Week 8: War and Barbarization

Image: A postcard from the Eastern Front with the legend “German Infantry Marches Through a Burning Village” (1941?). Source: Deutsches Historisches Museum.

I. The Course of War, 1939-1945
A. Conquest and Race War: Poland, Scandinavia, France, the Balkans, and “Operation Barbarossa”
B. The Military Collapse of Nazi Germany, 1943-1945

Video: The Fallen of World War II

Map: Territorial Annexations in Poland (1939-1941)
Map: German Expansion, 1939-1942
Map: Operation Barbarossa (June 22-August 25, 1941)
Map: Operation Barbarossa (August 26-December 5, 1941)
Map: "Case Blue" (May 7-November 18, 1942)
Map: Nazi Utopia: The Greater German Reich

Map: The Collapse of Hitler's Empire (1942-1945)
Map: Operation Citadel (July 5-17, 1943)
Map: Operation Bagration (June-August 1944)
Map: Operation Overlord (June-August 1944)
Map: The Vistula-Oder Offensive (January 12-February 2, 1945)

II. Race War and the Treatment of Soviet POWs

Photo: A temporary assembly camp for POWs in the Ukraine (1941)
Photo: Soviet POWs tanding at attention, Stalag XD 310 Wietzendorf (Summer 1941)
Photo: Prisoner dugouts, Stalag XD 310 Wietzendorf (1941)
Link: Aerial Reconnaissance of Stalag XD 310

III. German Society and Total War, or: Why Did the Allies Win?
A. The Soviet Economy at War
B. The United States at War
C. The German War Economy

Graph: Armaments Spending, 1933-1938
Graph: Industrial Investments and the Four Year Plan
Graph: Human Resources in in Germany, 1939-1944
Graph: Foreign Labor in Germany, 1944
Graph: Men and Women in the Industrial Workforce, 1939-1944
Graph: The Workforce of Siemens-Halske (Berlin), 1932-1944

IIV. The Effects of Strategic Bombing

Chart: Aircraft Production, 1939-1945
Chart: Warship Production, 1939-1945
Chart: Tank Production, 1939-1945
Graph: Allied Bombing Targets, 1944-1945

Image: A cover of Der Untermensch, a racial-hate magazine published by the SS-owned Nordland-Verlag GmbH. Source: Source: Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Graph: Death Sentences Imposed by German Courts, 1933-1945
Graph: Executions in Brandenburg, 1940-1945
Graph: Illegal Statements in the Krefeld Gestapo Files, 1933-1945
Graph: Concentration Camp Inmates, 1933-1945
Graph: Denunciations for 'Friendly Relations' with Poles, 1933-1945

Wehrmacht “Barbarossa Order,” 18 December 1940

“Operation Barbarossa”

“Commissar Order,” 6 June 1941

“Sending Children to the Countryside” (Kinderlandverschickung, or KLV)