Quiz 1

Hermann Goering

(1893 - 1946) Pilot in WW1, joined Nazis in 1922, wounded in 1923 putsch, helped create Gestapo, commander of Luftwaffe (air force), active in plans to eliminate Jews, arrested and put on trial in Nuremberg, stole artwork from all over Europe, committed suicide via cyanide bullet day before execution

Ribbentrop

(1893 - 1946) Vain and pompous, German Foreign minister from 1938; signed the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact; tried at Nuremberg then hanged as a war criminal

Josef Goebbels

(1897 - 1945) joined Nazis in 1924, Minister of Propaganda, complete control of media, followed Mein Kampf rule of the "big lie", committed suicide with wife and kids (perfect Nazi family who shouldn't live in a world that is not Nazi)

Adolf Eichmann

(1906 - 1962) assigned by Heydrich to carry out execution of Jewish population in Europe; in charge of the organization and logistics. Escaped after the war and lived in Argentina until 1960; Israeli Mossad captured him and put him on trial, where he used the defense of "following orders"; hanged

Josef Mengele

(1911 - 1979) Physician who waited on platform at Auschwitz-Birkenau for arrival of train to make selection of life or death; known as "angel of death"; used inmates for medical experiments; worked with twins to change eye color by injecting dye into eyes of one twin; injected children with diseases, did autopsy, then burned bodies; escaped to Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil

Lebensraum

(German for "habitat" or literally "living space") served as a major motivation for Nazi Germany's territorial aggression. In his book Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler detailed his belief that the German people needed Lebensraum (for a Grossdeutschland, land, and raw materials), and that it should be taken in the East. It was the stated policy of the Nazis to kill, deport, Germanize or enslave the Polish, and later also Russian and other Slavic populations, and to repopulate the land with reinrassig Germanic peoples. The entire urban population was to be exterminated by starvation, thus creating an agricultural surplus to feed Germany and allowing their replacement by a German upper class.

Munich Conference

1938; Chamberlain, France and other countries (not the USSR or Czech); they agreed that Sudentenland should be ceded to Germany; Chamberlain secured peace with Germany.

Danzig

A city that, prior to WWI, belonged to Germany. After WWI, when the lands near it became part of the Polish Corridor, it was declared a "free city" independent of any country. It was reincorporated into Nazi Germany in 1939.

Rhineland

A region in Germany designated a demilitarized zone by the Treaty of Versailles; Hitler violated the treaty and sent German troops there in 1936

Polish Corridor

A strip of German territory awarded to newly independent Poland by the Treaty of Versailles. It was 20-70 meters wide and gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea and separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. Although originally Polish, a large minority of the population was German-speaking, an the entire situation caused friction between Poland and Germany, ultimately culminating in the German invasion of Poland in 1939 and World War II.

Collective Security

An Article 10 provision of the League of Nations charter, it stated that if one country was involved in a confrontation, other nations would support it. Agreements between countries for mutual defense and to discourage aggression.

David Lloyd George

Britain's prime minister at the end of World War I whose goal was to make Germany pay for the other countries' staggering war losses (reparations)

Neville Chamberlain

British statesman who as Prime Minister pursued a policy of appeasement toward fascist Germany (1869-1940). Made the Munich Agreement with Hitler (settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers - "Sudetenland")

Appeasement

Foreign policy of British PMs Baldwin, MacDonald, Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany in order to reach a deal with Germany to try and prevent a war.

Clemenceau

French premier during World War I; he was the French representative at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919

Sudetenland

German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia, ceded to Germany in the Hitler-Chamberlain Munich meeting (September 1938).

Locarno

In 1925 the leaders of Europe signed a number of agreements at Locarno, Switzerland. Germany and France pledged to accept their common border, and Britain and Italy agreed to fight either France or Germany if either one invaded the other. Other boundary disputes were also settled.

Spanish Civil War

In 1936 a rebellion erupted in Spain after a coalition of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists was elected. General Francisco Franco led the rebellion. The revolt quickly became a civil war. The Soviet Union provided arms and advisers to the government forces while Germany and Italy sent tanks, airplanes, and soldiers to help Franco.

Purges

Joseph Stalin's policy of exiling or killing millions of his opponents in the Soviet Union.

Anglo-German Naval Agreement

June 18, 1935; naval agreement between Britain and Germany in order to regulate the size of the Kriegsmarine (G) in relation to the Royal Navy (B). The total tonnage of the Kriegsmarine was 35% of the total tonnage of the Royal Navy. Renounced by Adolf Hitler in April of 1938.

German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, officially the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Non-aggression pact signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in Moscow on 23 August 1939. It is also known as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact or the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Remained in force until the German government broke it by launching an attack on the Soviet positions in eastern Poland on 22 June 1941 contrary to the supplementary protocol of the German-Soviet Frontier Treaty dictating the new European spheres of interest. Most important provisions were added in the form of a secret protocol that stipulated an invasion of Poland and partition of its territory between Germany and the Soviet Union. This effectively marked the beginning of World War II and made the Soviet Union an unofficial ally of Nazi Germany in the period from 1939 until the German invasion in 1941.

Maginot Line

Series of concrete and steel fortifications armed with heavy artillery along France's border with Germany. Bypassed by the Nazis

Maxim Litvinov

Soviet politician who reestablished diplomatic relations between France and America with the USSR. Also orchestrated the admission of the USSR into the League of Nations. Significant to helping the Soviet Union get involved diplomatically with countries like the United States and France increasing international ties of the Soviet Union after being isolated do to Pariah.

Molotov

Stalin's foreign minister who declares that Western Democracies are enemies to the Soviet Union.

Anschluss

The union of Austria with Germany, resulting from the occupation of Austria by the German army in 1938.

Lidice

Village outside of Prague, destroyed; German retaliation to assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. 190 men shot, 185 women killed at Ravensbruck camp, 85 children gassed at Chelmno