HISTORY 322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Erwin Rommel, Nazi Propaganda, British Somaliland
● T-4:
○ Resistance: not anticipated by the regime
■ Hitler suspends in response to Van Galen’s sermon
■ Also, suspended when the target of 60-70,000 individuals was reached
○ Nazis realized this was a dicey topic - so they made a film to try and explain
■ I Accuse: woman with MS
● Inaccurate portrayal of what Nazis are doing → force Euthanasia on
people who may not want it
● Larger trope of Nazi propaganda - isn’t valued only personally but also
nationally
● Rhetoric of family and loved ones
● Mercy killings - flips the narrative on what they are doing
○ Actually murdering innocent people
■ Not relieving suffering people
○ Von Galen speaks out from christian perspective
■ Preserve honor and dignity of people they loved and try to reconcile the news
■ Fritschie shows us that they knew a lot more than we think
● How is it possible?
● Lebensraum: Expanding the borders of the Reich
○ Living space
○ External enemy and internal enemy are interconnected
■ If the internal enemy isn’t eradicated → they will create problems from within
■ War itself or the eradication of particular populations are two main goals
● Would it be economical to feed the Poles/provide rations for POW?
● Whether it made sense to kill the jews was never and economical
question
● Or to continue the war when it was already lost?
○ Connection between race and space
■ Territory ultimately calls for only a race that is comparable
● East - would have to eject people whose race didn’t fit there
● Continuation of that fight seemed to be within this kind of frame
○ Lebensraum provides necessary frame for growth, resources, etc.
■ Projected predominantly onto east (Soviet Russia / Ukraine)
○ Germany lost all colonies in WWI
■ German pioneers move eastward (like at beginning of U.S).
○ April 1941: Expanding the Blitz
■ War in the Balkans
● Hoped to expand the Blitz initially - moved against the Balkans in
“Operation Punishment”
○ Aided by Croatian fascists
○ War was very brutal - partisan warfare (indiscriminate killing)
■ Face to face / hand to hand combat
■ Nazis deliberately killed Serbian citizens, POW,
soldiers, etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Nazis get stretched thin - need troops for invasion of Soviet Union
○ Abandoned - resources geared to USSR
○ June 22, 1941: Invasion of USSR
■ Hitler invades rapidly
■ Stalin not prepared due to non-aggression pact
■ Expansion of Blitz into Russia
○ September 1941: Desert War - Invasion of Africa
■ German press believed that this was the one place that war was going well
■ Erwin Rommel - Last Action Hero
■ Also abandoned because Mussolini attracted British Somalia - had to help his
ally
■ No concept for final solution -- still thinking about jewish problem in terms
of resettlement → maybe they could ship jews abroad
● Madagascar = perfect place, stuck there
○ Use strength thro joy fleet to get them there
○ Better understanding of resources needed for undertaking
■ Types of things being discussed by Hitler and higher ups
of Nazi hierarchy
■ Plan to find a solution to the Jewish Problem developed
over time - have to understand what happened in war
○ German taking over territory of Russia is fundamentally different from
France/Scandinavia
■ Their experience
● Didn’t harass population
● Stayed in realm of international war
● POW weren’t treated brutally
● Those willing to collaborate found it bearable
■ Different in east
● No consideration or attempt to leave anything in tact
● East = place that should be rid of “subhumans”
● Poland started this process
● SS = huge plans
○ Move all ethnic Germans into Western part of Poland
○ Slavs / Jews into middle part of Poland
■ Had to stop because it would disrupt economic
functioning of oland
● Only 1 mil Poles/Jews were forced out of
German occupied Poland into middle ground
● Forced out of houses quickly
● Hoped to resettle ethnic Germans from Romania
/ Eastern Europe in these houses that had been
vacated
● Nazis start to think about this in something that
needs to be done in a thorough fashion
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hitler suspends in response to van galen"s sermon. Also, suspended when the target of 60-70,000 individuals was reached. Nazis realized this was a dicey topic - so they made a film to try and explain. Inaccurate portrayal of what nazis are doing force euthanasia on people who may not want it. Larger trope of nazi propaganda - isn"t valued only personally but also nationally. Mercy killings - flips the narrative on what they are doing. Von galen speaks out from christian perspective. Preserve honor and dignity of people they loved and try to reconcile the news. Fritschie shows us that they knew a lot more than we think. Lebensraum: expanding the borders of the reich. External enemy and internal enemy are interconnected. If the internal enemy isn"t eradicated they will create problems from within. War itself or the eradication of particular populations are two main goals. Whether it made sense to kill the jews was never and economical question.
