Abstract
The Red Army’s advance towards the frontiers of East Prussia in the summer of 1944 raised the spectre of the war coming home to Germany. Panic spread throughout the Reich as Germans contemplated the province’s likely fate. However, through a combination of coercion and rhetoric, which appealed to the patriotic instincts of East Prussians, the party authorities were able to stabilize the situation and prolong Nazi rule for a few more months. The Nazi response to the crisis in East Prussia set a pattern which would be repeated on other battle fronts in subsequent months.
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