On December 11, 1941, American chargé d’affaires Leland B. Morris, the highest ranking American diplomat in Germany, was summoned to Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop’s office where Ribbentrop read Morris the formal declaration. The meeting lasted from 2:18 to 2:21 pm. The text was:
MR. CHARGÉ D’AFFAIRES:
The Government of the United States having violated in the most flagrant manner and in ever increasing measure all rules of neutrality in favor of the adversaries of Germany and having continually been guilty of the most severe provocations toward Germany ever since the outbreak of the European war, provoked by the British declaration of war against Germany on September 3, 1939, has finally resorted to open military acts of aggression.
On September 11, 1941, the President of the United States publicly declared that he had ordered the American Navy and Air Force to shoot on sight at any German war vessel. In his speech of October 27, 1941, he once more expressly affirmed that this order was in force. Acting under this order, vessels of the American Navy, since early September 1941, have systematically attacked German naval forces. Thus, American destroyers, as for instance the Greer, the Kearny and the Reuben James, have opened fire on German submarines according to plan. The Secretary of the American Navy, Mr. Knox, himself confirmed that American destroyers attacked German submarines.
Furthermore, the naval forces of the United States, under order of their government and contrary to international law have treated and seized German merchant vessels on the high seas as enemy ships.
The German Government therefore established the following facts:
Although Germany on her part has strictly adhered to the rules of international law in her relations with the United States during every period of the present war, the Government of the United States from initial violations of neutrality has finally proceeded to open acts of war against Germany. The Government of the United States has thereby virtually created a state of war.
The German Government, consequently, discontinues diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declares that under these circumstances brought about by President Roosevelt Germany too, as from today, considers herself as being in a state of war with the United States of America.
Accept, Mr. Chargé d’Affaires, the expression of my high consideration.
December 11, 1941.
Oh, how Hitler wanted a war against the United States. And this he wanted for a number of years. He even agreed with Japan he would join with them against the U.S., but the Nazis were not sure how. Then, when Japan surprised Hitler with the Pearl Harbor attack, suddenly he needed not to concern himself with that question any longer.
What was America’s take on German’s declaration of war after Pearl Harbor?
Now that Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, swiftly American had to act. The U.S. Congress decided to declare war back on Germany and it was just hours later. Congress acted with an overwhelming majority: 88-0/Senate and 393-0/House. President Roosevelt signed the declaration, and WWII officially had begun against Germany.
It was like this: The U.S. declared war on Japan first, on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Then Germany decided to war against us. Hours later, we decided to war against Germany. This series of war declarations between the U.S., Japan, and Germany in December of 1941 has been seen as a series of interconnected actions that led the United States to become fully involved in World War II. There was no time for America’s domestic opposition to entering the war due to this rapid response. But it did unify them in the fight against the Axis powers. Was it a significant shift from the previous policy of neutrality? For sure. It certainly, in the end, set the stage for America’s full involvement in both the European and Pacific theaters of the WWII.
On December 12, 1941, the German army occupying Paris made a house-to-house search in searching for Jews. This was a very dark chapter of WWII. This is when Adolf Hitler met with high-ranking Nazi officials at the Reich Chancellery and declared his intention to annihilate the entire Jewish race and became a pivotal moment in the Holocaust
Transportation of Jews from Paris, 1941 – 1942
leading to increased persecution and mass murder of Jews across occupied Europe. This was his solution to a new world order. He began in Paris by rounding up Jews. His forces conducted house searches and arrests. Throughout the war this campaign expanded into extreme terror and systematic extermination of the Jews. By late 1941, the intensity of this extermination caused the destruction of long lineages of Jewish families, and it spiraled out of control as war efforts struggled throughout the following years. By 1945, centuries of Jewish culture had been destroyed and thousands upon thousands of Jewish communities had been decimated.