Hans Frank, Governor General of the General Government, in May 1940

“The Slavs are to work for us. In so far as we don’t need them, they may die. Therefore compulsory vaccination and German health services are unnecessary. The fertility of the Slavs is undesirable. They may use contraceptives or practise abortion, the more the better. Education is dangerous. It is enough if they can count up to one hundred. Every educated person is a future enemy… As for food, they won’t get any more than is absolutely necessary. We are the masters. We come first.”

Letter from Martin Bormann, 1941

Putzger

“We must be honest, decent, loyal and comradely to members of our own blood, but no nobody else. What happens to a Russian or to a

Czech does not interest me in the slightest. What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we will take, if necessary by kidnapping their children and raising them here

with us. Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only in so far as we need them for slaves for our Kultur; otherwise, it

is of no interest to me.”

Himmler to SS officers at Posen in 1943

Oradour sur Glane: 1944 the Waffen-SS killed in Oradour 197 men, 240 women, 205 children

Men, massacred in Lidice, 10 June 1942. 192 men, 60 women, 88 children were killed

Overy, Russia‘s War

1. Es zittern die morschen KnochenDer Welt vor dem roten Krieg,Wir haben den Schrecken gebrochen,Für uns war's ein großer Sieg. Refrain:Wir werden weiter marschierenWenn alles in Scherben fällt,Denn heute gehört uns DeutschlandUnd morgen die ganze Welt. 2. Und liegt vom Kampfe in TrümmernDie ganze Welt zuhauf,Das soll uns den Teufel kümmern,Wir bauen sie wieder auf.Refrain:

3. Und mögen die Alten auch schelten,So laßt sie nur toben und schrei'n,Und stemmen sich gegen uns Welten,Wir werden doch Sieger sein.Refrain:

4. Sie wollen das Lied nicht begreifen,Sie denken an Knechtschaft und KriegDerweil unsre Äcker reifen,Du Fahne der Freiheit, flieg! Wir werden weiter marschieren,Wenn alles in Scherben fällt;Die Freiheit stand auf in DeutschlandUnd morgen gehört ihr die Welt.

"If all the world lies in ruins,What the devil do we care?We still will go marching on,For to-day Germany belongs to usAnd to-morrow the whole world."

Overy, Russia‘s war

Diorama of the 900 day Siege of Leningrad, 641,000 people died

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. The Road to War: German The Road to War: German Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939

2.2. The Lessons of the Great The Lessons of the Great WarWar

3.3. German Warfare on the German Warfare on the Eastern FrontEastern Front

4.4. Total War and SocietyTotal War and Society

5.5. ConclusionConclusion

Albert Speer, 1905-1981 Fritz Todt, 1891-1942

Berlin, 1943DHM, Berlin

“I ask you: do you believe with the Führer and with us in the final

victory of the German people? I ask you: Are you determined to follow the Führer through thick

and hin in the struggle for victory and to put up even with the

heaviest personal burdens?...I ask you: Do you want total war? Do you want it, if necessary, more

total and more radical than we can imagine it today?“

Goebbels in the Berlin Sport Palace, February 1943

Dresden in ruins 14 February 1945

Soviet soldiers raise the ‘hammer and sickle’ flag on the Reichstag in Berlin in May 1945

Refugees1945DHM, Berlin

ScheduleSchedule

1.1. The Road to War: German The Road to War: German Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939Foreign Policy 1933 – 1939

2.2. The Lessons of the Great The Lessons of the Great WarWar

3.3. German Warfare on the German Warfare on the Eastern FrontEastern Front

4.4. Total War and SocietyTotal War and Society

5.5. ConclusionConclusion

The German The German HistorikerstreitHistorikerstreit

Ernst Nolte: Ernst Nolte: Vergangenheit, die nicht vergehen willVergangenheit, die nicht vergehen will (The (The Past That Does Not Want To Pass). Frankfurter Past That Does Not Want To Pass). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 6, 1986Allgemeine Zeitung, June 6, 1986

Were the crimes of Nazi Germany uniquely evil in history?Were the crimes of Nazi Germany uniquely evil in history?Were Nazism and Nazi crimes a reaction to Bolshevism, Were Nazism and Nazi crimes a reaction to Bolshevism,

Red and Stalinist terror?Red and Stalinist terror?Did German history follow a special path (Sonderweg) Did German history follow a special path (Sonderweg)

leading inevitably to Nazism?leading inevitably to Nazism?

Jürgen Habermas: Recent Apologetic Tendencies In Our Jürgen Habermas: Recent Apologetic Tendencies In Our History; Die ZEIT, July 11, 1986)History; Die ZEIT, July 11, 1986)

The myth of the “saubere The myth of the “saubere Wehrmacht“Wehrmacht“

The SS is responsible for the war crimes, the The SS is responsible for the war crimes, the Wehrmacht has kept its honourWehrmacht has kept its honour

Justification strategy after WWIIJustification strategy after WWII Andreas Hillgruber: Andreas Hillgruber: Zweierlei UntergangZweierlei Untergang (Two Kinds of (Two Kinds of

Ruin) Ruin) Contra: Omer Bartov: Hitler´s WehrmachtContra: Omer Bartov: Hitler´s Wehrmacht Contra: Wehrmacht exhibition of the Institut for Contra: Wehrmacht exhibition of the Institut for

Sozialforschung, Hamburg Sozialforschung, Hamburg http://www.verbrechen-der-http://www.verbrechen-der-wehrmacht.dewehrmacht.de

Question : Why did so many ordinary Germans as SS Question : Why did so many ordinary Germans as SS men, as policemen, as Wehrmacht soldiers participate in men, as policemen, as Wehrmacht soldiers participate in the crimes of the Nazi regime? the crimes of the Nazi regime?