World War Two.?

Question

A lengthy question, but maybe someone will be able to help me with the answers I am looking for.

During world war two (1939-1945), were people living in occupied countries e.g. Holland, France, Belguim, Denmark, Norway etc. able to visit restaurants, cinemas, theatres, concerts, dance halls.

Was there a postal system available to citizens of occupied countries?

Was a train and 'bus service maintained between occupied countries?

Did any airline continue to provide a passenger service, if yes, from where to where?

Was travel permitted between occupied countries?

What about telephone calls?

During WW2 was there any popular music broadcast by the Occupying Powers before they started confiscating radios?

What, for example, were the most popular "songs of the day" say during 1940, during 1942 and during 1945.

A lengthy question, but maybe someone will be able to help me with the answers I am looking for.

Answer 1

How the Nazis treated the locals depended on the country. For example the Nazis went easy on the Danish and Norwegians(Nordic brotherhood and all that), but treated the east European countries harshly. Belgium, France etc. were somewhere between the two extremes. The Nazis issued occupation postage, in fact FDR was an avid collector of it courtesy of the OSS. There were still commercial flights between Stockholm and Berlin through most of the war, but only those vetted by the Gestapo could get on that flight. It was actually possible to place a phone call from London to Berlin through Switzerland until quite late in the war when British counterintelligence were finally alerted to that fact. And here they had been looking for secret transmitters!

Of course everything changed as the war went against the Axis, and the average person in an occupied country would be more worried about getting enough to eat and avoiding being pressed into a work camp than going to the cinema.

Answer 2

I have just got back from Guernsey in the Channel Islands that was occupied by the Nazis. They changed all the heavy napolean fortifications to the ammo dumps and ground to air guns, ground to sea guns.
The guernsey people who were mainly French and English used a postal service but because of the small island was limited to the island, and very very regimented, very!
Songs, not too sure, i'm too young mate, they had Good Morning Sweetheart on BBC staring Nicholos Lindhurst a few years back I was about 15 and thought it was fun!

Answer 3

Good Question ! And the answer is not yes and no. There were almost no phones in homes in Europe that worked. Communication was very limited by the Third Reich.
Travel between countries was not permitted without official papers granted by the Nazi's.
The music of the day included hits from the big bands and were a favourite of Eva Braun - Hitler's lover. Wiliam Joyce alias Lord Haw-Haw would broadcast music from Berlin to our troops with lots of details about our locations. Sometimes even give names of leaders involved in battles. (from Heretical Press: His last public message reported by the BBC was "In death as in life, I defy the Jews who caused this last war, and I defy the powers of darkness they represent." He was not yet 40 years old when executed. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the grounds of the prison.")

The postal system was working, but could be read by your local Nazi or Gestapo. Airlines did not fly normal people.
Life in the different countries depended on who you were. And of course not a Jew. In most places you could live day to day. But, 1st there were bombings from Nazi's as they took over, and then the Allies later as they fought to take back the country. It must have been like living in hell. But, babies were born, life did go on.

Answer 4

They were not aloud to travel to and from occupied countries, it was too dangerous, they would get accused of being spy's. No communication with other occupied countries was aloud. People would go to the cinema but alot of it was just propaganda. People would still go to dances and the theatre and all things like that as long as there was no curfew. I am not sure about the most popular music

Answer 5

Whoa!
I have a few links(sorry if duplicates!)
Homefront during WWII
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_front_during_World_War_II
BBC WW2 People's War Archive
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/
World War 2 Multimedia database
- http://worldwar2database.com/html/frame1.htm
Internet Modern History Sourcebook
- http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
Voices of WWII
- http://www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/ww2/index.htm

Answer 6

Best thing I can suggest is to break your question into its components e.g. "popular songs" "World War II" and do searches on Google

Answer 7

probably up 2 the individual whether they would risk it