The Social and Political Effects of Air Raids on the German People: A Preliminary Survey
This chapter examines the social and political effects of air raids on German morale during World War II. The strategic aerial bombing of Nazi Germany had increased to such an extent during the last twelve months that approximately 65,000 people were, at tbe time of the report, bombed out of their homes each week. The number of unusable destroyed houses in April 1944 totaled 1,600,000 in the Reich and the protected areas. A large number of the great industrial centers of Germany, such as Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, the Ruhr district, Rostock, Hannover, Leipzig, Mannheim-Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart, Brunswick, Kassel, and Wiener-Neustadt had been severely damaged. The chapter considers the impact of the bombings on Germany's local defense program, the emergency relief measures implemented after the raids, problems of evacuation, the Nazi Party's propaganda reply to the raids, and how the bombings affected the German people, including the middle classes and workers.