Hitler's Defeat: Downfall of the Third Reich | The Hitler Chronicles: 1938-1945 (2/2)

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the world holds its breath and waits to see if Hitler will risk
European peace. He will, safeguarded by the Hitler-Stalin pact, and invades Poland. Inevitably, Great
Britain and France declare war, and Hitler is perplexed, in spite of all warnings, but continues anyway.
The West is passive, and soon Hitler reaches the summit of military power. Almost the entire continent of Europe is under Germany’s control. In the East, however, things look harsh: incredible distances, unlimited manpower and above all, the very, very cold winter in Russia.

Hitler personally arranges for a euthanasia program, underestimating the resistance of the Church.
While the killing of the mentally ill has to be slowed down, the extinction of Jews is expanded to an
industrial scale. Russian prisoners of war are murdered directly, abused, or left to starvation. Most
Germans know of these crimes even if they refuse to acknowledge them. Hitler’s military decisions
become disastrous, defeats are increasing, fronts break apart.

After Stalingrad, the military leadership realizes that the war is lost. The Western allies defeat the German troops in Italy and Africa. The Russians push the German army back in the East. But even after D-Day, Hitler refuses any idea of surrender, and German people still believe in their leader and wait for the promised miraculous twist. Only when the Russians stand 500 meters in front of the bunker of the Reichskanzlei, Hitler accepts the total defeat and must now act.

A series by Hermann Pölking-Eiken

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