World War Ii Social History

One of the last major stories on the Third Reich that remains largely untold is that of the extraordinary wave of suicides, carried out not just by much of the Nazi leadership, but by thousands of ordinary Germans, in the Second World War's closing period. Some of these were provoked by terror in the face of advancing Soviet troops or by personal guilt, but many could not be explained in such relatively straightforward terms.

In the first years of the Weimar Republic, the German psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn gathered a remarkable collection of works by schizophrenic patients that would astonish and delight the world. The Prinzhorn collection, as it was called, inspired a new generation of artists, including Paul Klee, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali. What the doctor could not have known, however, was that these works would later be used to prepare the ground for mass-murder.

Conscripted into the Polish army as Hitler’s forces draw closer, Jewish soldier Tolek Klings vows to return to his wife, Klara, and son, Juliusz. However, the army is rife with anti-Semitism and Tolek is relentlessly tormented. As the Germans invade Poland, he is faced with a terrible dilemma: flee home to protect his family - and risk being shot as a deserter - or remain a soldier, hoping reports of women and children being spared by the occupying forces are true.

On January 24, 1943, 230 women were placed in four cattle trucks on a train in Compiegne, in Northeastern France, and the doors bolted shut for the journey to Auschwitz. They were members of the French Resistance, ranging in age from teenagers to the elderly, women who before the war had been doctors, farmers' wives, secretaries, biochemists, schoolgirls. With immense courage they had taken up arms against a brutal occupying force; now their friendship would give them strength as they experienced unimaginable horrors.

On 27th January 1944, Stalin declares that Leningrad has been liberated. After a siege lasting two and a half years, German forces retreat with the Red Army in hot pursuit. Encouraged by the victory, Soviet general Govorov decides to liberate Estonia, but in the battle of Narva, the Germans upset his plans, and the front comes to a temporary halt. Hitler's forces are feeling the pressure on all sides, however.

The battle is won, the enemy driven out, and everyone can breathe again. Many field generals thought this - but generals often make mistakes. Throughout World War II, specially trained soldiers made sure that the enemy never rested in peace. Command units struck anywhere and at any time: a German general was kidnapped in the middle of Crete, while commandos liberated Benito Mussolini from his prison on a mountain top. And British units blew up factories in a Norwegian town to deprive Germany of important raw materials.

The Germans and their Japanese allies have gone from victory to victory since the start of the war, but in the autumn of 1942, that begins to change. On the small Pacific island of Guadalcanal, US forces drive back the Japanese to capture a key airfield. Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, Hitler’s blitzkrieg slams to a halt at Stalingrad, stopped by the Russian winter and a Red Army determined to defend every street. As the war enters its fourth year, the conflict becomes ever more brutal.

In August 1940, Berlin was hit by British bombers. Hitler immediately ordered a series of gigantic air defences be built - each one more expensive than the city’s entire Olympic facilities - but they’re ineffective and resources are wasted. The Führer also has an opportunity to force the British out of North Africa and gain control of the Middle East’s valuable oil. But he rejects his generals’ advice, just as he unnecessarily draws the United States into the war in Europe.

Luftwaffe pilots fear one weapon more than any other: British Spitfires. Powerful Rolls Royce engines and an ingenious design make the plane fast and manoeuvrable. In 1940, Spitfires and their fearless pilots resist Hitler’s attempts to bomb Britain to submission. The fighter’s success forces Germany’s leaders to develop even more powerful weapons. London is targeted by V-1 and V-2 bombs, forerunners of the Saturn V moon rocket. Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front the supergun Schwerer Gustav fires shells at targets 47 kilometres away.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler seizes power after seducing the German people with lavish promises of restoring order, prosperity and the Greater German Reich to its former glories. He then goes to on exploit other Western European powers’ fear of confrontation to rearm the country in direct defiance of the restrictive terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Before his neighbours can react, Hitler has transformed Germany’s armed forces into the most modern war machine of the day. And Hitler is not alone.

Au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le système Double Cross (en anglais Double Cross System ou XX System, double cross signifiant tromper) était un dispositif de contre-espionnage organisé par le MI5, le service de renseignements britannique actif sur le territoire du Royaume-Uni, qui eut pour finalité la désinformation des services secrets allemands. Des agents nazis ont été capturés et retournés puis utilisés par les Britanniques principalement pour diffuser de fausses informations à leurs officiers-traitants allemands.

Om morgenen den 6. august 1945 udløser besætningen på flyet Enola Gay en atombombe over Hiroshima. Få minutter efter er den japanske provinsby forvandlet til et brændende helvede. Tre dage senere overgår den samme skæbne Nagasaki. Selv de forhærdede japanske generaler, som ellers var fast besluttede på, at landet skulle fortsætte kampen, er rystede over de ufattelige ødelæggelser. Og da kejseren selv også taler for overgivelse, vælger Japan at acceptere en betingelsesløs kapitulation.

De nazistiske forbrydelser var mange. I 1934 føler Hitler sig så truet af rivaler i sit eget parti, at han ser stort på landets love og beordrer mere end 80 mord. I to blodige dage dræber Führerens private SS-enhed gamle venner i SA plus 10-20 kritiske generaler og parlamentariske politikere. I juni 1940 marcherede tyske soldater til det sydlige Polen. I løbet af de næste fire år bygger arkitekter, ingeniører og SS-officerer et af historiens mest forfærdelige steder: Dødsfabrikken Auschwitz, hvor mennesker myrdes med klinisk effektivitet.

Santa messa per i miei fucilati è una testimonianza pressoché unica delle rappresaglie compiute dall'esercito italiano nel 1942-43 nei territori occupati della Slovenia e della Croazia. Il diario è stato scritto giorno dopo giorno da don Pietro Brignoli, un cappellano militare al seguito delle truppe italiane che nell'aprile del 1941 avevano invaso il Regno di Jugoslavia. Nelle pagine del suo quaderno Brignoli registra scrupolosamente le quotidiane fucilazioni di civili e presunti partigiani, eseguite spesso in maniera del tutto arbitraria.

Bert Trautmann is famed as the goalkeeper who broke his neck in an FA Cup final and played on. But his early life is no less extraordinary: he grew up in Nazi Germany and fought for the Germans in World War Two. In 1945 he was captured and sent to a British POW camp where, for the first time, he saw a better way of life. He embraced England as his new home and before long became an England football hero. This is his extraordinary story.

Henri Déricourt est un pilote français qui travailla comme agent secret pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il est considéré comme agent triple : recruté par le Special Operations Executive britannique, il fut désigné comme officier des opérations aériennes en France (zone nord), mais il travailla simultanément au profit des services secrets allemands ; il est probable que, dans ce double rôle, il était contrôlé par le MI6... Voici l'histoire peu connue de ce français qui espionnait pour 3 services secrets en même temps...

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the United States Army became the principal agent of American foreign policy. The army designed, implemented, and administered the occupations of the defeated Axis powers Germany and Japan, as well as many other nations. Generals such as Lucius Clay in Germany, Douglas MacArthur in Japan, Mark Clark in Austria, and John Hodge in Korea presided over these territories as proconsuls.

In Paris, January 1943, 230 French women resisters were rounded up and sent on a train to Auschwitz - the only train, in the four years of the German occupation, to take women of the resistance to a death camp. The youngest was a schoolgirl of 15, the eldest a farmer’s wife of 68; there were among them teachers, biochemists, sales girls, secretaries, housewives and university lecturers. The women turned to one another, finding solace and strength in friendship and shared experience.

Die Weiße Rose - vor allem verbunden mit den Namen Hans und Sophie Scholl - kennt man als Widerstandsgruppe im nationalsozialistischen Staat. Wer aber weiß genau, was in den Flugblättern stand, die die jungen Leute das Leben kosteten?

I tolv år har Hitler regerat Tyskland. När riket under våren 1945 krymper, tar Führern sin tillflykt till Berlin. I april förskansar han sig i en bunker djupt under huvudstaden, men även där kan de ryska bomberna höras dygnet runt. Till sist är även Hitler tvungen att inse att kampen är över. Führern avvisar alla förslag att fly och väljer att använda sig av både en pistol och en giftkapsel - enligt läkaren det säkraste sättet att ta livet av sig på.