4.3 war at home_wwii_can_website

Canada on The Home Front

• Because of how severe the Great Depression was, Canada was very unconcerned with other countries during the 1930s• Mackenzie-King went to visit Hitler in Germany in 1937. King could see signs of Jewish persecution but felt it would be ill advised to get involved.

“We must seek to keep this part of the Continent free from unrest. Nothing can be gained by creating an internal problem in an effort to meet an international one” - King

Canada Declares War• 1938 British PM at the start of WWII Neville

Chamberlain announced that he secured “peace for our time” with Munich Agreement– Munich Agreement (Policy of Appeasement)

allowed Hitler to take over Czechoslovakia, but stop seizing any more land

• Hitler ignored agreement and continued on his quest to conquer land.

• Canada was reluctant to join the war because of WWI

Neville Chamberlain in Munich to sign the “Munich Agreement”

Mobilizing Canada’s Resources• At the beginning of WWII

Canada’s Army was very small and not well equipped– 4500 troops– few dozen anti-tank

guns– 16 tanks – no modern artillery

• Canada’s Air force and navy were outdated

• By September there were over 58 330 volunteers for the armed forces

"Wait for me daddy“ :British Columbia Regiment, DCO, marching in New Westminster, 1940

Civilians and the War Effort• -Wartime shortages led to Canada’s first organized

recycling programs.• Community groups collected aluminum, steel, and

copper items to be turned into aircrafts, tanks, and guns.

• -Families dug up their lawns and planted victory gardens to grow food for their tables.

• -Canadians lent the government money through Victory Bonds, just like WWI. The war helped Canada’s economy

• Unemployment vanished• -people joined the armed forces and worked in

weapon and munitions factories.

Two boys gather rubber for wartime salvage. Montreal

Problems with Civilians on the Home Front

• -Canadians remembered the WWI shortages and therefore rushed to the stores to stock up on items they feared might soon vanish from the shelves

• -The result of this panic was inflation• -Faced with shortages and rising prices, the Canadian

government began to take control of the country’s economy.• The Wartime Prices and Trade Board under the authority of

the War Measures Act, becomes responsible for price controls and inflation control.

• laws regulated wages and limited price increases on goods and services. Things like rent, iron and steel, lumber, sugar, and milk were all rationed.

• 1941 – laws froze most prices and wages, and rationing was introduced.

The War at Home:The Conscription Crisis

• Prime Minister Mackenzie King had promised that there would be no conscription, However, as the fighting grew heavier, there were demands to send more soldiers overseas

• King’s government developed the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA)

• This act gave the government special emergency powers to mobilize all the resources in the nation to defeat the enemy.

• The hiring of men in many positions in civilian employment was effectively banned through measures taken under the National Resources Mobilization Act.

• The first Unemployment Insurance program was introduced in Canada in 1940

William Mackenzie King voting in the plebiscite on the introduction of conscription for overseas military service

Conscription Crisis• Prime Minister King had promised that there would be no conscription, But as the

fighting grew heavier, there were demands to send more soldiers overseas.• In 1942 a national system of employment control under the National Selective

Service Act, passed regulations stating no-one could seek a new job without possessing a permit to do so

• No employer could advertise for workers without permission• No-one was allowed to be out of work for more than seven days, and anyone

could be required to apply for any available full-time suitable work of high or very high labour priority and to accept any such work offered to him.

• This did not lead to sufficient volunteers for the military so in addition to the Selective Services Act

• In 1942, King held a referendum on the issue of conscription.Referendum or plebiscite - submitting an issue to the direct vote of the

people.• 80% of Québec said no, 80% of the rest of Canada voted yes.• King then decided not to send conscripts unless he was forced to.• The issue of conscription divided the country as it did in WWI, however, the

situation was not as severe as it had been in 1917.• Think/ Pair/Share: How might the introduction of conscription affect

French/English relations?

The War at Home:The Conscription Crisis (cont.)

• King made the government stance “Not necessarily conscription but conscription if necessary”

• By 1944, losses were so high, King reluctantly passed conscription and sent 12,000 soldiers overseas.

Japanese Canadians• When Canada and Japan went to war (Dec/1941);

British Columbians feared a Japanese invasion.They felt that Japanese Canadians (considered enemy aliens) might assist in such an invasion.

• Results: 1) 38 Japanese Canadians were arrested 2) 1200 fishing boats were seized by the government 3) All Canadians of Japanese origin were required to register with the government 4) All Japanese Canadians were refused when they tried to join the Canadian army 5) All persons of Japanese ancestry were moved to camps in the interior of B.C. 6) The government confiscated their property and sold it 7) After the war, approx. 4000 Japanese Canadians were deported to Japan.

A Royal Canadian Navy officer questions Japanese-Canadian fishermen while confiscating their boat

Total War• Canadian government became more

involved in planning and economy control• April 1940: established Department of

Munitions and Supplies – C.D. Howe was minister

• Told industries what to produce and how to produce it

• Vancouver built ships for the navy• Montreal constructed planes and bombers

C.D. Howe

Total War• C.D. Howe created crown corporations: State-owned

corporations established by law, owned by the sovereign and overseen by parliament and cabinet.

• Examples of federal Crown corporations include the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada Post, Canadian National, and Via Rail.

• Ministers of the Crown often control the shares in such public corporations, while parliament both sets out the laws that create and bind Crown corporations.

• Farmers were told to produce more wheat, beef, dairy, and other foods

• The Government ran telephone companies, refined fuel, stockpiled silk for parachutes, mined uranium and controlled food production.

• Policy of total war – Anything to destroy the enemy and achieve victory.

Royal Canadian Air Force

• At the end of the1930s the RCAF was not considered a major military force.

• Like all of Canada’s military at the onset of WWII, it was small and not very well equipped.

• With the implementation of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the Second World War, the RCAF was significantly expanded to become the fourth largest allied air force.

• During the war the RCAF was involved in operations in Great Britain, northwest Europe, the north Atlantic, Egypt, Italy, Sicily, Malta, Ceylon, India, Burma, and with home defence.

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP)

• PM King hoped contribution would remain at home

• December 1939: Canada agreed to host and administer a training plan where British instructors would train pilots and other flight personnel from all over the Commonwealth in Canada this was the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan known as the BCATP.

BCATP (cont.)• Air fields were built on the

Prairies and in other locations near small towns and villages

• Old aircraft were refitted and returned to service.

• The BCATP trained over 130 000 pilots, navigators, flight engineers, and ground staff

• The total cost was over $2.2 billion

Women in the War• -Before WWII started, few women in Canada worked outside

the home.• -In 1940, 876 000 women over 18 years of age were

employed outside the home.• -By 1943, 1 000 000 women were in the paid workforce and

another 800,000 doing farm work.• -Women built ships, airplanes, and weapons, knitted socks

and sweaters.• -The government provided incentives for women such as tax

exemptions and childcare facilities.• These incentives would end after the war.• -Women were accepted into the armed services for the first

time. • Eg. Radio operators, nurses, and ambulance drivers.• -At the end of the war, many women gave up their jobs to

returning soldiers.

Private Lowry, CWAC, tightening up the springs on the front of her vehicle

Propaganda and other Government programs at Home• -Government sponsored radio announcements, magazine, newspaper

adds, and wall posters urged Canadians to spend wisely, participate in salvage drives, grow victory gardens, or buy victory Bonds.

• -The National Film Board (NFB) created documentaries and short informational films showing the importance of Canadian civilians as part of the war effort.

• Introduced William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Liberals in 1944, family allowances were to be paid by monthly cheque directly to mothers of children under 16 beginning in 1945.

• Unlike other national social security measures such as health and unemployment insurance, they did not fall under provincial jurisdiction.

• During the Second World War, many families suffered because their wages had not matched wartime inflation.

• By introducing family allowances, the government improved both the purchasing power of families with children and their standard of living.

• The family allowance program gave many Canadian families their first experience of the benefits of government policies designed to generate social progress.

No Protection For Jews

Despite our fond belief that we have always been an accepting country this was simply not always true.

After Kristallnacht, some politicians called for the immigration of some Jewish people. The immigration minister refused saying “none is too many”.

When the ocean liner “St. Louis” arrived with 900 Jewish refugees on board we refused them access to Canada.

Think/Pair/Share: Do you think that Canada is morally obligated to take in refugees if they face death otherwise? What are the possible ramifications of this policy?

Jewish refugees aboard the SS St. Louis look out through the portholes of the ship

Modern Companies Involved With The Nazis

• IBM (International Business Machines)• -helped facilitate Nazi genocide; through generation and

tabulation of punch cards based census data• -punch cards specific traits: gender, nationality, and occupation• -1933 census and concentrating carried out by Dehomag, owned

by Computing-Tabulating Recording Company, renamed to IBM• -census important to Nazi party to identify Jews, gypsies, and

other undesirables• -encouraged by Thomas Watson (Chief Executive Officer) of IBM• -Willy Heidinger, controlled the Dehomag, the 90% owned

German subsidiary of IBM, enthusiastic supporter of Nazi regime

• -Nazi Germany second largest customer

• -without IBM's machinery, continuing upkeep and service, as well as the supply of punch cards, whether located on-site or off-site, Hitler's camps could have never managed the numbers they did

• -IBM indicates it doesn’t have much info on this era, most documents destroyed or lost

• Chase Bank• -from the late 1930s until june 14, 1941, President Franklin D.

Roosevelt froze German assets

• -order blocked any access to French accounts in the U.S. by anyone by Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr.

• -Chase Bank worked with the Nazi government

• -within hours, Chase unblocked accounts and the funds were transferred to South America to Nazi Germany.

• -U.S. Treasury investigated French subsidiaries of American banks

• -only Chase and Morgan remained open during Nazi occupation

• -Chase branch chief in Paris, Carlos Niedermann(close with high up German officials) enforced restrictions against Jewish properties, and refused funds belonging to Jews

• -1998, Chase general counsel said Chase had no control on Niedermann

• -(2012)he U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for JP Morgan Chase had illegally aided dictatorships in Cuba, Sudan, Liberia, Iran, and transferred 32,000 ounces of gold bullion for Iranian bank.

• Ford & General Motors• -both owned German subsidiaries that controlled 70% of the

car market, retooled themselves during war times to make war materials

• -Managers of Ford and General Motors resisted calls from Roosevelt to set up military production

• -German troops used Ford & GM trucks, and Opel-built warplanes

• -Ford and James Mooney, a senior executive, received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle

• -GM produced the “Blitz” truck used for blitzkrieg

• -American Ford bartered a deal to give Nazi Germany strategic raw materials, notably rubber

• -“Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer said in 1977 that Hitler would never have considered invading Poland" without synthetic fuel technology provided by General Motors”

• -German Ford made a personal present to Hitler of 35,000 Reichsmarks in honor of his 50th birthday, according to a captured Nazi document.

• -Mooney met with Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering, for an inspection of a plant

• -in 1940, after fall of France, Henry Ford personally vetoed a U.S. government-approved plan to produce under license Rolls-Royce engines for British fighter planes

• -workers in German factories were prisoners

• - with declaration of war by the U.S., no contact with Germany

• -June 1943, the Nazi custodian of Cologne plant, Robert Schmidt, traveled to Portugal to meet with Ford Managers

• -after the war, GM and Ford compensated for destruction of plants in Germany due to bombing

• Kodak• -company revenues and employees in Germany increased due to

the manufactured triggers, detonators, and other military goods

• -used slave labor in two factories

• -French branches made lots of money as well

• -Eastman Kodak traded with Nazi Germany

• -(1942-43)Swiss branch bought photographic supplies from Germany

• -(1942) Spanish branch imported items from Germany

• -(1942)Portuguese branch sent profits to the Nazi-occupied branch in Hague

• -no penalties for all three

• -Kodak dealt with Hitler’s personal economic advisor, Wilhelm Keppler, Keppler was dubbed “a Kodak man”

• -Keppler advised a number of US firms on letting their Jewish employees go

• Fanta• -resulted from the trade embargoes on Germany

• -1941, head of Coca-Cola Deutschland created drink with ingredients in Germany

• -during war factory cut off from Coca Cola

• -drink discontinued after the war, launched in 1955

• Coca Cola• -before and during war company adopted apparent policy of

ignoring the practice of eugenics and anti-Semitism

• -several top Coke executive members of NSDAP

• -Coke patriotic drink during war

• -sent to front lines to refresh soldiers; used to establish new franchises in newly liberated countries

• -prior war Coca-Cola hosted various Nazi party sporting events

•

• Bayer• -used forcé labour(POWs, slaves)• -made Zyklon B gas, dyes, and pharmaceuticals• -executive Fritz ter Meer sentenced 7 years in prison at

Nuremberg; made head of supervisory board after release• -funded Nazis party• -IG Farben was an econcomic corporate emporium, consisting of

BASF, BAYER, Hoechst• -IG Farben single largest funder of Nazi party• -100% explosives and synthetic gasoline came from IGF• -after war, US government investigated IGF; “without IG Farben

the Second World War would simply not have been possible”• -created the Aushwitz project• -tested new and unknown vaccines on victims of the

concentration camps

• -Nuremberg trials: 24 IG Farben board memebrs and executives were convicted; by 1951 all released.

• -IG Farben split into Bayer, BASF, and Hoechst; now 20 times larger than IG Farben

• -for almost 3 decades after WWII the 3 companies filled highest positions with members of NSDAP

• Nestle• -used forced labour

• -just before arrival of allied forces to headquarters in Germany, replaced swastika with Swiss flag

• -financed the Nazi party in Switzerland; won contract, supplying chocolate needs of German army

• -their chocolate used to coax young Jews into captivity before being sent to concentration camp.

• BMW• -used up to 50,000 forced labourers; POWs, slaves, inamtes

• -workers: produced engines for the Luftwaffe and aid regime in defending

• -produced mainly aircraft engines, cars, and motorcycle manufacture

•

• -at time owned by Gunther Quandt, son, Herbert, friends with Hitler

• -Quandts benefited from eradication of Jews and livelihoods

• -owned companies seized from Jews

• -after war were not allowed to produce planes, then produced cars, with symbol resembling propellers

• General Electrics• -used slaves

• -built gas chambers through their shares in the company Siemens

• -deliberately and artificially raised the prices of tungsten carbide in the US

• -funded Hitler

• Hugo Boss• -founder, Hugo Boss, part of Nazis Party, and sponsoring member

of the SS

• -started supplying uniforms in 1928

• -1934 became official supplier of uniforms Sturmabteilung, Schutzstaffel, Hitler Youth, National Socialist Motor Corps

• -due to demand, used 30-40 prisoners & 150 forced labourers.

• -Hugo Boss admirer of Hitler

• VW• -brainchild of Adolf Hitler

• -“people’s car”

• -“Kdf Wagen”

• -one of the first rear-engined cars

• -Ferdinand Porsche built and designed prototype, Volksauto

•

• -factory built in 1938

• -to help people save, government-sponsored savings program

• -stop being made during war

• -Porsche had troubles car violated a lot of patents from Czechoslovakian car company Tatra who built similar car; Porsche agreed to pay a settlement, but Hitler stopped him and told him he would take care of it. 1961, Volkswagen settled out of court with Tatra