Objective: To examine the immediate causes of World War II.

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Objective To examine the immediate causes of
World War II.
World War II Memorial, Washington, D.C.
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Soviet Union

• Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered his people
  to produce more goods in order to strengthen the
  country in preparation for war.

• Farmers were forced to give up their land and
  join collective farms.

• Millions of farmers that resisted were either
  killed or sent to labor camps.

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Prisoners work at Belbaltlag, a Gulag camp for
building the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal .
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Prisoners work at Belbaltlag, a Gulag camp for
building the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal .
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Prisoners mine gold at Kolyma, the most notorious
Gulag camp in extreme northeastern Siberia.
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Life in a Gulag
(courtesy of the
Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia Foundation, Moscow)
The arrival at the corrective labor camp turned
out to be the culmination of the humiliation.
First we were made to strip naked and were shoved
into some roofless enclosures made out of planks.
Above our heads the stars twinkled below our
bare feet lay frozen excrement. An enclosure
measured 3 square feet. Each held three to four
naked, shivering, and frightened men and women.
Then these kennel cages were opened one after
the other and the naked people were led across a
courtyard, the camp version of a foyer into a
special building where our documents were
formulated and our things were searched.
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The goal of the search was to leave us with
rags, and to take the good things sweaters,
mittens, socks, scarves, vests, and good shoes
for themselves. Ten thieves shamelessly fleeced
these destitute and barely alive
people. Corrective is something that should
make you better, and labor ennobles you. But
camp? A camp wasnt a jail. So then what on
earth was going on?
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A drawing by Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia, a former
Gulag prisoner. Courtesy of Evfrosiniia
Kersnovskaia Foundation, Moscow.
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Have you ever been late to work?
In the Stalin era, a person who arrived late to
work three times could be sent to the Gulag for
three years.
Have you ever told a joke about a government
official?
In the Stalin era, many were sent to the Gulag
for up to 25 years for telling an innocent joke
about a Communist Party official.
If your family was starving, would you take a few
potatoes left in a field after harvest?
In the Stalin era, a person could be sent to the
Gulag for up to ten years for such petty theft.
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Trying to feed her four hungry children during
the massive 1932-1933 famine, the peasant mother
allegedly stole three pounds of rye from her
former fieldconfiscated by the state as part of
collectivization. Soviet authorities sentenced
her to ten years in the Gulag. When her sentence
expired in 1943, it was arbitrarily extended
until the end of the war in 1945. After her
release, she was required to live in exile near
her Gulag camp north of the Arctic Circle, and
she was not able to return home until 1956, after
the death of Stalin. Maria Tchebotareva never
found her children after her release.
Maria Tchebotareva
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Seeking the appearance of democracy, the Soviet
Union held elections, but only one Communist
Party candidate appeared on the ballot for each
office. Fear of punishment ensured that nearly
all Soviet citizens voted by taking their
ballot and ceremoniously placing it into a ballot
box. In 1949, Ivan Burylov, a beekeeper,
protested this absurd ritual by writing the word
Comedy on his secret ballot. Soviet
authorities linked the ballot to Burylov and
sentenced him to eight years in camps for this
crime.
Ivan Burylov
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Trial of so-called rich peasants in 1929.
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Japan

• Japan felt that they had the right to start an
  overseas empire, just as European countries such
  as Britain and France had.

• In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria, China, for its
  valuable coal and iron.

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• The League of Nations failed to help China.

• In 1937, Japan began an all out attack on China,
  eventually conquering Korea and French Indo-China
  as well.

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War in Europe
1936 German troops move into the Rhineland,
bordering France and Belgium.
1938 Germany annexed Austria.
Both of these actions violated the Versailles
Treaty.
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1938 Germany claimed the Sudetenland, a part
of Czechoslovakia.
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A Sudetenland woman weeps tears of joy when
German troops enter the territory.
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Sept. 1938 At the Munich Conference, Hitler
invited the leaders of Britain and France to
Germany and assured them that he wanted no more
territory.
Before signing the Munich agreement. From left to
right Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini,
Ciano
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Britain and France gave into Germany hoping
that it would avoid warfare. This was known as
appeasement.
Soviet poster of the 1930's by Kukryniksy on the
Munich agreement.
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However, in 1939, Germany invaded the rest of
Czechoslovakia anyway!
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Stalin and Hitler

• 1939 In the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Hitler and Stalin
  agreed not to attack one another.

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• Stalin and Hitler also agreed to divide Poland
  and Eastern Europe amongst themselves.

• September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland
  without having to fear a Soviet attack.

Two days later, Britain and France declared war
on Germany.