Failure of the Volksgemeinschaft

During the rise of the Third Reich, the Nazi regime poured all of their effort into creating the utopian Volksgemeinschaft, or people’s community, in order to rectify the economic collapse and dispirited morale in Germany after being defeated in World War I. The start of World War II however, made the realization of the Volksgemeinschaft problematic. Some of the problems that arose during this time that made this idea difficult to put in affect included the overestimation of Germany’s capabilities while underestimating those of her enemies, the lack of trained soldiers, the lack of labor, shortages in raw materials, and the “internal enemy”.

One problem that arose during this time was the Nazi regimes overconfidence in German military and military tactics. In Professor Hongs lecture, she explained that the Nazis believed that if they kept annexing smaller countries they could use that countries’ natural resources, factories, and labor to fund the next country they could annex. Until the start of World War II, German officials had stockpiled materials and equipment to make up for the losses suffered from the Treaty of Versailles. In Professor Hong’s lecture, she stated that while Germany had been able to gain sufficient military equipment for defensive purposes by the start of World War II, the German military was not ready for an all-out offensive war, especially one that was fought on multiple fronts. This fatal flaw would only be realized later near the end of the war. According to Peter Fritzsche, the Nazi regime tried to invade Britain in 1940 while simultaneously annexing several other countries (Fritzsche pg. 177). This plan to overtake Britain failed and as a last ditch effort, due to a shortage in supplies, they then t...

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...h people were forced laborers in ghettos before they were sent to these extermination camps. Some of these camps put these prisoners to work for industrial and other jobs while others were solely for extermination. The Nazi Regime believed that by exterminating those they deemed “undesirable” they could produce a master race. Instead, they murdered millions of innocent people.

In the end, the Nazi regime’s rigid and destructive nature, lead to the downfall of Germany and the Third Reich. While the idea of the Volksgemeinschaft had given hope to many Germans, it had ultimately left Germany and its economy devastated. The effects of World War II were devastating and many of the major cities were destroyed. The greater tragedy however was the deaths of millions of innocent people German and non-German alike.

Works Cited

Professor Hong’s lecture

Peter Fritzsche