Nazi Germany 1945: Genocide, Nuremberg Trials, and Hitler's Surrender
Nazi Germany of 1945, Nuremberg Trials & Hitlers Surrender
- Spring of 1945:
- An eleven-year-old German boy, Helmuth, overheard his parents' serious conversation.
- His father, a prominent physician, debated with his wife whether to:
- Kill the entire family
- Commit suicide alone
- The father feared revenge from the Allies, saying:
- “Now the Allies will do to us what we did to the crippled and Jews.”
- He spent his last happy day with Helmuth in the woods, singing old children's songs.
- Later, the father shot himself in his office.
- Helmuth saw his father's bloody uniform being burnt in the family fireplace.
- Traumatized, Helmuth refused to eat at home for the next nine years, fearing his mother might poison him.
Adolf Hitler addressing his followers, a moment that illustrates the spread of Nazi ideology and its impact on Germany. - Father's Role:
- Helmuth’s father was a Nazi and a supporter of Adolf Hitler.
- Background on Nazis and Hitler:
- Hitler aimed to:
- Make Germany a mighty power
- Conquer Europe
- The Nazis engaged in:
- Not just isolated acts, but a systematic structure of ideas about the world and politics.
- Hitler aimed to:
- Germany's Surrender (May 1945):
- Germany surrendered to the Allies.
- In April 1945, Hitler, his propaganda minister Goebbels, and their families committed suicide in Berlin.
- The Nuremberg Trials:
- An International Military Tribunal was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for:
- Crimes against Peace
- War Crimes
- Crimes Against Humanity
- Germany’s actions during the war raised serious moral and ethical questions and were condemned worldwide.
- An International Military Tribunal was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals for:
- The Genocidal War:
- Under the shadow of the Second World War, Germany waged a genocidal war.
- Mass murders included:
- 6 million Jews
- 200,000 Gypsies
- 1 million Polish civilians
- 70,000 Germans considered mentally and physically disabled
- Innumerable political opponents
- Nazis' method: Killing by gassing people in centers like Auschwitz.
- Punishment and Retribution:
- The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced:
- 11 leading Nazis to death
- Many others to life imprisonment
- The punishment was inadequate compared to the brutality of the crimes.
- The Allies avoided being as harsh on Germany as they had been after the First World War.
- The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced:
- The Rise of Nazi Germany:
- Partly traced back to Germany’s experience at the end of the First World War.
