Greatest Generation
Members of the World War II generation in Germany became adults after World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919. They faced economic difficulties related to the Great Depression and Treaty of Versailles, as unemployment rose to nearly 40%. Adolf Hitler then rose to power, and many of this generation joined groups such as the Hitler Youth. In 1935, Hitler started military conscription. During the war, nearly 12.5 million members of this generation served in the war and 4.3 million were killed or wounded. By the end of the war, 5 million Germans were dead, including civilians. German cities and towns were ruined or destroyed by Allied bombing attacks. 12 million Germans were refugees and many were forced to live in the Soviet Union. In addition, the Holocaust killed millions of German Jews and others. After the war, the Allies began the denazification and demilitarization of Germany. Returning German veterans found their country divided into four zones of occupation; later becoming West Germany and East Germany. In the west, the Marshall Plan resulted in the "Wirtschaftswunder", an economic boom that caused 185% growth between 1950 and 1963. Surviving members of the German World War II generation would go on to experience the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the creation of the European Union. Unlike the Western allies and the Soviet Union, Germany did not honor its veterans, as the association with Nazism continues in Germany today.