Monday- No school
Tuesday- Siege of Leningrad
On August 30th, 1941, the Germans took over Leningrad's railroads, cutting them off from the rest of Russia and the world. Unlike the Battle of Stalingrad, the Germans surrounded the city to starve the city into submission. Between November 1941 and October 1942, 641,000 people died of starvation. People resorted to eating rats, wallpaper paste, and some resorted to cannibalism. A successful Russian counter-offensive at Stalingrad forced the Germans to move troops there and eventually, the siege failed. The Germans never took Leningrad, but it was one of the most costly conflicts Russia had faced. Over 1 million Russians ended up dead.
The North Africa Campaign- June 1940, May 1943- General Bernard Montgomery (Monty) and General Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox). Operation Toch- November 1942, invasion of North Africa conducted by the US, Britain, and Free French. By May, 1943, Axis forces surrendered in North Africa. The campaign would now shift to the islands in the Mediterranean Sea and Italy.
Invasion of Sicily- June 1943, General Patton invades with British forces as well. Italy switches sides at this point in time.
The Italian Campaign "Operation Avalanche" Europe's "Soft Underbelly" - June 5th, 1944- Allies liberate Rome.
The Atlantic Wall- Millions of mines and miles of barbed wire and concrete to build a defensive barrier along the west caost of Europe. It wasn't a great plan, as they didn't know where the Allies would invade, but it cost many lives in Normandy landings.
D-Day Landings (Operation Overlord)- Supreme Allied Commander of all Allied Forces in Europe. US lands in Utah and Omaha beaches, British land on Gold, Canada lands on Juno beach. Calais seemed to be the most obvious, but decided on Normandy as the attack.
Wednesday-
Hitler commits suicide- April 30th, 1945- both take cyanide and Hitler shoots himself- was in Fuhrer's bunker
V-E Day- May 8, 1945- Germany surrenders
The Holocaust- The genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II. A program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany throughout Nazi-occupied territory. Approximately two-thirds of nine million Jews who had lived in Europe before the Holocuast died. Some say that the definition of the Holocaust should include the Nazis' killing of millions of people in other groups from Germany and other occupied territories. By this definition, the total number of Holocaust vitims would be between 11 million and 17 million people.
Genocide- Killing with intent to destroy a whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group,
a) killing members of the gruop
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the gruop;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Aryan Race- Nazis used term to refer to a so-called master race that originated around Germany. Perfect Aryan was blonde, blue-eyed, tall and muscular. The original term refers to a people speaking a Indo-European dialect.
Inferiors according to Hitler
Jews- 6 million dead
Roma- .5-1.5 million dead
Mentally/Physically handicapped people- 75,000-250,000 dead
Soviet Slavs/POWs/Troops- (16.5 million)
Poles/Polish- 2.5 million dead
Homosexuals- 5-15 thousand dead
Communists/Socialists- many but number not confirmed
Dark skinned people- death and forced sterilization
Mixed Race people
Jehovah's Witnesses- 2.5-5 thousand
Lebensborn- Fount of Life- program dedicated to promoting the growth of superior Aryan populations by providing excellent health care and living conditions to women who were of the Aryan race. Throughout Germany and many occupied territories. Rumors were spread that this was forced, but it wasn't true.
Hitler's Jewish Question- What are we giong to do with the Jews? - Genocide was final solution.
1933- Nazis "temporarily" suspend civil liberties for all citizens in 1933- Never Restored
The Nazis set up the first concentration camp at Dachau in 1933- the first inmates are 200 Communists
Jews are prohibited from working as civil servants, doctors in the National Health Service, and teachers in public high schools
Most Jewish students are banned from public high school and colleges.
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