Background: This page is part of a larger project to trace the history of World War II as reflected in the headlines of the Völkischer Beobachter, the Nazi Party’s daily newspaper.
There was no good news for Germany in February 1945. Headlines reported defensive successes, the horrors of Bolshevism, and made calls to remain steadfast.
Völkischer Beobachter: February 1945
1 February 1945
Heavy Battles in the German East
Heroic Defense in Budapest
2 February 1945
Reserves against Tanks
3 February 1945
New Massive Betrayal of the German People Planned
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill Want to Surpass Wilson’s Swindle
4 February 1945
Fanatic Battle for Budapest
5 February 1945
No Issue
6 February 1945
German Resistance Hardens
7 February 1945
Oder Front Strengthened
8 February 1945
Soviets Repulsed at Landsberg
9 February 1945
Soviet Atrocities Exceed All Imaginings
10 February 1945
New Soviet Attacks along the Oder
11 February 1945
The Possibilities of the Hour
The article begins by granting that Germans might be alarmed at the military situation: “In view of the assault from the East, which will probably soon be followed by new attacks from the west, even good Germans anxiously ask the question: What is the path that leads the German people to a free and national future?” It provides implausible reasons why the war is yet winnable.
12 February 1945
No Issue
13 February 1945
Thoughts of Capitulation are Illusionary
14 February 1945
Stalin’s Orders at Yalta
15 February 1945
The Bolshevist Dictate of Yalta
16 February 1945
Jalta — Europe’s Death Sentence
17 February 1945
Jalta: A Product of Criminal Minds
18 February 1945
The Lies of Jalta
19 February 1945
No Issue
20 February 1945
Budapest Erased Hungary’s Shame
21 February 1945
The Overall War Situation and Our Opportunities
22 February 1945
Heartbeat of the Youth
23 February 1945
Horst Wessel Lives!
Horst Wessel was an early Nazi “martyr” whose poem became the Nazi party’s anthem. “As surely as Horst Wessel lives in us and his flame burns within us, so certain are we that we will win this battle!”
24 February 1945
25 Years of the Party Program
24 February was the anniversary of the proclamation of the Nazi Party platform in 1920.
25 February 1945
Only Sacrificial Fighters Deserve Life and a Future
The Fuhrer’s Speech to His Old Party Comrades
26 February 1945
No Issue
27 February 1945
The Miracle of German Confidence in Victory
28 February 1945