| V-E
Day
Adolf
Hitler killed himself on April 30, 1945. Germany surrendered
a week later on May 8. The country and most of Europe lay
in ruin. Civilian populations suffered 25 million deaths.
Six million Jews and five million gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's
Witnesses, the handicapped, and Catholics died in concentration
and death camps. Over seven million enslaved foreigners wandered
through Europe. The United States tried to ease the chaos
by sending foreign aid through a program called the Marshall
Plan. Millions of dollars went to rebuild European cities,
roads, and lives. |
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A German citizen wrote "Hitler was our misfortune,"
1945
Courtesy of Harvey Salzman
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| Twenty-two
Nazi leaders faced Allied judges at the International War Crimes
Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, in November 1945. The trials
passed sentence on German officers for using slave labor and
participating in the mass murder of Jews. Twelve Nazi leaders
hung for their crimes, seven served jail terms, and three went
free. |
Jews
lay dead on a wagon at
Camp Buchenwald in Germany, 1945
Courtesy of the National Archives
# 338-FTL(EF)-3134(4)
The
Nazi's opened the Buchenwald concentration camp in July 1937.
Its inmates worked for local manufacturers. 56,545 men and
women died
in this camp.
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Russian
refugees and slave laborers jump off American trucks at Lichtenfels,
Germany, 1945
Courtesy of Harvey Salzman
The
Nazis forced Poles, French, Soviets, Belgians, Dutch, and
Italians to work for the German war effort. Over seven million
refugees wandered
Europe after the war.
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