Leaflet dropped over Germany, Great Britain, December 1942

Knowledge of Nazi crimes

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‘We didn’t know anything about it’ – although even from autumn 1942, that claim increasingly lacked credibility, especially for governments, businesses and other organisations in Europe and beyond. This aerial leaflet dropped in the thousands over Germany in early 1943 was an attempt to open the German population’s eyes as well. The column on the right contains excerpts from a Joint Declaration by Members of the United Nations, issued shortly before. The Joint Declaration clearly refers to the crimes being committed by the Nazis.

Over a number of years, the Nazi regime had largely managed to obscure its programme of mass murder. But during 1942, more details about it gradually leaked to the public. People managing to escape from a camp and the relatives of those persecuted made efforts to spread their knowledge of the mass crimes. In individual cases, evidence of the crimes was also smuggled out of occupied Poland. From June 1942, the BBC and newspapers in Britain and America reported on the mass murders and executions in the ghettos and camps. Finally, from autumn that year, there was growing evidence of the use of gas for mass killings.

But the Allies had few options to put a stop to these murders, especially since, at the same time, other events required other priorities – first and foremost, winning the war. With that accomplished, the Germans were to be tried and punished for their crimes. And evidence was already being collected – as the reverse of the leaflet explains – to ensure the wrongdoers were convicted.