How did the coming of war change life in Nazi Germany?

Question 1

What groups in the Third Reich did the war affect?

Answer 1

• Young people
• Women
• Polish people
• Jewish people

Question 2

Was the war always a failure for the Nazis? How did the coming of war change life in Nazi Germany?

Answer 2

• No, Nazi support grew in the early years of WW2 after the successful invasion of France
• But defeat at Stalingrad and increased Allied bombings saw life worsen for most Germans
• War intensified Nazi terror, propaganda, and lead to the Final Solution

Question 3

How did WW2 affect young people in the Third Reich?

Answer 3

• Increased rebel activity (e.g: Edelweiss Pirates, members disrupted supplies and sheltered escaped prisoners, Nazis publicly executed 13 Edelweiss Pirate leaders)
• Hitler Youth became more involved in war duties (e.g: helping fire brigades after Allied bombings)
• By 1945, children as young as 12 were conscripted into the national militia (the Volkssturm) to defend Germany

Question 4

How did WW2 affect Polish people in the Third Reich?

Answer 4

• Nazis aimed to “Germanise” the region
• Germans given confiscated Polish property
• Poles reduced to second-class citizens
• Many sent to labour camps for forced labour and by 1945 1 in 5 had died due to this

Question 5

How did WW2 affect women in the Third Reich?

Answer 5

• 1944, severe labour shortages so women drafted into labour force
• Suffered the most due to rationing
• Many killed by bombing campaigns

Question 6

How did WW2 affect Jewish people in the Third Reich?

Answer 6

• Millions more Jews (esp. in Poland + Eastern Europe) came under Nazi control
• SS set up killing squads which shot over 1.3 million Jewish people by 1945
• Jewish people forced into ghettos in Poland (thousands died of starvation and forced labour)
• 1942 “Final Solution” to the “Jewish Question” decided at Wannsee Conference
• In extermination camps, 3 million Jews, half a million Roma and 70,000 gay ppl murdered then burned
• SS ran the camps (civil servants, police, industry and army) helped transportation and logistics

Question 7

How did the war progress from 1939-1941?

Answer 7

• Successful conquest of western Europe
• New goods and raw materials taken (wine, perfumes)
• France defeated and high Nazi support
• 2/3 workers ate better on rations than before war
• But rationing extended over most foods and clothing, so black markets appeared in cities

Question 8

How did the war progress from 1941-1943?

Answer 8

• Operation Barbarossa in 1941 invasion of the USSR
• German advance halted by “Russian” winter so army defeated at Stalingrad 1942
• British bombing campaign of German cities (huge civilian casualties + industries destroyed + quality of life decreased)

Question 9

How did the war progress from 1943-1944?

Answer 9

• Goebbels used propaganda + all Germans ordered to provide for the war effort (“Total War”)
• Entertainment and luxuries removed as non-essential
• Women drafted into war work due to labour shortages
• British bombing worsened
• SS became profitable business using enslaved labour in concentration and labour camps

Question 10

How did the war progress from 1944-1945?

Answer 10

• Hitler created the Home Guard made up of elderly and children
• Bombing raids flattened cities
• 150,000 civilians in Dresden were killed in two days in 1945
• Hitler committed suicide