WWII
•Hitler’s first step was to defy the Treaty of Versailles.
•He will build up German army; send troops to
Germany’s Rhineland.
•France and England do not interfere, and Hitler grows more
ambitious  appeasement, to “keep the peace”
•In 1938, he will go into Austria and declare it part of
Germany.
•Finally, he will invade the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.
“Britain and France had to
choose between war and
dishonor. They chose dishonor.
They will have war.”
-Winston Churchill
•Hitler will sign a “nonaggression” pact with Russia.
•In the pact they decide to divide Poland in half.
•Once Poland is attacked, France and Great Britain
declare war on Germany  WWII has started.
• After the quick collapse of Poland, no fighting took place until the
spring.
• In April of 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
• In early May 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Luxemburg.
- Most of Eastern/Northern Europe fell within two weeks.
• After protecting their Eastern borders, France was weak in the North.
• The German Army ‘blitzkrieg-ed’ across Northern France raping the
French armies.
• Days after the invasion of France, Paris is declared
an open city in an effort to avoid destruction.
• Officially surrendered June 21, 1940.
• Accomplished in 6 weeks what they failed to do in 4
years during the first war.
• Germany occupied Northern France.
- One of history’s most powerful
nations, France, would be controlled by
the German armies from July 1940 to
August 1944.
"The Battle of France is over. I
expect the Battle of Britain is
about to begin...“
- Winston Churchill, 1940
• Britain was left to fight on its own.
- A massive aerial war began with Germany.
• Britain suffered air raid bombings... Every night.
- Germany tried to get England out of the war early.
- In London, it was 100 straight days of
chaos.
• It was Hitler’s goal to destroy England but not
necessarily conquer it. Why?
• This battle marked Hitler’s first major defeat.
• Nazis wanted a plan for Jewish containment.
•All Jews were relocated to specific areas of large
cities  controlled and identified.
• Creation of the Council of Jewish Elders.
- Known as Judenrat.
• Creation of Jewish police force.
- Incorporated Jews themselves into the control
tactics.
• Ghettoes were physically separated and established
in run down parts of town.
• Overcrowding in the ghettoes was severe.
- Multiple families living in single rooms.
- Unsanitary conditions.
- Diseases begin to spread.
• Nazi propaganda the ghettoes were created for
the protection of everybody.
- “Jews carried diseases”.
• Mass starvation developed in the ghettoes.
• Black markets developed.
• ..Codename for German invasion and betrayal of the Soviet Union.
• By 1941, it was obvious Hitler intended to attack the USSR.
- Initially planned to invade on May 15, 1941…
Mid-Spring.
• However, because of Mussolini, his plan was delayed 6 weeks.
• Thus, the Operation started in late June… in the midst of summer.
• By November the Germans were about to capture the three biggest
cities in Russia.
• Germany would be halted by Russia’s three greatest defenses.
- Winter, land and people.
•As the Germans acquired more land they also acquired more Jews
and other “undesirables”. The Holocaust intensifies.
• The Nazis started using the Einsatzgruppen.
- SS mobile killing squads.
- Focused on the influential Poles during
the invasion of Poland.
- Slaughter and deportation of Jews
•After the ghettoes, there will be a systemic
evacuation of Jews from the cities into Concentration
Camps  the “final solution” to the Jewish problem.
•The Camps ranged from work camps, hostage camps,
“re-education” camps, and Extermination camps.
•Individuals arrived and were “sorted”
by SS officers.
•Those fit to live were taken one
way, those that were too old, too
young, children, the sick, the
mentally handicapped, and
others were taken to the gas
chambers.
•Prisoners were told to strip, separate
valuable items, and take off their
shoes thought they were going to
be given baths.
•The ones that were “fit” were
starved, put to hard labor, mentally
and physically abused, beaten, and
killed without cause.
•Dachau, Ravensbrueck,
and Buchenwald
•There were four extermination camps,
including Treblinka and Chelmno.
•These had the systematic killing of all new
arrivals.
•Two others, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek
were concentration/extermination camps.
•At the end of the war, Himmler ordered the destruction of gas chambers and camp evacuations
•60,000 prisoners were ordered on Death Marches across Germany.
•Nazi experiments ranged from
•Racial Experiments
•War-injury exp.
•Pharmaceutical drug testing exp.
•Dr. Josef Mengele, head doctor at
Birkenau tested to prove the “superiority”
of the Nordic race.
•Started first with small groups
•Gypsy children
•Twins
•Dwarfs
•People with abnormalities
•Later moved on to help the Luftwaffe with
army experiments.
•Any survivors were then executed to
study their bodies post-mortem.