The German Question, Part One Hundred Forty-Eight

Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Three/A
"The German Home Front"

Rationing in Germany was fairly limited during the early years of the war. With Germany in control of much of Europe, goods from other areas poured in for German consumers, and this all served to keep most Germans behind the war effort. The tight control of the nation by the Nazis did not allow much criticism of the regime, especially of Hitler, but it is interesting to note that in a film about Frederick the Great, released in 1942 and sanctioned by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels,* a group of German public officials approach the king's aide and tell him the public is complaining and grumbling about the war (it is set during the 1760s and the Seven Years War, covered earlier in this series here). The aide tells them "that is just the nature of things," and that the soldiers complain too, and that Frederick is aware of the complaints and understands them. Then, however, comes the warning. One of the officials says "people no longer believe in victory," and the aide declares this is "high treason."

In early 1942 the head of German war production, Fritz Todt, was killed in a plane crash. He was replaced by Hitler's former architect Albert Speer. Speer organized German industry to produce tremendous amounts of armaments, but with the aid of slave laborers, often, but not always, from eastern Europe. In spite of the Allied bombing attacks on German industry and cities, German factory output rose, reaching its peak in mid 1944.

Allied bombing attacks took their toll, but just as German air attacks on Britain had failed to destroy British morale, such was the case with the Germans. The Luftwaffe exacted a terrible price on Allied aircraft and pilots over Germany and parts of occupied Europe, but Allied production of aircraft was able to make good all of the losses. One of the biggest air attacks came on Hamburg during a one week period in the summer of 1943. British planes bombed the city by night and American planes bombed by day. Civilian casualties amounted to some 75,000, with about 40,000 of those being killed. Most of Germany's large and medium size cities were heavily bombed during the war, and Berlin itself became a major target from 1944 onward.

The surrender of the German forces at Stalingrad brought shock to the German public, and reports by Nazi officials and agents (spies) noted the German public's disheartened mood. Joseph Goebbels took to the podium at the Berlin Sports Palace (Berliner Sportpalast) in mid February 1943, just a couple of weeks after the surrender at Stalingrad. The speech was broadcast on radio and much of it was filmed for later showing as newsreel shorts in movie theaters. The crux of the speech was a series of questions Goebbels posed to the approximately 20,000 people in attendance. He so roused the passions of the audience, that his main question, "Do you want total war,"** was answered by a thunderous "Ja," and by chants of the familiar Nazi slogan, "Fuehrer command, we follow!" ("Führer befiehl, wir folgen!") If I remember correctly, I've read somewhere that Hitler was listening to the speech on the radio at his military headquarters. So German public opinion ticked up, but perseverance alone would not win the war.

Meanwhile, at camps in Germany and elsewhere, especially in occupied Poland, thousands of people were being killed EVERY DAY! Not because they were enemy soldiers or because they were spies, but they were killed just because of who they were.

Next..."The Greatest Shame of German History"

* The movie, "Der Grosse König" ("The Great King"), is available on DVD with English subtitles. It is well worth seeing, with a good deal of historical accuracy, and some stirring battle scenes, with bombardments, infantry assaults, cavalry charges and all, but be aware, there is also a good deal of propaganda in it, and it is only partially about Frederick the Great, as Frederick is often symbolic of Hitler in the movie, more obviously near the end.

** German: "Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?"

WORD HISTORY:
Storm-This word is closely related to "stir," a word from the Germanic roots of English that essentially means "to disturb," as a verb, and to mean "disturbance" as a noun; as the weather meaning of "storm" undoubtedly came from the notion of "disturbance in the skies, weather disturbance, agitated weather." Old Germanic had "sturmaz," with the basic notion of "agitate, disturb." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "storm," which has since remained the same. The word, usually the verb form, also came to mean "full attack, assault," as in "storm the enemy position." This meaning came about in the 1600s, and as it also has this same meaning in some other Germanic languages, it is unclear to me if English developed this extended meaning of the word itself, or borrowed it from a "relative." Further was the meaning "rage with anger," as in "He stormed about the room." Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "Sturm" ("stürmen" is the verb form), Dutch has "storm," Icelandic has "stormur," Swedish & Norwegian have "storm," Danish has "storm, storme," Frisian has "stoarm," and Low German Saxon has "Störm."