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The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. Jews whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included some 200,000 Gyspies. -
The Holocaust cont.
At least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients, mainly Germans, living in institutional settings, were murdered in the so-called Euthanasia Program. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, many of the survivors found shelter in displaced persons (DP) camps administered by the Allied powers. -
German Blitzkrieg
German Blitzkrieg- Blitzkrieg stands for "lightning war" creates disorganization among the enemy, using mobile forces and concentrated firepower. Germany used the Blitzkrieg against Poland in September 1939, Denmark in 1940, Norway in 1940, Belgium in 1940, Netherlands 1940, Luxembourg 1940, France 1940, Yugoslavia 1941, and Greece 1941. Germany did this to expand its attacks and forces with minimal losses, to turn the world into a communist nation. -
German Bitzkrieg cont.
The effect it had was negative against the U.S. and Allied forces, but it gained us footholds, closer to our country.This made it easier and less expensive to transport goods and needs. -
Ribbentrop-Moltov Pact
The German-Soviet Pact is also known as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Involves two foreign ministers that negotiated the agreement and it has two parts. One part is the economic
agreement which was signed on August 19, 1939, provided that Germany would exchanged manufactured goods for Soviet raw materials. They also sign a ten-year nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939, which each signatory promised not to attack the other. -
Ribbentrop-Moltov Pact cont.
The nonaggression pact contained a secret protocol that provided for the partition of Poland. The Soviet army
occupied and annexed eastern Poland in the autumn of 1939. German forces invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, less than two years after the German-Soviet Pact was signed. -
Germany Invades Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses, as the Polish men fought back with strength and vigor they were still defeated. Germany had reigned victorious and had taken over Poland. -
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. The camp had three main camps. They all used prisoners for forced labor. One of the camps functioned as a killing center. It is estimated that the SS and police deported at least 1.3 million people to the Auschwitz complex between the years of 1940 and 1945. The camp authorities murdered approximately 1.1 million. Aushwitz 1, which was the main camp was established
near Oswiecim. -
Auschwitz cont.
The construction began in April 1940 in an abandoned Polish army barracks. Auschwitz 2 construction being in October 1941. They had the largest total prisoner population. They also contained the killing center. In 1941, Zyklon B gas was introduced into the German concentration camp system. Auschwitz 3 was established in October 1942. It was so-called
Labor Education Camp for non-Jewish prisoners. -
Fall of Paris cont.
All the bridges behind enemy lines from Rouen to Mantes have
been destroyed by the RAF to stop the enemy bringing up material and reserves. -
Fall of Paris
Fall of Paris happened on June 14, 1940. German troops marched into Paris in the early hours of this morning as French and allied forces retreated. French troops withdrew to avoid a violent battle and total destruction of Paris. The Germans advanced from the north-east and north-west
and shortly afterwards tanks rumbled past the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde. The government tried to retreat most the people by closing down all shops and businesses in Paris. -
Germany Bombs England
Germany decides to bombs England on July 1940. They attacked Britain first killing 15 people. By the end of all the bombing over 1,000 civilians were killed. On August 24 1940 England sent out 70 planes to bomb the German Nazi. About 40 British bombers managed to reach Berlin and inflicted minimal property damage. However, the Germans were utterly stunned by the British air-attack on Hitler's capital. It was the first time bombs had ever fallen on Berlin. -
Germany Bombs England cont.
Making matters worse, they had been repeatedly assured by Luftwaffe Chief, Hermann Göring, that it could never happen. A second British bombing raid on the night of August 28/29 resulted in Germans killed on the ground. Two nights later, a third attack occurred. -
USSR in WWII cont.
As the Germans reached the outskirts of Stalingrad and approached Groznyj in the Caucasus, approximately 120 miles from the shores of the Caspian Sea in September 1942, the German domination of Europe reached its furthest geographical extension. -
USSR in WWII
The codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. German military and police authorities intended to wage a war of annihilation against the Communist state as well as the Jews of the Soviet Union, whom they characterized as forming the "racial basis" for the Soviet state. As the German army advanced deep into Soviet territory, SS and police units followed the troops. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941 at 7:55am. Pearl Harbor was attached by the Japanese. The entire attack lasted 90 minutes. 2,400 Americans were killed that day. They destroyed over 150 aircraft, 4 battleships and 2 destroyers. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor because it was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where it sought access to natural resources such as oil and rubber. -
Wannsee Conference
In January of 1942 there was 15 high ranking Nazi Party and German government officials that gather in Wannsee. They wanted to discuss the implementation of something they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." The "Final Solution" was the code name for the systematic, deliberate, physical annihilation of the European Jews. The men at the table discussed the implementation of a policy decision that already was made the highest level of the Nazi regime. -
Wannsee Conference cont.
Most participants were already aware that the National Socialist regime engaged in the mass murder of Jews and other civilians in areas of Soviet Union and in Serbia. -
Bataan Death March
Approximately 75,00 Filipino and American troops were forced to make an arduous 65-mile March from Mariveles to San Fernando. The groups were divided into 100 and each group took five days to complete. Thousands of troops died because of the brutality of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. The survivors were taken by train from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation. -
Bataan Death March cont.
America avenged its defeat in the Philippines with the
invasion of the island of Leyte in October 1944. In February 1945, U.S.-Filipino forces recaptured the Bataan Peninsula, and Manila was liberated in early March. After the war, an American military tribunal tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines. He was held responsible for the death march, a war crime, and was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor they were defeated in one of the most decisive battles in the Pacific Ocean. Code breaking ended up being a major part in the battle. As this happened and Japan lost, the situation gave the U.S. an offensive position. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was the Soviets greatest defense of the Mother Country. The battle stopped German advancements and kept the war in the Allied Powers hands. This led to Hitler, and his Nazi counterparts demise. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
A Jew ghetto had started an uprise in the Nazi controlled and
patrolled Ghetto. This revolt made Concentration camps uprise and revolt, slowing down Germany's progress in WW2. -
Allied Invasion of Italy cont.
This massive assault was nearly cancelled the previous day when a summer storm arose and caused serious difficulties for paratroopers dropping behind enemy lines that night -
Allied Invasion of Italy
United States and Great Britain, the leading Allied powers, looked ahead to the invasion of occupied Europe and the final defeat of Nazi Germany. The Allies decided to move next against Italy, hoping an Allied invasion would remove that fascist regime from the war. Before dawn on July 10, 1943, with combined air and sea landings involving 150,000 troops, 3,000 ships and 4,000 aircraft, all directed at the southern shores of the island. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Invasion of Normandy, operation "Overlord". The goal
of Operation Overlord was too gain a foothold in central Europe and start the long journey defeating hitters SS and shock troops. This started Germany's loss in WWII, and started to throw communism in a reverse gear. -
Battle of Bulge
Adolf Hitler wanted to split the allied forces in half by surprise Blitzkrieg attacks. The Germans drove deep into to the Ardennes Mountains. The allied line took appearance as a large bulge, but did not break. General George S. Patton successful maneuvering of the Third Army led to the neutralization of the German Forces. -
Liberation of the Concentration Camp
On January 27, 1945 they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind in their hasty retreat from the camp. Also left behind were victims' belongings: 348,820 men's suits, 836,255 women's coats, and tens of thousands of pairs of shoes. The British, Canadian, American, and French troops also freed prisoners from the camps. -
Liberation of the Concentration Camp cont.
The Americans were responsible for liberating Buchenwald and Dachau, while British forces entered Bergen-Belsen.. Although the Germans had attempted to empty the camps of surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, the Allied soldiers came upon thousands of dead bodies "stacked up like cordwood," according to one American soldier. The prisoners who were still alive were living skeletons. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
Harry S. Truman dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the surrender of Japan. He dropped the first bomb on August 6th, and the second on August 9th. Making Japan surrender shortly after Germany's surrender on May 8th 1945' and Japan on August 14th. This helped win the war for the Allied forces. -
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in WWII Veterans
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. There are many different ways to treat PTSD but some people heal differently. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may start within three months of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event
