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The German people were elated with the succes of Hitler and the NAZIs in remilitarizing the Rhineland, uniting with Austria (the Anchluss), and then reclaimong the Sudetenland. There were, however, still many memories of World War II. There are many indications that there was no desire for war. War when it came resulted in spectacular German victories. Hitler believing the War had been won, actually scaled back war production in 1940-41. He was concerned about stressing the home front. This decession delayed critical work on weapons development (such at jet aircraft). Hitler was very concerned with maintaining German civilian consumption levels. Hitler even before the War began was concerned about the home front. He was aware that food shortages had destroyed civilkian morale and that disorders at home were a factor in the Kaiser's abdication. Hitler also did not want mothers not be taken out of the home to work in factories. German women were not mobilized for War work, rather slave labor was brought in from occupied countries to work in factories and on farms. The hard-pressed British in 1939-40 completely reorganized the economy for war production which included the use of large numbers of women and youths. The German approach to a war economy was to pillage occupied countries and to transport workers to concentration camps for slave labor, often under horendous conditions. As the War went against the NAZIs, severe rationing became necessary. And then in 1944 the War came home to the German people as the Allies finally cracked the Luftwaffe and Allied armies approached the borders of the Reich.
One of the major charges in the political campaigns before Hitle and the NAZIs seized power was that he would launch another war. There were still many terrible memories of World War I. Hitler at first pursued a moderate foreign policy while launching a vast new rearmament program. And as Hitler began to pursue a more agressive foreign policy, the results were spectacular. The German people were elated with the success of Hitler and the NAZIs in regaining the Saarland (1935), remilitarizing the Rhineland (1936), uniting with Austria--the Anschluss (1938), and finally reclaiming the Sudetenland (1938)--all without war. It is unquestionable that Hitler was enormously popular with the German people. Had he stopped with the Sdetenland, there would have been no War and Hitler would have been the most popular German starsman since Bismarck. Hitler had asured Chamberlain that he wanted no Czechs in the Reich. He was, however, actually disappointed at Munich. He felt that Chaberlain had denied him his war in 1938. He kept his plan to launch a new war from the German people whose martial spirit in early 1939 disppointed him. There are many indications that there was no desire for war anong the great bulk of the German people. War when it came at first resulted in spectacular German victories nd very limited casualties. This added to Hitler's popularity. Germans, even many doubters, began to believe increasingly in Hitler and his program. Hitler for his part was an extrodinarily effective politican. He did not want to be a politican, he wanted to be a great German war leader and he was determined to go down in history as the German war commander that would reshape Europe and history.
There is no way of knowing with any precession what the German people thought of the war that their Führer unleashed. There were o public opinion polls at the time. An even if they had been, we suspect that most Germans would have been very cautious about answering questions with political content. We know that Hitler was frustrated by the lak of enthusism for war on the part of the German people in the months from the Munich Conference leading up to the invasion of Poland and the onset of War. There were many Germans who feared war, especially those of the generation that had fought World war I. There were, however, many who believe that German had greviences that needed to be rectified, especially the loss of territory and as a consequence the existence of Germans living in the new countries created by the Versailles Treaty. NAZI propaganda did its best to convince Germans that these peope were being mistreated. German schools and the Hitler Youth persued a program to prepare young people for war. The tenacity of the German soldier suggests that for many, this program was very effective. NAZI propaganda staged a fictitious Polish attack to justify the invasion. I'm not sure how many Germans were fooled by the ruse. The stunning NAZI successes in the first year of the War dazzled many Germans, even those who had feared war. Hitler was at this stage enormously popular. Again there is no way of measuring this, but the news reels of the time suggest widespread support for Hitler and his achievements. Of course measures such as slave labor and looting food supplies and manufactured goods from the coquered territories meant that the home front was not advrsly affected by the War. This did not begin to change until the Red Army offensive before Moscow (December 1941) stopped the Panzers and resulted in huge losses of men and material. Attitudes toward the War must have changed in the last years of the War. The increasing intensity of the Allied bombardment and the approach of the Red Army turned the war into a war of survival.
The German approach to a war economy was to pillage occupied countries and ship food and consumer goods back to the Reich so consumption levels could be maintained. This began immediately with the conquest of Poland. And the conquest of Denmark and Norway (april 1940), Western Eutope (May-June 1940) and the Balkans (April 1941) provided even more opportunities for plunder. Thus conditions in Germany did not deteriorate in the first two years of the war. Food and many consumers was still readily available. This was a policy Hitler ordered because of the impact of shortages on German morale during World War I. This photographs in Germany except for all the military uniformd do not look like a country at War. Nor were air raids at first much of aroblem. Hitler believing the War had been won, actually scaled back war production in 1940-41. He was concerned about stressing the home front. This decession delayed critical work on weapons development (such at jet aircraft). Hitler was very concerned with maintaining German civilian consumption levels. Hitler even before the War began was concerned about the home front. He was aware that food shortages had destroyed civilian morale and that the collapse of the homec front. Disorders at home were the principal factor in the Kaiser's abdication. The cut backs proved to be a terrible miscalculation. The NAZIs neither used Germany''s potential or effeciently used the potential of the occupied countries. When the War turned against Germany, the NAZIs found themselves fighting countries with far greater resources and industrial capacity. Hitler even ordered cut backs in military production after the victory over France. This did not begin to change until the advances in the East began befire Moscow (December 1941). As German workers had to be conscripted for military service, workers for the factories were meeded. Jews could have been used for the factories, but Hitler instead decided to kill them in what we now call the Holocaust. Thus the NAZIs began to concript foreign workers to work in German factories. Thd NAZIs as the war dragged on, also began to conscript workers from occupied countries to camps for forced or slave labor, often under horendous conditions. The NAZIs using this system were able to maintain production levels in the Reich. There were, however, huge declines in production levels in the occupied countries. This is why that even though the NAZIs occupied much of Europe, there were no massive increases in production levels comensurate with the pre-War industrial or agricultural production of Europe. Hitler eventually put Albert Speer in charge of war production. German industry began to be used more efficently. Battlefield losses and the Allied strategic bombing campaign, however, gradually eroded the German ability to continue the War. A key here was petroleum.
Hitler did not want German workers to be adversely affected by the War. This was part of his effort to make sure there would be no collapse if morale on the home front. After the victories ikn the West, arms projects were actually cancelled. This changed dramatically after the disaster in the East (December 1941). The NAZIs began increasing the length of the work day. Goebbels reported in his diary, "Officials are now to workfifty-eight hours per weekinstead of firty-six. The Ministry of the Inrerior immediately proposed that tewnt-five marks per month be paid them as so-called "soup money". I regard that as wrong. Officaldom should donits duty. If it is demanded of officials that they work a few extra hours more in wartime than under normal peace conditions, they ought to look upon that as a sort of servuce as hinor." [July 25, 1942--Goebbels, pp. 48-49.]
Hitler also did not want mothers not be taken out of the home to work in factories. German women were not mobilized for War work, rather slave labor was brought in from occupied countries to work in factories and on farms. The hard-pressed British in 1939-40 completely reorganized the economy for war production which included the use of large numbers of women and youths.
One of the reasons Germany was defeated in World War I is that support for the War and the imperial government collapsed on the hime front. The Allies also cracked the Western Front, but the German Aemy could have continued the War for another year. The Rhine would have been a formidable natural barrier. It was the collapse of the home front tht ended the War in November. A major reason for the collapse of the home front was the substantial decline in agricultural production. It is interesting that Hitler after the War focused on the collapse of the home front and not the battlefield defeat of the German Army on the Western Front. (This was accomplished with an American Army of only about 1 million in France. (The United States was building an army of over 4 million at the time of the German requested Armistice.) As a result, the NAZIs in World War II gave considerable attention to supplying the home front with food. This was accomplished in a variety of ways. First, the Germans looted occupied countries of food. This was done rutlessy in the East and in a more civolized, but none the less efficent matter in the West. Little consideration was given to the civilians in the occupied countries. There was , for example, a dreadful famine in Greece. Second, the NAZIs used POWs as agricultural labor. Many Polish and Soviet POWs were essentiallu y killed by exposure and starvation. The French POWs were treated more correctly. Third, the HJ was used as a source of agricultural labor. This was done in a variety of ways. The children were set up in camps for this purpose. Some of the KLV camps were also used. Fourth, an effective rationing program was established. The efforts worked to supply both the military and civilians with food. Food began to become more scarce as German military defeats began to reduce the area in the East that could be pillaged. The system, however, began to collapse in late 1944 as the Allied air offensive began to destroy the German tranportation network.
The NAZIs were so successful in the early years of the War that domestic rationing at first was not introduced. Hitler was at first convinced that it would affect public support of the War if a austere rationing program was to be introduced. NAZI popularity was in fact partially due to the fact that Germany under the NAZIs was relatively prosperous. This was in part due to extensive deficit spending for military production. If Hitler had not launched the War in 1939, the impact of the large and growing NAZI budget and trade eficits would have begun to affect the German economy. Once the War began, however, Hitler wanted to main domestic consumption. He felt that food and other shortages had been a major factor in destroying civilian morale during World War I which of course led to overthrow of the Kaiser and other German monarchies at the end of the War. This was a part of the reason that the Germans were so brutal in occupied countries. One of their tasks was to seize food and ship it back to Germany. I am not sure just when rationing was first introduced. Of course when the War began to go against the Germans in Russia and the Allied bombing effort began to affect domestic production, this changed and a very severe rationing program had to be introduced. The system gave extra rations for men involved in heavy industry. Lower rations were accorded to Jews and Poles in the areas annexed to Germany, but apparently not to the Rhineland Poles. The German ration cupons pictured here is called a Reichseierkarte or Government egg card (figure 1). It was issued in Strassburg during November 1944. Strassburg was a French city, but as it was in Alsace, it had been annexed to the Reich.
The food situation in German, in part because of the looting of occupied areas, was relatively good during the early years of the War. Imported items (bananas, coffee, chocolate, citrus fruit, and tobacco) were difficult to obtain), but basic foodstuffs wee readily available. Food was more available in German than Britain. The NAZIs were careful to maintain domestic food production. Men in rural areas were drafted for military service, but POWs provided the man power needed. The food situation began to seriously deteriorate when the severe 1942-43 winter did affect the food supply. Rationing autorizations were cut. Battlefield lossess also affected the ability of the NAZIs to look occuied areas. This first occurred in the East. And in 1943 the American 8th Air Force joined RAF Bomber Command in the strategic bombing campaign. Food became a serious problem in 1944. Germany experienced major defeats in the East and the Allies liberated France. And in 1944 the introduction of long-range fighter escorts enanle the Allies to intensively bomb both Geran cities as well as thectranportation system. This along with the scarcity of oil meant that food, even when available, was difficult to deliver to the cities. By the time the Allies crossed the borders of the Reich (late 1944), the civilian population was in increasungly desperate condition.
NAZI authorities published an yearbook for boys. It was entitled Jungen: Eure Welt, meaning Boys: Your World. The first volume appeared in 1938 and it was published annually thriugh 1943. There was no 1944 vilume as by that time the Worls War had begun to affect the domestic economy. I don't think the conotation was that the world belonged to Germany, but more the world in which the boys lived, but perhaps our German readers will give a more authoritative interpretation. The sub-title was The Year Book of the German Boy, but earlier editions identified it as the yearbook of Hitler Youth boys. There was a comparable series for girls. The articles were topics which appealed to boys. There are articles on current events, politics, the war, arts and crafts, games, sports, wildlife and similar topics. Much of the book is devoted to the military, even before World War II broke out. boys preparing for military service through the Hitler Youth program. We are not sure what the press run was and if this was abook boys purchased or was more likely to be read in libraries. It was published by the NAZI Central Publishing House. The book is heavily illustrated with both photographs and illustrations.
We are not sure how children's play was affected by the War. We have found some information about board games that were marketed and sold in Germany. We are not sure who mabufactured them. The omes we have found are about the U-boat campaign in the Atlantic and bombing Britain. We think they were produced fairly early in the Wr, in [art bdecuse th Allies won both the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic. We doubt the Germans would have produced games about losing campaigns. We know of no games about the cmpaihn in thee Est. These games are quite rare. Very few have survived the War. Given the natire of the f]games, they were clearly made for children. These games are unlike any thing produced in the Britain and America.
One opportunity available to German soldiers not available to many Allied soldiers was home leaves. Germany soldiers stationed in France, the Low Countries, Denmark, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy could board a train and be home in hours. Even in the Soviet Union, while the distances were greater, the soldiers were only about a day or so away fom the Reich by train. This was not the case for the American, Canadian, and other allied servicemen. Nor was it this case for many British servicemen, unless stationed in Britain itself. We know that German soldiers were given home leaves and other furloughs. It ws not possible to bring Americans home until the War had been won. The distances wer too great. We believe leaves were fairly common in the early years. Many men must have been grnted leaves after the short vicyorious campigns in Ppland (1939), the North (Denmark and Norway--1940)), the West (France and and the Lowlands-1940), and the South (Yugoslavia and and Greece--1941)). And of course many men were sraioned within the Reich. We do not know the details as to how himes keaves were hanfdeled in the Whermacht and Luftwaffe. The Kreifmarine for the most part had their bases within the borders of the Reich. We do not yet have details on how common such leaves were and how they were distributed. Nor do weknow the periods involved.We think home leaves were fairly common until 1943 when the War began to go against the NAZIs. From that time the military situtation began go deterioratecand hard pressed units could not afford to grant leaves.
NAZI German launched Wotrld War II with the Blitzkrieg on Poland in cooperation with the Soviet Union (September 1939). Germany held the ininitative in the early years of the War. After the success in Poland, the Wehrmacht swept over most of Western Europe, invading Denmark and Norway (April 1940) and Belgium, Holland and France (May 1940). Plans to invade Britain (September 1940) had to be scraped when the Luftwaffe failed to gain air supremecy. Diplomatic efforts to secure the Balkans failed, resulting in another Blitkrief (April 1941). German casualties in these campaigns were extremely light. This was startling in view of the horific casualties sustauned on the Western Front during World War I. The doctrine of war developed by the Wehrmacht overwealmed poorly prepared European armies, even the French Army which had been considered the strongest in Europe. The Wehrmacht continued its string of victories with the invasion of the Soviet Union--Operation Barbarossa (June 1941). Again casualties were relattively light, byr stiffened as Red Army resistance stiffened before Moscow. Xukov's Winter Offence (December 1941) for the first time inflicted sizeable casualties on the Wehrmacht. There after casualties mounted. The NAZIs finally surrendered only after Hitler's suiside in Berlin (May 1945). The German military is believed to have suffered about 3.5 million killed and 4.6 million wounded during the War. A substantial portion of the men killed died after being taken prisioner by the Red Army. The casualties Germany inflicted on countries it invaded were astomomical, especially in the Soviet Union, Poland, and Yugoslavia, because of the genocidal treatment of POWs and civilians. German civilians were not much affected by the War until the fighting began to go decisively against Germany in 1943. Probably about 2 million German civilians died in the War. The Reich was not occupied until the final months of the War, but civilians began to be affected when the allies began to serious escalate the strategic bombing campaign. Even so, only about 0.3 million Germans were killed by the bombing, largely as aresult of effective civilian defense measures. Most of the civilian casualties occurred when German civilians were driven out of the countries they occupied and the German territory transferred to Poland.
The "Winterhilfswerk of the German People" (Winter Help Work--WHW) was founded by the NAZIs after Hitler was appointed Chsancellor. It was the official NAZI-Pary winter relief charity. Hitler proclaimed the WHW (September 13, 1933). In a speech he explained, "This great campaign against hunger and cold is governed by this principle: We have broken the international solidarity of the proletariat. We want to build the living national solidarity of the German people!" The Party published small booklets fiven to conrtibutors explaining what the Party was accomplishing. The NAZOs issued a booklet for each of the pre-War years (1933-39), There were alsp specialized editons for different War campaigns, for soldiers awarded the Iron Cross, and various other pyrposes. The text in manty of the books was taken from Hitler's speeches. There were a variety of funding approaches. There were monthly street collections. The Party also sold badges which were advertized on the radio, on posters, or in newspapers. The badges (donation pins) were made in an amazing varietiy, commonly devised in local areas. We note a hand sewn Danzig badge in 1934 to promote the hand work of Germans. Badges were issued for Bread Day to promote WHW donations. There were hand crafted celluloid flowers to promoting German native flowers. There were also regional badges as well as those for the whole Reich. Large numbers of Gemans received assistance of varous forms through WHW. There was never any public accounting of te funds collected and dispersed.
The Hitler Youth after the outbreak of the war in 1939 began a variety of war work. At first it was home froint duties much like the Scouts in Britain, collecting scrap metal, warm clothing for soldiers on the Easter Front, charity donations, or other similar activities. Hitler Youth were also involved in farm work. We believe that there was also farm work before the War, but as more and more men were drafted into the military during the Wr, more workers were needed. We note accounts of HJ farm workers both living with farm families as well at HJ camps. We also have reports of children from the right-wing yoth groups in occupoied countries doing farm work. These children supplmented the slave labor from occupied countries Eventually other activites such as air raid wardens were taken up. Eventually Hitler Youth boys were involved in fighting fires and police work. By 1944 normal Hitler Youth activities were disrupted by the fact that older Hitler Youth boys who had leadership roles were being recruited into the army and SS units--in some cases special Hitler Youth units.
The German World War II home front experience varied greatly depending on where civilians lived. City residents were the first to expereince the adverse consequences of the War as a result of the Allied strategic bombing campsaign. The British had a limited ability to bomb early in the War. As a result, the cities bombed were along the Baltic coast (coastal cities were the easiest to idebntify and were the closest to Britain) or cities in wesern Germany. The British also bomved Berlin. This was more difficult to bomb, but of obvious psycological importance. The strategic bombing campaign itensified in 1943 and then in 1944 the Allies methodically demolished German cities throughout the Reich. Another major factor was wether Germans lived in the west or east as it would determine if it would be the Western Allies or Sovirts that would drive out the NAZIs and occupy the area. This was of immedite importance because of the wide-spread rapeing of girls and women of all ages by the Soviet soldiers. It was of longer term consequences because location would determine if Germans would find themselves in the occupation zones of the Soviets or Western Allies. We have very little regional information at this time. We do have a page on East Prussia. The rape terror was usually limited to a few days. Their future lives would be significantly impacted by which occupation zones in which they lived.
Much less known than the British World War II evacuation of children from urban areas is the German evacuation program evacuating children. The program was called the Kinder Land Verschickung (KLV) which operated during World War II (1939-45). The children had to go to rural areas on "holiday" but really they should be out of the cities and towns that had difficulties feeding them and were being bombed by the Allies. Both schools and the Hitler Jugend (HJ) were involved in organizing thd KLV. The HJ was especially important in the KLV organiation beginning in 1940. About 2.5 million children were send to 9,000 camps until end of World War II. In many cases the children were accomapnied by their teachers.
The War came home for the German people in 1944. The War had turned for the Germans in 1942, but the reverses came on distant battlefields--at Stalingrad on the Volga and in North Africa. As 1944 began the Germans still controlled France, had bottled up the Allies in Italy, and were entrenhed in vast aeas in the East. The Allies were only beginning to crack the Luftwaffe. Some Germans realized that the War was lost, but many Germans including high NAZI officals and military commanders did not realize how close their Führer's 1,000 year Reich was to a Wagnerian Gotterdamerung. Until 1944 it was the Germans who had inflicted death and destruction on other countries. Now NAZI barbarities would come home to roost. In many ways there was an air of normalacy in Germany at the beginning of the year. Rationing began to bite as it was no longer as easy to loot conquered countries. Then the Allies inflicted one staggering military blow after another on German armies and German cities. The arrival of the P-51 Mustang as an escort fighter both defeated the Luftwaffe and ooen the hearland if Germany to a rain of destruction unprecedented in warfare. The Soviets launched a series of offenses in the East that destroyed Germany's principal military formations and brought the Red Army to the Vistula. The Allies finally took Rome and 2 days latter breached the Atlantic Wall. Within a few weeks the German Army in France was dealt a staggering retreat and uin full retreat. By the end of the Year the Western Allies had reached the Rhine in the Netherlands and approaching it in the Rhineland.
Hitler Youth boys, along with old men, were hastily trained, ill-equipped and not terribly well led were the major recruits for the Volkstrum in the closing months of the year. The HJ boys, however, went into battle with a fervor even beyond that of the Waffen SS. Many accounts exist of battle hardeneded Wehrmacht and and SS troops who met these boy soldiers on the way to battle. Their advise was almost often "Its over. Go home!" The boys, however, armed with a few anti-tank weapons like Panzerfauts and perhaps a machinegun if one could be found, these Hitler Youth schoolboys went into battle. Often they performed amazingly well, even when given hopeless assignments. A book and movie addressing this is The Bridge. Many HJ boys, of course, did not survive. For many, their commiment to Hitler was absolute, even in the boys involved in the hopeless defense of Berlin (April-May 1945). [Hans Holztrager, In a Raging Inferno, 2001.]
We have found a number of photographs which we believe show German children on the home front during World war II. We often have no information about these images. They are still interesting and perhaps readers will be able to offer some insights.
Goebbels, Joseph. ed, Louis B. Lochner, The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943 (Doubleday: New York, 1948), 566p.
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