1. Mobilization of the Home Fronts and the Holocaust

2. World War II required a higher level of mobilization and sacrifice among civilians
Many governments centralized production and instituted rationing programs

3. Germany Did not mobilize effectively for wartime production
Reluctant to promote women in the workforce or call on German citizens to sacrifice consumer goods
Nazi Germany relied extensively on slave labor from the conquered and occupied territories
Only when the war was ending, did Germany move toward full mobilization

4. The USSR Conflict was known as the Great Patriotic War
Over 20 million Soviet citizens perished
The Soviets moved entire factories inland
Stalin promoted supercentralization of the economy around the war

5. Great Britain
Effectively centralized its economy for wartime production
Almost every able-bodied adult assisted in the war effort
Government created ministries to oversee and distribute food, fuel and war supplies
Citizens were encouraged to develop self-sufficiency in food production

6. Collaboration and Resistance
Europeans of occupied nations faced stark choices – collaborate or resist
A major reason for Nazi success involved active cooperation or apathetic acceptance by those in the occupied lands
Conservatives in many lands welcome the Nazi takeover

7. To assist in ruling occupied lands, the Nazis set up puppet governments
Norway and Vichy France were two prime examples

8. Anti-Nazi movements gained momentum as the war tide turned
Groups engaged in acts of sabotage and assassination, hindered production, rescued ethnic minorities, and spread anti-Nazi propaganda
Strong organized movements were led by Charles de Gaulle and Joseph Tito

9. The Polish council, Zegota, saved hundreds of Jews in Poland
Denmark was able to engineer the rescue of almost all 8,000 of its Jewish population
Within Germany, the White Rose distributed pamphlets against the Nazis before being caught and executed
An assassination attempt on Hitler failed in July 1944

10. The Holocaust
Nazis established a network of concentration camps to punish political prisoners and other undesirables
Nazi policy moved step by step
From exclusion to concentration camps to extermination, of the Final Solution

11. Mass killings began with the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941
Mobile killing squads
In 1942, the Wannsee Conference took place
The meeting decided on the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish problem

12. Erected a system of death camps in Poland
Even as the war turned against the Nazis, Hitler continued to pour resources into the “race” war
6 million Jews had been killed, along with 5 million more from other categories

13. Results of WWII Much of Europe lay in ruins
Lowest point in European civilization
40 to 50 million dead
Destruction of infrastructure
30 to 50 million people displaced
Hold on colonies broken
Traditional values questioned
Economic activity breaks down