Tag: causes and impact of nazism

Reichstag and Bundestag both referred to German parliament. As like Rajya sabha also called as "house of elders" or "house of state". Only difference in case of Germany's case is time difference. Now Germans used word - "Bundestag". In NCERT , word "Reichstag" used as it was in use at that time frame(till mid of 20th century).

Holocaust was a genocide during World War 2 in Nazi Germany. The Nazis murdered six million Jews between 1941 to 1945. 

On May 7, 1945, Germany officially surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to the European conflict in World War II. General Alfred Jodl, representing the German High Command, signed the unconditional surrender of both east and west forces in Reims, France, which took effect the following day. As a result, May 8 was declared Victory in Europe (VE) Day, a holiday still celebrated by many European countries.

Those who supported the Weimar Republic, mainly Socialists, Catholics and Democrats, became easy targets of attack in the conservative nationalist circles. They were mockingly called the ‘November criminals’. 

The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of the emperor gave an opportunity to the Parliamentary parties to recast the German polity. National Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure.

Nazis wanted only a society of ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’. They alone were considered ‘desirable’. Only they were seen as worthy of prospering and multiplying against all others who were classed as ‘undesirable’. This meant that even those Germans who were seen as impure or abnormal had no right to exist. 

Hitler attacked Russia in June 1941. In this historic blunder, Hitler exposed the German western front to British aerial bombing and the eastern front to the powerful Soviet armies.