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After World War II ended, the main four Allied powers – Great Britain, The United States, France, and the Soviet Union – jointly occupied Germany, with the Allied occupation officially ending in the 1950s. During this time, Germany was held accountable for the Allied occupation's expenses, amounting to over several billion dollars. [21]
The Berghof, Hitler's private retreat, was renovated at a massive cost, all of it paid for with Nazi Party donations. While hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic had crippled the German economy and plunged millions of German workers into unemployment, Hitler and his party received lavish donations from wealthy benefactors at home and abroad. [18]
The use of slave and forced labour in Nazi Germany (German: Zwangsarbeit) and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. [2] It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in occupied Europe.
Operation Barbarossa [g] was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. It was the largest and costliest land offensive in human history, with around 10 million combatants taking part, [26] and over 8 million casualties by the end of the operation. [27] [28]
Like Swiss banks, American car companies deny helping the Nazi war machine or profiting from forced labor at their German subsidiaries during World War II. [9] "General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland," according to Bradford Snell. "The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland.
The Soviet Union suffered the greatest number of casualties in the war, losing more than 20 million citizens, about a third of all World War II casualties. The full demographic loss to the Soviet people was even greater. [5] The German Generalplan Ost aimed to create more Lebensraum (lit. ' living space ') for Germany through extermination.
This is a timeline of events of World War II in 1939 from the start of the war on 1 September 1939. For events preceding September 1, 1939, see the timeline of events preceding World War II. Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 brought many countries into the war. This event, and the declaration of war by France and Britain two days ...
Stalin felt that there was a growing split in German circles about whether Germany should initiate a war with the Soviet Union. [186] Stalin did not know that Hitler had been secretly discussing an invasion of the Soviet Union since summer 1940, [150] and that Hitler had ordered his military in late 1940 to prepare for war in the East ...