1.
Volkssturm
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The Volkssturm was a national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was staffed by conscripting males between the ages of 16 and 60 years who were not already serving in military unit as part of a German Home Guard. The new Volkssturm drew inspiration from the old Prussian Landsturm of 1813–1815 that fought in the wars against Napoleon. Plans to form a Landsturm national militia in Eastern Germany as a last resort to boost fighting strength were first proposed in 1944 by General Heinz Guderian, the Army did not have enough men to resist the Soviet onslaught. So additional categories of men were called into service, including those in non-essential jobs, those deemed unfit, over-age, or under-age. The Volkssturm had existed, on paper, since around 1925, the intended strength of six million was never attained. Joseph Goebbels and other propagandists depicted the Volkssturm as an outburst of enthusiasm, while it had some marginal effect on morale, it was undermined by the recruits visible lack of uniforms and weaponry. Nazi themes of death, transcendence, and commemoration were given full play to encourage the fight, many realized that this was a desperate attempt to turn the course of the war. Sardonic old men would remark, We old monkeys are the Führer’s newest weapon, a popular joke about the Volkssturm went Why is the Volkssturm Germanys most precious resource. Because its members have silver in their hair, gold in their mouths, for these militia units to be effective, they needed not only strength in numbers, but also fanaticism. During the early stages of Volkssturm planning, it became apparent that units lacking morale would lack combat effectiveness, to generate fanaticism, Volkssturm units were placed under direct command of the local Nazi party officials, the Gauleiters and Kreisleiters. The new Volkssturm was also to become an organization, with Heinrich Himmler, as Replacement Army Commander, responsible for armament. Though normally under party control, Volkssturm units were placed under Wehrmacht command when engaged in action, the largest Volkssturm unit seems to have corresponded to the next smaller territorial subdivision of the Nazi Party organization—the Kreis. The basic unit was a battalion of 642 men, units were mostly composed of members of the Hitler Youth, invalids, the elderly, or men who had previously been considered unfit for military service. Further desperation showed when on 12 February 1945, the Nazis conscripted German women, correspondingly, girls as young as 14 years were trained in the use of small arms, bazookas, machine guns, and hand grenades from December 1944 through May 1945. Municipal organization, A Bataillon in every Kreis A Kompanie in every Ortsgruppe, a Zug in every Zelle A Gruppe in every Block Each Gauleiter and Kreisleiter, had a Volkssturm Chief of Staff to assist in handling militia problems. Historian David Yelton described the situation as two ranking officers at the helm of a sinking ship fighting over command, the Volkssturm uniform was only a black armband with words Deutscher Volkssturm Wehrmacht with a series of silver collar pips pinned to the wearers collar. These were characteristically derived from the insignia of the various paramilitary organizations of the Nazi Party, which had control over them
Volkssturm
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Volkssturm marching, November 1944
Volkssturm
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Volkssturm defending the Oder River February 1945
Volkssturm
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Gruppenführer (1), Zugführer (2), Kompanieführer (3), Bataillonsführer (4)
Volkssturm
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February or March 1945: Volkssturm members being trained to use the
Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon.
2.
Breslau
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Wrocław is the largest city in western Poland. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia. Today, it is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, at various times in history, it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, the Austrian Empire, Prussia and Germany. It became part of Poland in 1945, as a result of the changes after the Second World War. The population of Wrocław in 2016 was 637,075, making it the fourth-largest city in Poland, the city hosted the Eucharistic Congress in 1997 and the Euro 2012 football championships. Wrocław is classified as a city by GaWC, with the ranking of high sufficiency. In 2016, the city was a European Capital of Culture, also in this year, Wrocław hosted the Theatre Olympics, World Bridge Games and the European Film Awards. In 2017, the city is the host of the IFLA Annual Conference, the first municipal seal stated Sigillum civitatis Wratislavie. A simplified name is given, in 1175, as Wrezlaw, the Czech spelling was used in Latin documents as Wratislavia or Vratislavia. At that time, Prezla was used in Middle High German, in the middle of the 14th century, the Early New High German form of the name, Breslau, began to replace its earlier versions. The city is believed to be named after Wrocisław or Vratislav. It is also possible that the city was named after the duke of the Silesians or after an early ruler of the city called Vratislav. The citys name in other languages is available at the list of names of European cities, persons born or living in the city are known as Vratislavians. In ancient times at or near Wrocław was a place called Budorigum and it has been mapped to the ancient Claudius Ptolemy map of the years 142-147 AD. The city of Wrocław originated at the intersection of two routes, the Via Regia and the Amber Road. Settlements in the area existed from the 6th century onward, when during migration period, Slavic tribe Ślężans settled on the Oder, the city was first recorded in the 10th century as Vratislavia, the Bohemian duke Vratislaus I founded here a Bohemian stronghold. Vratislavia was possibly derived from the dukes name Vratislav, in 985, Duke Mieszko I of Poland conquered Silesia including Wrocław. The town was mentioned explicitly in the year 1000 AD in connection with a founding of a bishopric during the Congress of Gniezno
Breslau
Breslau
Breslau
Breslau
3.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
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Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
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Flag
Poland
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Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
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Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
4.
Adolf Hitler
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Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As dictator of the German Reich, he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was central to the Holocaust, Hitler was born in Austria, then part of Austria-Hungary, and raised near Linz. He moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I and he joined the German Workers Party, the precursor of the NSDAP, in 1919 and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923 he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power, the failed coup resulted in Hitlers imprisonment, during which he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf. Hitler frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish conspiracy, by 1933, the Nazi Party was the largest elected party in the German Reichstag, which led to Hitlers appointment as Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain, Hitler sought Lebensraum for the German people in Eastern Europe. His aggressive foreign policy is considered to be the cause of the outbreak of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and on 1 September 1939 invaded Poland, resulting in British, in June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. By the end of 1941 German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe, failure to defeat the Soviets and the entry of the United States into the war forced Germany onto the defensive and it suffered a series of escalating defeats. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time lover, on 30 April 1945, less than two days later, the two killed themselves to avoid capture by the Red Army, and their corpses were burned. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians, in addition,29 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European Theatre of World War II. The number of civilians killed during the Second World War was unprecedented in warfare, Hitlers father Alois Hitler Sr. was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. The baptismal register did not show the name of his father, in 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Aloiss mother Maria Anna. Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedlers brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, in 1876, Alois was legitimated and the baptismal register changed by a priest to register Johann Georg Hiedler as Aloiss father. Alois then assumed the surname Hitler, also spelled Hiedler, Hüttler, the Hitler surname is probably based on one who lives in a hut. Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Aloiss mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz, and that the familys 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, and no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenbergers existence, Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary, close to the border with the German Empire. He was one of six born to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl
Adolf Hitler
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Hitler in 1938
Adolf Hitler
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Adolf Hitler as an infant (c. 1889–90).
Adolf Hitler
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Hitler's mother,
Klara
Adolf Hitler
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Hitler's father,
Alois
5.
Joseph Goebbels
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Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust, Goebbels, who aspired to be an author, obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Heidelberg in 1921. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924, and worked with Gregor Strasser in their northern branch and he was appointed as Gauleiter for Berlin in 1926, where he began to take an interest in the use of propaganda to promote the party and its programme. After the Nazi Seizure of Power in 1933, Goebbels Propaganda Ministry quickly gained and exerted controlling supervision over the media, arts. He was particularly adept at using the new media of radio. Topics for party propaganda included antisemitism, attacks on the Christian churches, as the war drew to a close and Nazi Germany faced defeat, Magda Goebbels and the Goebbels children joined him in Berlin. They moved into the underground Vorbunker, part of Hitlers underground bunker complex, Hitler committed suicide on 30 April. In accordance with Hitlers will, Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor of Germany, the following day, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide, after poisoning their six children with cyanide. Paul Joseph Goebbels was born on 29 October 1897 in Rheydt, both of his parents were Catholics with modest family backgrounds. His father Fritz was a clerk, his mother Katharina was ethnically Dutch. Goebbels had five siblings, Konrad, Hans, Maria, Elisabeth, and Maria, in 1932, Goebbels published a pamphlet of his family tree to refute the rumors that his grandmother was of Jewish ancestry. During childhood, Goebbels suffered from ill health, which included a bout of inflammation of the lungs. He had a right foot that turned inwards, due to a congenital deformity. It was thicker and shorter than his left foot and he underwent a failed operation to correct it just prior to starting grammar school. Goebbels wore a metal brace and special shoe because of his shortened leg and he was rejected for military service in World War I due to his deformity. Goebbels was educated at a Christian Gymnasium, where he completed his Abitur in 1917 and he was the top student of his class and was given the traditional honor to speak at the awards ceremony. His parents initially hoped that he would become a Catholic priest and he studied literature and history at the universities of Bonn, Würzburg, Freiburg, and Munich, aided by a scholarship from the Albertus Magnus Society. By this time Goebbels had begun to distance himself from the church, historians, including Richard J. Evans and Roger Manvell, speculate that Goebbels lifelong pursuit of women may have been in compensation for his physical disabilities
Joseph Goebbels
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Official portrait of Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
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Cover of the novel
Michael, published by the
NSDAP in 1929
Joseph Goebbels
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Goebbels speaks at a political rally (1932). This body position, with arms
akimbo, was intended to show the speaker as being in a position of authority.
Joseph Goebbels
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Goebbels giving a speech in Berlin (1934). This hand gesture was used while delivering a warning or threat.
6.
Heinrich Himmler
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Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel, and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Nazi Germany. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler briefly appointed him a commander and later Commander of the Replacement Army. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, as a member of a reserve battalion during World War I, Himmler did not see active service. He studied agronomy in college, and joined the Nazi Party in 1923, in 1929, he was appointed Reichsführer-SS by Hitler. Over the next 16 years, he developed the SS from a mere 290-man battalion into a paramilitary group. He was known to have good skills and for selecting highly competent subordinates. From 1943 onwards, he was both Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior, overseeing all internal and external police and security forces, on Hitlers behalf, Himmler formed the Einsatzgruppen and built extermination camps. Most of them were Polish and Soviet citizens, realising that the war was lost, he attempted to open peace talks with the western Allies without Hitlers knowledge shortly before the war ended. Hearing of this, Hitler dismissed him all his posts in April 1945. Himmler attempted to go into hiding, but was detained and then arrested by British forces once his identity became known, while in British custody, he committed suicide on 23 May 1945. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900 into a conservative middle-class Roman Catholic family and his father was Gebhard Himmler, a teacher, and his mother was Anna Maria Himmler, a devout Roman Catholic. Heinrich had two brothers, Gebhard Ludwig and Ernst Hermann, Himmlers first name, Heinrich, was that of his godfather, Prince Heinrich of Bavaria, a member of the royal family of Bavaria, who had been tutored by Gebhard Himmler. He attended a school in Landshut, where his father was deputy principal. While he did well in his schoolwork, he struggled in athletics and he had poor health, suffering from lifelong stomach complaints and other ailments. In his youth he trained daily with weights and exercised to become stronger, other boys at the school later remembered him as studious and awkward in social situations. Himmlers diary, which he kept intermittently from the age of ten, shows that he took a keen interest in current events, dueling, in 1915, he began training with the Landshut Cadet Corps. His father used his connections with the family to get Himmler accepted as an officer candidate. His brother, Gebhard, served on the front and saw combat, receiving the Iron Cross
Heinrich Himmler
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Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
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Himmler in early SS uniform, with rank of Oberführer
Heinrich Himmler
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Himmler in 1929, photograph by
Heinrich Hoffmann.
Heinrich Himmler
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Himmler (front right, beside prisoner) visiting the
Dachau Concentration Camp in 1936
7.
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
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The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was a Nazi government agency to enforce Nazi ideology. Founded on 14 March 1933, a few months after the Nazi seizure of power by Adolf Hitlers government, an unstated goal was to present to other nations the impression that the Nazi Party had the full and enthusiastic backing of the entire population. It was responsible for controlling the German news media, literature, visual arts, filmmaking, theatre, music, as the central office of Nazi propaganda, it comprehensively supervised and regulated the culture and mass media of Nazi Germany. A major focus of the propaganda was Hitler himself, who was glorified as a heroic and infallible leader, much of this was spontaneous, but some was stage-managed as part of Goebbels propaganda work. An example of the latter would be the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, Hitler was the focus and his moves were carefully choreographed. The rally was the subject of the film Triumph of the Will and it won the Gold Medal at the 1935 Venice Film Festival. Goebbels and his ministry were involved in both the rally and the film production, the ministry was organized into seven departments. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, doctor Goebbels, his Life and Death
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
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Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
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Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
8.
Province of Lower Silesia
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The Province of Lower Silesia was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between 1938 and 1941 it was reunited with Upper Silesia as the Province of Silesia, the capital of Lower Silesia was Breslau. The province was divided into two administrative regions, Breslau and Liegnitz. The province was not congruent with the region of Lower Silesia. The province was disestablished at the end of World War II and with the implementation of the Oder–Neisse line in 1945, the smaller western part was incorporated into the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg
Province of Lower Silesia
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Flag
9.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
Kingdom of Prussia
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Prussian territorial acquisitions in the 18th century
Kingdom of Prussia
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Flag
Kingdom of Prussia
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Prussia (orange) and its territories lost after the
War of the Fourth Coalition (other colours).
Kingdom of Prussia
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Prussian King's Crown (
Hohenzollern Castle Collection)
10.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
Czechoslovakia
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Czechoslovak troops in Vladivostok (1918)
Czechoslovakia
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Flag since 1920
Czechoslovakia
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The car in which Reinhard Heydrich was killed
Czechoslovakia
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Spartakiad in 1960
11.
Nazi Party
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Its precursor, the German Workers Party, existed from 1919 to 1920. The party emerged from the German nationalist, racist, and populist Freikorps paramilitary culture, the party was created as a means to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism. Pseudo-scientific racism theories were central to Nazism, the Nazis propagated the idea of a peoples community. Their aim was to unite racially desirable Germans as national comrades, while excluding those deemed either to be political dissidents, to maintain the supposed purity and strength of the Aryan race, the Nazis sought to exterminate Jews, Romani, and the physically and mentally handicapped. They imposed exclusionary segregation on homosexuals, Africans, Jehovahs Witnesses, the partys leader since 1921, Adolf Hitler, was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. Hitler rapidly established a regime known as the Third Reich. The term Nazi derives from the name given in German to a party member Nationalsozialist and was coined in response to the German term Sozi, members of the party referred to themselves as Nationalsozialisten, rarely as Nazis. The term Parteigenosse was commonly used among Nazis, with the feminine form Parteigenossin used when it was appropriate, the term was in use before the rise of the party as a colloquial and derogatory word for a backward peasant, characterising an awkward and clumsy person. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the name in intentional association to the long-time existing Sozi to the dismissive Nazi. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler assumed power of the German government, usage of the designation Nazi diminished in Germany, the use of Nazi Germany, and Nazi regime, was popularised by anti-Nazis and German exiles abroad. Thereafter, the spread into other languages and eventually was brought back to Germany after the Second World War. The party grew out of political groups with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last years of World War I. In 1918, a called the Freien Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden was created in Bremen. On 7 March 1918, Anton Drexler, an avid German nationalist, Drexler saw the situation of political violence and instability in Germany as the result of the new Weimar Republic being out-of-touch with the masses, especially the lower classes. These were all well-known themes popular with various Weimar paramilitary groups such as the Freikorps, though very small, Drexlers movement did receive attention and support from some influential figures. Supporter Dietrich Eckhart brought military figure Count Felix Graf von Bothmer, later in 1918, Karl Harrer, convinced Drexler and several others to form the Politischer Arbeiterzirkel. The members met periodically for discussions with themes of nationalism and racism directed against the Jews and they became one of many völkisch movements that existed in Germany at the time
Nazi Party
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NSDAP membership book
Nazi Party
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National Socialist German Workers' Party Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
Nazi Party
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Mein Kampf in its first edition cover.
Nazi Party
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Hitler with Nazi Party members in 1930
12.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
Alma mater
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The Alma Mater statue by
Mario Korbel, at the entrance of the
University of Havana in
Cuba.
Alma mater
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John Legate's Alma Mater for Cambridge in 1600
Alma mater
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Alma Mater (1929, Lorado Taft),
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
13.
Nazism
–
National Socialism, more commonly known as Nazism, is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party and Nazi Germany, as well as other far-right groups. Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying Germans as part of what Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race and it aimed to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous society, unified on the basis of racial purity. The term National Socialism arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, the Nazi Partys precursor, the Pan-German nationalist and anti-Semitic German Workers Party, was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organisation, following the Holocaust and German defeat in World War II, only a few fringe racist groups, usually referred to as neo-Nazis, still describe themselves as following National Socialism. The full name of Adolf Hitlers party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the shorthand Nazi was formed from the first two syllables of the German pronunciation of the word national. The term was in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a peasant, characterizing an awkward. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the first word of the name, Nationalsozialistische. The NSDAP briefly adopted the Nazi designation, attempting to reappropriate the term, the use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, and so on was popularised by German exiles abroad. From them, the spread into other languages and was eventually brought back to Germany after World War II. In English, Nazism is a name for the ideology the party advocated. The majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as a form of far-right politics, far-right themes in Nazism include the argument that superior people have a right to dominate over other people and purge society of supposed inferior elements. Adolf Hitler and other proponents officially portrayed Nazism as being neither left- nor right-wing, but the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms, a major inspiration for the Nazis were the far-right nationalist Freikorps, paramilitary organisations that engaged in political violence after World War I. The Nazis stated the alliance was purely tactical and there remained substantial differences with the DNVP, the Nazis described the DNVP as a bourgeois party and called themselves an anti-bourgeois party. After the elections in 1932, the alliance broke after the DNVP lost many of its seats in the Reichstag, the Nazis denounced them as an insignificant heap of reactionaries. The DNVP responded by denouncing the Nazis for their socialism, their violence. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was pressured to abdicate the throne and flee into exile amidst an attempted communist revolution in Germany, there were factions in the Nazi Party, both conservative and radical
Nazism
–
Foreground, left to right: Führer
Adolf Hitler;
Hermann Göring; Minister of Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels;
Rudolf Hess
Nazism
Nazism
–
Nazis alongside members of the far-right
reactionary and
monarchist German National People's Party (DNVP), during the brief Nazi-DNVP alliance in the
Harzburg Front from 1931 to 1932
Nazism
–
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, considered one of the fathers of German nationalism
14.
Teacher
–
A teacher is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values. Informally the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone, in some countries, teaching young people of school age may be carried out in an informal setting, such as within the family, rather than in a formal setting such as a school or college. Some other professions may involve a significant amount of teaching, in most countries, formal teaching is usually carried out by paid professional teachers. This article focuses on those who are employed, as their role, to teach others in a formal education context. A teachers role may vary among cultures, Teachers may provide instruction in literacy and numeracy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, community roles, or life skills. Formal teaching tasks include preparing lessons according to agreed curricula, giving lessons, a teachers professional duties may extend beyond formal teaching. In some education systems, teachers may have responsibility for student discipline, Teaching is a highly complex activity. This is in part because teaching is a practice, that takes place in a specific context. Factors that influence what is expected of teachers include history and tradition, social views about the purpose of education, so the competences required by a teacher are affected by the different ways in which the role is understood around the world. Broadly, there seem to be four models, the teacher as manager of instruction, the teacher as caring person, the teacher as expert learner, some evidence-based international discussions have tried to reach such a common understanding. Scholarly consensus is emerging that what is required of teachers can be grouped under three headings, knowledge craft skills and dispositions and it has been found that teachers who showed enthusiasm towards the course materials and students can create a positive learning experience. These teachers do not teach by rote but attempt to find new invigoration for the materials on a daily basis. One of the challenges facing teachers is that they may have covered a curriculum until they begin to feel bored with the subject. Students who had enthusiastic teachers tend to rate them higher than teachers who didnt show much enthusiasm for the course materials, Teachers that exhibit enthusiasm can lead to students who are more likely to be engaged, interested, energetic, and curious about learning the subject matter. Recent research has found a correlation between teacher enthusiasm and students intrinsic motivation to learn and vitality in the classroom, students who experienced a very enthusiastic teacher were more likely to read lecture material outside of the classroom. There are various mechanisms by which teacher enthusiasm may facilitate higher levels of intrinsic motivation, teacher enthusiasm may contribute to a classroom atmosphere of energy and enthusiasm which feeds student interest and excitement in learning the subject matter. Enthusiastic teachers may also lead to becoming more self-determined in their own learning process. The concept of mere exposure indicates that the teachers enthusiasm may contribute to the expectations about intrinsic motivation in the context of learning
Teacher
–
A teacher in a classroom at a secondary school in
Pendembu,
Sierra Leone.
Teacher
–
Jewish children with their teacher in
Samarkand, the beginning of the 20th century.
Teacher
–
A teacher of a Latin school and two students, 1487
Teacher
–
Dutch schoolmaster and children, 1662
15.
Schutzstaffel
–
The Schutzstaffel was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party in Nazi Germany. It began with a guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed, under his direction, it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany. From 1929 until the collapse in 1945, the SS was the foremost agency of security, surveillance. The two main constituent groups were the Allgemeine SS and Waffen-SS, the Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the racial policy of Nazi Germany and general policing, whereas the Waffen-SS consisted of combat units of troops within Nazi Germanys military. A third component of the SS, the SS-Totenkopfverbände, ran the concentration camps, additional subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst organizations. The SS was the organization most responsible for the killing of an estimated 5.5 to 6 million Jews. Members of all of its branches committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II, the SS was also involved in commercial enterprises and exploited concentration camp inmates as slave labor. After Nazi Germanys defeat, the SS and the NSDAP were judged by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg to be criminal organizations, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the highest-ranking surviving SS officer at the time, was found guilty of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and hanged in 1946. By 1923, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler had created a volunteer guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz to provide security at their meetings in Munich. The same year, Hitler ordered the formation of a bodyguard unit dedicated to his personal service. He wished it to be separate from the mass of the party, including the paramilitary Sturmabteilung. The new formation was designated the Stabswache, originally the unit was composed of eight men, commanded by Julius Schreck and Joseph Berchtold, and was modeled after the Erhardt Naval Brigade, a Freikorps of the time. The unit was renamed Stoßtrupp in May 1923, the Stoßtrupp was abolished after the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt by the NSDAP to seize power in Munich. In 1925, Hitler ordered Schreck to organize a new bodyguard unit and it was tasked with providing personal protection for Hitler at NSDAP functions and events. That same year, the Schutzkommando was expanded to an organization and renamed successively the Sturmstaffel. Officially, the SS marked its foundation on 9 November 1925, the new SS was to provide protection for NSDAP leaders throughout Germany. Hitlers personal SS protection unit was enlarged to include combat units
Schutzstaffel
–
Adolf Hitler inspects the
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler upon arrival at
Klagenfurt, April 1938.
Heinrich Himmler is standing slightly behind Hitler's right
Schutzstaffel
–
SS flag
Schutzstaffel
–
Nazi supporters and stormtroopers in Munich during the
Beer Hall Putsch, 1923
Schutzstaffel
–
Heinrich Himmler, head of all SS organisations, stated, "Once the Führer himself has made a decision and given the order, it must be carried out, not only according to the word and the letter, but also in spirit."
16.
Nazi Germany
–
Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
Nazi Germany
–
Hitler became Germany's head of state, with the title of
Führer und Reichskanzler, in 1934.
Nazi Germany
–
Flag
Nazi Germany
–
Joseph Goebbels,
Reich Minister of Propaganda
Nazi Germany
–
Ethnic Germans in
Saaz, Czechoslovakia, greet German soldiers with the
Nazi salute, 1938
17.
Gauleiter
–
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau. The word can be singular or plural, depending on the context, Gauleiter was the second highest Nazi Party paramilitary rank, subordinate only to the higher rank Reichsleiter and to the position of Führer. During World War II, the rank of Gauleiter was obtained only by appointment from Adolf Hitler. The first use of the term Gauleiter by the Nazi Party was in 1925 after Adolf Hitler refounded the Nazi party following the failed Beer Hall Putsch, the name derives from the German word Gau and Leiter. The word Gau is an old term for a region of the German Reich, the Frankish Realm and the Holy Roman Empire were subdivided in Gaue, which corresponds roughly with the english word shire. It is still in use today for some regions in Belgium and Switzerland, in the earliest days of the terms existence, Gauleiter were heads of election districts during a time period when the Nazis were attempting to gain political representation in the Weimar Republic. Gauleiter oversaw several politische Leiter who assisted the Nazis with election campaigns, in 1928, a mid-level official known as a Kreisleiter was introduced as an intermediary between the Gauleiter and the Political Leaders. It was also at this time that a political uniform was created for the Gauleiter, consisting of a brown Nazi Party shirt. In 1933, when the NSDAP took power and established the state of Nazi Germany, Gauleiter became the second-highest Nazi paramilitary rank, the Gauleiter now became the heads of the Gauleitung — the system of Nazi political regions set up to mirror the German states. Also at that time Gauleiter adopted the two-leaf collar insignia most often associated with the rank. In theory, a Gauleiter merely functioned as a representative of the Nazi Party who served to coordinate regional Nazi Party events, in practice, each Gauleiter had unquestioned authority in his particular area of responsibility. The legal governmental establishment merely existed as a stamp for the Gauleiter. Party control over the administration became institutionalized, as in many cases the Gauleiter also held the supreme civil administrative post in his areas. Within each Gau were a number of Kreise, followed by the Ort level, there were also two additional lower local levels, describing Party Cells and local Neighborhood Blocks. By this point, all political leaders wore official uniforms, with piping, the original insignia for a Gauleiter consisted of Army styled collar tabs, accompanied by a braided shoulder cord worn on a brown Nazi Party shirt. After 1933, the Gauleiter adopted a two oak leaf insignia worn on a colored collar patch. The Stellvertreter-Gauleiter wore a single oak leaf, the Gauleiter insignia, however, was considered too well entrenched to change and thus was not incorporated into the new insignia system. Both Gauleiter and Reichsleiter insignia was modified slightly to display a pronounced national eagle crest
Gauleiter
–
Joachim Albrecht Eggeling was the
Nazi Gauleiter of
Saxony and
Anhalt and the
Oberpräsident of the
province of
Halle-Merseburg.
Gauleiter
–
Early Nazi Party insignia from 1930, showing the first badge of rank for Gauleiter.
Gauleiter
–
The rank insignia for Gauleiter and
Reichsleiter, before and after the 1939 insignia change.
Gauleiter
–
The rank insignia of the Nazi party in the 1930s; the Deputy Gauleiter insignia is displayed as a single oak leaf.
18.
Partisan (military)
–
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity. The term can apply to the element of resistance movements. The French term partisan, derived from the Latin, first appeared in the 17th century to describe the leader of a war-party, one of the first manuals of partisan tactics in the 18th century was The Partisan, or the Art of Making War in Detachment. Published in London in 1760 by de Jeney, a Hungarian military officer who served in the Prussian Army as captain of engineers during the Seven Years War of 1756–1763. Johann von Ewald described techniques of warfare in detail in his Abhandlung über den kleinen Krieg. The concept of warfare would later form the basis of the Partisan Rangers of the American Civil War. In that war, Confederate States Army Partisan leaders, such as John S. Mosby, in essence, 19th-century American partisans were closer to commando or ranger forces raised during World War II than to the partisan forces operating in occupied Europe. Mosby-style fighters would have been legally considered uniformed members of their states armed forces, Partisans in the mid-19th century were substantially different from raiding cavalry, or from unorganized/semi-organized guerrilla forces. Russian partisans played a part in the downfall of Napoleon. Their fierce resistance and persistent inroads helped compel the French emperor to flee Russia in 1812, imperial Russia also made use of partisans in World War I, for example Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz. The group was the wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists—Bandera faction, originally formed in Volyn in the spring. Its official date of creation is 14 October 1942, day of Intercession of the Theotokos feast, the OUNs stated immediate goal was the re-establishment of a united, independent national state on Ukrainian ethnic territory. The organization began as a group and developed into a guerrilla army. Soviet partisans during World War II, especially active in Belarus, effectively harassed German troops. As a result, Soviet authority was re-established deep inside the German-held territories, in some areas partisan kolkhozes raised crops and livestock to produce food. However this was not usually the case and partisans also requisitioned supplies from the local populace, Soviet partisans in Finland were known to have attacked villages and indiscriminately target the populace, killing entire families. The war crimes committed in Finland by Soviet partisans were investigated by the National Bureau since 1999, however, Russia refused access to Soviet archives and the investigation ended in 2003. Partisan warfare was routinely distorted in the Soviet Union, according to historian Veikko Erkkilä the Russian attitude towards civilian atrocities has been marred by the Great Patriotic War propaganda
Partisan (military)
–
Soviet partisans in the forest near
Polotsk,
Byelorussian SSR September 1943.
Partisan (military)
–
Soviet partisans in Belarus, 1944
Partisan (military)
–
Yugoslav partisan
Stjepan Filipović moments before death.
19.
Province of Silesia
–
As a Prussian province, Silesia became part of the German Empire during the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871. The territory on both sides of the Oder river formed the part of the Prussian kingdom. It furthermore included the part of Upper Lusatia around Görlitz and Lauban. In the northeast, Upper Silesia bordered on remaining Congress Poland, the incorporated Upper Lusatian strip of land in the west touched the remaining territory of the Saxon kingdom. Immediately after the coronation of Maria Theresa as Bohemian queen regnant, King Frederick the Great of Prussia had invaded Silesia, attempts by Maria Theresa to regain the crown land in the Second Silesian War failed and she ultimately had to relinquish her claims by the Treaty of Dresden. As the lands had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, the character of the provinces eastern third, Upper Silesia, had been much lesser shaped by the medieval German Ostsiedlung. According to the census of 1905, about three-quarters of the Silesian inhabitants were German–speaking, the Upper Silesian Industrial Region was the second largest industrial agglomeration of the German Empire after the Ruhr area. Ethnic tensions rose on the eve of World War I, with politicians like Wojciech Korfanty separating from the Centre Party, after the war, the parts remaining in Weimar Germany were re-organized into the two provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia in 1919. Further, in 1920 the Hlučín Region was ceded to Czechoslovakia according to the Treaty of Versailles, after the Nazi Germany conquest of Poland in late 1939, the Province of Silesia was extended when a part of Poland was merged into that province. In 1941, the Province was divided again, the German-speaking population left or was expelled following World War II, though a minority remains. A smaller western part of the former Silesia Province lies within modern German states of Saxony, coats of arms of Upper Silesian towns while part of the Province of Silesia Administrative subdivision and population breakdown of the Province of Silesia in 1900/1900
Province of Silesia
–
Flag
20.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
World War I
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
World War I
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
World War I
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
World War I
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
21.
Reichswehr
–
The Reichswehr formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was united with the new Wehrmacht. At the end of World War I, the forces of the German Empire had mostly split up, many of them joined the Freikorps, a collection of volunteer paramilitary units that were involved in suppressing the German Revolution and border clashes between 1918 and 1923. The Vorläufige Reichswehr was made up of 43 brigades, on 30 September 1919, the army was reorganised as the Übergangsheer, and the force size was reduced to 20 brigades. About 400,000 men served in the armed forces, in May 1920 it was downsized to 200,000 men and restructured again, forming three cavalry divisions and seven infantry divisions. On 1 October 1920 the brigades were replaced by regiments and the manpower was now only 100,000 men as stipulated by the Treaty of Versailles and this lasted until 1 January 1921, when the Reichswehr was officially established according to the limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The Reichswehr was an organisation composed of the following, The Reichsheer, an army consisting of, seven infantry divisions. General Command 1 at Berlin supervised 1st Division, 2nd Division, 3rd Division, general Command 2 at Kassel supervised 5,6,7 and 3rd Cavalry divisions. The Reichsmarine, a navy with a number of certain types of ships. The Reichswehr was limited to an army of 100,000 men. The establishment of a staff was prohibited. Heavy weapons such as artillery above the calibre of 105 mm, armoured vehicles, submarines and capital ships were forbidden, compliance with these restrictions was monitored until 1927 by the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control. Despite the limitations on its size, their analysis of the loss of World War I, research and development, secret testing abroad and planning for better times went on. In addition, although forbidden to have a staff, the army continued to conduct the typical functions of a general staff under the disguised name of Truppenamt. During this time, many of the leaders of the Wehrmacht — such as Heinz Guderian — first formulated the ideas that they were to use so effectively a few years later. Reflecting this position as a “state within the state”, the Reichswehr created the Ministeramt or Office of the Ministerial Affairs in 1928 under Kurt von Schleicher to lobby the politicians. The biggest influence on the development of the Reichswehr was Hans von Seeckt, after the Kapp Putsch, Hans von Seeckt took over this post. After Seeckt was forced to resign in 1926, Wilhelm Heye took the post, Heye was in 1930 succeeded by Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, who submitted his resignation on December 27,1933. The reduction of the strength of the German army from 780,000 in 1913 to 100,000 enhanced the quality of the Reichsheer because only the best were permitted to join the army
Reichswehr
–
General
Hans von Seeckt, Chief of the Reichswehr together with infantry men at a Reichswehr maneuver in
Thuringia, 1926
Reichswehr
–
War Ensign of the Reichswehr
Reichswehr
–
Reichswehr army structure 1920-21 to 1934
Reichswehr
–
Reichswehr soldiers in a military exercise, September 1930
22.
Frankfurt (Oder)
–
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice, which was part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s, it reached a peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants. The number dropped below 70,000 in 2002 and was just above 60,000 in 2010, the official name Frankfurt and the older Frankfurt an der Oder are used to distinguish it from the larger city of Frankfurt am Main. The town of Frankfurt received its charter in 1253 at the Brandendamm, the early settlers lived on the western banks of the Oder, later the town was extended to the eastern bank. In the late Middle Ages, the town dominated the trade between Breslau and Stettin. In 1430, Frankfurt joined the Hanseatic League, but was a member for only a short time, in April 1631, during the Thirty Years War, Frankfurt was the site of the Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder between the Swedish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. After a two-day siege, Swedish forces, supported by Scottish auxiliaries, the result was a Swedish victory. The city was occupied by the Russian Imperial Army during the Seven Years War, in August 1759. With the dissolution of the Margraviate of Brandenburg during the Napoleonic Wars, in the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. There was no fighting for the town in 1945 during World War II even though the town was declared a fortress in an attempt to block the Red Armys route to Berlin, the nearly empty town was burned down. The postwar German-Polish border ran along the Oder, separating the Dammvorstadt on the eastern bank - which became the Polish town of Słubice - from the rest of Frankfurt, while part of communist East Germany, Frankfurt was administered within Bezirk Frankfurt. It became part of the state of Brandenburg with German reunification in 1990. Today, Frankfurt and Słubice have friendly relations and run several common projects, Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, and implemented the Schengen Agreement on December 21,2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls. In the post-communist era, Frankfurt has suffered high unemployment. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990, FC Viktoria Frankfurt is the towns local football team. In March 2008, the Jewish community of Frankfurt celebrated its first Torah dedication since the Holocaust, the procession of the new Torah scroll began from the spot where the towns Frankfurter Synagogue stood prior to World War II,500 meters from Germanys current border with Poland. Celebrants marched with the scroll into the towns Chabad-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with the Torah, the Margraviate of Brandenburgs first university was Frankfurts Alma Mater Viadrina, founded in 1506 by Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. An early chancellor, Bishop Georg von Blumenthal, was an opponent of the Protestant Reformation
Frankfurt (Oder)
–
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
–
Frankfurt and
Słubice next to each other.
Frankfurt (Oder)
–
View from the Oderturm
Frankfurt (Oder)
–
Development of Population since 1875 within the Current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population Development of Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi rule; Red Background: Time of Communist rule)
23.
Silesia
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Silesia is a region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is about 40,000 km2, and its population about 8,000,000, Silesia is located along the Oder River. It consists of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia, the region is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesias largest city and historical capital is Wrocław, the biggest metropolitan area is the Upper Silesian metropolitan area, the centre of which is Katowice. Parts of the Czech city of Ostrava fall within the borders of Silesia, Silesias borders and national affiliation have changed over time, both when it was a hereditary possession of noble houses and after the rise of modern nation-states. The first known states to hold there were probably those of Greater Moravia at the end of the 9th century. In the 10th century, Silesia was incorporated into the early Polish state, in the 14th century, it became a constituent part of the Bohemian Crown Lands under the Holy Roman Empire, which passed to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in 1526. Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia in 1742, later becoming part of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the varied history with changing aristocratic possessions resulted in an abundance of castles in Silesia, especially in the Jelenia Góra valley. The remaining former Austrian parts of Silesia were partitioned to Czechoslovakia, in 1945, after World War II, the bulk of Silesia was transferred to Polish jurisdiction by the Potsdam Agreement of the victorious Allied Powers and became part of Poland. The small Lusatian strip west of the Oder-Neisse line, which had belonged to Silesia since 1815 and its centres are Görlitz and Bautzen. Most inhabitants of Silesia today speak the languages of their respective countries. The population of Upper Silesia is native, while Lower Silesia was settled by a German-speaking population before 1945, an ongoing debate exists whether Silesian speech should be considered a dialect of Polish or a separate language. Also, a Lower Silesian German dialect is used, although today it is almost extinct and it is used by expellees within Germany, as well as Germans who were left behind. The names all relate to the name of a river and mountain in mid-southern Silesia, the mountain served as a cultic place. Ślęża is listed as one of the numerous Pre-Indo-European topographic names in the region, according to some Polish Slavists, the name Ślęża or Ślęż is directly related to the Old Slavic words ślęg or śląg, which means dampness, moisture, or humidity. They disagree with the hypothesis of an origin for the name Śląsk from the name of the Silings tribe, in the fourth century BC, Celts entered Silesia, settling around Mount Ślęża near modern Wrocław, Oława, and Strzelin. Germanic Lugii tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century, Slavic peoples arrived in the region around the 7th century, and by the early ninth century, their settlements had stabilized. Local Slavs started to erect boundary structures like the Silesian Przesieka, the eastern border of Silesian settlement was situated to the west of the Bytom, and east from Racibórz and Cieszyn
Silesia
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Silesia in an early period of
Poland's fragmentation, 1172–1177
Silesia
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Historic Silesia, superimposed on modern national borders: The medieval and early modern Bohemian and Habsburg province outlined in cyan, Prussian Silesia in yellow.
Silesia
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First map of Silesia by
Martin Helwig, 1561; north at the bottom
Silesia
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Coal Mine Bolesław Śmiały, Łaziska Górne
24.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
Bavaria
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Prehistoric Heunischenburg, in the vicinity of
Kronach
Bavaria
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Flag
Bavaria
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Kingdom of Bavaria 900
Bavaria
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Bavarian stamps during the German empire period
25.
German Tyrol
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German Tyrol is a historical region in the Alps now divided between Austria and Italy. It includes largely ethnic German areas of historical County of Tyrol, the Austrian state of Tyrol, however, South Tyrol had been promised as spoils of war to Italy by the Entente powers in the Treaty of London. The remainder of German Tyrol became the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, the status of Tyrol was definitively settled by the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye that established the division of the region that remains to this day. German Austria History of Tyrol Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino
German Tyrol
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The provinces of
German Austria 1918 with German Tyrol in gray
26.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
27.
Steglitz
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Steglitz is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in the south-west of Berlin, the capital of Germany. The locality also includes the neighbourhood of Südende, Steglitz witnessed the construction of the first paved Prussian country road, in 1792. The former village profited largely from its location on the Imperial Highway Reichsstraße 1, today Bundesstraße 1, which follows a trading route that dates back to the Middle Ages. The old Reichsstraße stretched from the far West of Germany through Aachen and Cologne to Berlin, the village of Steglitz was also boosted significantly with the construction of the Stammbahn line of the Prussian state railways in 1838. This was the first railroad in Prussia and ran between Berlin and Potsdam, the Steglitz area was included in the southern line of Berlins rail and transit systems from around 1850. Lichterfelde West and East, founded by the entrepreneur Johann von Carstenn were developed as so called Villenkolonien, in the east the settlement of Südende was founded in 1873. In Steglitz proper a major shopping area developed around the Schloßstraße, catering also to the villages of Lichterfelde. In 1901 the first Wandervogel youth group was founded in the basement of the Steglitz town hall, Steglitz was incorporated into the city of Greater Berlin in 1920 together with neighboring villages. From 1920 to 2000 the administrative district IX was called Bezirk Steglitz, during the time of the Berlin Wall Steglitz formed part of the American Sector. Before the construction was finished the company became insolvent in 1974. To avoid further vacancy the boroughs administration moved in, but had to leave the building in 2007 due to a contamination with asbestos, on May 26,1945 it was the site of the first concert of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra after World War II. On June 6,1951 it saw the ceremony of the first Berlin International Film Festival The Fichtenberg hill. The Grundschule am Insulaner is an elementary and middle school near Südende, die Spiegelwand - Mirrored Wall - is a Holocaust Memorial with the names and addresses of 1700 Jews in the Steglitz area who were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps. Take either U-Bahn or S-Bahn to Rathaus-Steglitz, the Memorial is right across the street from the Station. McNair Barracks - Prior to the withdrawal of U. S. forces from Berlin following reunification, during readiness alerts, U. S. units would form up on the 4. Juli Platz between the kaserne and Parkfriedhof Lichterfelde, then move to their assembly areas. Steglitz is served by the Berlin S-Bahn line S1 at the stations Feuerbachstraße, U-Bahn connection to the inner city is provided by the U9 line with the stations Walther-Schreiber-Platz, Schloßstraße and Rathaus Steglitz. Media related to Steglitz at Wikimedia Commons Steglitz travel guide from Wikivoyage
Steglitz
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Town Hall
Steglitz
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Steglitzer Kreisel
Steglitz
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Bierpinsel
28.
List of SS personnel
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Between 1925 and 1945, the German Schutzstaffel grew from eight members to over a quarter of a million Waffen-SS and over a million Allgemeine-SS members. Other members included the SS-Totenkopfverbände, which ran the Nazi concentration and extermination camps, the following list of SS personnel gives the names of notable persons who are counted among the organizations most famous, influential or notorious members. Following the Night of the Long Knives Hitler raised the SS, hitherto subordinate to the SA, Hitler also was considered SS Member No. 1, Emil Maurice was member No,2, while Himmler was SS member No.168. Based on the seniority system of SS membership number, this made Hitler senior in the SS to all other members if not by rank. There is no record of Hitler ever wearing an actual SS uniform nor was there a special SS insignia for Hitler above that worn by Himmler. Following is the list of persons holding the positions as well as actual highest ranks of the Schutzstaffel since the earliest inception of the armed SS units in Nazi Germany. The ranks include distinctive insignia designs worn on the points by all officers
List of SS personnel
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Oberster SA-Führer and SS Member# 1
Adolf Hitler at SA Parade
Nuremberg September 1935; SA at the left; SS man
Jakob Grimminger behind car
List of SS personnel
List of SS personnel
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Inspection by the Nazi party and
Himmler at the
Dachau concentration camp on 8 May 1936.
List of SS personnel
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Oberst-Gruppenführer (April 1942–forward)
