By June 1945 German inventions were said to be in the safekeeping of the Swedish Aniline Company, with patents having been thrown onto the market through Swedish "dummy" intermediaries, and detailed information had been gathered on the financial backgrounds of a number of chemical, carbide and dye companies thought to be active as safe havens for Nazi property. In 1948, hoping to promote European recovery and further democracy, the United States, led by President Truman, enacted the Marshall Plan. Germany also invested in foreign industries and agricultural schemes aimed at directly meeting their particular needs, such as a plan to grow more soya beans and sunflower instead of maize in Romania.[17]. Berlin was located in Soviet-controlled territory, but it was decided that Berlin needed to be divided. As well as providing refueling and repair facilities for German U-boats and other vessels at its remote Arctic port of Teriberka, east of Murmansk, the Soviets "Belligerent Neutrals" in Churchill's words also accepted large quantities of wheat, tin, petrol and rubber from America into its ports in the Arctic and Black Sea and, rather than transport them over the entire continent, released identical volumes of the same material to Germany in the west. [26][22][25][27][28][29], On 10 September 2004, the Polish parliament (Sejm) passed a resolution stating that: "The Sejm of the Republic of Poland, aware of the role of historical truth and elementary justice in Polish-German relations states that Poland has not yet received adequate financial compensation and war reparations for the enormous destruction and material losses caused by German aggression, occupation and genocide. As in World War I, the Germans used the Norwegian Corridor to travel inside the 3-nautical-mile (5.6km)-wide neutral waters where the Royal Navy and RAF were unable to attack them. Instead, much of the value transferred consisted of German industrial assets as well as forced labour to the Allies. D-Day Summary, Date & Invasion | When was D-Day? In early January 1941 German officials announced the signing of "the greatest grain deal in history"[52] between the Soviet Union and Germany. This system was in essence a commercial passport applied to goods before they were shipped, and was used on a wide scale. This was the first direct action between Germany and America of World War II. It had been decided by the Big Three that the threat from Germany required a joint occupation of the country. Following their disastrous invasion of Greece from occupied Albania on 28 October 1940, Italian reserves of rubber, cotton, wool and other commodities began to dwindle, and the high prices charged by Germany to haul coal across the Alps from Trieste made heat a luxury. Commercial agreements were negotiated with Spain, Turkey, and Greece, aimed at limiting material to Germany. The lost Dutch and Danish supplies of meat and dairy products were replaced by sources in Ireland and New Zealand. [32] Over the weekend of 1821 November six other neutral ships were sunk off the English coast, including a 12,000 ton Japanese liner.[27]. In total Britain sent more than 4,500 Valentine, Churchill and Matilda tanks, and 4200 Hurricane and Spitfire fighter aircraft.[6]. By this time there were increasing reports of Vichy French vessels in the Mediterranean running the British blockade from North African ports and ignoring the orders of the British Contraband Control to stop and submit to search. Lord Selbourne told the house that the effect of the blockade, which may have been slight at first, had been cumulative, and Germany's greatest lack was now in manpower. Until late 1940 Hitler hoped to establish peaceful German hegemony over the Balkans as part of his supply hinterland, but after the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from Romania in late June, his hand was forced. Wanting to create economic reforms, he instituted a policy of glasnost, an openness allowing greater economic freedoms. Shortly after the German invasion of the Low Countries and France, the British took the first tentative steps towards the opening of a strategic air offensive aimed at carrying the fight to Germany. The average German worker worked for 10 hours a day 6 days a week; but although he may have had enough money to buy them, most items were not available, and shops displayed goods in their windows accompanied by a sign saying 'Not For Sale'[18][33], Such was the belief in the supreme strength of the Royal Navy that some thought that the blockade might now be so effective in restricting Germany's ability to fight that Hitler would be forced to come to the negotiation table.[34]. Axis Alliance in World War II | Holocaust Encyclopedia Millions of Germans were homeless from Allied bombing campaigns that razed entire cities. Also, the report noted that according to the minutes of the Council of Ministers of 19 August 1953, the renunciation concerned only the German Democratic Republic not the Federal Republic, and that no diplomatic note was ever sent to the East German government officially informing it of Poland's decision. Germany was divided after WWII because it was to blame for WWI and WWII. Germany also made big purchases in Greece and Turkey and viewed the region as part of its supply hinterland. Despite the Allied sympathy with Switzerland's position, some individuals and companies actively supported the Nazi cause for financial or ideological reasons. Minutes of Ministry of Economic Warfare Committee report, 1940, UK National Archives. Post war Germany evolved into two separate Germanys. To the Nazis' glee, the skipper of one Brazilian freighter stated that southern Britain was finished and nothing could save her,[47] but although the damage was severe, ships from all parts of the Empire, South America and the Far East continued to unload food and war goods for Britain and to load cargoes for export. After WW2 was over, the Allied powers occupied Germany. Although Swiss citizens largely rejected the Nazis and subscribed to the Internationalist view expressed by the League of Nations, in order to survive and continue to receive imports, Switzerland had little choice but to trade with Germany, for which she was paid largely in coal. Essential items such as pasta, flour and rice were severely rationed, leading to riots, and any farmer withholding his crops from compulsory storage could be imprisoned for a year. By this time the Nazis had begun executing otherwise healthy mental patients in German institutions, in part to save on food, and there was a clamour from family members to have their loved ones removed. The claim rests on the. UK National Archives. [42], On the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, on September 1, 2022, a Polish government report on Poland's war losses and damages in 1939-1945 was presented at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. After World War Two, many didn't want Germany to have any armed forces at all So successful have outsiders been in demilitarising Germany - so sensitive are Germans about their warlike past -. Belgium, whose government was in exile in Britain, had its entire $260,000,000 gold reserves surrendered by the Vichy regime and by the beginning of 1943 the country's entire stock of 1,500 locomotives and 75,000 trucks had been requisitioned. "[45], On 2 October 2022, the Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed a diplomatic note asking the German government to undertake an official negotiation process between Poland and Germany, and on 3 October presented the diplomatic note to the visiting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. Map of Allied-occupied Germany split into four militarized zones. The creation of East and West Germany after the end of WWII largely occurred for two reasons: the rest of the world blaming Germany for instigating WWI and WWII and the development of a global rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States and its Western allies. [65] With the gradual turn of the war, a number of neutral countries began to take a stiffer line with Germany, in some cases refusing further credit. On the morning of 7 December 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a massive pre-emptive strike against ships of the US Pacific Fleet at its base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with simultaneous invasions of the British possessions of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaya. How the Treaty of Versailles and German Guilt Led to World War II The three principal partners in what was eventually referred to as the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy, and Japan.These countries were led by German dictator Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and Japanese Emperor Hirohito. Directed by Michael Powell, written by Emeric Pressburger and starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson, Contraband (renamed Blackout in the US) was released in May 1940, just before the start of the German attack on France. [27] Germany then began seizing Danish ships carrying butter, eggs and bacon to Britain, in breach of a promise to allow Denmark to trade freely with her enemies. "[38] Because of the smog and the lack of aircraft fitted for aerial photography, the British were unable to determine how effective the raid had been; in fact the damage was negligible. In the years 19471952, some $13 billion of economic and technical assistance-equivalent to around $140 billion in 2017were allocated to Western Europe. In particular the Swiss were, and continue to be, criticised for the way they aided the shipment of Nazi funds abroad and provided banking facilities for the concealment of looted art treasures and gold, much of it stolen from Jews. Despite early success, caused in part by severe Allied supply shortages, particularly of fuel, the operation eventually petered out. Apart from some Parana pine, tea and cereals, there was very little inter-Plata trade, and delegates eventually agreed a number of measures, such as easier currency exchange rules, finance for poorer nations, improved transport links between countries particularly those landlocked and lower customs barriers in order to demonstrate that they were not entirely reliant on overseas trade and American dollars to survive. Germany was almost entirely dependent on Hungary and Yugoslavia for bauxite, used in the production of Duralumin, a copper alloy of aluminium critical to aircraft production. This is because for nearly a half-century after the end of World War II (WWII), Germany was split into two states. Violators, however, could expect harsh treatment. [64] Her government refused to cooperate with US economic warfare measures or to sever financial ties with Germany, her main trading partner. Raeder maintained that because the British blockade was illegal, the Germans were entitled to respond with "similar methods", and that because the British government had armed many of its merchant ships and used civilians to man coastal patrol vessels and minesweepers, any British ship sighted was considered a legitimate target. Ships leaving port could be provided with a limited protective screen from aircraft flying from land bases, but at this stage of the conflict, a 'Mid-Atlantic Gap', where convoys could not be provided with air cover existed. From Norway, across and down the North Sea, in the Channel and throughout the Mediterranean and Red Sea, Allied sea and air power began slowly to bleed away Germany's supplies. Finally, on 12 October, the invasion was called off until spring 1941, although British cities, notably London, Birmingham and Liverpool continued to be heavily bombed for another 6 months. "[72] Harris believed that the only role for land forces in Europe would be to occupy the Continent after the bombing had defeated Germany. After World War II began in September 1939, most Americans hoped the United States would remain neutral. They remained in boxed storage at the National Archives in Washington for the next 30 years until chemical engineers began the arduous task of collating all the information and feeding it into a computer at the federally run Oak Ridge Energy Center. On November 9, the Berlin Wall fell and soon after East Germany's communist regime collapsed. [3] Leith-Ross had represented British interests abroad for many years, having embarked on a number of important overseas missions to countries including Italy, Germany, China and Russia, experience which gave him a very useful worldwide political perspective. Although the Allies kept up the round-the-clock pressure, raiding countless lines-of-communications targets in the build-up to the invasion, they were slow to grasp what German commanders were all too aware of that Germany had plenty of tanks and aircraft and their real achilles heel was the oil supply. Under Albert Speer, industrial factories were being relocated to Czechoslovakia on a considerable scale, and by the end of 1943, despite a lot of damage to towns German figures showed that 6.9m people had been bombed out or evacuated output of war material was greater than ever. Firms such as the Fischer Steel and Iron Works at Schaffhausen were added to the blacklists because of their exports, causing them to eventually curtail supply and remodel their plant. Why Poland Wants Germany to Pay Billions for World War II As more U-boats entered service, the weekly toll on Allied merchant ships continued to mount, and by June eggs, cheese, jam, clothing and coal were added to the rationed list. Shirer recorded in his diary on 15 September that the blockade was already having a direct effect. Russia was known to have enormous reserves of oil and gas but had chronically underdeveloped extraction systems, and though there was talk of German engineers going to reorganize them, it would take around two years before large quantities would begin flowing. For months previously, all able-bodied people in cities had by law to carry out war work such as filling sandbags for defenses and air-raid shelters, and it was now made an offense to ask for a raise in salary or to demand extra pay for overtime. Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1940 there were still 60 German merchant ships alone in South American harbours, costing 300,000 per month in port and harbour dues, and Hitler eventually ordered them all to try to make a break for home. Three further British contraband inspection facilities were established at Gibraltar to control access into and out of the western Mediterranean, Haifa at the other end of the Mediterranean in Northern Palestine, and Aden on the Indian Ocean coast of Yemen at the southern entrance to the Red Sea to control access into the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. In April 1955 the Dutch claim was finally proved conclusive, and Sweden returned about $6.8 million in gold. World War I: Aftermath | Holocaust Encyclopedia In March 2018 the issue boiled over again when Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a Polish lawmaker, asserted that Germany owed reparations that could be worth as much as $850 billion. The supply problems also led to disagreements, as each commander pressed for his unit to be given priority. Europe After WW2 Economy & Conditions | Economic Reconstruction of Europe, The Yalta Conference and The Potsdam Conference: US Diplomacy & International Politics During World War II. In the aftermath of World War I, Germans struggled to understand their country's uncertain future. Most were sunk or scuttled, and at least eight foundered on rocks trying to negotiate the way down the unfamiliar and hazardous Norwegian coast. This sum rose significantly due to the growing size of the reparations seized by the Allies and Greece ultimately received compensations in the form of money and industrial goods with a worth of about 25 billion dollars.[56]. The US now accepted that it needed to increase spending for its own defense, especially with the growing threat of Japan, but there was real concern that Britain would fall before the weapons were delivered. The paradox with this argument as the neutral countries were quick to point out was that Germany was benefiting from the very same maritime activity they were trying so hard to destroy. Argentina had 84% of the world supply of flaxseed, nearly all of which was exported, along with much of its wheat (23% of world supply), its corn (71%) and beef (50%)[citation needed]. [87] An earlier silent film of the same name had been made in 1925, centred around similar events from World War I. In 1933 Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and, following the remilitarization of the Rhineland, the Anschluss with Austria and the later occupation of Czechoslovakia, many people began to believe that a new "Great War" was coming,[5] and from late 1937 onwards Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, the British government's chief economics advisor, began to urge senior government figures to put thought into a plan to revive the blockade so that the Royal Navy still the world's most powerful navy would be ready to begin stopping shipments to Germany immediately once war was declared. It also agreed to provide more than $8 million in gold to make up for that amount of Belgian monetary gold sold to Sweden during the War, but negotiations regarding 8,600 kilograms of Dutch gold ($9.7 million) stalled when Sweden argued that the gold had been acquired before the January 1943 London Declaration on looted gold. Switzerland also provided asylum for refugees and persecuted individuals such as Jews and foreign workers forced to work in Germany. Large shipments of steel, coal, but also other industrial products were seized and transported out of the country. The reconstruction of Germany was a long process of rebuilding Germany after the destruction endured during World War II. Seldom before had the face of Europe been so fundamentally altered. On the night of 2829 March the RAF used incendiaries for the first time to hit factories in Lbeck, an old town with many combustible buildings, but although the British considered it a resounding success production was back to normal a week later. The Allies publicly acknowledged that Spain had not been aware it was looted, and later Spain returned $1.3 million in gold bars and gold coins it had seized from German State properties at the end of the War. German troops invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, triggering World War II. From late 1944 onwards there were reports that rich German and Austrian Jews were being allowed to leave the Reich after paying special taxes and surrendering all their belongings to the Nazis. [citation needed]. In November heavy damage was caused by the USAAF to the most important industrial site in Norway, the molybdenum mine at Knaben, 50 miles (80km) from Stavanger. Many of the installations that had previously been reported as wiped out continued to operate. From early December 1939 the British began preventing German exports as a reprisal for the damage and loss of life caused by the German magnetic mines. With the appearance of more durable destroyers and new light escort carriers which could provide convoys with constant air cover, the 'Mid-Atlantic Gap', where ships could not be provided with air cover, was closed, and from mid-1943 the U-boats were all but defeated in the Battle of the Atlantic,[7] although Contraband Control at sea still continued. Spanish companies did important aircraft work for the Germans, Spanish merchants furnished Germany with industrial diamonds and platinum,[65] and General Franco, still loyal to Hitler because of his support during the civil war, continued to supply Germany with war materials, among them mercury and tungsten. [clarification needed] The ships were based in the Rhine port of Basel, which gave access to the seaport of Rotterdam, until Allied bombing of a German dam interrupted it. The East German government was dominated by a Communist Party that was closely allied with Moscow and further outlawed the existence of any other political party. These were all available to be reconditioned, cannibalised or stripped down for scrap by the men of Organisation Todt. That winter was harsh, causing the Danube to freeze and heavy snow slowed rail transport, stalling Germany's grain and oil imports from Romania. On 6 April, after the sinking of the Norwegian mail steamer Mira, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Professor Koht, referring to 21 protests made to belligerents about breaches to her neutrality, made a statement about the German sinking of Norwegian ships by U-boats and aircraft. With the food supply reduced by 15% by the blockade and another 15% by poor harvests, starvation and diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, typhus and cholera were a threat. Spain, the world's second-largest producer of tungsten after Portugal, provided Germany with 1,100 metric tons of the ore per year between 1941 and 1943 (between them Spain and Portugal provided 90% of Germany's annual 3500 tons requirement). Despite an initial pathfinding force being sent to light up the target area with flares, only one bomb in 20 fell within five miles (8km) of the town. Your essay should be approximately one page in length, and it should describe how and why reunification came about, as well as the impacts of reunification. Many fertile regions such as the Vexin, the Beauce, and the Brie suffered seriously from drought. Mass attacks a few days later left a large part of the city in ruins, reportedly killing 42,000 people.[16]. Later, high-ranking Nazi officials withdrew their deposits from German banks and transferred large sums to Swiss banks and to the Swedish Consulate at Karlsruhe. 247 lessons At the Potsdam Conference, the leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Unionthe "Big Three" powers who had defeated Nazi Germanymet in the city of Potsdam . On 9 February Albert Speer became the new head of the German Armaments Ministry. The United States, France and Britain maintained control of West Germany. Neutral ships were warned against joining Allied convoys, Scandinavian merchants were ordered to use the Kiel Canal to facilitate the German's own Contraband Control and the US City of Flint, which had rescued survivors of the Athenia became the first American ship captured as prize of war by the Germans, although the episode proved farcical and the ship was eventually returned to its owners. One US correspondent commented; "Germany worked like a pack of driver ants, picking Greece clean",[68] but the corrupt, collaborationist government also controlled the black market in whatever food was still available, causing rampant inflation of the drachma, which saw the price of a loaf of bread, where available, reach $15. The defeat of Germany in the World War II and her occupation by the Soviet Union and the Western Powers gave rise to complications in the field of European and international politics. Together they attempted to persuade the remaining neutrals Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Switzerland, Ireland (and Argentina) that by supplying Germany with the materials it needed they were prolonging the war, and over time a number of measures were tried to pressure these countries into reducing or ending trade with the Axis, with varying degrees of success. The Allied powers did not want Germany to have to possibility of waging another war. [67], By early 1942, the food shortages in Greece, which had been invaded by the Germans in April 1941 along with Yugoslavia, and which was now subject to the blockade, reached the famine proportions foreseen by Hoover. Before the war, Britain recognised Germany's special interest in the region and took a very small percentage of this market, but now, via the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation they used their financial power to compete in the Balkans, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, underselling and overbidding in markets to deprive Germany of goods, although Germany was so desperate to maintain supplies that they paid considerably over the normal market rate. Contraband was also Deborah Kerr's first film, though her scene as a nightclub cigarette girl did not make the final cut. A massive cotton operation was begun in Turkestan, new wheat growing regions in the centre, east and north, coal mines were opened and expanded in Siberia, rich mineral deposits tapped from the Urals, across Asiatic Russia, and immense new oil wells and refineries were developed in the Caucasus and Volga valley. After the first 6 months of the war, Norway had lost 49 ships with 327 men dead; Denmark 19 ships for 225 sailors killed and Sweden 32 ships for 243 men lost. Germany: Reluctant military giant? - BBC News The ship, known as the "Lonely Queen of the North" had seen little action through lack of fuel, and spent much of the war moored in a remote fjord. Evidence that at least part of Germany's attack was with illegal floating mines came when a British freighter was sunk at anchor off an east coast port, when two mines came together and exploded off Zeebrugge, and when a large whale was found near four German mines on the Belgian coast with a huge hole in its belly. In some cases, as with the crucial Swedish iron ore trade, it was done openly, but elsewhere, neutrals secretly acted as a conduit for supplies of materials that would otherwise be confiscated if sent directly to Germany. The blockade almost certainly saved us from defeat. [citation needed]. 6.9 to 7.5 million Germans had been killed, roughly 8.26 to 8.86% of the population (see also World War II casualties ). [15] The works were located in the area bounded by Hanover, Halle and Magdeburg, which was considered safe from land offensive operations, and a programme was initiated to relocate existing crucial industries nearest the borders of Silesia, Ruhr and Saxony to the more secure central regions. To prevent the enemy gaining a route to acquire supplies, the occupied countries and the unoccupied (Vichy) French zone immediately became subject to the blockade, with severe shortages and extreme hardship quickly following. Sweden had long been Germany's main source of high quality iron ore and ball bearings, and continuation of supplies from the port of Narvik, which the British tried to stop with Operation Wilfred was one of the factors which led to the German occupation of Norway. Because of its distance from the sea, a naval excursion was impossible, while the RAF believed that a bombing raid would be far too inaccurate and costly in civilian life and aircraft. What were the post World War 2 effects on Germany? The clothing allowance was so meagre that for all practical purposes people had to make do with whatever clothing they already possessed until the war was over. The intense fears of retribution that Germans articulated during the immediate post-war period contradict this statement. Instead of leaving in 1961, the Allies carried out the Berlin Airlift. In the final year of the war, multiple conferences were held between Stalin, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to determine just what to do with Germany when the country was finally defeated. In addition, about 45% of pig iron manufacturing had been lost, together with 40% of steel furnace capacity. War Guilt, and the Difference Between Germany and Japan On 21 December 1942 the USAAF attacked the Krupp plant in Essen and, although they were unsuccessful at first, demonstrated their intention to paralyse German industry by concentrating on key sectors and persevering until lasting damage was inflicted. The airlift allowed the Allies to support West Berlin with food and other goods via airplanes for over a year. [22][23] In a United Nations note, dated 24 November 1969, the communist government of Poland demanded action from the organization not only to punish war criminals and those who have committed crimes against humanity but also to establish procedures and divisibility of compensation for war crimes and damages committed by Germany during World War II.
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