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The holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137%20%5Ct%20_blank -
German blitzkrieg
Germany sought to avoid a long war. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137%20%5Ct%20_blank -
Germany invades poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005 -
Wannsee conference
Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), convenes the Wannsee Conference in a villa outside Berlin. At this conference, he presents plans to coordinate a European-wide “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” to key officials from the German State and the Nazi Party.The "Final Solution" was the code name for the systematic, deliberate, physical annihilation of the European Jews. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137%20%5Ct%20_blank -
D-Day
The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front.Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000513 -
Battle of the bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. On this day, the Germans Attempted to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137%20%5Ct%20_blank -
Russia in WW2
Russia In WW2 focused most of there campaign against nazi Germany. The most famous accomplishment in their battle against the nazi's was "the battle of Berlin". where Russian forces invade the German capital. Also another famous battle was "the battle of Stalingrad". Where German invaded the Russian city of Stalingrad.
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Auschwitz
The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps. All three camps used prisoners for forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period as a killing center. It is estimated that the SS and police deported at least 1.3 million people to the Auschwitz complex between 1940 and 1945. Of these, the camp authorities murdered approximately 1.1 million. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000513 -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
during World War 2 an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployable atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137%20%5Ct%20_blank -
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in WWII Veterans
WWII differed from previous wars in its use of bigger field weapons and bombs, which placed soldiers at greater risk. Additionally, soldiers were placed into smaller combat groups, which reduced the social interaction which may have been a protective factor for psychological afflictions.Medical personnel were puzzled that although over one million soldiers were screened out for psychological reasons, there continued to be staggering numbers of psychiatric casualties.
