The ascension of the Nazi Party from fringe fanatics to the undisputed rulers of a mighty Germany was a blood-soaked march that seized the lives and minds of a generation and bent them towards war. Commandeered by an ambitious young loner by the name of Adolf Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party finally achieved its ambitions of power in 1933 and immediately set about rearming a recovering Germany for what would be the greatest conflict in history while excluding the ‘undesirables’ within the population it sought to completely control. From ostracizing and then murdering Jews to destroying all political opposition and indoctrinating the nation’s children via the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, the Nazis enforced their will via cunning propaganda and the ruthlessness of the Gestapo. This bookazine will delve into the dark roots of the Nazis before exploring their staggering power grab and the effects of their brutal policies on the German state, which ultimately created a nation that reflected the racial and social beliefs of one of history’s most hated figures.
HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY • THE POWER AND POLICIES BEHIND HITLER’S STATE
History of Nazi Germany
RISE OF THE NAZIS
THE WILD RIDE OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC • How Germany’s ambitious 14-year democratic society lurched from rich cultural prosperity to disastrous economic crashes and political extremism
TURMOIL 1919-23 • A diverse era defined by unpayable reparations, war guilt and a new-found cultural freedom
GOLDEN ERA 1924-29 • The brilliance of Stresemann and the lenience of the US saw the republic experience its greatest age
DOORWAY TO FUN, 1925 • PEOPLE MILL AROUND THE ENTRANCE TO A CABARET SHOW IN WEIMAR GERMANY. ALL FORMS OF PUBLIC CRITICISM HAD BEEN CENSORED DURING THE KAISER’S RULE, BUT AFTER THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE, ‘KABARETT’ ARTISTS WERE ABLE TO DEAL WITH SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THEMES. IT WAS DURING THE 1920S THAT CABARET REALLY BLOSSOMED IN GERMANY.
WEIMAR COLLAPSE 1930-33 • The last years of the republic saw the death of democracy and political reason
THE RISE OF EVIL: HITLER • How the demagogue used riots, racism & repression in his quest to restore German ‘greatness’
EVOLUTION OF THE NAZI PARTY
AXIS OF THE WEIMAR RIGHT • The German Government’s key players had different approaches to healing the nation
GERMANY’S MESSIAH? • HAILED AS THE SAVIOUR OF THE FATHERLAND AND THE MAN TO RESTORE GERMANY TO ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE, HITLER’S RISE TO POWER WAS VIEWED BY MANY AS CAUSE FOR HOPE. HERE HE IS GREETED BY ENTHUSIASTIC CROWDS IN NUREMBERG.
HOW THE NAZIS SEIZED POWER • The Nazi Party’s rise was not a sudden snatch of power but a slow, methodical, manipulative climb to the top
THE CHANCELLOR • How a personal revenge quest led to Hitler being placed in the role of chancellor
RUPTURING THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS • To the German people, the League was not a union but a tool of oppression
LIFE IN NAZI GERMANY
POLICING NAZI GERMANY • As the Nazi regime tightened its grip on the nation, threats, violence and terror were the primary weapons unleashed on the German public
GESTAPO MÜLLER • The rise and apparent fall of the head of the secret police
HEINRICH HIMMLER • The dark world of the SS ruler
ERNST RÖHM • The charismatic leader of the Sturmabteilung destined to be killed by his master
BEST OF ENEMIES • ERNST RÖHM, HEAD OF THE SA, WALKS ALONGSIDE hEINRICH HIMMLER (RIGHT), LEADER OF THE SS, AT A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR AN SS COMMANDER IN BERLIN, 1934. RÖHM WOULD NOT LIVE TO SEE THE END OF THE YEAR.
PROPAGANDA IN NAZI GERMANY • From books and newspapers to radio and cinema, discover how the Nazis attempted to control minds in the Third Reich
FAMOUS NAZI...