Second World War

Hitler’s People: A Portrait of the Third Reich part 2: On 18 February 1943 Joseph Goebbels held his notorious “Total War” speech about being “faithful to the last” at the Berlin Sportpalast. But the Reich’s defeat in Stalingrad a few weeks earlier shook the faith of the Germans in the “final battle”, which saw Germany crumbling more and more every day. Hitler’s armies had sounded the retreat, and after the landing of the Allies on 8 June 1944 at the latest, the German defeat was now only a matter of time. Yet many Germans remained staunched supporters of their Fuhrer. […]

Hitler’s People: A Portrait of the Third Reich part 1: On 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed German Reichskanzler. Theoretically, he was only one further new head of government. But in the practice of the coming months, the head of the NSDAP managed to completely reconstruct the country and center it around his person. Terror became a principle of politics, and Germany a fascist dictatorship. The “Fuhrer State” favored a new elite: adaptable government officials, jurists, artists and businessmen launched meteoric careers.     How could Hitler count on the German public even in the face of unspeakable suffering