On the Eve of War
CHC2D
WW 2 PART 1
CH. 9
Case Study: Germany After WW 1
The Treaty of Versailles  seen by Germans as being
unfair (e.g., War Guilt Clause, $5 billion reparations)
Economic Problems: Inflation – lifetime’s savings
valueless in weeks
Case Study: Germany After WW 1
Depression & Unemployment – 6 million unemployed
Political Instability – Communists, Social Democrats,
Nazis bitterly opposed
Communists & Nazis had street battles
No party could win a majority
Hitler Comes to Power
Nazi Party beliefs
1.
Gov’t run by army & wealthy
2.
Industry privately owned
3.
Powerful military
4.
Democratic gov’t outlawed
5.
Jews / foreigners restricted rights
Nuremberg Military Rally
Hitler Comes to Power
Promised to bring back Germany lost in WW 1
Germans were a master race of people that deserved to rule the
world
Jews were a “deadly poison” & “vermin” wrote Hitler in his book
“Mein Kampf”
1933 Hitler gains control of German Parliament
Hitler Comes to Power
Hitler becomes a dictator outlawing all other political
parties
Opposition is rounded up by Gestapo (secret police) 
prison, concentration camps
Newspapers, radio, books, schools, churches 
controlled by Nazis  totalitarian state
Gestapo Symbols
Hitler’s Anti-Semitism
Jew banned from all gov’t jobs, teaching, banking,
broadcasting, newspapers, entertainment, many shops,
public buildings
1935 – Nuremberg Laws  German Jews lost
citizenship & civil rights  marriages illegal between
Jews & non-Jews
Illegal Marriage
Jews
forbidden
at
athletic
club
Hitler’s Anti-Semitism
almost impossible to earn a living  Jews fled
Germany (e.g., Albert Einstein)
Kristallnacht 1938 (Night of Broken Glass) – 20,000
Jews arrested & 7000 shops looted after Germany
embassy official shot by a Jew
Canada’s Response
800,000 Jews tried to escape Nazi Germany between 1933 –
1939
USA  240,000, Britain  85,000, Canada  4000
Canada British & American farm immigrants NOT urban
Jews creating more unemployment
St. Louis Incident
Ocean liner St. Louis  907 Jews fleeing Nazis in June
1939 arrived near Halifax
Refused entry even though 3000 Sudeten German
refugees accepted earlier in 1939
Jews not considered good settlers
SS St. Louis
Why Canada Slept
Canada unprepared for war in 1939  Why?
Memories of WW 1 losses
Pacifism – opposed to war & violence
Great Depression – over a million on relief
Munich Agreement
Sept. 1938
Appeasement
Why Canada Slept
Isolationism – small, insignificant “fire-proof house”
far away from European problems
Political Leadership – PM King  avoid split in Cdn
unity & protect Cdn independence
Appeasement – Hitler “no serious danger”
Canada Declares War
Sept 3, 1939 Britain declares war on Germany after it’s
invasion of Poland
Sept 10, 1939 Canada declares war  first time
Canada declared war by itself
No celebrations like start of WW 1
Canadian Preparations
1939 – 10,000 soldiers, 14 tanks, 50 planes
3 weeks  58,000 volunteers enlisted
3 meals + $1.30 / day, clothing, shelter better than
being unemployed
War Measures Act – sweeping gov’t power
At War
Sept 1939 Germany quickly crushed Poland with
blitzkrieg (lightning warfare) using tanks and dive
bombers
May 1940 German blitzkrieg defeats Netherlands,
Belgium & France in 6 weeks
Miracle of Dunkirk saved 300,000 soldiers
Canadian forces & supplies save Britain