Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
On May 24, Hitler, true to his original invasion plans but against the counsel of his officer corps, ordered his forces to turn toward Paris. The greatest concentration of Allied troops—380,000 soldiers in all—was trapped by German forces at Dunkirk, in an area of 60 square miles. Hitler waited two days before ordering his forces to attack the troops at Dunkirk. The evacuation of the trapped forces at Dunkirk began on May 26 in one of the most dramatic retreats
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Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
On May 10, German armed forces began their offensive against France itself. The French had fewer troops than the Germans, and the French general Weygand termed their deployment “a line of troops without depth or organization.” Artillery shelling and air cover helped the German army to breach the ostensibly impermeable Maginot defense line. The Wehrmacht routed the French army within a few days. The government fled from Paris to Bordeaux; German forces marched into Paris. The next day, June 14,
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Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
Many antisemites had long toyed with the idea of deporting European Jewry to Madagascar and, briefly, in the summer of 1940, this scheme was the centerpiece of the Nazis’ Jewish policy. In the spring of 1940, after the victory over France, Himmler proposed to Hitler that the Jews be banished to some African colony. However, the official who made this plan practical was Franz Rademacher, the expert on Jewish affairs in the German Foreign Office. Hitler disclosed the plan to
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