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THE THIRD REICH IN POWER PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Professor of European History Richard J Evans | 941 pages | 07 Dec 2006 | Penguin Putnam Inc | 9780143037903 | English | New York, NY, United States Third Reich: An Overview | The Holocaust Encyclopedia Attacks began with artillery bombardment, followed by bombing and strafing runs. Next the tanks would attack and finally the infantry would move in to secure the captured area. The decision to attack the Soviet Union and the decisive defeat at Stalingrad led to the retreat of the German armies and the eventual loss of the war. The Sturmabteilung SA; Storm Detachment , or Brownshirts, founded in , was the first paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party; their initial assignment was to protect Nazi leaders at rallies and assemblies. After the purge of , the SA was no longer a major force. Initially a small bodyguard unit under the auspices of the SA, the Schutzstaffel SS; Protection Squadron grew to become one of the largest and most powerful groups in Nazi Germany. It was dependent on the regular army for heavy weaponry and equipment, and most units were under tactical control of the High Command of the Armed Forces OKW. With recruitment and conscription based only on expansion, by the Waffen-SS could not longer claim to be an elite fighting force. SS formations committed many war crimes against civilians and allied servicemen. This holding company owned housing corporations, factories, and publishing houses. The most pressing economic matter the Nazis initially faced was the 30 percent national unemployment rate. Hjalmar Schacht , President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics, created a scheme for deficit financing in May Capital projects were paid for with the issuance of promissory notes called Mefo bills. When the notes were presented for payment, the Reichsbank printed money. Hitler and his economic team expected that the upcoming territorial expansion would provide the means of repaying the soaring national debt. In October , the Junkers Aircraft Works was expropriated. From a workforce of 3, people producing units per year in , the industry grew to employ a quarter of a million workers manufacturing over 10, technically advanced aircraft annually less than ten years later. An elaborate bureaucracy was created to regulate imports of raw materials and finished goods with the intention of eliminating foreign competition in the German marketplace and improving the nation's balance of payments. The Nazis encouraged the development of synthetic replacements for materials such as oil and textiles. Any profits in excess of that amount would be turned over to the Reich. By , Farben regretted making the deal, as excess profits were by then being generated. Major public works projects financed with deficit spending included the construction of a network of Autobahnen and providing funding for programmes initiated by the previous government for housing and agricultural improvements. Envisioning widespread car ownership as part of the new Germany, Hitler arranged for designer Ferdinand Porsche to draw up plans for the KdF- wagen Strength Through Joy car , intended to be an automobile that everyone could afford. With the outbreak of World War II, the factory was converted to produce military vehicles. None were sold until after the war, when the vehicle was renamed the Volkswagen people's car. Six million people were unemployed when the Nazis took power in and by there were fewer than a million. By early , the focus shifted towards rearmament. By , military expenditures accounted for 73 percent of the government's purchases of goods and services. The Nazi war economy was a mixed economy that combined a free market with central planning. Historian Richard Overy describes it as being somewhere in between the command economy of the Soviet Union and the capitalist system of the United States. Approximately 75 percent were Eastern European. Poor living conditions led to high rates of sickness, injury, and death, as well as sabotage and criminal activity. Foreign workers brought into Germany were put into four classifications: guest workers, military internees, civilian workers, and Eastern workers. Each group was subject to different regulations. The Nazis issued a ban on sexual relations between Germans and foreign workers. By , over a half million women served as auxiliaries in the German armed forces. They also took jobs formerly held by men, especially on farms and in family-owned shops. Very heavy strategic bombing by the Allies targeted refineries producing synthetic oil and gasoline , as well as the German transportation system, especially rail yards and canals. By November, fuel coal was no longer reaching its destinations and the production of new armaments was no longer possible. During the course of the war, the Nazis extracted considerable plunder from occupied Europe. Historian and war correspondent William L. Shirer writes: "The total amount of [Nazi] loot will never be known; it has proved beyond man's capacity to accurately compute. The Bank of France was forced to provide 4. The Nazis exploited other conquered nations in a similar way. Nazi plunder included private and public art collections, artefacts, precious metals, books, and personal possessions. France saw the greatest extent of Nazi plunder. Some 26, railroad cars of art treasures, furniture, and other looted items were sent to Germany from France. Goods and raw materials were also taken. In France, an estimated 9,, tonnes 8,, long tons; 9,, short tons of cereals were seized during the course of the war, including 75 percent of its oats. In addition, 80 percent of the country's oil and 74 percent of its steel production were taken. The valuation of this loot is estimated to be In Poland, Nazi plunder of raw materials began even before the German invasion had concluded. Following Operation Barbarossa, the Soviet Union was also plundered. In alone, 9,, tons of cereals, 2,, tonnes 2,, long tons; 2,, short tons of fodder, 3,, tonnes 3,, long tons; 3,, short tons of potatoes, and , tonnes , long tons; , short tons of meats were sent back to Germany. This relatively low number in comparison to the occupied nations of Western Europe can be attributed to the devastating fighting on the Eastern Front. Racism and antisemitism were basic tenets of the Nazi Party and the Nazi regime. Nazi Germany's racial policy was based on their belief in the existence of a superior master race. The Nazis postulated the existence of a racial conflict between the Aryan master race and inferior races, particularly Jews, who were viewed as a mixed race that had infiltrated society and were responsible for the exploitation and repression of the Aryan race. Discrimination against Jews began immediately after the seizure of power. Following a month-long series of attacks by members of the SA on Jewish businesses and synagogues, on 1 April Hitler declared a national boycott of Jewish businesses. The regime used violence and economic pressure to encourage Jews to voluntarily leave the country. Citizens were harassed and subjected to violent attacks. In November a young Jewish man requested an interview with the German ambassador in Paris and met with a legation secretary, whom he shot and killed to protest his family's treatment in Germany. This incident provided the pretext for a pogrom the Nazis incited against the Jews on 9 November Members of the SA damaged or destroyed synagogues and Jewish property throughout Germany. The Jewish community was fined one billion marks to pay for the damage caused by Kristallnacht and told that any insurance settlements would be confiscated. Emigrants to Palestine were allowed to transfer property there under the terms of the Haavara Agreement , but those moving to other countries had to leave virtually all their property behind, and it was seized by the government. Like the Jews, the Romani people were subjected to persecution from the early days of the regime. The Romani were forbidden to marry people of German extraction. They were shipped to concentration camps starting in and many were killed. The Nazis intended on deporting all Romani people from Germany, and confined them to Zigeunerlager Gypsy camps for this purpose. Himmler ordered their deportation from Germany in December , with few exceptions. A total of 23, Romani were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp , of whom 19, died. Outside of Germany, the Romani people were regularly used for forced labour, though many were killed. In occupied Serbia , 1, to 12, Romani were killed, while nearly all 25, Romani living in the Independent State of Croatia were killed. The estimates at end of the war put the total death toll at around ,, which equalled approximately 25 percent of the Romani population in Europe. Action T4 was a programme of systematic murder of the physically and mentally handicapped and patients in psychiatric hospitals that took place mainly from to , and continued until the end of the war. Initially the victims were shot by the Einsatzgruppen and others; gas chambers and gas vans using carbon monoxide were used by early Most of the victims came from disadvantaged groups such as prostitutes, the poor, the homeless, and criminals. Germany's war in the East was based on Hitler's long-standing view that Jews were the great enemy of the German people and that Lebensraum was needed for Germany's expansion. The Generalplan Ost "General Plan for the East" called for deporting the population of occupied Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Siberia, for use as slave labour or to be murdered. Food supplies would be diverted to the German army and German civilians. Cities would be razed and the land allowed to return to forest or resettled by German colonists. Around the time of the failed offensive against Moscow in December , Hitler resolved that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated immediately.

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