Hitler: A Life in Pictures

The Official Third Reich Publication

Bob Carruthers

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781783463220
• eBook ISBN: 9781473847873
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

This exceptional source is probably the best of the contemporary accounts of Hitler in power, albeit from a heavily pro-Nazi stance. The testimonies collected together were based on interviews conducted by Heinz A. Heinz in 1933 and 1934, shortly after Hitler had taken power.Millions of ordinary Germans fell under Hitler's spell and this book is a creation of those emotions. It is very much a product of its time. Written by the party big-wigs, such as Goering, Speer and Goebbels, and published in 1935 under the title Adolf Hitler Bilder Aus Dem Leben Des Furhers, it appeared at a time when they were at the height of their unrivaled powers. This fascinating volume encompasses the superb photography of Heinrich Hoffman, the Munich photographer who was ever present on Hitler's journeys and who grew fabulously wealthy as a result of his intimate access to Hitler. Hitler had an innate understanding of what we would now call public relations. He recognised the excellence of Hoffman's photography and maintained control of his image by limiting the access of other photographers. He also strictly controlled Hoffmann's activities and personally selected the portraits that were allowed to go into circulation.The book incorporates sections on Hitler and the German people, Hitler and the German workers, Hitler and public works and so on, all accompanied by a series of excellent photographs which form a remarkable record of the public face of a man during his brief spell of absolute power. The Nazis were the first party who harnessed the full power of the media in a coherent and all-embracing manner.This is a classic example of the strength of their presentation skills. It is a compelling time-capsule which conveys vividly in almost visceral way the zeitgeist of the thirties in Nazi-Germany. By 1935 the bulk of the German people had fallen in behind Adolf Hitler, and with documents as persuasive as this, it is not too difficult to comprehend the allure of the glittering faade which a stream of publications such as this book sought to create and maintain.

The Movement’s being honoured at the Königsplatz in Munich, November 9, 1935.

The Führer and the National socialist Movement

BY PHILIPP BOUHLER

A

N UNKNOWN SOLDIER in the World War was temporarily blinded as a result of mustard gas poisoning on November 8, 1918, and confined to the military hospital in Pasewalk. Because of his reaction to the horrendous Stock Exchange uprising, he made the decision to become a politician and to take action himself in the destiny of his deluded and humiliated Nation. Nobody could have anticipated that this same man little more than years later, as Führer and Reich’s Chancellor would stand at the head of the entire German Nation.

The glorious monument to the Party members killed on November 9, 1923. Feldherrnhalle, Munich.

Only Adolf Hitler himself, with the infallible confidence in the genius of his own power, knew the way to take. He also knew that even in chaotic postwar Germany, the political leadership would never fall to one individual, who only had his knowledge, his personality and the belief in himself to throw into the balance. He knew that the way to power in the State, which alone would allow for the possibility of changing the wretched situation in Germany, could only be achieved through a movement borne on by the idea of victory and fanatical belief that had to be tightly anchored and organized in its nucleus.

What would Frederick the Great be, without the tool, bequeathed to him by his royal father, without the army, with and through which he fought his victories? Adolf Hitler, too, created for himself the tool that was to give his politics a concrete foundation: He created the National Socialist Party. From the tiniest beginnings, he organically created his organization, based upon the idea of the leader (Führer) principle and voluntary followers. In his own party he broke first of all with parliamentary practices, placed fundamental responsibility at the top and put boundless authority on the bottom, in place of the democratic slogan that states the equality of all people and the rule of the majority.

While German parliaments were bargaining for the personal advantage of individual cliques and exhausted themselves in fruitless ballots over the essential life problems of the German Nation; while under the eyes of the government, subversive elements trampled on honor and prestige, and Wasted what remained of German national wealth; while the state stood by helplessly doing nothing; while the German Fatherland continued more hopelessly to stagger down into the gulf of political and economic slavery, Adolf Hitler forged the tool for the internal and external liberation of Germany. For 14 years he has navigated his Party through reefs, has in tough and untiring work overcome all obstacles, until in spite of all setbacks, success after success came under his banner. Not because right was on his side (right can be bent). Not because blindly believing followers with holy fanaticism fought for victory (even the tremendous sacrifices of possessions and blood can be given in vain). Not because the opposition, driven by blind angry hate, made unforgivable mistakes in their will to annihilation. No, the Movement won because Adolf Hitler was its leader.

Because he is the Movement, because he in his person embodied the idea of National Socialism, today Germany is free. The Germany of disgrace and shame, which the Jews and deserters had made into the laughingstock of the world, exists no longer. Like a phantom, the years of external enslavement, inner disputes, the persecution and suppression of the German character inside our land, and an unparalleled corruption in all areas of public life, have vanished. The dream of the century has become a reality.

A self-reliant German Reich has come into being. Class hatred and snobbery have disappeared. There are no more parties in Germany. Fraternally united in striving towards one goal, the German tribes are obeying one command.

All this is the work of Adolf Hitler. And if he had accomplished nothing else, he would have done this one thing. The German Nation, which lay defenseless on the ground for half a century, a plaything for its enemies, has once again won back its fitness for military service, and this would be enough to carve his name immortally on the Parthenon of history.

Remember what courage and faith, what limitless self-sacrifice and devotion became alive throughout the long years of the struggle in the beginning, with a small group of faithful followers that grew and grew, until it became a people’s movement and finally an army of millions wearing a brown suit of honor. You may wonder why for 10 years and longer, thousands have joyfully and blindly obeyed him, putting their occupation and families behind him, suffering mockery and scorn, taking insults and giving their last pennies without asking for gratitude? Why have tens of thousands collapsed and hundreds gone to their deaths under the strokes of brutish adversaries with a last “Heil Hitler” on their pale lips? Why have mothers, from whom was taken their ultimate and most cherished possession, said: “I am proud of this sacrifice?”

When you ask yourself, how was it possible, to create from this tangled mass of parties one single strong Movement, above position and class differences and artificially nourished clan opposition, beyond all religious disputes and the most varied notions on the form of government, we always come back to the only answer: because Adolf Hitler was the leader of this Movement. The ingenious organizer, the fascinating speaker and master of propaganda, whom many an intellectual, sitting on his high horse, would have liked to disregard as the “Drummer,” was always truly a born statesman. The hot-hearted daredevil who looked daringly into the face of danger and went forth to meet it. The man of circumspection, who knew how to wait, until the hour was ripe. The superior who saw through the tricks of his opponents and who divided the wolves from the sheep. He has given this Movement created by him its ideological foundation, the quintessence of his political and philosophical realizations, born in the hard apprenticeship and suffering years of his youth, and purified and hardened in the fire of the World War. He was and is the dynamic force who nourishes and drives the Movement forward.

Reich’s Party Day, 1934. The Standards.

A repetition of the historic march on November 9, 1934.

Old party members in front of the Brown House in Munich, 1935.

You cannot characterize this unique bond between the Movement and the Führer more touchingly than Rudolf Hess, when in opening the Reich’s Party Congress convention in 1933 in Nuremberg, the congress of victory, he said, “My Führer, you were for us as leader of the Party the guarantor of victory. When others advised us to compromise, you remained uncompromising. When others let their courage sink, you spread new courage. When others left us, you took hold of the flag more determinedly than ever.”

Adolf Hitler never cared about his own person. For example, when on November 9th, with ultimate determination, he marched from the Bürgerbräukeller, at the head of the column, which broke down under a shower of bullets in front of the Feldherrnhalle or when on the fatal morning in Wiessee, accompanied by only a few faithful followers, with his own hand he arrested the traitors.

The whole history of the Party then is a single example of the unheard-of personal commitment and boundless devotion of the Führer to his work. For him it gave no rest, no holidays. A 14- or even 16-hour day was no rarity for him. Through long nights he would dictate, design proclamations, leaflets and posters in his car, train or airplane. Adolf Hitler’s special oratorical performance in holding up to four giant assemblies on one day in different big cities is not surpassed in judgment. There is no town, no city that does not have a place in his memory. Menacing crowds of misled fellow Germans following his car with muffled muttering or with wild screaming, or even with stone throwing… closely packed mobs of people, testify their love for him by roaring “Heils” and by a rain of flowers… overflowing town bars, in which a couple of hundred, and crowded city halls, in which tens of thousands, contributed frenzied applause to his words… the blond children of believing mothers are lifted into his car… or the modest lamp at an airport that sparkled like a star, saving him from going off the runway.

When the decision had been made and the election campaign completed, then the Führer sat all night with his faithful followers near the loudspeaker, waiting for the results. With throbbing heart and with bated breath they listened to the individual announcements. They wrote the results down, calculated, totaled and when the cautious estimated figures were reached, and when even the most daring expectations were surpassed, then the jubilation had no bounds.

Reich’s Party Day, 1934.

There were also days of failures and setbacks. The Führer never despaired. He never let his spirit sink. After unprecedented successes, he issued the slogan, “The fight continues immediately,” and worked with renewed vigor when the set goal had not been achieved.

When in the November Elections 1933, a recession of National Socialist voices was noted, compared to the past election, Adolf Hitler threw himself at the same hour - it was way past midnight - with grim energy into preparations for the next battle. He thought of ways and means to increase the already powerful propaganda work of the party into gigantic proportions in order to lessen the gap next time.

Sometimes it seemed like the physical and mental tension of Adolf Hitler would go beyond the realm of the possible. Once, after an exhausting night drive from Berchtesgaden, he arrived in the early morning hours at his hotel in Bayreuth. At once he received telephone news of the crisis that had arisen in Berlin on account of the mutiny of Storm Trooper Leader Stennes, and which had taken on a threatening mien. Instantly back into the car and on with a dashing drive to Berlin. There there were conferences and negotiations until evening, and subsequently speeches to the Storm Troopers in all storm localities. The same night back to Munich. Immediately into the Brown House. From there the revolt was finally crushed. Impromptu dictation for hours, from shorthand to typewriter, special publications, summonses, leaflets, conferences, all that again into the sinking night. And again, an attempt to split the Movement was smashed.

The ceaseless work for the well-being of the Movement, the everlasting concern for its fate, have accompanied Adolf Hitler all through the long years of the fight. In t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Encomium to the Führer
• Foreword
• The Führer Traveling
• The Führer and the German People
• The Führer as Orator
• The Führer in His Private Life
• The Führer as statesman
• The Führer and the German Worker
• The Führer and the Arts
• The Architecture of the Führer
• Adolf Hitler and His Roads
• Our Hitler: Radio Broadcast to the German People On the Führer’s Birthday
• The Führer and the Armed services
• The Führer and German Youth
• The Führer and the National socialist Movement