On the Eve of War

On the Eve of WarCHC2DWW 2 PART 1CH. 9

Case Study: Germany After WW 1

The Treaty of Versailles seen by Germans as being unfair (e.g., War Guilt Clause, $5 billion reparations)

Economic Problems: Inflation – lifetime’s savings valueless in weeks

Case Study: Germany After WW 1

Depression & Unemployment – 6 million unemployed

Political Instability – Communists, Social Democrats, Nazis bitterly opposed

Communists & Nazis had street battles

No party could win a majority

Hitler Comes to Power

Nazi Party beliefs

1. Gov’t run by army & wealthy

2. Industry privately owned

3. Powerful military

4. Democratic gov’t outlawed

5. Jews / foreigners restricted rights

Nuremberg Military Rally

Hitler Comes to PowerPromised to bring back Germany lost in WW 1

Germans were a master race of people that deserved to rule the world

Jews were a “deadly poison” & “vermin” wrote Hitler in his book “Mein Kampf”

1933 Hitler gains control of German Parliament

Hitler Comes to Power

Hitler becomes a dictator outlawing all other political parties

Opposition is rounded up by Gestapo (secret police) prison, concentration camps

Newspapers, radio, books, schools, churches controlled by Nazis totalitarian state

Gestapo Symbols

Hitler’s Anti-Semitism

Jew banned from all gov’t jobs, teaching, banking, broadcasting, newspapers, entertainment, many shops, public buildings

1935 – Nuremberg Laws German Jews lost citizenship & civil rights marriages illegal between Jews & non-Jews

Illegal MarriageJews forbidden at athletic club

Hitler’s Anti-Semitism

almost impossible to earn a living Jews fled Germany (e.g., Albert Einstein)

Kristallnacht 1938 (Night of Broken Glass) – 20,000 Jews arrested & 7000 shops looted after Germany embassy official shot by a Jew

Canada’s Response800,000 Jews tried to escape Nazi Germany between 1933 – 1939

USA 240,000, Britain 85,000, Canada 4000

Canada British & American farm immigrants NOT urban Jews creating more unemployment

St. Louis Incident

Ocean liner St. Louis 907 Jews fleeing Nazis in June 1939 arrived near Halifax

Refused entry even though 3000 Sudeten German refugees accepted earlier in 1939

Jews not considered good settlers

SS St. Louis

Why Canada Slept

Canada unprepared for war in 1939 Why?

Memories of WW 1 losses

Pacifism – opposed to war & violence

Great Depression – over a million on relief

Munich AgreementSept. 1938Appeasement

Why Canada Slept

Isolationism – small, insignificant “fire-proof house” far away from European problems

Political Leadership – PM King avoid split in Cdn unity & protect Cdn independence

Appeasement – Hitler “no serious danger”

Canada Declares War

Sept 3, 1939 Britain declares war on Germany after it’s invasion of Poland

Sept 10, 1939 Canada declares war first time Canada declared war by itself

No celebrations like start of WW 1

Canadian Preparations

1939 – 10,000 soldiers, 14 tanks, 50 planes

3 weeks 58,000 volunteers enlisted

3 meals + $1.30 / day, clothing, shelter better than being unemployed

War Measures Act – sweeping gov’t power

At War

Sept 1939 Germany quickly crushed Poland with blitzkrieg (lightning warfare) using tanks and dive bombers

May 1940 German blitzkrieg defeats Netherlands, Belgium & France in 6 weeks

Miracle of Dunkirk saved 300,000 soldiers

Canadian forces & supplies save Britain