1933-1945: The Deepest Crisis

The terror of Nazi dictatorship, the annulment of human rights and not least the Nazi attacks against the Jewish population, which were clearly condemned by the American president FDR, let German-American relations cool rapidly. After the November 9, 1938 anti-Jewish riots known as „Kristallnacht“ ( „Night of Broken Glass“), the American ambassador was recalled from Berlin to Washington. Hitler then recalled the German ambassador as well. Neutrality was the official American response to the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939. Legislation, enacted from 1935 to 1937, had prohibited trade with or credit to any of the warring nation. The United States joined Canada in a Mutual Board of Defense, and aligned with the Latin American republics in extending collective protection to the nations in the Western Hemisphere. Congress approved immense sums for rearmament and in early 1941 passed the Lend-Lease Program, which enabled President Roosevelt to transfer arms and equipment to any nation (notably Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China) deemed vital to the defense of the United States. By 1941, there was an undeclared war between the United States and Germany in the Atlantic - with U.S. warships protecting supply convoys from attacks by German submarines.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On December 8, Congress declared a state of war with Japan; three days later its allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States. The western Allies decided that their essential military effort was to be concentrated in Europe. As a result of Germany’s strong land forces, however, Great Britain and the United States postponed a cross-channel attack until June 1944. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed in Normandy. On August 25, Paris was liberated. By February and March 1945, troops advanced into Germany and on May 7/8, Germany surrendered.

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German-U.S. Relations



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