YALTA Conference Yalta, U. S. S. R YALTA Conference Yalta, U.S.S.R. February 1945 Last meeting between the Big Three Split Germany into 4 zones of occupation Split Berlin into 4 zones of occupation Agree to meet April 1945 in San Francisco & form United Nations Stalin promises free elections in Eastern Europe Stalin promises to enter war against Japan after Germany defeated

BATTLE OF STALINGRAD Soviets outnumbered and out-supplied in beginning. Average life expectancy of a reinforcement solider in Stalingrad was only 24 hours Much hand to hand combat; urban combat - snipers Soviet winter helps them finally defeat the Germans German losses – 150,000 & 91,000 captured Soviet losses – over 500,000; Stalingrad reduced to rubble Turning point in the War for the Europeans! Soviets now begin the advance on Germany 2

NORTH AFRICA Tank Warfare! Keep Germans out of the Middle East Br-Am. troops defeat Germans in North Africa, May 1943 Gen. Patton (U.S.); Gen. Rommel (Germany) Opens up invasion of southern Europe thru Italy PATTON “Old Blood & Guts” ROMMEL “The Desert Fox”

ITALY British and US troops take Sicily and then invade southern Italy Mussolini is overthrown & Rome surrenders Fighting continues in northern Italy

GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER Addressing the troops before the D-Day Invasion June 6, 1944 Operation Overlord

TURNING POINT IN THE WAR FOR U.S.! Open a western front, allowing for movement across France – Patton pushing Germans out Allies now begin the advance on Germany. Hitler is now forced to split his forces

BATTLE OF THE BULGE, 12/44 Hitler’s Last Stand – his last offensive – known as “Operation Grief” Made Allied lines “bulge” for over 60 miles but never broke through Last major battle of war; Nazis realize it’s over

The Nuremberg Laws Passed in Germany in Sept. 1935 Took away German citizenship from all German Jews Made it illegal for a Jew to marry a German Legally defined Jew A person with at least one Jewish grandparent Jews were not allowed to hold public office or vote By 1938, were banned from practicing law & medicine, as well as from operating businesses

Jewish Refugees Between 1933 when Hitler took power & 1939 when WWII started, 350,000 Jews escaped Germany By 1938, the American consulate had a backlog of over 100,000 visa applications from Jews trying to leave Germany After the Austrian Anchluss, 3,000 Austrian Jews applied for American visas daily

Immigration Issues in the US In the United States, laws restricted granting a visa to anyone “likely to become a public charge.” Germany had forced Jews to leave any wealth behind Were only allowed a little over $4 when the left Germany High unemployment rates in the 1930s made immigration politically unpopular Previous immigration policies set quotas on the number of immigrants allowed in each year Did not have a clause or exception for refugees or victims of prosecution

The Final Solution Jan. 20, 1942 – Wannsee Conference Purpose: To determine the “final solution of the Jewish question” Possible Solutions: Rounding up “inferiors,” shooting them, and placing them in mass graves Placing “undesirables” into trucks, then pumping exhaust fumes back into the truck Both solutions proved inefficient & time consuming The Nazis decided upon concentration camps & extermination camps Reinhard Heydrich (right), who chaired the Wannsee conference, here with Heinrich Himmler.

Concentration Camps First camp established in 1933 to jail political opponents Buchenwald One of the 1st & the largest Built in Germany in 1937 Over 200,000 prisoners worked 12-hour shifts as slave laborers No gas chambers, though hundreds died from exhaustion

Extermination Camps Were built after the Wannsee Conference Built within many existing concentration camps, primarily in Poland Treblinka was among the well-known Auschwitz Housed more than 100,000 people in 300 barracks Gas chambers killed up to 12,000 people per day Afterwards, their bodies were burned in the crematoriums Of the 1,600,000 people who died at Auschwitz, 1,300,000 were Jewish (the rest were Poles, Soviet POWs, and Gypsies)

FDR dies from cerebral hemorrhage, April 1945 President Roosevelt’s Funeral - Warm Springs, GA

HITLER’S BUNKER Commits suicide here with wife, Eva Braun April 30, 1945.

MAY 8, 1945