WWII Begins in Poland

Blitzkrieg
Meaning: Lighting War
 Cost of Polish Campaign
German Polish

Killed 8082 to 10572 66300

Wounded 27,278 to 30322 133700

Missing 3404 to 5029

Prisoner 0 420000

Civilian 0 26000

Tanks 89

Armored Vehicles 993 to 1000

Naval Losses 2 destroyers, 2 minelayers

Planes Lost 107 327 out of their 435

 War in Poland
• The war lasted three weeks.
• German/Soviet division of Poland took place.
 The Phony War
• The “Phony War” describes the period
between when war was declared and the
major fighting actually took place.
• Sitzkrieg – sitting war
 Government Shake-Up in UK
• Chamberlin is given a vote
of no confidence
• Winston Churchill
becomes Prime Minister.
• Forms a unity government
 Sitzkrieg Broken by USSR
• Stalin takes
advantage of the
Allies pre-
occupation by
invading:
– Finland, Estonia,
Latvia, and
Lithuania
Hitler Turns His Attention to the North
Hitler launches a
surprise invasion of
Denmark and Norway.

Hitler said it was

necessary to “protect
[those countries]
freedom and
independence.”
 French and British Wait
• The combined French and British army waited
for the anticipated attack from the NAZIs.
 Hitler Turns to the West
Avoids the Maginot Line by invading France
through the Netherlands and Belgium.
Hitler Invades France
 The Fall of France
• Allied forces were cut off – they retreated to
the beaches at Dunkirk.
The Fall of France
The Fall of France
The Fall of France
 The Fall of France
• Dunkirk
– Every boat the British and French could muster
brought men to the UK.
– Armies left all their equipment and supplies
behind.
– 340,000 Soldiers escaped certain death.
 The Fall of France
• France ends the
fighting
– Marshall Petain (WWI
hero) says the nation
must stop fighting.
– The Vichy region
established – to be run
by the NAZI controlled
puppet government.
 Paris Falls
• Hitler stages a victory
parade in Paris.
The Fall of France

France has lost a

battle but France
has not lost the
war.

• Charles de Gaulle
established a
government in exile.
 The Battle of Britain
• Hitler plans to begin operation Sea Lion – the
invasion of Great Britain
• German Navy smaller than British Navy
• Must establish air superiority
The Battle of Britain
 The Battle of Britain
• England survives The
Blitz - 57 days and
nights of continual air
attack by the Germans.
– 43,000 civilians died
• Radar – new technology
that could detect
incoming airplanes.
 German Persecution of Jews
• Long history of Anti-Semitism in Germany
• Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s failure
in WWI and its economic problems following
the war.
 German Persecution of Jews
• Nuremberg Laws –
stripped Jews of their
civil rights and
property if they tried
to leave Germany.
• Jews over the age of 6
had to wear the Star
of David on their arms
During the April 1933 boycott, two SA
for easy identification. members guard the entrance to a Jewish-
owned leather-goods shop.
The sign reads "No respectable German
shops here!"
German Persecution of Jews

"Attention Germans. These Jews (Five and Dime Stores) are the
parasites and gravediggers of German craftsmen. They pay
starvation wages to German workers. The chief owner is the Jew,
Nathan Schmidt."
German Persecution of Jews

"Germans Defend Yourselves

- Do not buy from Jews!"
German Persecution of Jews
Jewish lawyer carrying
self-Insulting sign
"I will not complain to the
police again."
German Persecution of Jews
1935: Jewish students
are made fun of by their
class. The writing on the
blackboard says,
"The Jew is our greatest
enemy! Beware of
the Jew!"
German Persecution of Jews

A young boy is forced to paint

"Jew" on the wall of this father's
store.
German Persecution of Jews

After the incorporation of Austria, offenses

against Jews began there. Jews are forced to scrub
the sidewalks.
German Persecution of Jews

Shortly after the German annexation of Austria, Nazi

Storm Troopers stand guard outside a Jewish-owned
business. Graffiti painted on the window states:
"You Jewish pig may your hands rot off!"

Vienna, Austria, March 1938.

German Persecution of Jews

One Jew is forced to cut the beard of another under

German supervision as the local population of Tomaszow
Mazowiecki, Poland, watches with delight
German Persecution of Jews

A German soldier is having fun cutting the beard of an

elderly Jew in Poland.
 German Persecution of Jews
• Jews were required to turn over all precious
metals to the government.
• Pensions for Jews dismissed from civil service
jobs were arbitrarily reduced.
• Jewish-owned bonds, stocks, jewelry and art
works can be alienated only to the German state.
• Jews were physically segregated within German
towns.
• A ban on the Jewish ownership of carrier pigeons.
Kristallnacht – night of broken glass
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
 Kristallnacht
• By now it is clear to Hitler and his top advisors
that forced immigration of Jews out of the
Reich is not a feasible option.
• Hitler is already considering the invasion of
Poland.
• Numerous concentration camps and forced
labor camps are already in operation.
 Kristallnacht
• The Nuremberg Laws are in place.
• The doctrine of lebensraum has emerged as a
guiding principle of Hitler's ideology. And,
• The passivity of the German people in the face
of the events of Kristallnacht made it clear
that the Nazis would encounter little
opposition—even from the German churches
 German Persecution of Jews
• The suspension of Jewish driver's licenses.
• The confiscation of Jewish-owned radios.
• A curfew to keep Jews of the streets between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00
a.m. in the summer and 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in the winter.
• Laws protecting tenants were made non-applicable to Jewish
tenants.
• [Perhaps to help insure the Jews could not fight back in the future,
the Minister of the Interior issued regulations against Jews'
possession of weapons on November 11. This prohibited Jews from
"acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as
well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing
weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the
local police authority."]
 Jewish Refugees
• The British allowed 500 Jews per week
• The US had strict immigration quotas
German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop

“We all want to get

rid of our Jews. The
difficulty is that no
country wishes to
receive them.”
 Jewish Refugees
SS St. Louis – Jewish
refugee ship in which
740/936 passengers
died in concentration
camps.