1940 - 1949

The 1940's was a transitional decade. It saw World War II end with the use of the most devastating device ever known to man, the ATOMIC BOMB. It ushered in the Atomic age, but it also saw the beginning of another war. The Cold War. It saw the great Super Powers of the world come together to defeat a common enemy then split apart in the aftermath of victory. It was also the decade in which America was seen truly as an equal to her European Brothers and Sisters.

The 1940s was truly a decade of duality where devastation and war became beauty for an instant, and joy became sadness in another.

1941 - 1945 - Holocaust
By 1939 Jews had lost their civil rights from the German government led by Adolf Hitler. During the war years, Jews, Gypsies Jehovah's Witnesses and captured Communist were systemically arrested, packed in trains, and taken to death camps. Victims were forced or deceived into "Shower rooms" which were actually gas chambers. Sometimes they were gunned down by SS death squads after having dug their own graves. By the end of the war over 6 million Jews were murdered. It was the ultimate monstrosity of German Nazi racism. (Heartfield is interned as an enemy in the English camps of Lutton, Huyton, and York. He becomes very ill during this time. Gets to know another German immigrant, Gertrud Fietz [later his wife]).
Slideshows: The Faces of the Holocaust and the camps. The Holocaust History Project.

1941 - Dec. 7 - Pearl Harbor Attacked by Japanese Fleet
After starting an unofficial war against China in 1937 and occupying French Indo-China in July 1941, the United sanctioned a trade embargo of supplies needed by the Japanese. With increasing tension a Fleet of Battle Ships and Air Craft Carriers launched a 300 plus plane attack on the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was a crippling but not fatal attack on the American Pacific Fleet. Japan and Germany Declared war on the U.S. The United States was now forced to enter into World War II, helping to turn the tide again the Axis Powers.  View related documents and photographs including survivor accounts of the attack.

1945 - Victory in Europe
On April 26th the American Forces met the Russian Army at the Elbe River, thereby overrunning Nazi territory and Europe. The Soviets fought their way into the heart of Nazi Germany, Berlin. They found Hitler dead by his own bullet in his bunker. The Remaining German Commanders surrendered on May 7th. Ending the bloodiest conflict in Europe. (Heartfield (42' - 45') is involved in the League of Cultures events and exhibitions. Designs books for English publishers.)

1945 - Aug 6 & 9 - A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima
The Atom Bomb developed in the United States was dropped on the two cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The bombing left over 75,000 dead in Hiroshima alone. This ushered in the Nuclear Age of man, and also a grim new nightmare in the art of warfare. This unprecedented act of human destruction forced the Japanese to Surrender to the Allied Forces. Further history and photographs may be found at the Hiroshima Archives. This site also provided references to many other site, including Remembering Nagasaki. 

1947 - The Marshall Plan
In a speech by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, he said that America should offer economic aid to all European countries to help them rebuild their cities and economies. This Speech became the basis of the Marshall Plan, one of the most successful foreign policies in U.S. history. The Soviets declined the offer for all Eastern European Nations.

1948 - Communist seize power in Czech.
After Declining the Marshall Plan offer, Josef Stalin purged all non-communist elements from Eastern Europe. He then seized Czechoslovakia in February of 1948. This occupation started in a particularly brutal and non-democratic way. This move raised fears of communist expansion in the west.

1948 - Organization of European Economic Cooperation and the Council of Europe
Stipulations in the Marshall Plan called for the formation of the Organization of European Economic Cooperation to help stabilize the economy of the nations with in its community. It performed its function well and helped to form the European Economic Community. The Council of Europe was an attempt by Federalist to possibly push for a European Parliament. This did not happen. It simply became a multinational debating society for Europe.

1949 - Simone de Beauvoir - "The Second Sex"
Beauvoir analyzed the position of women in the time she lived. She argued that women are trapped by their conditions. She also said that only by means of courageous action can they become completely free. Only then can they escape the role of the inferior "Other" that men have made for them. She was a member of the second stage of women's liberation.

1949 - George Orwell - "1984"
In 1949 George Orwell penned the total anti-utopian novel. 1984, set 45 years in the future, was the voice of anxiety within people about totalitarian states. It showed tortured, framed, broken characters, who were psychologically terrorized, and stripped of their human dignity.

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