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In August 1939 Germany signed a non-aggression pact with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and in the pact, the two countries secretly divided up Poland. This pact laid the foundations for World War II and in September 1939 Germany defeated Poland. One year later Germany overran most of Europe and in 1941 Hitler gave the order to attack the Soviet union.
Throughout World War II he continued the campaign to destroy the Jews. In 1942 Hitler met with high ranking Reich officials to create the final solution to the Jewish problem. The Germans began building large extermination camps to accompany the concentration camps where about six million Jews were killed. Endless trains took millions of Jews to the camps. This had a serious effect on the war and subsequent events. |
After the German defeat at Stalingrad during the Winter of 1942/43, the war turned against Germany. When the final defeat became more and more likely, Hitler refused to surrender. On 20th July 1944, a group of German officers under the leadership of Colonel Graf von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler, but their attempt failed. Finally, when Soviet troops surrounded his bunker in Berlin on 30th April 1945, Hitler committed suicide together with his long-time companion, Eva Braun, whom he had married the day before.
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