127-445: In Nazi Germany , Gottgläubig ( lit. ' believing in God ' ) was a Nazi religious term for a form of non-denominationalism and deism practised by those German citizens who had officially left Christian churches but professed faith in some higher power or divine creator . Such people were called Gottgläubige ("believers in God"), and the term for the overall movement
254-471: A pervasive cult of personality around Adolf Hitler to influence public opinion. The government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Genocide , mass murder , and large-scale forced labour became hallmarks of the regime; the implementation of the regime's racial policies culminated in the Holocaust . After the initial success of German invasion of
381-485: A communist uprising. The Reichstag Fire Decree , imposed on 28 February 1933, rescinded most civil liberties, including rights of assembly and freedom of the press. The decree also allowed the police to detain people indefinitely without charges. The legislation was accompanied by a propaganda campaign that led to public support for the measure. Violent suppression of communists by the SA was undertaken nationwide and 4,000 members of
508-456: A decree from November 1937, in which Bormann banned all party members from attending "denominational events inside and outside the church and meetings of other ideological communities", with religious communities such as the "German Faith Movement" ( German : Deutsche Glaubensbewegung ) and "German Knowledge of God (House of Ludendorff)" ( German : Deutsche Gotterkenntnis (Haus Ludendorff) ) being explicitly mentioned as ideological communities;
635-486: A generic non-Christian theism , deism , and pantheism . However, the Gottgläubigkeit was itself considered a form of deism, and was "predominantly based on creationist and deistic views". Strictly speaking, Gottgläubigen were not even required to terminate their church membership, but strongly encouraged to. The Gottgläubigen also included atheists who chose this identification as to either express their support for
762-500: A large increase of converts from Catholicism to Protestantism, with this trend including leader of the Sudeten SdP Konrad Henlein , who converted "conviction and love for his Volk". In 1941 Bormann observed that those who converted to Protestantism after 1933 consequently left the church to become gottgläubig instead, showing that the conversions to Protestantism and then Gottgläubigkeit were manifestations of support for
889-579: A month after she had left, she had hoped to take a train to the west when they began running again. On 9 June, after living there for about a week under the alias Gerda Alt, she was arrested by two civilian members of the Soviet military administration and was kept in Berlin for interrogation. While in prison she heard harrowing tales from her Soviet guards about what the German military had done to members of their families in
1016-584: A moral code based on the "sense of morality and ethics of the Germanic race", Nazi Gottgläubigkeit no longer tried to dispute the Jewish origins of Christianity as the early concepts of Positive Christianity did, but rather embraced the fact and used it to rally against the "Jewish spirit" that was present in Christianity. The Bible was denounced as a product of "Jewish fabulism", and the dogmas of Christian churches, with
1143-514: A non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, launching World War II in Europe . In alliance with Italy and other Axis powers , Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940 and threatened Great Britain. Racism , Nazi eugenics , anti-Slavism , and especially antisemitism were central ideological features of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by
1270-640: A non-aggression pact with Poland. In March 1939, Hitler demanded the return of the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor , a strip of land that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. The British announced they would come to the aid of Poland if it was attacked. Hitler, believing the British would not take action, ordered an invasion plan should be readied for September 1939. On 23 May, Hitler described to his generals his overall plan of not only seizing
1397-469: A protectorate of France under the condition that its residents would later decide by referendum which country to join, and Poland became a separate nation and was given access to the sea by the creation of the Polish Corridor , which separated Prussia from the rest of Germany, while Danzig was made a free city . Germany regained control of the Saarland through a referendum held in 1935 and annexed Austria in
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#17328583466321524-459: A second national anthem. Germany was still in a dire economic situation, as six million people were unemployed and the balance of trade deficit was daunting. Using deficit spending , public works projects were undertaken beginning in 1934, creating 1.7 million new jobs by the end of that year alone. Average wages began to rise. The SA leadership continued to apply pressure for greater political and military power. In response, Hitler used
1651-471: A specific kind of piety and morality, without being bound to a church denomination, whilst however also rejecting irreligion and godlessness ." The Gottgläubigkeit was a form of deism, and was "predominantly based on creationist and deistic views". In the 1939 census, 3.5% of the German population identified as Gottgläubig . In the 1920 programme of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), Adolf Hitler first mentioned
1778-741: A substantial minority of Germans, who lived mostly in the Sudetenland . Under pressure from separatist groups within the Sudeten German Party , the Czechoslovak government offered economic concessions to the region. Hitler decided not just to incorporate the Sudetenland into the Reich, but to destroy the country of Czechoslovakia entirely. The Nazis undertook a propaganda campaign to try to generate support for an invasion. Top German military leaders opposed
1905-524: A teenager but was not accepted by a dance school. She then trained as a secretary. When she heard about an opening on the Chancellery staff, she applied for it. Traudl Humps began working for Hitler in December 1942. She was the youngest of his private secretaries. "I was 22 and I didn't know anything about politics; it didn't interest me," Junge said decades later, adding that she felt great guilt for "liking
2032-617: A thousand people (out of a population of around 16,000) committed suicide in Demmin around 1 May 1945 as the 65th Army of 2nd Belorussian Front first broke into a distillery and then rampaged through the town, committing mass rapes, arbitrarily executing civilians, and setting fire to buildings. High numbers of suicides took place in many other locations, including Neubrandenburg (600 dead), Stolp in Pommern (1,000 dead), and Berlin, where at least 7,057 people committed suicide in 1945. Estimates of
2159-714: A valet and orderly to Hitler. He died in combat in France in August 1944. She worked at Hitler's side in Berlin, the Berghof in Berchtesgaden , at Wolfsschanze in East Prussia , and back again in Berlin in the Führerbunker . In 1945, Junge was with Hitler in Berlin. During Hitler's last days in Berlin, he would regularly eat lunch with his secretaries Junge and Gerda Christian . After
2286-821: A war fought on two fronts. The invasion conquered a huge area, including the Baltic states, Belarus , and west Ukraine . After the successful Battle of Smolensk in September 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily divert its Panzer groups to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kyiv . This pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilise fresh reserves. The Moscow offensive, which resumed in October 1941, ended disastrously in December . On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor , Hawaii. Four days later, Germany declared war on
2413-504: A war of conquest to obtain more territory. The Saarland , which had been placed under League of Nations supervision for 15 years at the end of World War I, voted in January 1935 to become part of Germany. In March 1935, Hitler announced the creation of an air force, and that the Reichswehr would be increased to 550,000 men. Britain agreed to Germany building a naval fleet with the signing of
2540-568: The Autobahnen (motorways) and a massive secret rearmament program , forming the Wehrmacht (armed forces). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity. Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands, threatening war if they were not met. Germany seized Austria in the Anschluss of 1938, and demanded and received the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Germany signed
2667-459: The Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo to purge the entire SA leadership. Hitler targeted SA Stabschef (Chief of Staff) Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders who—along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher )—were arrested and shot. Up to 200 people were killed from 30 June to 2 July 1934 in an event that became known as
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#17328583466322794-569: The Völkisch movement . The party, especially its paramilitary organisation Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Detachment), or Brownshirts, used physical violence to advance their political position, disrupting the meetings of rival organisations and attacking their members as well as Jewish people on the streets. Such far-right armed groups were common in Bavaria , and were tolerated by the sympathetic far-right state government of Gustav Ritter von Kahr . When
2921-535: The 6th Army could be supplied by air, but this turned out to be infeasible. Hitler's refusal to allow a retreat led to the deaths of 200,000 German and Romanian soldiers; of the 91,000 men who surrendered in the city on 31 January 1943, only 6,000 survivors returned to Germany after the war. Losses continued to mount after Stalingrad, leading to a sharp reduction in the popularity of the Nazi Party and deteriorating morale. Soviet forces continued to push westward after
3048-706: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement on 18 June 1935. When the Italian invasion of Ethiopia led to only mild protests by the British and French governments, on 7 March 1936 Hitler used the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance as a pretext to order the army to march 3,000 troops into the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in violation of the Versailles Treaty. As the territory was part of Germany,
3175-615: The Anschluss of 1938. The Munich Agreement of 1938 gave Germany control of the Sudetenland, and they seized the remainder of Czechoslovakia six months later. Under threat of invasion by sea, Lithuania surrendered the Memel district in March 1939. Between 1939 and 1941, German forces invaded Poland , Denmark , Norway , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Belgium , Yugoslavia , Greece , and
3302-558: The Battle of Berlin (16 April – 2 May 1945), Hitler and his staff lived in the underground Führerbunker while the Red Army approached. On 30 April, when Soviet troops were within two blocks of the Reich Chancellery , Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide . On 2 May, General Helmuth Weidling unconditionally surrendered Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov . Hitler
3429-707: The Communist Party of Germany were arrested. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act , an amendment to the Weimar Constitution , passed in the Reichstag by a vote of 444 to 94. This amendment allowed Hitler and his cabinet to pass laws—even laws that violated the constitution—without the consent of the president or the Reichstag. As the bill required a two-thirds majority to pass, the Nazis used intimidation tactics as well as
3556-573: The German Empire (1871–1918) as the second. Severe setbacks to the German economy began after World War I ended, partly because of reparations payments required under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles . The government printed money to make the payments and to repay the country's war debt, but the resulting hyperinflation led to inflated prices, economic chaos, and food riots. When the government defaulted on their reparations payments in January 1923, French troops occupied German industrial areas along
3683-553: The Hague Convention , industrial firms in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium were put to work producing war materiel for Germany. The Nazis seized from the French thousands of locomotives and rolling stock, stockpiles of weapons, and raw materials such as copper, tin, oil, and nickel. Payments for occupation costs were levied upon France, Belgium, and Norway. Barriers to trade led to hoarding, black markets , and uncertainty about
3810-502: The League of Nations in October, claiming its disarmament clauses were unfair if they applied only to Germany. In a referendum held in November , 95 per cent of voters supported Germany's withdrawal. In 1934, Hitler told his military leaders that rearmament needed to be complete by 1942, as by then the German people would require more living space and resources, so Germany would have to start
3937-707: The Low Countries . They quickly conquered Luxembourg and the Netherlands and outmanoeuvred the Allies in Belgium , forcing the evacuation of many British and French troops at Dunkirk . France fell as well, surrendering to Germany on 22 June . The victory in France resulted in an upswing in Hitler's popularity and an upsurge in war fever in Germany. In violation of the provisions of
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4064-566: The Nazi euthanasia program . Political courts called Sondergerichte sentenced some 12,000 members of the German resistance to death, and civil courts sentenced an additional 40,000 Germans. Mass rapes of German women also took place. As a result of their defeat in World War I and the resulting Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine , Northern Schleswig , and Memel . The Saarland became
4191-702: The Night of the Long Knives . On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted the " Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich ", which stated that upon Hindenburg's death the office of Reich President would be abolished and its powers merged with those of Reich Chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government and was formally named as Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and Chancellor"), although eventually Reichskanzler
4318-680: The River Elbe . The remainder of the group were found by Soviet Red Army troops on 2 May while hiding in a cellar off the Schönhauser Allee. The Soviet troops handed over those who had been in the Führerbunker to SMERSH for interrogation, to reveal what had occurred in the bunker during the closing weeks of the war. Although Junge had reached the Elbe she was unable to reach the western Allied lines and so she went back to Berlin. Arriving there about
4445-511: The Ruhr and widespread civil unrest followed. The National Socialist German Workers' Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ), commonly known as the Nazi Party, was founded in 1920. It was the renamed successor of the German Workers' Party (DAP) formed one year earlier, and one of several far-right political parties then active. The Nazi Party platform included destruction of
4572-465: The federal election of 1932 , the party was the largest in the Reichstag , holding 230 seats with 37.4 per cent of the popular vote. Although the Nazis won the greatest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, they did not have a majority. Hitler refused to participate in a coalition government unless he was its leader. Under pressure from politicians, industrialists, and
4699-648: The "Jew-popes", portraying the Protestant Reformations as a struggle that "has always been a hallmark of Germanic blood or German blood"; conversely, party members promoted Luther's " On the Jews and Their Lies " and used passages from it as a justification of Nazi antisemitism. According to Richard Steigmann-Gall , in Austria "Protestants had stood in the forefront of support for Nazism and Austria’s reintegration into Germany." After 1933, Austria and Sudetenland experienced
4826-553: The Allied bombing campaign became even more devastating. By targeting oil refineries and factories, they crippled the German war effort by late 1944. On 6 June 1944, American, British, and Canadian forces established a front in France with the D-Day landings in Normandy . On 20 July 1944 , Hitler survived an assassination attempt. He ordered brutal reprisals, resulting in 7,000 arrests and
4953-562: The Berlin Führerbunker until his death. Following her arrest and imprisonment in June 1945, both the Soviet and the U.S. militaries interrogated her. Later, in post-war West Germany , she worked as a secretary. In her old age, she decided to publish her memoirs, claiming ignorance of the Nazi atrocities during the war, but blaming herself for missing opportunities to investigate reports about them. Her story, based partly on her book Until
5080-452: The British and French governments did not feel that attempting to enforce the treaty was worth the risk of war. In the one-party election held on 29 March, the Nazis received 98.9 per cent support. In 1936, Hitler signed an Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and a non-aggression agreement with Mussolini, who was soon referring to a "Rome-Berlin Axis". Hitler sent military supplies and assistance to
5207-536: The Catholic Church in particular, were mocked. Commenting on the dogmatism of Catholicism, Hitler remarked: "I don't care about dogmas." Describing the undogmatic character of the Gottgläubigkeit , Hitler described it as "worship in solemn form without theological party bickering, with a fraternal tone of genuine love without humble theatre and empty formulaic chatter, without those disgusting frocks and women's skirts... You can serve God in heroic garb alone." This gave
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5334-522: The Church"). Although there was no top-down official directive to revoke church membership, some Nazi Party members started doing so voluntarily and put other members under pressure to follow their example. Those who left the churches were designated as Gottgläubige ("believers in God"), a term officially recognised by the Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick on 26 November 1936. He stressed that
5461-399: The Final Hour , formed a part of several dramatizations, in particular the 2004 German film Downfall about Hitler's final ten days. Gertraud "Traudl" Humps was born in Munich , the daughter of a master brewer and lieutenant in the Reserve Army, Max Humps, and his wife, Hildegard (née Zottmann). She had a sister, Inge, born in 1923. She once expressed her desire to become a ballerina as
5588-573: The German National People's Party – their former coalition partners – which then disbanded on 29 June. The remaining major political parties followed suit. On 14 July 1933 Germany became a one-party state with the passage of the Law Against the Formation of Parties , decreeing the Nazi Party to be the sole legal party in Germany. The founding of new parties was also made illegal, and all remaining political parties which had not already been dissolved were banned. Further elections in November 1933 , 1936 , and 1938 were Nazi-controlled, with only members of
5715-411: The German state in the Nazi era are "Nazi Germany" and the "Third Reich", which Hitler and the Nazis also referred to as the "Thousand-Year Reich" ( Tausendjähriges Reich ). The latter, a translation of the Nazi propaganda term Drittes Reich , was first used in Das Dritte Reich , a 1923 book by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck . The book counted the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) as the first Reich and
5842-873: The NSDAP, or to avoid the negatively-associated label with atheism, as it was associated with "atheistic Bolshevism". By the decree of the Reich Ministry of the Interior of 26 November 1936, this religious descriptor was officially recognised on government records. The census of 17 May 1939 was the first time that German citizens were able to officially register as Gottgläubig . Out of 79.4 million Germans, 2.7 million people (3.5%) claimed to be Gottgläubig , compared to 42.8 million Protestants (54%), 32.3 million Catholics (40.5%), 314,000 Jews (0.4%), 86,000 adherents of other religions (0.1%, including Germanic Neopagans , Buddhists , Hindus , Muslims , and other religious sects and movements), and 1.2 million (1.5%) who had no faith ( glaubenslos ). Paradoxically, Germans living in urban areas, where support for
5969-445: The Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War , which began in July 1936. The German Condor Legion included a range of aircraft and their crews, as well as a tank contingent. The aircraft of the Legion destroyed the city of Guernica in 1937. The Nationalists were victorious in 1939 and became an informal ally of Nazi Germany. In February 1938, Hitler emphasised to Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg
6096-431: The Nazi Party was the lowest, were the most likely to identify as Gottgläubig , the five highest rates being found in Berlin (10.2%), Hamburg (7.5%), Vienna (6.4%), Düsseldorf (6.0%), and Essen (5.3%). Majority of the Gottgläubigen came from anti-clericals and Protestants, with an SS report from 1939 writing that "one can be certain that the Protestant portion of the population displays greater appreciation for
6223-625: The Nazi anti-religious policy. The anti-Christian character of Gottgläubigkeit was affirmed by Nazi leadership, with Bormann writing in 1941: National Socialist and Christian conceptions are incompatible. The Christian churches build on peoples’ uncertainty and attempt to maintain this fear in the widest possible section of the population, since only in this way can the Christian churches keep their power. By contrast National Socialism rests upon scientific foundations. Christianity has inalterable foundations, which were established almost 2000 years ago and which have stiffened into dogmas alien to reality. On
6350-434: The Nazi party. The term Gottgläubig still appeared sporadically a few years after the end of the Second World War , and was recognised in the 1946 census inside the French Occupation Zone , before it faded from official documents. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler , himself a former Roman Catholic, was one of the main promoters of the Gottgläubig faith. He was particularly hostile towards Christianity , its values,
6477-460: The Nazi-promoted nondenominationalism a very vague character. Ultimately, the policy was considered unsuccessful and had no considerable effect. Even in the SS, the champion of anti-Christian sentiment, the majority of members still belonged to a Christian church. By the end of 1938, 25% of all SS members became Gottgläubig , overtaking Catholicism which was already severely underrepresented and relatively rare amongst SS troops. However, almost 50% of
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#17328583466326604-687: The Nazis to be the " master race ", the purest branch of the Aryan race. Jews , Romani people , Slavs , homosexuals , liberals , socialists , communists , other political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses , Freemasons , those who refused to work , and other "undesirables" were imprisoned, deported , or murdered. Christian churches and citizens that opposed Hitler's rule were oppressed and leaders imprisoned. Education focused on racial biology , population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed . Nazi Propaganda Ministry disseminated films, antisemitic canards , and organized mass rallies; fostering
6731-421: The Party and a small number of independents elected. All civilian organisations had their leadership replaced with Nazi sympathisers or party members, and either merged with the Nazi Party or faced dissolution. The Nazi government declared a "Day of National Labor" for May Day 1933, and invited many trade union delegates to Berlin for celebrations. The day after, SA stormtroopers demolished union offices around
6858-403: The Polish Corridor but greatly expanding German territory eastward at the expense of Poland. He expected this time they would be met by force. The Germans reaffirmed their alliance with Italy and signed non-aggression pacts with Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia whilst trade links were formalised with Romania, Norway, and Sweden. Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop arranged in negotiations with
6985-402: The RAF in what became known as the Battle of Britain , and by the end of October, Hitler realised that air superiority would not be achieved. He permanently postponed the invasion, a plan which the commanders of the German army had never taken entirely seriously. Several historians, including Andrew Gordon , believe the primary reason for the failure of the invasion plan was the superiority of
7112-438: The Reich" (1940–1944), and No. 21, "Nemesis: Germany (February – May 1945)". She was also interviewed for the 1975 book The Bunker by James P. O'Donnell and Uwe Bahnsen. She worked in secretarial jobs and for many years as chief secretary of the editorial staff of the weekly illustrated magazine Quick . Junge twice resided briefly in Australia, where her younger sister lived, although her application for permanent residence
7239-456: The Royal Navy, not the actions of the RAF. In February 1941, the German Afrika Korps arrived in Libya to aid the Italians in the North African Campaign . On 6 April, Germany launched an invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece . All of Yugoslavia and parts of Greece were subsequently divided between Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Bulgaria. On 22 June 1941, contravening the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, about 3.8 million Axis troops attacked
7366-425: The SS before 1933 did so, while 68% who joined the SS after 1933 would eventually declare themselves Gottgläubige . Of the general SS membership, 16% had left their respective churches by the end of 1937. Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich , was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled
7493-418: The SS remained members of Protestant churches. Amongst the general population, the Catholic Church, which was the primary target of the Nazi anti-religious policy, suffered almost no defections and an overwhelming majority of the Gottgläubiger came from Protestant churches where "German-Christian" or reichskirchliche influences grew in strength. In Berlin, where Gottgläubigkeit proved most successful, 77% of
7620-423: The SS." He did not allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline". Himmler was not particularly concerned by the question how to label this higher power ; God Almighty, the Ancient One, Destiny, "Waralda", Nature, etc. were all acceptable, as long as they referred to some "higher power that had created this world and endowed it with
7747-428: The Soviet Union . Germany annexed parts of northern Yugoslavia in April 1941, while Mussolini ceded Trieste , South Tyrol , and Istria to Germany in 1943. Traudl Junge Gertraud " Traudl " Junge ( née Humps ; 16 March 1920 – 10 February 2002) was a German editor who worked as Adolf Hitler 's last private secretary from December 1942 to April 1945. After typing Hitler's will, she remained in
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#17328583466327874-493: The Soviet Union a non-aggression pact, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , signed in August 1939. The treaty also contained secret protocols dividing Poland and the Baltic states into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Germany's wartime foreign policy involved the creation of allied governments controlled directly or indirectly from Berlin. They intended to obtain soldiers from allies such as Italy and Hungary and workers and food supplies from allies such as Vichy France . Hungary
8001-405: The Soviet Union and came to realise that much of what she thought she knew about the war in the east was only what the Nazi propaganda ministry had told the German people and that the treatment meted out to Germans by the Soviets was a response to what the Germans had done in the Soviet Union. Junge was held in several jails, where she was often interrogated about her role in Hitler's entourage and
8128-506: The Soviet Union attacked from the east on 17 September. Reinhard Heydrich , chief of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), ordered on 21 September that Polish Jews should be rounded up and concentrated into cities with good rail links. Initially the intention was to deport them further east, or possibly to Madagascar . Using lists prepared in advance , some 65,000 Polish intelligentsia, noblemen, clergy, and teachers were murdered by
8255-441: The Soviet Union in 1941, Nazi Germany attempted to implement the Generalplan Ost and Hunger Plan , as part of its war of extermination in Eastern Europe. The Soviet resurgence and entry of the US into the war meant Germany lost the initiative in 1943 and by late 1944 had been pushed back to the 1939 border. Large-scale aerial bombing of Germany escalated and the Axis powers were driven back in Eastern and Southern Europe. Germany
8382-443: The Soviet Union. In addition to Hitler's stated purpose of acquiring Lebensraum , this large-scale offensive—codenamed Operation Barbarossa —was intended to destroy the Soviet Union and seize its natural resources for subsequent aggression against the Western powers. The reaction among Germans was one of surprise and trepidation as many were concerned about how much longer the war would continue or suspected that Germany could not win
8509-503: The Soviet occupation zone (which was to become East Germany ) to the British zone, and from there south to Bavaria in the American Zone . Junge was held by the Americans for a short time during the first half of 1946 and interrogated about her time in the Führerbunker . She was then freed and allowed to live in post-war West Germany. After the war, Junge appeared in two episodes of the Thames Television (ITV) 1973 television documentary series The World at War – No. 16, "Inside
8636-419: The United States. Food was in short supply in the conquered areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, as the retreating armies had burned the crops in some areas, and much of the remainder was sent back to the Reich. In Germany, rations were cut in 1942. In his role as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan , Hermann Göring demanded increased shipments of grain from France and fish from Norway. The 1942 harvest
8763-444: The Weimar Republic, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, radical antisemitism , and anti- Bolshevism . They promised a strong central government, increased Lebensraum ("living space") for Germanic peoples, formation of a national community based on race, and racial cleansing via the active suppression of Jews , who would be stripped of their citizenship and civil rights. The Nazis proposed national and cultural renewal based upon
8890-422: The age of 81, reportedly having said shortly before her death, "Now that I've let go of my story, I can let go of my life." She is buried at Nordfriedhof München . Further attention came two years later, when some of Junge's experiences with Hitler were portrayed in the Academy Award -nominated film Downfall , wherein she is portrayed by actress Alexandra Maria Lara . Excerpts from her interviews are seen at
9017-488: The beginning and at the end of the film. At the end of the film, she states: Of course, the horrors, of which I heard in connection of the Nuremberg trials ; the fate of the 6 million Jews, their killing and those of many others who represented different races and creeds, shocked me greatly, but, at that time, I could not see any connection between these things and my own past. I was only happy that I had not personally been guilty of these things and that I had not been aware of
9144-497: The blockade, imports into Germany declined by 80 per cent. To safeguard Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany, Hitler ordered the invasion of Denmark and Norway , which began on 9 April. Denmark fell after less than a day , while most of Norway followed by the end of the month. By early June, Germany occupied all of Norway . Against the advice of many of his senior military officers, in May 1940 Hitler ordered an attack on France and
9271-457: The business community, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. This event is known as the Machtergreifung ("seizure of power"). On the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set afire . Marinus van der Lubbe , a Dutch communist, was found guilty of starting the blaze. Hitler proclaimed that the arson marked the start of
9398-581: The capital, Berlin , ending World War II in Europe . After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator by merging the powers of the chancellery and presidency. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole Führer (leader). Power
9525-487: The church, followed in 1937 by a flood of primarily Protestant party members. The religious status of Adolf Hitler is a matter of debate among historians; Joel Krieger claims that Hitler had abandoned the Catholic Church , and Hitler's private secretary Traudl Junge reported that Hitler was not a member of any church; this was also confirmed by another of Hitler's secretaries, Christa Schroeder . According to some historians such as Michael Phayer and Klaus Scholder, Hitler
9652-526: The churches, and their clergy. Himmler viewed all of Christianity and the priesthood as nothing but an indecent union, with the majority of its priesthood constituting “an erotic homosexual league of men” whose only purpose was to create and maintain a "twenty-thousand-year-old Bolshevism.” To the Reichsführer-SS Christianity was the greatest plague delivered by history, and he demanded that it be dealt with accordingly. A perennial favorite song of
9779-668: The churches, on the one hand through the Reichskonkordat with the Roman Catholic Church , and the forced merger of the German Evangelical Church Confederation into the Protestant Reich Church on the other. This policy seems to have gone relatively well until late 1936, when a "gradual worsening of relations" between the Nazi Party and the churches saw the rise of Kirchenaustritt ("leaving
9906-513: The churches. The Nazi regime abolished the symbols of the Weimar Republic—including the black, red, and gold tricolour flag —and adopted reworked symbolism. The previous imperial black, white, and red tricolour was restored as one of Germany's two official flags; the second was the swastika flag of the Nazi Party, which became the sole national flag in September 1935. The Party anthem " Horst-Wessel-Lied " ("Horst Wessel Song") became
10033-505: The city's population was Protestant prior to the introduction of Nazi policy, with Catholics making up 10% of the population and 13% belonging to other religions (including the Jews, which made up 4% of the Berlin population). By 1939, 10% of the city became gottgläubig , whereas Protestantism declined to 70% and non-Christian religions to 8%. Meanwhile, Berlin Catholicism was not only unaffected by Gottgläubigkeit , but slightly grew to 11% of
10160-590: The country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship . The Third Reich , meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800/962–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich , ended in May 1945, after only 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered
10287-582: The country; all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , passed in April, removed from their jobs all teachers, professors, judges, magistrates, and government officials who were Jewish or whose commitment to the party was suspect. This meant the only non-political institutions not under control of the Nazis were
10414-559: The electorate in a plebiscite . Most Germans were relieved that the conflicts and street fighting of the Weimar era had ended. They were deluged with propaganda orchestrated by Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels , who promised peace and plenty for all in a united, Marxist-free country without the constraints of the Versailles Treaty. The Nazi Party obtained and legitimised power through its initial revolutionary activities, then through manipulation of legal mechanisms,
10541-523: The end of 1939 in an attempt to destroy Poland's identity as a nation. Soviet forces advanced into Finland in the Winter War , and German forces saw action at sea. But little other activity occurred until May, so the period became known as the " Phoney War ". From the start of the war, a British blockade on shipments to Germany affected its economy. Germany was particularly dependent on foreign supplies of oil, coal, and grain. Thanks to trade embargoes and
10668-544: The establishment of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped them of their basic rights. The Nazis would take from the Jews their wealth, their right to intermarry with non-Jews, and their right to occupy many fields of labour (such as law, medicine, or education). Eventually the Nazis declared the Jews as undesirable to remain among German citizens and society. As early as February 1933, Hitler announced that rearmament must begin, albeit clandestinely at first, as to do so
10795-491: The events surrounding Hitler's suicide. By December 1945 she had been released from prison but was restricted to the Soviet sector of Berlin. On New Year's Eve 1945 she was admitted to a hospital in the British sector for diphtheria and remained there for two months. While she was there her mother was able to secure for her the paperwork required to allow her to move from the British sector in Berlin to Bavaria. Receiving these on 2 February 1946, she travelled from Berlin and across
10922-473: The execution of more than 4,900 people. The failed Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive on the western front, and Soviet forces entered Germany on 27 January. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat and his insistence that the war be fought to the last man led to unnecessary death and destruction in the war's closing months. Through his Justice Minister Otto Georg Thierack , Hitler ordered that anyone who
11049-1104: The failed German offensive at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. By the end of 1943, the Germans had lost most of their eastern territorial gains. In Egypt, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 's Afrika Korps were defeated by British forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in October 1942. The Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943 and were on the Italian peninsula by September. Meanwhile, American and British bomber fleets based in Britain began operations against Germany . Many sorties were intentionally given civilian targets in an effort to destroy German morale. The bombing of aircraft factories as well as Peenemünde Army Research Center , where V-1 and V-2 rockets were being developed and produced, were also deemed particularly important. German aircraft production could not keep pace with losses, and without air cover
11176-606: The final days with him in the Führerbunker . In 1991, she appeared in the documentary series Hitler's Henchmen produced by German television channel ZDF . The 2002 release of her memoirs Until the Final Hour , co-written with author Melissa Müller , describing the time she worked for Hitler, brought media coverage. She was also interviewed for the 2002 documentary film Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary , which drew much attention. Junge died from cancer in Munich on 10 February 2002 at
11303-617: The future. Food supplies were precarious; production dropped in most of Europe. Famine was experienced in many occupied countries. Hitler's peace overtures to the new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were rejected in July 1940. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder had advised Hitler in June that air superiority was a pre-condition for a successful invasion of Britain , so Hitler ordered a series of aerial attacks on Royal Air Force (RAF) airbases and radar stations, as well as nightly air raids on British cities, including London , Plymouth , and Coventry . The German Luftwaffe failed to defeat
11430-459: The greatest criminal ever to have lived". She said: "I admit, I was fascinated by Adolf Hitler. He was a pleasant boss and a fatherly friend. I deliberately ignored all the warning voices inside me and enjoyed the time by his side, almost until the bitter end. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said things and how he did things." Encouraged by Hitler, in June 1943, Traudl married Waffen-SS officer Hans Hermann Junge (1914–1944), who had been
11557-404: The laws of struggle and selection that guaranteed the continued existence of nature and the natural order of things." According to Himmler, "Only he who opposes belief in a higher power is considered godless"; everyone else was Gottgläubig , but should be thus outside of the church. SS members were put under pressure to identify as Gottgläubig and revoke their church membership, if necessary under
11684-499: The legal relationship between the state and the churches. Rudolf Hess expanded upon this concept and coined his own term - "denominationalisation". Hess embarked on this policy by purging religious influence from the Nazi party; in November 1935, he ordered that all major figures of the party were to "refrain from any interference in church or religious matters", including individual actions. Bormann also contributed to this policy by implementing an espionage program on German clergymen under
11811-469: The need for Germany to secure its frontiers. Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite regarding Austrian independence for 13 March, but Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazi Party or face an invasion. German troops entered Austria the next day, to be greeted with enthusiasm by the populace. The Republic of Czechoslovakia was home to
11938-526: The next three years he would be the only prominent Nazi leader to do so. In early 1936, SS leaders Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich terminated their membership of the Roman Catholic Church, followed by a number of Gauleiter including Martin Mutschmann ( Saxony ), Carl Röver ( Weser-Ems ), and Robert Heinrich Wagner ( Baden ). In late 1936, especially Roman Catholic party members left
12065-412: The only exception to this rule was granted in case of funerals. Here the policy also started directly targeting churches, explaining the new laws as a way to ensure the 'neutrality' of both the churches and the state. Catholic press was severely limited and effectively banned, with German historian Friedrich Zipfel remarking: "The possibilities for publication were so severely restricted that ultimately it
12192-477: The other hand, National Socialism, if its task is to be fulfilled, must always be geared towards the newest findings of scientific research. ... It follows from the incompatibility of National Socialist and Christian concepts that we are to reject a strengthening of existing Christian confessions. 1939 German religion census: People who identified as Gottgläubig could hold a wide range of religious beliefs, including non-clerical Christianity, Germanic Neopaganism ,
12319-448: The party was still committed to Positive Christianity on paper. During the 1934 party congress, Hitler declared: "Religions, too, only make sense if they serve to preserve the living substance of humanity." Hitler clarified that by humanity he meant the allegedly 'superior' part of humanity - the Aryan race. Positive Christianity proved unsuccessful, and as the Nazi hypothesis that Jesus Christ
12446-511: The phrase " Positive Christianity ". The Nazi Party did not wish to tie itself to a particular Christian denomination but with Christianity in general, and sought freedom of religion for all denominations "so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race ." (point 24). When Hitler and the NSDAP got into power in 1933, they sought to assert state control over
12573-489: The plan, as Germany was not yet ready for war. The crisis led to war preparations by Britain, Czechoslovakia, and France (Czechoslovakia's ally). Attempting to avoid war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arranged a series of meetings, the result of which was the Munich Agreement , signed on 29 September 1938. The Czechoslovak government was forced to accept the Sudetenland's annexation into Germany. Chamberlain
12700-466: The population. The gottgläubig population was almost exclusively present in large cities. Berlin had an exceptionally high percentage of the Gottgläubiger , which made up 10% of the city's population. This was followed by Hamburg (7.2%), Vienna (6.2%) and Thuringia (5.79%). It was observed that Gottgläubigkeit proved most successful in anti-clerical areas, which made large cities susceptible to
12827-583: The provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to keep several Social Democratic deputies from attending, and the Communists had already been banned. The Enabling Act would subsequently serve as the legal foundation for the dictatorship the Nazis established. On 10 May, the government seized the assets of the Social Democrats, and they were banned on 22 June. On 21 June, the SA raided the offices of
12954-408: The slogan of ensuring religious neutrality. Subsequently, Hess started implementing policies that affected all members of the NSDAP. In May 1936, he banned party members from belonging to Christian student and academic associations, and in June 1936 party members were not allowed to participate in any religious events while wearing party badges or uniforms. In 1937, this policy was escalated further by
13081-516: The stock market in the United States crashed in 1929 , the effect in Germany was dire. Millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the Nazis prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to strengthen the economy and provide jobs. Many voters decided the Nazi Party was capable of restoring order, quelling civil unrest, and improving Germany's international reputation. After
13208-819: The storm troopers had this refrain: “Storm Trooper Comrades, hang the Jews and put the priests against the wall.” He insisted on the existence of a creator God , who favoured and guided the Third Reich and the German nation , as he announced to the SS : "We believe in a God Almighty who stands above us; he has created the Earth, the Fatherland, and the Volk, and he has sent us the Führer. Any human being who does not believe in God should be considered arrogant, megalomaniacal, and stupid and thus not suited for
13335-521: The struggle and the task of the SS, and hence is more readily recruited [to Gottgläubigkeit] than the Catholic [portion]." Before launching the anti-confessional campaign, the Nazi party promoted Protestantism, with Himmler going as far as stating that "to be Protestant is to be Germanic, but also that to be Germanic is to be Protestant." Nazi propaganda depicted Luther as a rebel against the "Jewish" Catholic Church and
13462-441: The term signified political disassociation from the churches, not an act of religious apostasy . The term "dissident", which some church leavers had used up until them, was associated with being "without belief" ( glaubenslos ), whilst most of them emphasized that they still believed in a God, and thus required a different word. The Nazi Party ideologue Alfred Rosenberg was the first to leave his church on 15 November 1933, but for
13589-473: The threat of expulsion. The SS personnel records show that most of its members who left the churches of their upbringing, did so just before or shortly after joining the SS. The Sicherheitsdienst (SD) members were the most willing corps within the SS to withdraw from their Christian denominations and change their religious affiliation to the Gottgläubig faith at 90%. Of the SS officers, 74% of those who joined
13716-529: The total German war dead range from 5.5 to 6.9 million persons. A study by German historian Rüdiger Overmans puts the number of German military dead and missing at 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside of Germany's 1937 borders. Richard Overy estimated in 2014 that about 353,000 civilians were killed in Allied air raids. Other civilian deaths include 300,000 Germans (including Jews) who were victims of Nazi political, racial, and religious persecution and 200,000 who were murdered in
13843-421: The use of police powers, and by taking control of the state and federal institutions. The first major Nazi concentration camp , initially for political prisoners, was opened at Dachau in 1933. Hundreds of camps of varying size and function were created by the end of the war. Beginning in April 1933, scores of measures defining the status of Jews and their rights were instituted. These measures culminated in
13970-487: The war drew to a close. Suicide rates in Germany increased, particularly in areas where the Red Army was advancing. Among soldiers and party personnel, suicide was often deemed an honourable and heroic alternative to surrender. First-hand accounts and propaganda about the uncivilised behaviour of the advancing Soviet troops caused panic among civilians on the Eastern Front, especially women, who feared being raped. More than
14097-457: The war, Junge recalled Gerda asking Hitler if he would leave Berlin. This was firmly rejected by Hitler. Both women recalled that Hitler in conversation made it clear that his body must not fall into the hands of the Soviets. He would shoot himself. Junge typed Hitler's last private and political will and testament in the Führerbunker the day before his suicide . Junge later wrote that while she
14224-411: Was Gottgläubigkeit ("belief in God"); the term denotes someone who still believes in a God, although without having any institutional religious affiliation. These Nazis were not favourable towards religious institutions of their time, nor did they tolerate atheism of any type within their ranks. The 1943 Philosophical Dictionary defined Gottgläubig as: "official designation for those who profess
14351-489: Was a powerful ally, the relationship was distant, with little co-ordination or co-operation. For example, Germany refused to share their formula for synthetic oil from coal until late in the war. Germany invaded Poland and captured the Free City of Danzig on 1 September 1939, beginning World War II in Europe. Honouring their treaty obligations, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Poland fell quickly, as
14478-433: Was an 'Aryan' rather than Jewish became untenable, further discussions were suppressed on this topic. Instead, it was decided that the party should pursue a policy of separating the Nazi state from Christianity completely. To achieve this, the Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick proposed a policy of "de-confessionalisation", which assumed cautiously removing religious communities from German culture and identity without altering
14605-482: Was centralised in Hitler's person, and his word became the highest law. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power. In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending. Financed by deficit spending , the regime undertook extensive public works projects, including
14732-551: Was conquered by the Soviet Union from the east and the other Allies from the west, and capitulated on 8 May 1945. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat led to massive destruction of German infrastructure and additional war-related deaths in the closing months of the war. The Allies initiated a policy of denazification and put many of the surviving Nazi leadership on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . Common English terms for
14859-505: Was denied owing to her past Nazi association. In 1989, Junge's manuscript about her life throughout the war was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons (New York) as part of the book Voices from the Bunker by Pierre Galante and Eugene Silianoff. Also in that year, she was interviewed in the BBC documentary The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler , in which she discussed at length her impressions of Hitler and
14986-417: Was dropped. Germany was now a totalitarian state with Hitler at its head. As head of state, Hitler became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The new law provided an altered loyalty oath for servicemen so that they affirmed loyalty to Hitler personally rather than the office of supreme commander or the state. On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by 90 per cent of
15113-502: Was excommunicated from the church. However, the shifting actual religious views of Adolf Hitler remain unclear due to conflicting accounts from Hitler's associates such as Otto Strasser , Martin Bormann , Joseph Goebbels , and others. After coming to power in 1933, the upper cadres of the Nazi Party concluded that their worldview was incompatible with Christianity, even if it was considered too risky to state this publicly; because of this,
15240-623: Was good, and food supplies remained adequate in Western Europe. Germany and Europe as a whole were almost totally dependent on foreign oil imports. In an attempt to resolve the shortage, in June 1942 Germany launched Fall Blau ("Case Blue"), an offensive against the Caucasian oilfields. The Red Army launched a counter-offensive on 19 November and encircled the Axis forces, who were trapped in Stalingrad on 23 November. Göring assured Hitler that
15367-522: Was greeted with cheers when he landed in London, saying the agreement brought "peace for our time". Austrian and Czech foreign exchange reserves were seized by the Nazis, as were stockpiles of raw materials such as metals and completed goods such as weaponry and aircraft, which were shipped to Germany. The Reichswerke Hermann Göring industrial conglomerate took control of steel and coal production facilities in both countries. In January 1934, Germany signed
15494-485: Was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. On 17 May 1933, Hitler gave a speech before the Reichstag outlining his desire for world peace and accepted an offer from American President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military disarmament, provided the other nations of Europe did the same. When the other European powers failed to accept this offer, Hitler pulled Germany out of the World Disarmament Conference and
15621-464: Was no longer possible to think of really informing the people of the church." Church authorities that continued to publish church newspapers or communicate with other congregations were threatened with confiscations, arrests and legal proceedings, and were suppressed by SS or police crackdowns. In accordance to this policy, the nondenominational "Gottgläubigkeit" that the Nazi state promoted was "not only alien to Christianity, but opposed to it". Following
15748-432: Was not prepared to fight should be court-martialed, and thousands of people were executed. In many areas, people surrendered to the approaching Allies in spite of exhortations of local leaders to continue to fight. Hitler ordered the destruction of transport, bridges, industries, and other infrastructure—a scorched earth decree—but Armaments Minister Albert Speer prevented this order from being fully carried out. During
15875-756: Was playing with the Goebbels children on 30 April, "Suddenly [...] there is the sound of a shot, so loud, so close, that we all fall silent. It echoes on through all the rooms. 'That was a bull's-eye,' cried Helmut [Goebbels] with no idea how right he is. The Führer is dead now." On 1 May, Junge left the Führerbunker with a group led by Waffen-SS general Wilhelm Mohnke . Also in the group were Hitler's personal pilot Hans Baur , chief of Hitler's Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD) bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber , secretaries Gerda Christian and Else Krüger , Hitler's dietician Constanze Manziarly , and physician Ernst-Günther Schenck . Junge, Christian and Krüger made it out of Berlin to
16002-489: Was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as Reich President and Goebbels as Reich Chancellor. Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide the next day after murdering their six children . Between 4 and 8 May 1945, most of the remaining German armed forces unconditionally surrendered. The German Instrument of Surrender was signed 8 May, marking the end of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II in Europe . Popular support for Hitler almost completely disappeared as
16129-664: Was the fourth nation to join the Axis, signing the Tripartite Pact on 27 September 1940. Bulgaria signed the pact on 17 November. German efforts to secure oil included negotiating a supply from their new ally, Romania , who signed the Pact on 23 November, alongside the Slovak Republic. By late 1942, there were 24 divisions from Romania on the Eastern Front, 10 from Italy, and 10 from Hungary. Germany assumed full control in France in 1942, Italy in 1943, and Hungary in 1944. Although Japan
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