What was Nazism?
The Nationalsozialismus
was the ideology practiced by the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterparte) party (The German Worker’s National Socialist Party).
Although the name implies a left wing ideology, the Nazism was an extreme right
ideology. The Nazi main characteristics was the race based ideas, the
"Aryan race" superiority (with "Aryan" meaning being
distorted), the objective of creating a superior Aryan man, the need for a
living space for German people (Lebensraum) and the need for unification
of all German peoples. The Nazi ideology was mainly excluding, regarding almost
all other peoples as inferior in different degrees. The Nazism went further
from a political ideology to characteristics of a religion, creating specific
rituals for the personal life (weddings, baptisms, funerals), special dates,
holidays and occasions, martyrs and distortions of Germanic myths to fill into
the intended ideology, adding to the personal worship of a person regarded as a
messiah, that in the case was Adolph Hitler. To create a visual style, Hitler
borrowed many ideas from the Roman Empire,
including the use of standards with individual symbols in the army,
architecture with a neo classic style with huge buildings and oppressive looks,
among others. All this promoted an almost fanatical movement, with followers
regarding everyone else as traitors or enemies, much as the same as in
religious conflicts.
All Germans were Nazi?
No. The Nazism
was a movement inside Germany,
but part of the Germans did not support it, and just a part of the population
was really affiliated to the party. The ones that actively opposed the party
were made prisoners, killed or exiled by the Gestapo.
What´s the Wehrmacht?
The Wehrmacht was a general term to
designate the German armed forces, and were comprised of the Hesse (Army), Kriegsmarine (War Navy) and Luftwaffe
(Air Force).
What was the SA and what it’s relation to the SS?
The Sturmabteilung (Storm Detachment) was a
paramilitary organization attached to the Nazi party that supported the
Hitler’s rise to power in the 20' and 30'. They used brown shirts in an
imitation of Mussolini’s black shirts militia. The SA mainly did the dirty job
of the Nazi party during the run for power, creating turmoil in the cities, threatening
every one opposing, breaking shops and menacing Jews and other people regarded
as enemies. After Hitler rose to power, the SA continued to behave violently,
what caused problems to Hitler, since the population was increasingly more
resented of the violence and insecurity. The SA men were unhappy, because they
believed that Hitler would establish a government for the workers, but in fact
he was giving many advantages to the industrialists and aristocrats, since he
knew they would be necessary during a war. Moreover, Hitler was fearful of the
SA, that at the time counted with more than 3 million members and their loyalty
was to the party, not to himself. Adding to his mistrust of the German army,
where many regarded him as a menace to Germany or incapable of commanding
the army, he realized that he needed a force loyal only to him. Than he created
the SS as a personal body guard, in which members swore alliance to Hitler
directly. In the "Night of the Long Knives", members of the SS
assassinated the high command of the SA, and from then on the SA existed only
as a small and powerless organization.
What was the SS?
The Schutzstaffel (Body Guard) was a
paramilitary force created initially to be a trustworthy armed force to defend
the Nazi party and the Führer. Later,
under Heirich Himmler, it grew to incorporate more functions and subdivisions,
and turned out to be a very complex and bureaucratic organization. To be a
member of the SS, the candidate should prove Aryan ancestry up to 1750, and
pass a rigorous physical examination. The members were all part of the Nazi
party and believed in the Nazi ideology. The SS promoted programs and
organizations as the Hitler Youth and the Lebensborn
program. The SS had specific rank names that correlated more or less with
those of the army. The SS had also developed their own rituals according to the
Nazi ideology, so there were rituals for SS weddings, baptisms, funerals and so
on. The SS had an administrative branch (Allgemenine-SS),
but they were also responsible for the concentration camps administration (SS-Totenkopfverbände) and for the extermination groups (Einsatzgruppen). Under the SS were also
the Gestapo (Nazi Secret Police) and the Waffen-SS
(an armed force branch), but those were more self contained organizations.
What was the Gestapo?
The Geheime Staatspolizei was the Nazi secret police,
responsible to control the opposition to the Nazi party inside the Third Reich.
What was the Waffen-SS?
The Waffen-SS was the combat branch of the
SS. It also was a paramilitary force (with ranks and chain of command). It was comprised
of Nazi part members and admitted as SS. Many of them were from the Hitler
Youth organization. The Waffen-SS
initially in the war showed an excellent combat effectiveness in secondary
parts of the front, when the bulk of the combat were carried out by the army.
Then, the Nazi party decided to extend the organization and include it as an
effective part of the German war machine. In USSR, the Waffen-SS participated in all major battles until the end of the
war. They were characterized by the high courage and resilience of its
soldiers, what were demonstrated by the high casualty rates, higher than any
other military organization at the time. The Waffen-SS were regarded as an elite force, but with the high
casualty rate and it’s rapid expansion, the new added raw recruits made their
combat effectiveness suffer. The hierarchy was more flat than in the army, and
the relationship between the officers and soldiers were very good, since they
always completed the basic training together and there was no class division
between them, like in the army where the officers were mainly aristocrats; this
turned them into a more cohesive battle unit. They were basically organized into
Divisions, some of which formed by foreigns or with specific specialties. They
were privileged by the Nazi party, and most of the time they received the best
equipment and supplies sent to the front. Although the Waffen-SS acted somewhat independent of the rest of the SS
organization, and its soldiers had nothing to do with the atrocities committed
by the other SS groups and even showed some chivalry towards its opponents in
combat, when captured, a Waffen-SS
soldier could expect little mercy from the enemy, since he fought by and
represented the Nazi ideology.
What´s the difference between the SS, SS-Waffen and the Wehrmacht?
The SS was the armed
branch of the Nazy party, the Waffen-SS
was a military branch of the SS that operated in the front lines together with
the regular armed forces, the Wehrmacht.
What was the Third Reich?
The Third Reich
was a new Germanic empire created by Hitler in 1933 that should last 1000
years. It´s the third because the first was created by Otto I in 962 and was
the Holy Roman Empire, that in fact was not roman and neither holy; it lasted
up to 1806 when Napoleon invaded Germany. The second was founded by Bismarck in 1871, after
the German unification, and was called German Empire and lasted up to the end
of WWI in 1918.
What was the relationship between the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS?
The relationship
was not always good, since the Waffen-SS
were ultimately bounded by an oath to the Führer,
and not the country itself, as did the army, although the general front line
command was still with the army. The Waffen-SS
tended to strictly follow the orders of the Fürher,
even when the army high staff knew that the best action was to do otherwise or
the orders were plainly unreasonable. Many high officers in the army were not
Nazis and some of them didn’t like the Nazi at all. This resentment grew over
time as it was becoming clearer that the war would be eventually lost and Germany would be
totally destroyed by the enemies. This led high officers to participate in a
plot to kill Hitler, and later in the war, many surrendered to the allies
against the Fürher´s orders.
Who were the foreign soldiers that were part of the Wehrmacht and the
Waffen-SS?
Among them were
many "enemies of my enemies" or people that identified themselves
with the Nazi ideology, like: Cossacks, Tatars, Danish, French, Norwegian,
Lithuanians, Japanese and Koreans.
Who were the good guys and the bad guys during the war?
All of them were
good and bad, although, as history is written by the victors, the defeated
nations are generally regarded as the bad guys and the nation that is telling
the story as the good guys. The allies of each other nation were portrayed
according to the nation interest at the moment, like the soviets were good
during the war, but bad afterwards. The aggressor nations were indeed the ones
defeated at the end, like Japan,
Germany
and Italy,
but on an operational level, all the armies committed crimes and atrocities.
Aside from the SS and other smaller political organization that committed
systematic crimes and ethnic cleansing, all of the regular armies committed
crimes revolving around the following: maltreatment of prisoners of war (POW),
execution of POWs, maltreatment of civilian populations, plunder and looting,
mass rape, intentionally targeting civilians as a means to affect the enemy’s
morale.
What happened to the German soldiers after the war?
After the war, a
great part of the German soldiers were being held captive by the allies as POW
(Prisoners of War). They were shared among the victorious nations to work on
war reparations as forced labor in countries like United States, United Kingdom,
France,
Belgium,
Netherlands,
Italy
and USSR.
The German POWs everywhere suffered from malnutrition and diseases, and many
died in captivity, with percentages varying from country to country. The situation
of the POWs in the hands of the USA
deteriorated after the end of the war, since the USA government reclassified them
from POW to disarmed enemy personal, in which case the Geneva Convention laws
did not apply anymore and the USA
were not bound by laws in the treatment of the prisoners. The German POWs in
western countries hands were released mainly in 1947 and 1948, but the POWs in
Russia were partially released in 1949, and the last ones only in 1955, when
Stalin died.
What happened to the German population after the war?
The German population
outside the determined new German borders was mainly expelled to Germany and Austria and
suffered many instances of killings and massacres. The main german people
pockets after the war were in the today’s north and west of Poland
(formerly East Prussia,
Danzig and East Pomerania),
Sudets (West of today’s Czech
Republic), some parts of France and Netherlands.
The people that remained in Germany
suffered from lack of food and other goods, what was aggravated by the ally’s
decision of forbidding international aid from reaching the Germans, as they
considered that they should live in the same conditions as the rest of Europe for a longer time, and that conditions elsewhere
had priority to be improved. The calories rations of the population reached a
level so low that many children were dying, with infant mortality reaching
almost 100% in some cities, and adults were starving, all of which caused
unrest and riots until the situation improved.
What was the Vichy
France?
The Vichy France
was a puppet French government based in Vichy,
on southern France,
that was collaborationist with the Nazi regime. It was headed by a former hero
of World War I, Marshall Pétain. It´s main purpose was to guarantee some degree
of autonomy and territorial integrity to France after the defeat on the
Battle of France. The Vichy
regime also controlled the French colonies oversees.
What happened to the French collaborators after the war?
The French
collaborationists ranged from representatives of the Vichy regime, to women that had any kind of
relationship to German soldiers during the war. Many of them were executed or
tried as France
were being liberated and after the end of the war. The partisans of the French
resistance carried out many atrocities to civilians and women, some of them
that simply worked for the German invaders as cleaners or something else to
just support their families. Many collaborators disguised themselves as
partisans and carried out public humiliations against their victims just to
draw attention away from their own collaboration.
What´s the difference between the war in the European Western Front and
the European Eastern Front?
The war in the
West were mainly regarded as a war against opponents, and that it was just a
necessary evil to the objectives of the Third Reich; in general, the combats
were carried out trying to observe the Geneva Convention laws and trying to
keep a minimal of chivalry. The war in the East were regarded as a war against
enemies, since the Bolshevism in the Nazi ideology was viewed as the enemy of
the people, as the Slavs were regarded as subhumans to which little mercy
should be dispensed. To worse things further, the USSR did not signed the
Geneva Convention pact of 1929, so the belligerents were not bound by any
rules, what encouraged more ruthlessness from both sides.
Who were the Germany’s
allies during the war?
The German
allies during the war in Europe were Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland. Austria was
annexed by Germany
before the war.
When the war turned into a World War?
The war that was
happening in Europe, Africa and Asia would only turn into a World War after an American
continent country joined, what happened after the 7th December 1941 Japanese
attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor.
What countries did Germany
officially declared war on?
Germany only officially declared war on the USA, after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. All the other
countries Germany
attacked during the war were not presented with a formal war declaration,
making the surprise a tactical advantage for the Germans.
What countries were still occupied by Germans when the war in Europe ended in 8th May 1945?
They were: Denmark, Norway, Parts
of Germany and Austria
and North of Italy.
What European countries remained neutral during WWII?
They were: Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Ireland.
When the war in Europe and in the
Pacific officially ended?
VE: 8th May 1945, VJ: 2nd September 1945.
How the population from the USSR regarded the German invaders
during the first phase of Operation Barbarossa?
During the
initial phase of the German invasion of USSR, the Germans were regarded as
liberators in Belarus
and Ukraine,
which populations disliked the Stalinist government even more than a foreign
invader. Peoples in the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) were
invaded by the URSS before the German invasion, and believed that the Germans
were going to restore their country. Unfortunately for them, the invaders soon
proved that they were not liberators.
What countries Germany
annexed before the beginning of the war in 1st September 1939, with the invasion of Poland?
Before the war, Germany annexed
Austria
after the Nazi party won the elections in this country by a large margin, and Germany invaded
Czechoslovakia
after an agreement with England,
in hopes of ceasing the German intentions for a generalized war.
What countries did the Soviets invaded before the German invasion in
June 1941?
The USSR invaded Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Moravia and Finland. Finland
resisted and the soviets signed a peace agreement in which the Soviets gained a
part of the Finnish territory, after a humiliating defeat by a largely inferior
force.
What countries changed sides during the war?
The following
countries were German allies that changed sides during the war: Italy (1943), Bulgaria
(1944), Romania
(1944) and Finland
(1944).
What were the main instances of atrocities against civilians?
The main
instances of atrocities against civilians included the following:
1) By the western
allies:
Bombings of Dresden, Cologne, Hamburg
and other cities by Americans and Britains.
Incendiary
bombings of Tokyo
by Americans
Atomic bombings
of Nagasaki and
Hiroshima by
Americans
2) By the axis
forces:
Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine by the
Germans
Bombing of London and other UK cities by Germany
Massacre and
mass rape of Nanking by the Japanese
3) By the Soviets
and eastern allies:
Mass rapes in Berlin by Soviet
soldiers
Mass executions
and expulsion of German populations of the Sudets and Poland, mainly
by the local population
Killings of German
populations before and after the war in Danzig
and East Prussia
by the Poles
What were the main instances of atrocities against military personnel?
The most famous
cases were:
Malmedy, were American
POWs were executed by the Waffen-SS
German SS POWs
executed after the liberation of Dachau
concentration camp, many of which were at a nearby hospital and did not worked
at the camp
Polish military
executed by the Soviets at Katyn
General
mistreatment of POWs by all belligerants.
Who were sent to Concentration Camps?
Were sent to the
concentration camps the races considered inhumans, political dissidents and
other undesirable people, including: Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, Russian
POWs, Communists, homossexuals and political dissidents.
What was their view on racial ranking?
They viewed
races with different degrees of value, based on their "development"
demonstrated through arts, warfare and technology. There is not a real
"ranking" list, but summarizing the Nazi ideology views, it was
something like this:
1) Aryans
(Superhumans): the most perfect of which were the Germans, but that had as
cousins the Swedes, Danish, Norwegian, English and Dutch.
2) Latins and
some Eastern Asians (Japanese and Chinese): not so well developed, but still
worth as allies.
3) Slavs,
Africans, Arabs, other Asians (Subhumans): they should serve the superior races
as slaves.
4) Jews, Gypsies
(Romani): no value at all, not even for slavery; good only for extermination.
How the Germans, Italian and Japanese people were treated in allied countries
as USA
and United Kingdom?
The German,
Austrian, Italian and Japanese populations were segregated in the USA and UK, with many
of them sent to concentration camps in isolated areas. During the war, many of
them were freed, as the Italians in the USA, but at the end of the war
there were still many Japanese and German people in confinement.
What were the most important battles and operations?
The most
important battles include, but are not limited to:
Barbarossa
(1941)
Battle of France (1940)
Battle of Britain + Sea Lion Operation
(1940-1941)
Overlord (1944)
Market Garden (1944)
Dragoon (1944)
Dieppe (1942)
Torch (1942)
Citadel (Kursk) (1943)
Invasion of
Machuria (1945)
Operation Mai
(Midway) (1942)
Operation AI (Pearl Harbor) (1941)
Battle of the Bulge (1944-1945)
Battle of Stalingrad
(1941-1942)
