Chapter 21

Question 1

Significance of popular mood during war

Answer 1

When war started in September 1939, there were no cheering crowds in Berlin or other German cities. Although loyalty to the Führer was very strong, and his foreign policy triumphs between 1933 and 1939 had been very popular, the mood of the German public at the news of the start of hostilities’ with Poland was one of reluctant loyalty. In terms of public opinion, therefore, the start of the Second World War in Germany did not match Hitler’s expectations. It was a principal aim of Nazi domestic policy in the early years of the war to sustain the morale of the home front and eliminate any elements of weakness in public mood.

Question 2

Establishment of rationing schemes

Answer 2

One of the critical factors in maintaining civilian morale was the availability of vital foodstuffs and other commodities. Shortages and the inadequacies of the rationing system during the First World War were one of the main causes of growing war-weariness in 1917 and 1918, and the Nazi regime was determined not to make the same mistakes as the Kaiser’s government. Decrees establishing a food rationing system were issued in August 1939, even before the war began.
Clothing was not initially included in the rationing scheme but permits were needed to purchase clothes. This caused panic buying before the regulations took effect and led to the inclusion of clothing in the rationing scheme in November 1939.

Question 3

What was the allocation of food rations based on?

Answer 3

The allocation of food rations was based on age, occupation and race. Those who were employed in manual labour received more than those who had more sedentary occupations. Jews received smaller rations. There were special allocations for groups such as pregnant women, nursing mothers and the sick. The allocations established at the beginning of the war remained largely unchanged during the first two years of the war.

Question 4

Success of rationing scheme early on

Answer 4

The Nazi regime was reluctant to ask the civilian population to make significant reductions in their consumption at the beginning of the war for fear that this might provoke anti-war feelings. Nevertheless, civilian consumption was cut more in Germany than in Britain at the start of the war. The regime was able to exploit the newly occupied countries for food supplies for the German people and, while the Nazi-Soviet Pact was in force, there were also imports of grain from the Soviet Union. On the whole, therefore, the rationing system worked efficiently and there were no serious food shortages between 1939 and 1941. Shortages of coal, shoes, soap and washing powder, however, did cause discontent from time to time.

Question 5

How was the rationing situation later on?

Answer 5

After the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, some rations were reduced. The meat ration, for example, was cut from 500g per person per week to 400g, then cut again. In the later years of the war, meat could not be eaten every day and other goods were in very short supply. By the end of the war, especially in the industrial cities, food supplies had become very precarious and unpredictable and many Germans were experiencing malnutrition. In the countryside, farmers had access to food they could grow themselves but they also experienced shortages of animal feed, fuel and replacement tools, which limited their ability to produce food.

Question 6

Ration allowances in August 1939

Answer 6

Meat
500g per person per week
Butter
125g per person per week
Margarine
100g per person per week
Sugar
250g per person per week
Cheese
62.5g per person per week
Eggs
1 per person per week

Question 7

How was propaganda used to keep up morale?

Answer 7

Maintaining the morale of Germans was a high priority for the regime.
Goebbels had developed a highly sophisticated propaganda system, which controlled the flow of information to the German people. The regime also used its secret police system, the SD and Gestapo, to monitor the public mood and the effectiveness of propaganda. The SD reports provide a valuable source of information for historians about German morale at different stages
of the war.

Question 8

Phase 1: Blitzkrieg, September 1939- June 1941

Answer 8

• After defeating Poland in the east, German forces achieved a series of quick victories against various European countries.

Question 9

Phase 1: Blitzkrieg, September 1939- June 1941 public mood

Answer 9

The public mood in Germany in the first 21 months of the war was volatile and propaganda was not always effective in lifting morale, even though Goebbels understood that maintaining morale was vital to the success of the Nazi war effort. Quick and relatively easy victories in the early stages of the war were a cause for celebration: edited newsreels showed German forces sweeping aside inferior opposition as they achieved stunning victories. Hitler was presented as the military genius who was responsible for these victories and his speeches, broadcast on the radio, were vital in bolstering morale. Between January 1940 and June 1941, Hitler made nine major speeches. At this stage of the war, propaganda led people to be optimistic and believe that the war would be over soon.
When the defeat of France in June 1940 did not bring immediate peace,
Britain was blamed for prolonging the war.

Question 10

Phase 2: The spreading war, June- December 1941
Events in the war

Answer 10

• Germany invaded the USSR in June 1941 and occupied vast areas of territory, but in December 1941, the Red Army launched a counter-attack against the Germans, which halted the German advance.
• Germany declared war on the USA in December 1941. The hope of another short victorious war was over. Nazi Germany now faced a world war against the Grand Alliance of the USSR, USA and Britain.

Question 11

Phase 2: The spreading war, June- December 1941 Public Mood

Answer 11

The invasion of the USSR was presented as a crusade against Jewish-Bolshevism and the success of German forces in forcing the Red Army to retreat engendered a fecling of optimism. However, the SD reported boneles feans that the war would go on for years. slough Nazi propagand, downplayed the extent of the Soviet success, letters home from soldiersan downpra endermined the propaganda. Soldiers talked of the harsh winter conditions and the seemingly limitless Soviet supply of manpower and toilitary equipment. The hopes of a quick and easy victory were dissipated.
Other scapegoats were needed to explain the spreading of the war in 1941, ther scany declared war on the USA. Behind the British, the Soviet and the American enemies, according to the propaganda, lay a Jewish international comesiracy to destroy the Third Reich and the Aryan race. There was a marker increase in anti-Semitic propaganda during the war.

Question 12

Phase 3: The turning of the tide, January 1942- January 1943
Events in the war

Answer 12

•German losses in the USSR started to mount in the harsh winter conditions

Question 13

Phase 3: The turning of the tide, January 1942- January 1943
Public Mood

Answer 13

Rising casualty figures and letters home from soldiers serving on the Eastern Front gradually awakened the civilian population to the realities of the war they were engaged in. When Goebbels broadcast an appeal for people to collect winter clothing for soldiers on the Eastern Front, the mood of disillusionment deepened Although an SD report in January 1942 stated that Faith in the Führer is unshakeable, the scepticism about propaganda, which was remarked upon in this report, was an early sign that confidence in the regime was beginning to erode.
The defeat at Stalingrad was a major turning point in the war, both militarily and on the home front. It signalled a defeat for Nazi propaganda as much as a defeat for its armed forces. News of the defeat was such a shock to public morale because Goebbels had built up unrealistic expectations of Nazi victory and concealed the truth about the desperate situation of German forces there.
War-weariness now became much more evident. Criticism of the propaganda emanating from the regime increased and the Hitler myth began to lose some its potency. On the other hand, there was undoubtedly a deep well of patriotism and willingness to endure hardship on which the regime could draw as it belatedly attempted to gear the nation up for total war.

Question 14

Phase 4: February 1943-May 1945: ‘Total War’ and the defeat of Germany
Events in the war

Answer 14

•In February 1943, Goebbels declared that Germany was engaged in a ‘Total War.
The British and Americans attempted to cripple Germany’s war effort through unrelenting bombings against German cities.
• The D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944 opened up a second front in western Europe and by early 1945 Allied forces had entered Germany itself.
Berlin was captured by Soviet forces in April 1945 and Germany conceded
unconditional surrender to the Allies on 8 May 1945.

Question 15

Phase 4: February 1943-May 1945: ‘Total War’ and the defeat of Germany
Public Mood

Answer 15

By the early months of 1943 it had become clear that Germany was involved in a struggle for survival. Goebbels made an important speech at the Sports Palace in Berlin in February 1943 in which he called for the nation to engage in total war.
Goebbels Total War’ speech appears to have struck a chord with many people.
His call for radical measures to mobilise the population and the economy Were generally welcomed and the main criticism was that these measures Were being introduced too late. The aftermath of the defeat at Stalingrad, therefore, was a crucial time for the Nazi regime. However, no longer could Hitler be convincingly portrayed as a military genius, although attempts were made to shift the blame onto incompetent military commanders. With Hitler appearing less frequently in public, the Hitler myth also began to decline.
By the spring of 1944, morale had declined even further. News of almost continuous retreat by German forces on the Eastern Front, the failure of the U-boat campaign to bring Britain to its knees and heavy Allied bombing raids on German cities had led to a ‘a downbeat mood among the population?
The Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day in June 1944 were a further serious blow to Germany. Paradoxically, events in June 1944 brought a temporary lifting of morale. This was partly due to the feeling that the final settling of accounts with the British and Americans was now at hand, and partly to Goebbels trying to counter defeatism with talk of plans for retaliation with secret weapons. The use of VI and V2 missiles in 1944-5 did temporarily raise spirits but, neither militarily nor in terms of public opinion, could these weapons alter the course of events.

By the end of August 1944, after Paris had been liberated and German forces had suffered further reverses in the east, defeat began to be accepted as inevitable. An SD report in August 1944 stated that ‘most compatriots, even those whose belief has hitherto been unshakeable, have lost all faith in the Führer.
The final months of the war saw growing cynicism about Nazi propaganda.
The ‘Hitler Myth, which Goebbels claimed as his greatest achievement, crumbled away in the final months of the war.

Question 16

Four phases of the war

Answer 16

Phase 1: Blitzkrieg, September 1939- June 1941

Phase 2: The spreading war, June- December 1941

Phase 3: The turning of the tide, January 1942- January 1943

Phase 4: February 1943-May 1945: ‘Total War’ and the defeat of Germany

Question 17

Total War meaning

Answer 17

a conflict in which a
combatant state mobilises its entire population and all of its material resources to participate in the war effort

Question 18

Bombing suffered by Germany

Answer 18

A new phase in the air war began at the end of March 1942 when the British Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out a major bombing raid on the city of Lübeck.
This was the start of the Allied mass bombing campaign in which the RAF attacked German cities by night and the United States Army Air Forces (USA AF)
attacked by day, often with 1000 aircraft at a time. In 1943, the bombing campaign reached an even greater intensity, with 43 German cities being attacked between March and July. Hamburg was bombed seven times between 25 July and 3 August. All of Germany’s main industrial and port cities were attacked but there was a high concentration of raids on cities in the Rhineland and Ruhr areas.

Question 19

Impact of bombing on morale

Answer 19

Official reports on the impact of the bombing on morale, while detailing the horrific scenes of death and destruction, spoke of the resilience of the civilian population and their continuing support for the regime. The police report from Hamburg, after the raid of 27-28 July 1943, stated that “The behaviour of the population at no time and nowhere displayed signs of panic and was worthy of the greatness of this sacrifice? An SD report on the impact of the raid on Lübeck in March 1942 noted that The population of Lübeck showed a really remarkable composure, despite the extreme destruction and loss of life? This report went on to say that ‘It was a sign of the calm, determined attitude and the unbroken spirit of the people of Lübeck that on the very next day numerous tradespeople demonstrated their unbroken spirit by opening their shops? Personal reminiscences of people who experienced at first hand the horrors of the bombing raids paint a rather different picture.

Question 20

Attempts to suppress defeatism and success

Answer 20

As morale fell, the regime took an increasingly repressive line with those who expressed defeatist remarks. The definition of defeatist included any remark that was critical of the leadership or showed a loss of faith in Germany’s ability to win the war.
Goebbels attempted to keep up morale in the face of the air raids with talk of retaliation using secret weapons that were being developed. Germany’s civilian population did display resilience in defiance of the bombing but, as the raids continued, there was a serious erosion of civilian morale. The experience of sheer terror as many of Germany’s cities were consumed by firestorms, the growing Shortages and lengthening queues, the loss of sleep as nights were disrupted by air-raid warnings - all contributed to a growing sense of exhaustion.

Question 21

Morale of workers

Answer 21

The mass bombing of German cities was designed by the Allies to break the will of the civilian population to carry on supporting the war. Despite the growing war- weariness, workers continued to turn up for work and, at least until the end of 1944, production was maintained. There was undoubtedly pressure from a repressive regime to keep their heads down and not openly oppose the war. There was also, however, a need for people whose lives were being disrupted on a daily basis to try to find some stability in whatever way they could.
Maintaining a daily routine of work was one way of achieving this. Bombing wore down the civilian population but it did not break their will completely.

Question 22

How did German civilians suffer at the end of the war?

Answer 22

For the civilian German population, the last months of the war brought unrelenting misery. Millions of Germans living in Poland, East Prussia and Czechoslovakia were driven out by hostile local people and forced to trek westwards in advance of the Soviet forces. As Soviet forces entered Germany itself in January 1945, 3.5 million Germans fled their homes to escape the fighting. They could expect no help from the army as it was also retreating nor could many find berths on trains or ships, since priority was given to the transport of military supplies. Responsibility for the evacuations rested with local Gauleiters, many of whom delayed the order to leave until the very last minute. The result was that people were forced to walk hundreds of miles facing cold, hunger, disease and attacks by Allied forces. Estimates of the numbers who died on these marches vary from around 500,000 to over one million.
When the survivors finally reached the western part of Germany, they found cities devastated by bombing and a civilian population facing severe hardships.
Heavy bombing of cities and the added pressure of the evacuees from the east left at least a quarter of the civilian population homeless. Transport systems had ceased to function, electricity and gas supplies had been cut, water and sewage systems were seriously damaged and epidemic diseases were beginning to appear. Food supplies were running low and there was a serious risk of starvation in some areas,

Question 23

Civilian morale at end of war

Answer 23

Unsurprisingly, civilian morale collapsed. The civilian population was exhausted and suffering severe hardship but there were few signs of outward resistance, still less of rebellion. On the whole, the German population reacted passively and with resignation to the final collapse of the regime and Germany’s occupation by foreign forces, bound together in a ‘community of fate. Once Germany was defeated and occupied, however, the Nazi regime collapsed quickly. As the historian Richard Bessel has written, ‘When it came, the collapse of the Nazi dictatorship was remarkable in its speed and thoroughness. Seemingly overnight the hold of the regime evaporated

Question 24

Attitudes of elites

Answer 24

Among the elites there were diverse views regarding the Nazi regime and various reasons for opposing it. Some felt a moral conviction that the Nazi regime was evil, Others were patriotic about their country but believed that fitler was leading Germany to destruction. Some were democrats, while thers were traditional, aristocratic conservatives who wanted a return to an Authoritarian, non-Nazi stoleed government.
Many of those who opposed Nazism did so because they believed in personal freedom and individual responsibility. For some, like aristocrat Helmut von Moltke, the dismal treatment of others when they were still living quite omfortable lives was deeply disturbing.

Question 25

How did pressure on workers increase?

Answer 25

h his Decree on the Conversion of the Whole German Economy onto a War footing of 3 September 1939, Hitler imposed wage reductions and a ban on the payment of bonuses for overtime, Sunday work and night-shift working. This caused widespread discontent among the labour force, which was reflected in in increased level of absenteeism. Consequently, in October 1939, the regime relented. Wage levels were restored to their pre-war levels and the payment of bonuses was reintroduced, but wage rates were not allowed to increase.
Total war measures began to impact on workers during 1943 and 1944.
In August 1944, a total ban on holidays was imposed, the working week was increased to 60 hours and extra payments for working overtime were abolished.

Question 26

How was worker reluctance suppressed?

Answer 26

This increased pressure did result in some rise in absenteeism but employers had a number of disciplinary measures at their disposal. Workers could have their reserved status removed, which would result in conscription into the armed forces and, possibly, a posting to the Eastern Front. Employers could also allocate extra food rations to those employees who had good attendance records and impose fines for absenteeism and bad timekeeping.
The regime also had at its disposal the DAF factory cell system, in which workers were divided into groups under a loyal Nazi Party member who was responsible for the attendance of workers in his cell. The regime also used incentives to encourage workers to raise productivity. Many plants switched from an hourly paid system to a system of piecework under which workers could earn more if they produced more.
The increase in working hours and the pressure to produce more had an impact on workers’ health and welfare. Accidents at work increased and workers’ health deteriorated.

Question 27

Stats on increased working week hours

Answer 27

.

Question 28

Increased pressure on women

Answer 28

Women bore the brunt of the hardships endured on the home front. As housewives, married women were obliged to spend time queuing for supplies of vital foodstuffs when shortages occurred. As mothers, women had to shoulder even more of the task of childcare when their husbands were away in the armed forces. As workers, women played an increasingly vital role in the German war economy.

Question 29

Percentage of German workforce women May 1939 vs May 1944

Answer 29

37.4%-51%

Question 30

Percentage of British workforce women June 1944

Answer 30

37.9%

Question 31

Women in workforce 1939-41

Answer 31

By May 1939, as a result of the Four Year Plan, the number of women in Paid employment had increased, there were 6.4 million married women in employment and women as a whole made up 37.4 per cent of the industrial labour force. The need to increase armaments production at a time when many male workers had been conscripted into the armed forces led to pressure for more women to be employed in industry. There was, however, tension between Nazi ideology and the needs of the war economy. When Hitler was advised, in the summer of 1940, that industry needed more women workers, he refused to sanction this on the grounds that women should primarily be devoted to child bearing and rearing. Although the regime had taken powers to conscript workers into essential war work, these powers were used very sparingly in relation to women. By June 1940, only 250,000 women had been conscripted and those who were conscripted were merely transferred from the production of consumer goods to war work. The regime also provided generous benefits for the families of conscripted soldiers, thus removing one of the incentives for married women to seek work. With working hours in factories increasing due to the pressures of wartime production, there was even more pressure for married women with children to give up employment.
The result was that the number of women workers in industry actually declined between 1939 and 1941. A growing number of women, however, worked in agriculture.

Question 32

Family allowance meaning

Answer 32

a financial benefit for families to encourage them to have more children, based on the number of children in the family

Question 33

Auxiliary Corps meaning

Answer 33

non-combat units which supported the fighting troops

Question 34

Evacuation of children due to bombings

Answer 34

The evacuation of children from cities coming under bombing attack was begun in September 1940. This initially involved only children from Berlin and Hamburg but, as more cities were bombed, the scheme was extended. The evacuation organisation set up its own camps to receive evacuees and also
requisitioned hotels and guesthouses.
Other evacuees were accommodated in foster families. Although the evacuation scheme was supposed to be voluntary, it was hard for children to opt out since whole schools were evacuated together and there was strong social pressure to participate.

Question 35

Increase in women in workforce 1941

Answer 35

In June 1941, Goering issued a decree that all female workers who were in receipt of family allowance and had given up paid employment but had not produced children should be forced to register for work or lose their allowance. This was the first tentative step towards the conscription of female labour but in practice had only limited effect since it only applied to those women who had been employed previously. It did not apply to married women who had never worked outside the home. Since this group of women was overwhelmingly middle class, whereas those who had been previously employed were mainly from the working class, Goering’s decree stoked up class resentments. As a result of this decree, only 130,000 extra women were sent to the armaments factories.

Question 36

Women in workforce 1943-45 increase

Answer 36

The defeat at Stalingrad (USSR) in January 1943 meant that the total mobilisation of labour had become essential. The decree that same month, which forced all women aged 17-45 to register for work, appeared to show that Hitler had abandoned his ideological objection to the employment of married women. In fact, Hitler had merely been persuaded to modify his views. It was at his insistence that older women were exempted from labour registration and there were many other exemptions. Pregnant women, mothers with two or more children and farmers wives were not obliged to register. Once again, working-class women resented the number of exemptions and the lack of consistency in implementing the decree. By June 1943, fewer than half a million extra women had joined the industrial labour force.
In November 1943, Hitler was asked to approve the raising of the upper age limit for women to register for work to 50 years of age. He refused, but, by the summer of 1944, the situation had become so grave that he was eventually persuaded to agree to this measure. More and more women were recruited and, by 1945, women comprised 60 per cent of the labour force.

Women were also increasingly assigned to auxiliary roles within the armed forces, despite Hitler’s misgivings. In 1943, women began to replace men in servicing anti-aircraft guns and, in 1944, women began to operate searchlights.
By the end of the war, some 50,000 women were involved in anti-aircraft operations and another 30,000 worked on searchlights. In the summer of 1944, the army established an Auxiliary Corps for women serving with the armed forces and, by January 1945, there were 470,000 female auxiliaries. Many of them had been conscripted. Their duties were mainly secretarial and working on radio and telephone communications but, in many cases, this involved serving at the front line. The militarisation of women was taken further in the fnal stages of the war when women’s battalions of the army were established and women were trained for combat roles.

Question 37

Nazi efforts to educate women

Answer 37

The National Socialist Women organisation, the NS-E, organised classes to teach women how to cope with wartime conditions. Cookery classes taught housewives how to make the most economical use of available food supplies and sewing classes to learn how to repair worn clothing. Women were also mobilised by the NS-F to help with the harvest, prepare parcels of food and clothing for soldiers at the front and help with evacuated children from the cities. Community evenings were organised to sustain morale and for indoctrination.

Question 38

Lives of youth in early stages of war

Answer 38

Membership of the Hitler Youth and BDM had become compulsory for all young people in 1939. The Nazis treated the welfare and indoctrination af youth as a high priority and believed that young people could contribute to the war effort. The regime did not, however, consider it necessary in the early stages of the war to conscript the young. Hitler Youth activities continued much as in peace time with a greater emphasis on preparing boys for their future role as soldiers, through training in fielderaft and shooting practice.
Hitler Youth members were also sent to help with the harvest and all young people were expected to participate in collecting money for the Winter Aid
programme.

Question 39

Pressures on youth after transition to Total War

Answer 39

The transition towards total war had an impact on young people. Even before 1942, the age at which young men became subject to military conscription had been reduced. In 1940, a youth was liable to be called into the armed forces at the age of 19. In 1941, the age was reduced to 18 and in 1943 to 17. There was also an increase in the demands placed upon younger teenagers. In 1942, 600,000 boys and 1.4 million girls had been organised through their youth organisations to help with gathering the harvest. The Hitler Youth placed more emphasis on military training at camps where
17-year-old youths would attend three-week courses under army and Waffen
SS instructors. By November 1942, 120 of these camps had been established.
In January 1943, as part of the implementation of total war policies, 16- and
17-year-old schoolboys were conscripted as Luftwaffe and naval auxiliaries and deployed on air defence duties. Whole school classes were conscripted en bloc and the boys continued their education under visiting teachers.

Question 40

Pressures on youth in final stages of war

Answer 40

Young people were increasingly militarised in the final stages of the war.
The age at which youths could be conscripted into the armed forces was further reduced to 16 in 1945. Conscription into the Volkssturm (home guard) was also introduced, in September 1944, for 16-60-year-olds who were not fit for active service. The young men dug anti-tank ditches and were trained to use anti-tank weapons. By the end of the war, boys as young as 12 were being conscripted into the Volkssturm. In 1943, a special Hitler Youth division of the Waffen SS was set up for 16-18-year-old boys selected by Hitler Youth group leaders. This division was sent to France in 1944 and saw action in the Battle of Normandy.

Question 41

Volkssturm

Answer 41

Founded on Hitler’s orders, the Volkssturm was intended to be a force of six million members, although this was never achieved. Local units were under the control of Gauleiters to ensure that they showed the necessary ideological commitment to the struggle to defend Germany.
Many units were sent to the front line, especially in the Battle of Berlin. It was referred to as the National Militia for those aged 13 to 60 who were not directly engaged in the war. It was organised by the Nazi Party.

Question 42

Summary

Answer 42

There was a clear and growing gap between the propaganda images of a German population united behind the Führer in support of the war effort and the reality of the growing war-weariness reported by the SD. Declining living standards, increasing pressure of work and the hardships people had to endure under the Allied bombing offensive eroded belief in victory and tarnished Hitler’s image. Nevertheless, there was no groundswell of opposition to the regime and the majority of Germans retained their patriotism, if not their faith in Hitler, to the end of the war.