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Elite
O
SPREY
PUBLISHING
The German Home Front
1939– 45
Brian L Davis
•
Illustrated by Malcolm McGregor
Elite • 157
The German Home Front
1939–45
Brian L Davis
•
Illustrated by Malcolm McGregor
Consultant editor
Mar tin Windrow
THE GERMAN HOME FRONT
1939–45
INTRODUCTION
T
o understand the conditions of life in Germany between
1 September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, and 8 May
1945, when the German nation capitulated to the victorious Allied
forces, it is essential to appreciate the way in which the National Socialist
German Workers Party (the Nazi Party, NSDAP) imposed repressive
laws, decrees and regulations on the German people from within a few
weeks of their gaining power in early 1933. This progressive pre-war
legislation, much of it driven by Nazi ideology and all of it intended to
destroy any popular or institutional focus for opposition to the regime,
had a profound effect on every sphere of civilian life.
The collection of money for
the relief of German citizens
during the winter months,
the Winterhilfswerk des
Deutschen Volkes, was an annual
pre-war event; here, a small boy
dressed as a policeman holds
a collecting tin while standing
on a tank with a Panzer soldier.
During the wartime years the
emphasis of the renamed
Kriegswinterhilfswerk shifted
to providing German troops,
particularly those fighting
on the Eastern Front, with
comforts; leading Nazi officials
occasionally appeared in public
with a collecting tin to persuade
passers-by to make a
contribution. The appeal for
donations of warm clothing for
the troops in Russia in December
1941 met with a generous
response, but caused great
surprise and disillusion that
such an
ad hoc
measure should
be necessary – especially as
it coincided with several
unexplained dismissals among
senior field commanders.
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Those regulations introduced from 1939, out of actual or ostensible
wartime necessity, inflicted further restrictions and difficulties on an
already burdened population. The war itself naturally brought increasing
shortages and hardships; millions suffered personal separations and
bereavements, and great disruption of their domestic and working lives.
Civilians living in all but remote rural areas faced an increasing ordeal
under Allied aerial bombardment, and millions were made homeless.
However, although the air raids caused devastation and exhaustion, the
emergency services and civil administration continued to operate;
industry proved remarkably resilient, and in the intervals between air
raids what passed for normal life resumed as best it could. But in the final
months of the war the civilian population were confronted by the advance
of Allied forces towards and into Germany; and when defeat, surrender
and occupation by the enemy became imminent, they were left to fend for
themselves, their chances of survival dependent on the behaviour of the
occupying troops. In the East, huge numbers of civilians continued to lose
their lives long after the official ceasefire, and millions were driven from
their homes.
The manipulation of public attitudes by propaganda was a major
feature of the Nazi state. This was broadly successful when it paralleled
natural feelings of patriotism; but in particular instances it often failed to
achieve the desired results – especially when it underestimated the public’s
intelligence, or worked against the grain of normal human emotions.
Surviving documents include the reports of Security Service (SD) agents
and informers, down to the everyday level of conversations overheard in
streets, shops and air-raid shelters. These reveal a steady loss of respect for
the Nazi Party, due to the failure of its officials to live up to the ideals they
were proclaiming and the sacrifices they were demanding of their fellow-
citizens. Until almost the very end, however, respect for Adolf Hitler
himself remained high; a constant refrain was ‘if only the Führer knew
about these scandals, he would soon sort them out.’
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THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST STATE
The Nazi Party attained power on 30 January 1933 with the appointment
of Adolf Hitler as Reichskanzler (National Chancellor – broadly, prime
minister) by the senile President von Hindenburg. A few weeks later an
attempt to burn down the Reichstag (parliament building), probably by
a deranged Dutch Communist, provided the excuse for harsh measures
against the Communist and Social Democratic parties. On 28 February
1933, Hindenburg signed a decree ‘for the suppression of Communist
acts of violence endangering the German State’. This decree suspended
the articles of the constitution that guaranteed the liberty of the person,
the freedom of the press and the right of assembly (free trade unions
would be simply abolished two months later). It permitted the police to
make house searches and to confiscate documents or property at will.
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For readers seeking more information than can possibly even be summarized in a book of this size, a rich source of
detailed material and statistics on many aspects of government and life in wartime Germany is published in Britain by
the University of Exeter Press (1998):
Nazism 1919–45 – A Documentary Reader: Vol 4, The German Home Front in World War
II,
ed. Jeremy Noakes, ISBN 0 85989 311 1. A less academic and highly illustrated social study is also recommended:
The
German Home Front 1939–45
by Terry Charman (Barrie & Jenkins, London, 1989; ISBN 0 7126 2183 0)
Parades were regularly held in
Berlin and other major cities, to
mark anniversaries of important
dates in the Party’s calendar or
to celebrate military victories.
These photos of Hitler’s annual
birthday parade on 20 April –
here, his 50th, in 1939 – give
an idea of the size of these
displays and of the vast crowds
of spectators.
The Reich government was empowered to take over the administration
of any Länder (the regions of Germany, partly self-governing under the
Weimar Constitution) which did not take measures to carry out
government intentions, and the death penalty was introduced for a wide
range of crimes.
The Nazi Party gained 44 per cent of the votes in the last multi-party
election on 5 March 1933, and on 20 March the details of an Enabling
Bill were released. This law was ostensibly to remain in force until 1 April
1937, or until the Communists ceased to constitute any danger to the
State. In reality this ‘temporary, emergency’ measure provided the
foundation for the powers wielded by the regime throughout the 12-year
life of the Third Reich; and from the moment this law was passed, no
German had any right of appeal against any government measure.
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