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Europe under the Swastika
2077 days of War
Copyright © Süddeutsche Zeitung Nr. 94 Page V2/6 Saturday/Sunday 24/25 April 2010
Robert Probst
Josef Stalin, in a speech on the radio to the people of the Soviet Union on 9 may 1945, said, "The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to
her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender." Throughout the world it was seen as a day
of joy, soon to be called VE Day (Victory in Europe Day). People celebrated the end of a war unparalleled in history. This global war cost 60 million lives. The last report
of the Wehrmacht High Command stated, "The German soldier, loyal to the oath of allegiance he had sworn, has achieved unforgettable things in this struggle for his people."
Adolf Hitler began the Second World War with the invasion of Poland at 04:45 hrs on 1 September 1939. At 23:01 hrs CET on 8 May 1945 the guns were silenced in Europe.
Between these dates lay 2077 days of death, murder, misery and destruction beyond all imagination. From the very beginning Hitler had seen this war as one of expansion
("living space") and extermination pursued in accordance with his ideology of world domination and racial superiority. Its goals were the murder of the Bolshevik political
elite in the east and the extermination of the Jews in Europe. Never before were civilians so affected by the conditions of war. By far the greatest number of civilian
deaths took place in the Soviet Union. More than 12 million Soviet civilians died in the German war of terror; today researchers estimate it to have been 17 million. Poland
also suffered terribly with 6 million dead. The total number of German civilian victims is unknown. Probably more than 500,000 civilians died as a result of air raids and
up to 2 million during the flight from the eastern provinces and the forced migration from various European states and territories which lay outside the boundaries of
post-war Germany and post-war Austria. 6 million Jews died in the concentration camps and death camps. Altogether more than 30 million civilians died in the war. Latest
research estimates the number of Soviet Army dead to have been up to 19 million and that of the Wehrmacht 5.3 million. The Nazi regime mobilized a total of 18.3 million
men. Until recently it was thought that 3 to 4 million Wehrmacht soldiers died but now it is realised that the "Final Struggle" (Endkampf) took a far heavier toll.
Probably more than 500,000 German soldiers died in the last fifty days of the war. Around 1 million Germans died in Soviet captivity. Likewise the total number of severely
wounded can only be estimated as 35 million; 3 million were registered as missing.
The capitulation of Germany was recorded in a single document of unconditional surrender. German fascism was defeated. Germany was occupied and administered in four
occupation zones: American, British, French and Soviet, and later divided into "East" and "West". On 23 May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik
Deutschland) was established on the territory of the Western occupied zones, with Bonn as its "provisional" capital. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republic
(Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR)), with East Berlin as its capital, was established in the Soviet Zone.
Germany was reunited on 3 October 1990. In June 1991 the German Parliament (Bundestag) voted to move the (West) German capital from Bonn back to Berlin.
The statistics of war:
| Country | Troops Mobilized | Military Dead | Civilian Dead
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| Australia | 680,000 | 34,000 | -
| | Belgium | 800,000 | 10,000 | 90,000
| | Bulgaria | 450,000 | 10,000 | 7,000
| | Canada | 780,000 | 40,000 | -
| | China | 5,000,000 | 3,500,000 | 10,000,000
| | Czechoslovakia | 180,000 | 7,000 | 310,000
| | Denmark | 15,000 | 4,000 | 3,000
| | Finland | 250,000 | 80,000 | 10,000
| | France | 5,000,000 | 250,000 | 170,000
| | Germany | 10,000,000
to 11,000.000 | 3,000,000
to 3,500,000 | 2,000,000
to 3,500,000
| | Great Britain | 4,700,000 | 240,000 | 65,000
| | Greece | 150,000 | 17,000 | 400,000
| | Hungary | 350,000 | 140,000 | 610,000
| | India | 2,400,000 | 48,000 | -
| | Italy | 4,500,000 | 380,000 | 180,000
| | Japan | 7,400,000 | 1,700,000 | 950,000
| | the Netherlands | 500,000 | 10,000 | 240,000
| | New Zealand | 150,000 | 12,000 | -
| | Norway | 25,000 | 5,000 | 8,000
| | Poland | 1,000,000 | 600,000 | 6,000,000
| | Romania | 600,000 | 200,000 | 460,000
| | South Africa | 140,000 | 9,000 | -
| | Soviet Union | 26,000,000 | 8,600,00
to 13,000,000 | 12,000,000
to 17,000,000
| | USA | 16,400,000 | 292,000 | -
| | Yugoslavia | 3,700,000 | 300,000 | 1,400,000
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