At the end of 1942, defeat against Hitler brought the war to a turning point. Hitler turned away from the reality of the situation, only listening to positive reports, which were given to him by his personal secretary. Germany was facing a desperate situation because they were not receiving any useful help from her weakening ally Mussolini. The Years of 1943 and 1944 saw several assassination attempts on Hitler s life. They all failed making his personal security tighter. As 1945 came around, Hitler was found in a bunker where he was planning his last efforts to stop the incoming forces of the Soviet Union, the United States, and the British. On April 30th, the end was near. Several attempts were made on Hitler’s life during the war, but none was successful. As the war appeared to be inevitably lost and his hand-picked lieutenants, seeing the futility, defied his orders, he killed himself on April 30, 1945. His long-term mistress and new bride, Eva Braun, joined him in suicide. By that time, one of his chief objectives was achieved with the annihilation of two-thirds of European Jewry. A weak after the suicides of Hitler and Goebbels, the force of Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. The war was over, but it was only by the time that the world realized the horrors that had been committed.
As the Allies liberated the death camps throughout Europe, people everywhere were shocked. Between the years 1945 and 1949, many Nazi leaders were put on trial for the war crimes that they had committed against humanity. While on trial, these men claimed that they were only following orders. The judges were unsympathetic to these claims, and sentenced many of the leaders to death and life imprisonment.
The defeat of Hitler s Reich greatly changed the lives of many people. The Jews were the most abused victims of Hitler s Reich, loosing about six million of their people to indiscriminate killings. With the end of the war, they looked for a homeland in which they could get away from the discrimination and experiences, which they had, in Europe. In 1947, Palestine was split into a Jewish State and an Arabic State, causing immediate confrontation of the two groups. With the defeat of the Palestinians in 1949, the Jewish people established a state of Israel. The picture had not only changed in Europe, but as well as in the Middle East. In Europe the Allies were unwilling to allow Germany to ever produce a similar Reich to the one Hitler had created. Not only that, but Germany was not allowed to create nuclear arms. Countries, which suffered from Germany in the War, never wanted to see German soldiers on their soils again. Not only that, but they did not trust such a nation with terrible weapons after all the horrors they committed. The Allies split the Germany into two different zones. This is which resulted in the formation of two separate countries, which were not reunited until 1989. Now that it has passed fifty years since the 2nd World War, Germany has changed in many ways. Despite the numerous scars, which the nation holds in its memory, great progression has occurred. With the reunification in the year 1989, Germany has hit new eras. Germany has become one of the largest economies in Europe and in the world without having needs to conquer other peoples. Emerging from a dark day of history, Germany is now the most important single backer in European monetary union. These remarkable changes can be accounted for because of the allies occupation, which has led Germany to pay for their war crimes and terrible deeds. The results have been interesting in contrast to the years in which Hitler led the country to war. Germany is the undisputed economic giant in Europe. Though, one can see that the countries like France are scared of Germany s rise. In history, Germany has invaded France on many occasions. As Germany gets stronger and leads European Union, France is skeptical because they don t know if they can be trusted. Anyway, despite France s hesitation, Germany has risen from a devastated war-torn country to one of the leaders in Europe. This to me is impressive, because they have come along a fair bit since their defeat in 1945. Hitler s overall success must be attributed to the conditions, which existed in Post War Germany, and Hitler s great talent as a speaker and a politician. His rise to power was not inevitable; it must be noted that he greatly used the conditions of the time in his favor. The power that he held was total, but he made no permanent contributions to the human race. He has left an evil mark on mankind. Hitler is known and will continue to be known for the evil crimes that he committed against mankind, and against the world. Now, fifty years later, Germany has emerged as an economic giant without the needs for grand military. Other nations will not forgive Hitler, but they will forgive the people.
Bibliography
Neville, Peter. Life in the Third Reich. B.T. Bastford: London, 1992.
Peacock, H.L. A History of Modern Europe. Heinemann Educational Books: London, 1987.
Stewart, Gail B. Hitler s Reich. Lucent Books: San Diego, 1994.
The Guinness Encyclopedia. Guinness Publishing (pgs. 341, 439, 441, 444, 445, 678).
Kirk, John. The Rise and Fall of A. Hitler. Johnson House. New York, 1979.